Arty subversives

A guy named Mark Allen founded an arts space in Los Angeles called the Machine Project, which "is helping individual artists and rogue arts organizations, which are fast proliferating here, to realize odd projects under his group’s umbrella." They recently installed a one-day art extravaganza that included performance, installation, and workshops all over the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. That'd be so cool to do a museum here in DC. An article from yesterday's New York Times describes Allen's work, which sure does appeal to me.

“Visiting a museum can be like visiting a very rich person’s house, where you feel pressure to admire the furniture,” he added. “We wanted this to feel more like hanging out with friends.”

. . .

Mr. Allen loved the mix of participants: young artists, mathematicians and “these older women who would drive three hours to learn a new type of crocheting,” he said. “That opened my eyes to the idea that you could use workshops to bring different audiences together.”

. . .

“It’s also about breaking down the wall between artist and audience,” Ms. Wertheim said. “We don’t want to pontificate from on high. We believe that everyone can make art.”