This project will only be funded if at least $9,500 is pledged by .
Help THNK1994 Museum bring exhibit "The Olsen Twins Hiding From the Paparazzi" + Rent Storefront + Print Magazine + Host Many Events!
About this project
Hi!
We're Matt and Viviana.
Last year, after watching the ESPN Documentary The Price of Gold by Nanette Burstein on Netflix, we were so inspired by the story of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan that we did a Kickstarter to raise enough money to blow up photos of them and put them in our long and unused apartment hallway, creating, what we hoped, to be a very real museum. Luckily, we were not the only one's who felt a need for this museum, and with the help of the internet we made it a reality! (Watch the official tour video here!)
We have been running it since April of last year. We've met some of the coolest internet strangers, collected some of the most amazing art (and artifacts!), and best of all we never have to leave the house.
It's important for museums to feature new artists and work that discusses important cultural events. This is how Museum's "keep it fresh." We are a museum.
This brings us to our next planned exhibit. On Black Friday, November 27, 2015 Mary Kate Olsen married Olivier Sarkozy. Two days later, it was reported that the wedding featured "bowls and bowls filled with cigarettes." The world gasped. Beauty was reborn. True Celebrity came back to life.
Really? A Whole Exhibit Just For The Olsen Twins?
The Olsen Twins are True Celebrities. Highly unrelatable. They have bowls (and bowls) of cigarettes at their weddings. Very chic. They answered fans calls for them to appear on Fuller House with a gently whispered "what is that?" On all red carpets, they dress so that, if they needed to, they could do the Iditarod Race right after. They own a fashion empire. This includes The Row. A lot of people joke about how expensive the clothes are but have you seen them? They are stunning. Take a look at the Ethel Long Tunic Sweater. It's a sweater that literally goes all the way to the floor. Every item in the collection tells a story. A story we could never afford, but one that is very fun to read about online.
Thrust in front of the camera before they could make a choice, the Olsen Twins have been a national brand since they were babies. We envied them, revered them, we gazed upon them. As adults they are now badass business women who facilitate their lives to be as inaccessible as possible. In a world of "I trip at the Oscars, I'm JUST like YOU.", they hide in towers we can only assume don't exist on any maps.
Laura is a Chicago based artist whose drawing of Tonya can be seen in our permanent collection. Her series of paintings entitled "The Olsen Twins Hiding From The Paparazzi" is, like, mind-blowing. It is very, very real art. In the paintings the subjects hide their face from us behind various objects, including bags, Starbuck's cups, their hair, even a Blackberry.
Laura's paintings tell the story of how, using a patented system of approximately 700 lbs of beautiful clothes, strategically high collars, face sized bags, and tiny house sized sunglasses, the Olsen's are able to hide themselves from unwanted photographers. In fact, you can never be sure a photo of an Olsen is actually an Olsen. It could just be a showroom rack of unattainable clothes rolling down the sidewalk. This level of beauty is present in each and every one of Laura's paintings. For example:
As you can tell by now this is a very important cultural exhibit.
When we saw Laura post images of her very important art we were shocked that it wasn't in a museum! Then we realized, "DUH! We have a Museum!"
The only problem is that our apartment museum has run out of space (and we've put our neighbor's through a lot this year) and right now we can only do tours by appointment only. For this very special exhibit the THNK1994 Museum would like to rent a vacant storefront and put up a pop-up exhibition for two weeks in April where anyone can come in anytime!
We also want to create an experience that delights your every sense. We will play relevant music (Lady Gaga's Paparazzi and songs from the Housewives canon), have a private live-streaming confessional booth, a photo station with lots of props to hide your face, and there are talks about obtaining a strobe light.
For our permanent collection we acquired art from around the country, and we will be accepting submissions for this exhibit as well! Such as sculptures of Venti Starbuck's cups, hand knit Shawls with cigarette holes burnt in, or maybe something like, twin related? Twins are very art.
Since we will have access for the first time to a space with more than two chairs (our apartment museum only has two chairs - we max out at 10 people before it starts getting weird) we want to utilize it! Therefore we will also host a variety of relevant cultural programs for the public that fit under the umbrella of the exhibit (and also stuff that sounds fun), including, but not limited to:
Past Life Regression Seminar Celebrities LOVE past life regression. We found a website that shows you how to do it, it hasn't "worked" as of yet, but we get better everyday, Shannon Beador of Real Housewives of Orange County claims she saved a nation in her past life and then got free jewel fragments put in her teeth in this life for it. This is true. We can't guarantee this will happen at the seminar.. but what if it did?
Real Housewives Symposium A curated collection of clips and a moderated panel discussion featuring self-described experts from each branch of the Housewives tree. Topics will range from why Phaedra Parks should be President of the Galaxy to a dissection of the powerful Lars Von Trier-esque saga that is Yolanda Foster's illness. Special section on who exactly Brooks Ayers thinks he is.
Reading Series - Spotlight on Fan Fiction: Including a reading of our screenplay based on the post 9/11 road trip that Michael Jackson, Liz Taylor and Marlon Brando took in a rental car. You may have heard that British Television is making a version of this but we wrote a screenplay about it last year and really captured their essence. Our version features not one but TWO gay sex scenes and a large amount of references to Working Girl. Series will also include an erotic fan fiction forum.
Sia-Cycle As a celebrity you have to be on the cutting edge of fitness even when you refuse to let anyone see your face. We'll host an all Sia Soul-Cycle class. We are in no way affiliated with modern pop phenom Sia OR Soul Cycle. We also don't have any way of getting exercise bikes, we WILL, however, get a choreographer to come and teach us all dance moves that look like you're on a bike. She will also compliment you as if you are on a bike. Basically, if we all agree that we "see" bikes, and "feel" bikes, there will be bikes?
And More!
We know what you're thinking, $9,500 is way more than your last goal of $75.
Museums are very expensive and for this exhibit we want to facilitate as much free public access as possible!
We are raising these funds to:
1). Ship the Art from Chicago and back (this is like, very expensive)
2). Rent a storefront where anyone and everyone can come in for free and be exposed to all the culture. We'll have La Croix for refreshments, last year we only drank Diet Coke, but that is so 2015, NOW WE DRINK LA CROIX.
3). Throw a Museum Gala with a Ted-like talk, performances, (The mysterious Pat Dry, who never shows her face is already confirmed!) and cupcakes from Cupka'ak Bar and lots of art and stuff. We throw a "Killer Party". We will invite the Olsen's but it feels off brand for them to come.
4). Host the many cultural events.
5). Build a large scale sculpture of what we hope a table at Mary Kate's wedding looked like, including bowls and bowls of cigarettes, black orchids, and a button that you can press that doesn't seem to do anything but then 45 seconds later you hear someone scream in the distance. You know, celebrity stuff!
6). Print The Official THNK1994 Museum Exhibit Magazine as well as totes and buttons. (See Rewards)
7). Fly the artist Laura Collins in for the opening! You guys are gonna love her, she's very fun and makes cool art and we are pretty psyched she's trusting us with it.
8). Strobe Light
STRETCH GOALS:
If we raise 15k we will keep the pop-up Museum open for a full month!
If we raise 25k we will open the THNK1994 museum in a storefront for a year and we'll bring lots of different exhibits and stuff in!
Risks and challenges
Honestly we already picked out the strobe light so we don't anticipate any issues.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.