James Franco's New Art Project: The Museum Of Non-Visible Art (VIDEO)

It may sound like an adaptation of "The Emperor's New Clothes" but James Franco's new art project with Praxis (Brainard and Delia Carey), a conceptual art duo from New York, is very real. The project is called the Museum of Non-Visible Art (MONA) and has people wondering if it's "either an example of subtle creativity, an extremely shallow con, or a hoax. "

On its Kickstarter campaign website, the project is described as:

As an extravaganza of imagination, a museum that reminds us that we live in two worlds: the physical world of sight and the non-visible world of thought. Composed entirely of ideas, the Non-Visible Museum redefines the concept of what is real. Although the artworks themselves are not visible, the descriptions open our eyes to a parallel world built of images and words. This world is not visible, but it is real, perhaps more real than the world of matter, and it is also for sale.

For potential patrons, Franco and Praxis warn you that: "When you contribute to this Kickstarter project, you are not buying a visible piece of art!" But they assure that your investment will be worthwhile due to the participatory nature of the project. Although buyers will not receive a painting or sculpture, they receive a description, and are free to do what they wish with this description:

You will receive a title card with a description of a piece of art, as well as a letter of authentication. You may mount this card on a blank wall in your home or gallery. What comes next is up to you! The artwork comes to life—and takes on full personal meaning—in your imagining and describing of it, both to yourself and to your visitors. You may also choose to sell the non-visible artwork to another collector, to exhibit it elsewhere, or to lend it back to Praxis when we take the Non-Visible Museum on tour.

Works for sale include (for a $25 pledge):

By James Franco - Film -Red Leaves - His imagined short film based on William Faulkner's short story "Red Leaves." It relates a story of the EARLY inhabitants of Faulkner's fictional Yoknapawtapha County. A stunning and beautifully conceived work of art. It is a portrait of a culture on the brink of destruction.

Check out all the works (or title cards) for sale here.

Watch a video of Franco and Praxis explaining the project below.

Comments

[Typhonator]

09:04 PM on 08/03/2011

I just don't see how that might be connected to the idea of selling ideas, Scott:

http://www­.jason-huf­f.com/proj­ect/bachma­nns-online­-auctions/

[The Real Scott Smith]

06:20 PM on 07/22/2011

Way to be original Franco.., NOT!
This whole concept is just a rip-off of my blog:
The "Quotable" Scott Smith
"Think of it as a comic strip, without all the distracting artwork." -Scott Smith
http://kickthosechickens.blogspot.com

[Typhonator]

02:36 PM on 08/03/2011

Still not seeing the quote...

[Jame Monroe]

10:06 AM on 07/21/2011

LOL "Franco endorses the project fully and even contributes his own imaginary art, costumes, sculptures, and films. Franco's "Red Leaves," an imagined short film based on William Faulkner's short story "Red Leaves," shown below, can be purchased from the website for a $25 pledge" Read here. Very funny. http://www.themortonreport.com/celebrity/notables/james-franco-and-the-museum-of-non-visible-art/

[Earlymodernmom]

08:21 AM on 06/24/2011

Maybe he didn't see it at RISD. Maybe he read Killing Critics by Carol O'Connell, 1996. Or maybe the oth dude did. Totally unoriginal.

[Typhonator]

03:20 PM on 06/24/2011

Well, considering he's been attending classes at RISD....I'm going say he got it from the students there (have you looked at the link? it's pretty clear). That said, I think you're also missing the bigger picture. There is NO WAY that this guy should be teaching at NYU if he's actively appropriating from fellow students. Similarly, the programs he's in should wise up.

[Lee Patrick Johnson]

08:17 PM on 06/21/2011

This is BULLSHIT. James Franco copied the below project. Check this out for details:
http://leepatrickjohnson.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/james-franco-plagiarized-risd-collaborative-project-2/

[Typhonator]

09:05 PM on 06/21/2011

Sadly, hardly surprising­. Franco has advertised hanging out with Richard Prince (Jack of Appropriat­ion, Master of Nothing). I hope the institutio­ns he's been attending finally start to wise up. Certainly NYU needs to reconsider letting this guy teach a class full of students who will be offering him their ideas for a grade....

[The Real Scott Smith]

06:20 PM on 07/22/2011

Well, they both ripped-off my blog; http://kickthosechickens.blogspot.com , so deal with it!

[Typhonator]

09:19 PM on 08/01/2011

Which quote, exactly?

[js1924]

05:16 PM on 06/21/2011

This was a project copied by Franco! It was done by a collaborative group of his classmates from digital media at RISD back in the fall. Maybe it is only called plagiarism if you aren't famous!

see here: http://www.jason-huff.com/project/bachmanns-online-auctions/

[Benjamin Peterson]

07:03 PM on 06/21/2011

http://www.beingbenpeterson.com/?p=68

[js1924]

12:50 AM on 06/22/2011

"The Conceptual Concept Marketplace is the newest line of services in the Bachmann’s arena. Bachmann’s recognized the need for this service due to the increasing realm of ‘conceptual art’ that has become a cerebral process for the artist. This marketplace uses the foundation of the Artistic Concepts but the sole purpose of the market is not to physically embody the idea but to hold on to the conceptual stage. This market is for the artist interested in purchasing ideas that go beyond the physicality of art and instead exist as conceptual form."

From his fellow RISD student's webpage about 10 months ago! Sound familiar?

[studioh!]

05:40 PM on 06/19/2011

spoken.word.

(spoken by me, apparently)

[ElBruce]

09:49 PM on 06/17/2011

Franco's getting a little too "precious" for me. I never thought he was terribly good as an actor. But if he's bringing attention to more avant-garde art forms, then so much the better.

Of course, the entire description of this project just makes me think "music? You're talking about music, right?" They might want to retool that a bit.

[Typhonator]

04:09 PM on 06/17/2011

Upon further reflection, this is simply bad theater. The "art" isn't invisible: it consists of performance instructions which exist in printed, visible form. What these really are are small, multiple-sentence plays which call for a good deal of improvisation by their actors but supply a large part of the instruction.

Here's the problem: every time anybody views artwork they imagine variations...to call those variations the product of the author of the art is to take credit where it isn't due. Franco, as an actor, should know this. He gets paid to turn plays and scripts into physical performances. ...Aimee, you got snookered. You should never PAY to be part of a collaboration. Either you bring valuable skills to the table, and both collaborators should make money, or else your a talentless hack trying to buy your way into the project.

[George77]

08:56 PM on 06/17/2011

Oh, Mr.Typonator honey I agree with you 100 percent. Oh, Aimee honey bless your little heart, just bless it honey. Why you know there are millions of little children starving to death honey in all kinds of poor countries honey and you already have some air honey. I just know if you had thought about it honey why you would have used all that money to help those starving little younguns and just made do with breathing air that's a little dirtier honey. We've all been doing it honey for years and years. Oh bless your little heart honey, I'm awfully afraid honey that Mr. Typhonator is right honey. You have been had. Oh, dear honey, bless your little heart. And shame shame on you Mr. Franco honey. Your momma shoulda taught you better than that honey. Deceivin all those people with that kind of nonsense honey. Why how in the world do you lay down at night honey and look up at God honey? Why He must be powerfully disappointed in you honey. Shame on you honey. Now try to do better honey.

[Seth Merriman]

05:33 PM on 06/28/2011

Wow I'm just going to assume, for your sake, that you included the word honey about 20 times for some sort of humorous or sarcastic reason. However if that isn't the case, I would suggest focusing more on spelling and grammar rather than making every other word "honey".

[NER2]

12:41 PM on 06/17/2011

Who is James Franco and who would be stupid enough to fall for this nonsense? Seriously. The Nigerian scammers have nothing on this guy.

[kahalaman]

04:28 AM on 06/17/2011

I wonder if you could sell real estate this way?

[Andrew Benson]

07:06 PM on 06/16/2011

This, like much of what Mr. Franco does, is all so 20th Century Art History class. In this case, a lesson in Yves Klein, ca. 1946. The problem with this isn't that it 'isn't art', but that it really isn't historically interesting or particularly challenging.

[George77]

04:47 PM on 06/16/2011

Aimiee--Oh my God Child, see a therapist for that honey. Mr. Franco should take his increasingly invisible talent and disappear. Let us just use our imaginations to conjure you up Mr. Franco honey. Really you have been way too visible for far too long honey. Time for some invisible tea on a remote invisible island somewhere in a place where throngs of invisible admirers will just think you are the cat's pajamas honey. Don't make me punch a puppy in the face honey. Poof. Go along now.

[onehundredjobs]

05:57 PM on 06/16/2011

Cultivating outrage and challenging belief systems is an art, honey.

[Typhonator]

06:31 PM on 06/16/2011

Haha. True enough, and yet, you've utterly failed. The whole country is in a massive recession and you blow $10k on the "idea" (which is really a small title card...the idea isn't even invisible) of being surrounded by fresh oxygen? You're obviously a mindless plutocrat... You've challenged nothing...you mindlessly fed into the popularity of the web and celebrity (all the rage these days). Further, you bought "work" from a person who has declared social media dead after his own ineptitude with using Twitter. Finally, you seem to think that spitting in the face of real artists is cultivating outrage... Utterly failed....

[George77]

07:29 PM on 06/16/2011

Oh Aimee honey I hope I didn't offend. That just wouldn't do at all honey. Why you just sound as sweet as pie honey and I wouldn't want you to worry yourself that I was being mean now honey, just a touch worried about you honey, that's all. You just help yourself to a big old bowl of outrage and let this nonsense just challenge the dickens out of your little belief system honey. And then, honey you just read a sweet little bedtime story honey and rest that weary little brilliant brain of yours honey. Try a few pages of The Emperor's New Clothes honey, always a favorite of my silver-haired grandma--God rest her soul honey.

[William Barry Roberts]

04:37 PM on 06/16/2011

....at some point, the "established art world" has to put their foot down and just say "no, this is just silly and not art"....the greater public has developed an absolute hatred toward art because of this exclusive club....this is not how art was for the last 1,000 years, and it cannot be sustained or continue. The non-artist public, is also the art purchasing public.....and they roll their eyes at the mere mention of 'contemporary art'. James Franco is not a visual artist. He's an actor. The reality is, not everyone can be an artist. Millions wish they could be a famous actor, but they cannot.

-Use the piles of garbage for recycling or for the landfill, do not present it as art....it has been done many, many times over, we get it.

-Always remember too, that most all successful artists could paint and draw with anatomical and three-dimensional preciseness since childhood....their latter exploits in abstract or conceptual areas were experiments testing the limits of artistic conventions.

-And lastly, being an artist is almost always replete with hardships. It is seldom a path worthy of envy. James Franco may "decide" to be an artist one day, and he may even be accepted by this art establishment, BUT history weeds out all the crap and leaves us with a product that shapes future societies.

[wesley kimler]

08:44 PM on 06/16/2011

"-Always remember too, that most all successful artists could paint and draw with anatomical and three-dimensional precisenes s since childhood. ...their latter exploits in abstract or conceptual areas were experiments testing the limits of artistic" .......your post is great -with the exception of this complete fallacy -Rembrandt for instance was always an indifferent daughtsman -as was Delacroix.....de Kooning was okay as a realist -but only okay -Picasso's anatomy/proportions are never correct- Cezanne? Van Gogh? -precise?

[onehundredjobs]

01:16 PM on 06/16/2011

My name is Aimee Davison. I purchased the highest priced work, "Fresh Air" from Franco's collection. Franco's "Non-Visible Art," enabled by the social media funding platform Kickstarter, embodies what I think can be termed "The Social Media Art Movement". The Social Media Art Movement is the use of new media to create and launch projects online, produce traditional and social media buzz, and establish cultural and economic value, principally by entertaining the public with a novel idea or narrative. I proudly invested in his initiative. http://www.onehundredjobs.ca/2011/06/rise-of-social-media-art.html

[wesley kimler]

01:32 PM on 06/16/2011

"My name is Aimee Davison. I purchased the highest priced work, "Fresh Air" from Franco's collection­."......kind of says it all doesn't it? Fresh Air Head.

[onehundredjobs]

01:50 PM on 06/16/2011

Companies buy culturally empty temporary billboard space all the time. Instead of investing in a highway eye sore, I chose to promote contemporary art and market myself through my patronage.

[js1924]

05:19 PM on 06/21/2011

You didn't buy originality. James Franco saw this done at RISD and decided to take the idea for himself. Apparently plagiarizing is OK when you're famous.