Founded | 1994 |
---|---|
Type | Performing arts collective |
Focus | Performing and visual arts |
Location | |
Origins | Lower East Side, New York City, U.S. |
Area served
|
New York City, U.S. |
Members
|
8-15 (typical) |
Endowment | Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, private donors |
Website | http://www.weird.org |
Collective:Unconscious is a non-profit (501(c)(3)) corporation, founded in New York City in 1993, and incorporated in 1995. Originally based on Ave. B in Alphabet City, it moved to Ludlow Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side, in 2004 it relocated to Tribeca until July 2008.
Collective:Unconscious has had a notable effect on New York City's downtown culture, society, and entertainment, and has been recognized in the way of financial support by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, partial support from a 2001 Absolut Angel grant for art and technology, and a formal permanent position in the New York University Elmer Holmes Bobst Library special Fales Library Downtown Collection.
A nearby performance art space in the East Village was known as Gargoyle Mechanique (Laboratory), Collective: Unconscious, and Unconscious Collective, and while some overlap between these organizations exists, they have no official affiliation with Collective:Unconscious or Collective:Unconscious Corporation.
Collective: Unconscious started when a group of performance and visual artists took over the lease at 28 Avenue B from the performance group Gargoyle Mechanique Laboratory in 1991. Miklos Legrady, Caterina Bartha, Patrick Daniels, Jamie Mereness, Mark Sonderskov, Bob Berger and Dan Green formed the original Board of Directors, while an eccentric HIV survivor named Spinner was court jester. The logo was by remaining Gargoyle-era resident Legrady, while the performance psychology behind the Collective: Unconscious came from new residents Green, Berger, Sonderskov and Daniels, and West Village resident Mereness. The space consisted of a storefront theatre capable of seating 75, with living spaces for members in the back and basement. In 1994 a fire at 28 Avenue B destroyed the space. The Collective members moved to Ludlow Street and reorganized as the Collective:Unconscious Theater.