Group Material (Firm : New York, N.Y.)

"Group Material was founded by a number of artists who sought a collaborative practice in which they could fuse their interests in art and politics. The original thirteen members included Tim Rollins, Patrick Brennan, Julie Ault, Mundy McLaughlin, Marybeth Nelson, and Beth Jaker. In 1980 and 1981 Group Material operated a storefront exhibition space on East Thirteenth Street, where it staged a series of shows focused on social themes.

After 1981 the group shrunk to three members and chose not to maintain its own space but instead to create installations in existing venues (alternative art spaces, university galleries, and museums) and multiform projects in public (primarily through interventions using public advertising spaces). Doug Ashford joined the group in 1982, Felix Gonzalez-Torres in 1987, Karen Ramspacher in 1989, and Thomas Eggerer and Jochen Klein in 1995. Group Material's dense installations were typically thematic and combined fine art in various media and styles, mass-produced items, and artifacts to form designed environments. These exhibitions were concerned with topical issues or debates in culture and politics and were institution- or site-dependent, such as “Subculture” on the IRT subway trains in 1982; "Democracy" at the Dia Art Foundation in 1988; and "AIDS Timeline" at the University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley, in 1989. Group Material ceased its activities in 1996."

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