The Vendart Project
Summer of 2003 to present
Toronto
Vendart is an alternative system of disseminating art and ideas within the public sphere. There is no censorship, and no filtration; it is an uninterrupted flow of information intended on making the public aware of the amount of creativity out in the world. Vendart is building an active community that is willing to participate in the above mention goals and creating strong lines of communication between people on various topics in order to propel society forward. The Vendart Units are sculptural playgrounds, making art fun and accessible to the general public. Art and ideas can appear within a public space anywhere, at anytime because of the portable nature of the art display systems.
Current Contact Info:
Andrzej Tarasiuk, Director
andrzej@vendart.org
Alvaro Gonzalez, Website
alvaro@vendart.org
Markus Mazurek, Design
markus@vendart.org
Anja Capel, Public Relations
anja@vendart.org
Maria Pantow, Advertising/Promo
sonati@vendart.org
Kevin Moore, Archives
kevin@vendart.org
How the Project Started:
Lukasz Orwinski approached me (Andrzej Tarasiuk) with the Vendart idea during the summer of 2003 while we were bussing, ferrying, hitchhiking from Toronto to Halifax and back in 8 days. Together a couple of weeks later along with Travis Gledhill we started the Vendart project with its first installation in Nevada during the Burning Man Festival.
Artists, Curators, Collaborators, Conspirators:
The project is opened for any one willing to participate. So far over 70 people have contributed work to the Vendart project.
We come to collaborate with people through collecting emails, and approaching people directly whom we felt would help propel the project foreword (like the Mayor of Toronto), poster campaigns, word of mouth. When people see the pink exchange unit they check out the website and if its something they like, they get in touch with us.
Audience, Reactions, Anecdotes, Stories:
During our 3rd time in NYC we were doing one of our perpetual-motion performance installations in Central Park during Christo & Jeanne-Claude's installation of "the Gates". A police car pulled up and asked us to stop. They were called by someone in the park who told them that a group of 'students' was selling beer out of a pink refrigerator. When we opened the unit so that the officers could see all the art work that was inside, they told us to continue because they liked what we were doing.View All Other:
Everday Containers
Vendart at OCAD
Vendart at Central Park
Vendart at the AGO
