HISTORY
Fathomers was born from Grand Arts, the influential and storied project space in Kansas City, Mo., that quietly but radically tested the limits of institutional and artistic support for two decades. In helping more than 120 national and international artists realize projects considered too difficult, provocative or complex to attract funding and support otherwise, the gallery achieved insider fame and deep-seated respect as a bastion of generosity and risk.
As colleagues at Grand Arts, Fathomers’ principals partnered with scientists, engineers, designers, educators, activists and legal experts to produce some of the most provocative and far-reaching projects of the 21st century — amid ocean depths, at galaxy edges, in between and beyond — with artists including the Propeller Group, Stanya Kahn, Sissel Tolaas, Tavares Strachan, William Pope.L, and John Salvest.
Clockwise: The Propeller Group, process detail, The AK-47 vs. the M16, 2015. Fragments of AK-47 and M16 projectiles encased in ballistic gelatin. (photo: The Propeller Group) / Glenn Kaino, installation view, Tank, 2015. Corals (green star polyps, pulsing xenia, yellow polyps, acroporas, mushrooms, and sinularia), resin, rocks, water tanks, aquarium system management, and lights. (photo: E.G. Schempf) / Site research with Sissel Tolaas, 2011. (photo: Megan Mantia)
In 2015, Grand Arts closed its doors for good, but not before convening fifty artists, writers and scholars for a weekend of conversations that critically and casually explored practice, support and terms of engagement — discussions based in part on the essays commissioned for Problems and Provocations: Grand Arts 1995-2015. Intrigued by the possibilities of these texts and the debates they inspired, a handful of associates finally began considering GA 2.0.
That transition, that chance to be moved, ultimately took shape as Fathomers: the learning institution repurposed as a think tank, committed to co-conspiring in unscripted, unexpected, and slightly uncomfortable ways — and wholly motivated by the creative will to embrace adventure, nurture attachments and move on.
We were moved, and we moved on. Then we moved to California.
We brought with us the spirit and legacy of Grand Arts.
Peruse Grand Arts’ full archive here.
From left: John Salvest, installation process view, IOU/USA, 2011. Shipping containers, 59.5 x 120 x 140 ft. (photo: E.G. Schempf) / Cody Critcheloe/SSION, installation view, BOY, 2009. (photo: E.G. Schempf) / Anthony Baab, video still, A Strenuous Nonbeing, 2013. Live video feed, 180 min.