To continue my post about art museums/galleries doing interesting things to connect with their immediate and global communities, I’d like to point out an institution in Colorado (of all places). The Laboratory of Art and Ideas at Belmar (The Lab) will be opening in Denver in September. The brainchild of Adam Lerner and developer Mark Falcone, the Lab will serve as a unique cultural center for the Belmar district in Lakewood, CO (a suburb of Denver). Belmar is another contemporary living/shopping area or the sort that has been cropping up around the country over the last 15 years. However, Falcone realized that if he really wanted to create a community, he would need to include a cultural center (other than a multiplex). Thus began the Lab.

Since May 2004, the Lab has been bouncing around available store fronts in Belmar with an occasional locally-based show and some innovative programming. Series range from lectures on contemporary art based on discussions with Adam’s Aunt Miriam, to The School of Music Reform in which guest lecturers take different approaches to make the music of contemporary reformers accessible. I am particularly fond of the barbershop quartet singing Björk.

My favorite series is Mixed Taste where “there are two speakers. The first speaks for a half hour on one subject (e.g. T. S. Eliot). They tag. The second speaker discusses a completely unrelated subject (e.g. fresh meat sausage) for the next half hour. Then, there are questions and answers of both at the same time. During the initial talks, the speakers are not allowed to make connections between subjects. During question-and-answer, anything can happen.” What is great is not just that this is programming I would enjoy attending, it’s that a lot of people enjoy attending these lectures. According to Adam, they had to start putting a cap on the number of attendees because they were getting too many people showing up. And it’s not just amazing that people like attending the lectures, it’s that they pay and the Lab has had to implement a cap. For arts programming not located in a major art hub, that is pretty impressive.

Starting September 16, 2006, The Lab will open the doors of its new building designed by Hagy Belzberg of Belzberg Architects of Santa Monica. This will also be the opening day of its inaugural exhibition: Isaac Julienâ??s film installation Fantôme Afrique, co-commissioned with the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Ellipse Foundation in Portugal.

The greater Denver area seems to be experiencing a bit of an arts renaissance lately. Not only will the Lab be opening this year, but there is the new Daniel Liebeskind-designed wing of the Denver Art Museum scheduled to open in October of 2006; the Museum of Contemporary Art | Denver will be erecting a new museum designed by David Adjaye; the Clyfford Still Museum will open its doors in 2009 to house the estate of the abstract expressionist; and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is in the middle of an expansion/renovation and has opened the FAC Modern. Now all it needs it part of the Art Basel franchise to set up camp in Aspen. Who do we talk to about that?