Museums can struggle with the public's perception that they are stagnant, sterile and insular.
We work with museums to bring art outside through dynamic, large-scale, and temporary Tape Art installations
that draw visual attention to the buildings of the museum itself as well as the art within.
We can help museums reach populations that may not normally be able to engage, and redefine the
relationship between museums and the communities around them.
We work with museums to bring art outside through dynamic, large-scale, and temporary Tape Art installations
that draw visual attention to the buildings of the museum itself as well as the art within.
We can help museums reach populations that may not normally be able to engage, and redefine the
relationship between museums and the communities around them.
20 Years of WAM, Worcester Art Museum
Annual Art Allstate Murals
Since 1995 we have returned every year to the walls of the Worcester Art Museum to blur the boundaries between art, the museum and the public. These murals are timed to coincide with the award-winning Art Allstate program that hosts the best high-school art students in the state for an intensive studio experience. Traditionally we create the work over the course of a few days and remove the work at the conclusion of Art Allstate, allowing students, museum-goers and the general public to see the entirety of the collaborative art-making process and engage with the artists directly.
By making work annually on the same wall, the Tape Art mural at the Worcester Art Museum has become a regular opportunity for the museum to remind the public of its presence and that it is a living institution worth returning to again and again.
Since 1995 we have returned every year to the walls of the Worcester Art Museum to blur the boundaries between art, the museum and the public. These murals are timed to coincide with the award-winning Art Allstate program that hosts the best high-school art students in the state for an intensive studio experience. Traditionally we create the work over the course of a few days and remove the work at the conclusion of Art Allstate, allowing students, museum-goers and the general public to see the entirety of the collaborative art-making process and engage with the artists directly.
By making work annually on the same wall, the Tape Art mural at the Worcester Art Museum has become a regular opportunity for the museum to remind the public of its presence and that it is a living institution worth returning to again and again.
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Hygia (1996)
For the Hygia mural we turned the Worcester Art Museum inside-out, converting the 52,000 square foot exterior of the museum into a massive narrative that unfolded over the course of five weeks. The mural wraps the outside of the entire building and tells the story of the greek sculpture Hygia, from the museum's collection. It is depicted from the days of its original creation and follows the exciting narrative arch of many art objects - being subjected to trade, taken as bounty during war, subjected to shifts in religious attitudes, hijacked by new cultures and ultimately finding a new home 2000 years later in a museum in Worcester. 
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Buffalo Caverns, Albright-Knox Contemporary Art Gallery
"Tape Art’s goal is to "demystify art for the public and remove the air of intimidation that often surrounds gallery exhibitions." – Aaron Otte, The Buffalo News
Drawn on the exterior of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library in August 2014, this installation was commissioned by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. It was the first in a series of public art projects to be made throughout Buffalo, supported by the county-funded Public Art Initiative.
"Tape Art is one of the ways we are bringing public art to the community and letting people’s imaginations loose." - Albright-Knox Director Janne Sirén
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Since we were partnering with the Buffalo Public Library as the site for this mural, we focused the imagery on themes of discovery and exploration, transforming the long sloping retaining wall into a subterranean cave system.
At one end of the wall a group of explorers has gathered at the mouth of a cave, ready to dive into the darkness. They come from all walks of life and are given just one tool: a simple flashlight with which to navigate the unkown. They meander through rooms filled with sculpted rock formations, their strange surroundings revealed only in the circles cast by their lights. As they go deeper, the rocks crystallize. Water drips from the ceiling, feeding the koi-filled ponds, while bats swarm near the cave’s end. A rope ladder provides a daring exit and in the last room we find a curious collection: a heap of flashlights, left behind by other explorers. Still alight, they cast their beams on the walls of the cavern in a pattern of abutting circles, forming a rose window on the library’s exterior that could be seen from over a mile away. We created Buffalo Caverns over the course of six days. It remained up for one week, at the end of which we invited the public to join us in its removal. |
The large-scale Tape Art mural on the side of such a high-traffic wall was the perfect fit as the inaugural project of the public art initiative. In this case the temporary nature of the project made it a low-risk, big impact kick-off for the newly minted initiative. It also gave the initiative a valuable opportunity to make the people of Buffalo get excited about and miss art, creating momentum for their mission to make more public art happen in the greater Buffalo area.
Tape Art murals have the ability to reinvigorate a museum's relationship with a city, and bring awareness of the art inside the museum, outside the museum.
Tape Art murals have the ability to reinvigorate a museum's relationship with a city, and bring awareness of the art inside the museum, outside the museum.
