The Reverse Ark is a project first instigated in 2007 at Pasadena City College. The legacy of this performative research lives on in Baltimore, Maryland at the Contemporary Museum.

Using the location of the museum as a starting point for connecting to the history and currents of the city, local materials were collected to unfold a constellation of stories.

This material guided the context of several workshops, lectures, readings, performances and the sculptural environment of the gallery; floorboards collected from abandoned rowhouses became oars inserted into the gallery walls turning the gallery into a galley, discarded paper rolls from the Baltimore Sun were stitched together to create an oversized sheet of paper for Pedestrian Press, (an oversized newspaper made using typographic shoes made from fallen trees)and a giant loom was made from disarded fabric from the textile industry doubling as the Reverse Ark’s sail.

Many thanks to: Irene Hoffman, Dan Allende, Rachel Lowing, Johnny Rogers, David Elliot, Sandy, and Red Emmas.

The Reverse Readymade
Marcel Duchamp once referred to a "reverse readymade" stating that the "readymade" is a utilitarian object transformed into a work of art–a urinal into a sculpture and that a "reverse readymade" is a work of art transformed into a utilitarian object. For example, using a Rembrandt as an ironing board.

The Reverse Ark Schoolhouse

After the opening of the exhibition in March 2009, students from the Maryland Institute College of Art continued the workshops and events: The Reverse Ark Schoolhouse.
Saturday afternoon free workshops, readings, and film screenings hosted by MICA students.

link: http://reversearkschool.blogspot.com