Regular readers of 3 Quarks Daily already know about the Flux Factory. This is an art collective based in Queens in New York City headed by Morgan Meis, who is also an editor and writer at 3QD. [I am on the advisory board of the Flux Factory.] Flux has put on some great shows in 2005 and it received an immense amount of attention for its show, Novel, including articles in, and even an editorial on the main editorial page of, the New York Times.
Here are some of the things we’ve had on 3QD about Flux Factory in the past:
3 Quarks editor Morgan Meis and the arts collective he heads in Queens, the Flux Factory, are included in an article in this past Sunday’s London Times [that’s Morgan and his wife Stefany, also a Fluxer, in the picture]:
Founded in 1994, Flux is pretty advanced for a collective. It now has its own exhibition space, library, recording studio, computer lab, darkroom and bedrooms for artists in residence. There is even a board, presided over by the writer and philosopher Morgan Meis, 32. His wife, the musician and artist Stefany Goldberg, is the executive director. Then there is a vice-president — Jason Brown, a graphic designer — and a treasurer — the illustrator Aya Kakeda. “We’re pretty organised now and starting to hit the big time,” says Meis. Not that it was always like this. “We f***ed it up for years. We were a group of writers, philosophers, artists and musicians in our early twenties who just wanted a space to be creative together. We had no idea how to structure it, who was to do dishes, who was having a mental breakdown. It was a lot of fun, but it was also a nightmare.”
More here. [Go to page 2.]
And this:
Julie Salamon in the New York Times:
On Saturday night, in front of 200 onlookers, Ms. Stone and two other novelists, ensconced in neighboring pods, embarked on a variation of the spectator sports made familiar by reality television. Ms. Stone, Ranbir Sidhu and Grant Bailie are the participants in “Novel: A Living Installation” at the Flux Factory, an artists’ collective in Long Island City. The goal is for each to complete a novel by June 4. The purpose is to consider the private and public aspects of writing.
Read the rest of the article, and also see a nice slide show, here. And there is more by Jeremy Olshan in the New York Post (registration required):
Cervantes penned most of “Don Quixote” in the pen. Dostoevsky found inspiration in incarceration.
In the tradition of those literary inmates, three novelists locked themselves in a Queens art gallery Saturday, with a self-imposed sentence of 30 days and 75,000 words — give or take a few paragraphs off for good behavior.
Grant Bailie, Laurie Stone and Ranbir Sidhu must complete an entire novel each, while being confined to individual “habitats” — a k a artsy cells — in the Flux Factory in Long Island City
Continue reading here. There’s also a piece in The Village Voice here.
There is also this great piece by Timothy Don about the Novel show:
At 9pm on May 7th, 2005, in an art space in Queens, New York City, three novelists were enclosed within three individual habitats designed and constructed by three teams of architects/artists. For the past twenty-one days, this has been their reality. They are not allowed to leave the building and they are granted ninety minutes of free time each day, for which they must punch a time clock to gain. In seven days time, they are to emerge from their habitats having completed a novel. The name of this conceptual art project, created and hosted by Flux Factory, is Novel: A Living Installation.
Read the rest of Timothy’s piece here.
We at 3 Quarks have always had a sort of “sister organization” relationship with Flux, and our 1st Anniversary Ball was held at the Flux Factory and would not have been so successful without an immense amount of help from all the talented artists there. Flux has a great lineup of major new shows for 2006, including Repeat After Me, later in January, and FluxBox, coming in March.
Like all arts organizations, Flux has the tough job of raising funds for their projects. Although they have several grants from various organizations, they need to do more to keep producing the high quality projects and shows that they have become know for. And it is as part of this effort that they are holding the Flux Factory Auction and Gala 2006. Various well-known artists have donated works which will be auctioned to raise money for Flux. If you click on the link for the gala, you can also just buy some of the works from their online gallery (go have a look). This is what they say at their site:
This February 4th, 2006 the venerable Lennon, Weinberg gallery in Chelsea will be hosting Flux Factory’s first-ever Benefit Auction! Auction proceeds will go directly to our 2006 programming. Flux Factory infrastructure, and the Flux dream of collective/collaborative art. And let me tell you, we have some really great shows coming up. This is a wonderful opportunity to purchase works from the likes of artists such as Sol LeWitt, Royal Art Lodge, Corey Arcangel, Ian Burns, and Stephen Westfall while hobnobbing over delicious hors d’oeuvres, glancing at people more attractive than yourself, drinking free hooch, and most importantly, supporting your favorite little art collective in Queens.
So go to their site and buy some art, and if you are in NYC on February 4th, come to the auction at the Lennon, Weinberg gallery. Tickets are available here. Help Flux!