Adding another dot to the ‘i’ and crossing another ‘t’ to the ARTIST element in Denver, Denver Community Museum opened early this month with a mission: staying true to it’s name by rallying anyone and everyone to be creative and jump into the game. No minimum age limit or special skill needed. Just one’s imagination. Torching the snobby model of the hard-to-reach art world, the contents of the Denver Community Museum are filled only with submissions from Denver’s local community.
Switching it up every month, curator Jamie Kopke releases the Community Challenge, the museum’s open call for participation in the next project, which is now called Mummify Me.
“I try to create community challenges that are open to interpretation and are also low-cost for people to make,” explains Kopke. “For each challenge a visitor will encounter a room full of the same thing (in this case mummies – right now the exhibit is globes), but the interpretations will vary wildly. Also, the most interesting aspect of the museum so far has been the stories that people share along with their artifact.”
According to Kopke, mummies are one of the popular draws for museums worldwide. As opposed to seeing Egyptians from hundreds of years ago, visitors will be able to enjoy a wide variety of items from our current day. The curator himself is also looking forward to this challenge. “I think of room full of wrapped objects will be beautiful, but it will be more exciting to see what people choose and why.”
The current call for submission takes place Friday, October 24th, Saturday, October 25th or Saturday, November 1 from 12-5 PM. Participants will be required to sign a waiver form to enter their work. Since this is an “institution with an expiration date,” a pop-up gallery that will only be around for less than one year, it’s time to take advantage now.
The Denver Community Museum is a not-for-profit project, is free and open to the public. It is located at 1610 Little Raven St., Suite 120, Denver CO 80202.
