Sponge HQ, home to the Sponge project and the experimental Colablablab curriculum, was an interdisciplinary lab, workshop, classroom and project space installed at the VCUarts Anderson Gallery in Richmond, VA.

Professor Hope Ginsburg’s Sponge HQ, an interdisciplinary workshop, project space, and classroom, supplies an excellent model that brought extra vitality to the gallery once it took up residence on our top floor in 2009. As the ever-inventive Richard Carlyon underscores in his video, A Saying of Sorts (2001), quoting the painter Kenzo Okado: “Any activity that releases art from its exclusive history in order to discover it everywhere is worthy of serious attention.”  –Ashley Kistler, “Roundup: Taking Stock of a Long History and the Anderson Gallery’s Final Years” from Anderson Gallery: 45 Years of Art on the Edge, 2016.

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Sponge HQ windowsill in 2016, with works by Colleen Billing, Hope Ginsburg, and Hyunji Lee
Photo by Mark Olsen of The Art Assignment
Left to Right: Jasmine Calvert, Lindsay Clements, and Jessica Carey working on a felt wetsuit in Spring 2014 for "Thirst" at Proteus Gowanus
"The Bees Would Like to Know You", Sponge HQ indoor bee yard in Summer 2011
Photo by Terry Brown
Photo by Terry Brown
Hexagonal
Sound
Produced for the opening of the Sponge HQ by Joshua Quarles. Sounds from Max Goldfarb's bees in Hudson, NY are part of the score.
Photo by Terry Brown
Photo by Terry Brown
Sponge HQ tank in Spring 2016
Photo by Mark Olsen of The Art Assignment
Photo by Terry Brown
Wayfinding design
Sponge HQ Library, Spring 2016
Photo by Mark Olsen of The Art Assignment
Sponge HQ Library, Spring 2016
Photo by Mark Olsen of The Art Assignment
Poster by Riley Duncan
"Weather Mass Movement" a project by visiting artists SP Weather Station.
Photo by Heidi Neilson
"Weather Mass Movement" a project by visiting artists SP Weather Station. Lecture and pancake breakfast.
"Weather Mass Movement" a project by visiting artists SP Weather Station. Lecture and pancake breakfast.
"Weather Mass Movement" a project by visiting artists SP Weather Station. Lecture and pancake breakfast.
Colablablab II night with visiting lotus experts Kelly Billing and Paula Biles.
Sponge HQ opening, August, 2010.
Photo by Jay Paul
Sponge HQ opening, August, 2010.
Photo by Terry Brown
Sponge HQ opening, August, 2010.
Photo by Terry Brown
Sponge HQ opening, August, 2010.
Photo by Terry Brown
Sponge HQ opening, August, 2010.
Photo by Terry Brown
Sponge HQ opening, August, 2010.
Photo by Terry Brown
Sponge HQ opening, August, 2010.
Photo by Terry Brown
Sponge HQ indoor bee yard, Spring 2016
Photo by Mark Olsen of The Art Assignment
Artist folio for the book "Anderson Gallery: 45 Years of Art on the Edge", 2016
Artist folio for the book "Anderson Gallery: 45 Years of Art on the Edge", 2016
Artist folio for the book "Anderson Gallery: 45 Years of Art on the Edge", 2016
Artist folio for the book "Anderson Gallery: 45 Years of Art on the Edge", 2016