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Gran’s University with Kultivator. Last Chance, CO and Dyestad, Sweden
Gran’s University is an artwork inspired by Mrs. Vendana Shiva who in 2003 started the Grandmothers University in Navdanya, North India. The aim of the Grandmothers University is to both celebrate and validate the wisdom of our grandmothers, as well as transmitting this to future generations. Members of Kultivator and M12, motivated by…
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Prairie Module No. 3. Wormfarm Institute, Reedsburg, WI
Prairie Module No. 3 is sited outside of Reedsburg, WI and is being realized in collaboration with the Wormfarm Institute. This work continues our investigation of adaptive sculpture/architecture within the rural landscape. The sculptural work has been designed to have a dual existence; one as a sculptural object in the landscape followed…
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Campito. 13th International Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Campito is an urban intervention and social research project that includes a research portfolio and media documents for distribution. Parking spaces throughout the city of Denver were occupied during the Biennial of the Americas in 2010. The Campito project was selected for Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good…
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Action on the Plains. Eastern Colorado High Plains
Action on the Plains is an annual collaborative program developed by M12 to support experiential art-making activities on the Eastern Colorado High Plains. Guest artists are invited to work with M12 on conceptualizing and creating new work with citizens in and around Byers and Last Chance, Colorado. This team approach includes…
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The Black Hornet. I-76 Speedway, Fort Morgan, CO
The Black Hornet is a racecar developed by M12 to engage the regional landscape and community of the Eastern Colorado High Plains. The project is a performance event, a community and culture building strategy, and an audience engagement program. The Black Hornet functions as a racecar of course, but it also awakens discussions of how viewers might…
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The Living Space Preservation Society. Various Locations
Originally conceived in collaboration with the Center for Social Sculpture (Minneapolis, MN) in conjunction with our 2004 exhibition Open Forum, The Living Space Preservation Society carries on the legacy of the artist Joseph Beuys and his 7000 Oaks Project. Beuys’s project 7000 Oaks was begun in 1982 at Documenta 7, the large international…
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The Ornitarium. Spaced Biennial. Denmark Shire, Western Australia
M12 developed the Ornitarium project as part of IASKA’s International site-based Biennial, Spaced: Art Out of Place. The first in a series of ornithologically-based work, the Ornitarium is an architectural sculpture that is sited at the Wetlands Education Centre—operated by Green Skills—just outside of the Shire of Denmark, WA. This project has…
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Farmers and Ranchers. Wapke Feenstra & Deer Trail FFA. Deer Trail, CO
Farmers and Ranchers by Wapke Feenstra is an international knowledge exchange project between young Dutch farmers and Future Farmers of America students in Deer Trail, Colorado. This project is based on the importance of youth experiences in agriculture and how by sharing “local” knowledge these young farmers and ranchers…
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International School of Rural Experiences. Various locations
The International School of Rural Experiences is a field program operated by M12 out of the Feed Store facility in Byers, CO. Workshops, summer excursions, and lectures are made available for regional students and international residency opportunities are available for students visiting from abroad. Students may be traditional university students…
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Where There’s a Willys There’s a Way. Center for the Visual Arts, Toledo
Where There’s a Willys There’s a Way continues to explore our interest in rural and urban interconnectedness. This work was completed in Ohio, which is a wonderful case study when looking at models of rural and urban coexistence going into the future. During our excursions we were struck by the diversity in the Ohio landscape…
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Family Portraits with Jetsonorama. Turecek Farms, Byers, CO
Inspired by the community approach to graffiti culture, artist Jetsonorama collaborated with the Turecek Family of Byers, Colorado in 2011 to co-produce a series of wheatpastings installed on two Quonsets and one 50-ft grain bin on the Turecek farm. The imagery represents the history of the Turecek family, who have lived on-site since the 1930’s…
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The Experimental Site for Rural Creativity. Last Chance, CO
The Experimental Site for Rural Creativity is a site-specific project that has been envisioned to be a new cultural center and that will provide an invaluable interface for art and ideas that are directly inspired by the landscape and livelihood of the American High Plains. Our desire is to develop a vibrant and culturally diverse art community…
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Cooperative Ornithology. Perth, Western Australia
Cooperative Ornithology is an installation designed to compliment the site-based work Ornitarium completed in Denmark Shire in August of 2011. The visual presentation has been curated in partnership with master taxidermist Michael Buzza, Founder of the Museum of Natural History and the Academy of Taxidermy, and objects have been assembled…
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The BIG FEED: A Regional Social. Various Locations
The BIG FEED is an annual event and action held by M12. It is a celebration of the regional landscape, experimental art and architecture, food, music, culture and community. It is a forum to connect community members and artists in a casual atmosphere, as well as an opportunity for the larger public to learn more about the groundbreaking work…
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Prairie Modules No. 1 and 2. Indianapolis, IN
Designed as a sculptural space inspired by the prairie lands of the Midwest United States, the M12 Prairie Modules signal a transformation in global sustainable technology and public art making. Sited on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, the modules transform a pedestrian walkway into a visual transporter, representing components of the…
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Open Space. Yuma and Washington County, CO
Open Space is a flexible and transformative space that attempts to link social and natural environments. Designed and built in collaboration with two University of Colorado art students (Derek Grubaugh and Lindsay Kotovsky), and Vincent Family Farms, Open Space has been developed to support creative activities and experiential events that focus on people…
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Campito. Denver and the Western Slope, CO
Campito is an urban intervention and social research project that includes a research portfolio and media documents for distribution. Parking spaces throughout the city of Denver were occupied during the Biennial of the Americas in 2010. The Campito project was selected for Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good…
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M.I.K.E. Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
M.I.K.E. (Music Integrated Kiosk Environment) is located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin at the Kohler Arts Center. A commissioned project of the Connecting Communities Program, M.I.K.E. was completed in August of 2006 by the municipalWORKSHOP, an outrider to the M12 Collective. M.I.K.E. is an interdisciplinary, architectural…
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CA-1 (Carpenter Assist-1). Pasadena City College, CA
The CA-1 (Carpenter Assist-1) is a transforming electric powered utility vehicle that was completed during a 3-day workshop at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California by the municipalWORKSHOP, an outrider to the M12 Collective.The collective worked with four classes at the College of Visual Arts and Media Studies at PCC and focused the workshop…
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Autotour. Center for Land Use Interpretation, Wendover, UT
The Autotour Vehicle and Unit were completed during a residency at the Center for Land Use Interpretation by the municipalWORKSHOP, an outrider to the M12 Collective. The Autotour Vehicle is a 4-wheeled, 6 person pedal-driven vehicle. Designed to support a GPS guided media tour of the Wendover area, the vehicle is equipped with a small computer…
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C.L.U.I. Rover. Center for Land Use Interpretation, Wendover
In June of 2003, the municipalWORKSHOP, an outrider to the M12 Collective, traveled to Wendover, Utah to the Center for Land Use Interpretation to create the C.L.U.I. Rover. This project was created in collaboration with the art group SIMPARCH and their project Clean Livin’. Located on the South Base of Wendover Airfield, the C.L.U.I. Rover…
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Bicycle Shed. Coleman Center for Arts and Culture, York, AL
Bicycle Shed is a rehabilitation project completed on a failing, city-owned structure in York, Alabama created by the municipalWORKSHOP, an outrider to the M12 Collective. The structure’s main purpose is to house the utility NOW! vehicles that were created by the municipalWORKSHOP in 2003. This project involves a number of low-impact design…
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Utility NOW! Rural Studio and City of York, AL
The Utility NOW! Bicycle project, was initiated by Richard Saxton while in residence at the Rural Studio in 2002. The project began as a creative way to solve a current public works issue in the City of York (lack of transportation) and then evolved through the municipalWORKSHOP, an outrider to the M12 Collective, to become an…
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Open Forum. Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
This work was created as the title piece for the exhibition Open Forum. The municipalWORKSHOP, an outrider to the M12 Collective, along with other participants in the exhibition, lived in the environment they created to raise awareness about sustainability and interconnectivity. In collaboration with artist, Matthew Ulrich, a graywater…