Ginger Island is an uninhabited island in the Caribbean, part of the British Virgin Islands, where George Maciunas wanted to start a Fluxus artist colony and build a unique city. His plan was to buy the island and give pieces of land to Fluxus artists for development.

The Ginger Island Project

Amy Granat, Japanster, Sissel Kardel, Milan Knížák, George Maciunas, Jonas Mekas, Raz Mesinai, Lisa Oppenheim, Jeffrey Perkins, Michael David Quattlebaum Jr., Marina Rosenfeld, Flora Wiegmann

Red Egg: Nov. 11. Sound project & DJ sets, 11pm–2am
Emily Harvey Foundation: Nov. 12–26. Opening reception Nov. 12, 5–9pm; two performances
Storefront for Art & Architecture: Nov. 11–13. Closing reception Nov. 13, 6–10pm

Curated by Liutauras Psibilskis

Ginger Island is an uninhabited island in the Caribbean, part of the British Virgin Islands, where George Maciunas wanted to start a Fluxus artist colony and build a unique city. His plan was to buy the island and give pieces of land to Fluxus artists for development.

Together with friends such as artists Milan Knížák, Yoshi Wada, and actor Robert De Niro, Maciunas traveled to Ginger Island in 1969 to explore it before making the final decision about acquisition. This trip is surrounded by various legends and urban myths, involving encounters with the police and with poisonous trees growing on the island. The experience was rather traumatic; the visitors suffered from temporary blindness and swollen limbs. In the end, for a variety of reasons Maciunas never acquired the island and a Fluxus artist colony was never established there. The island is still uninhabited and the only visitors are fishermen and divers.

The Ginger Island Project includes an exhibition at the Emily Harvey Foundation of work by a group of artists that relates directly or indirectly to the Ginger Island trip, a film installation at the Storefront for Art and Architecture, and a sound project by Marina Rosenfeld at a pop-up venue in SoHo/Chinatown. In the project, Ginger Island becomes a metaphor for dreams, aspirations, blindness, visions, and creativity.


Red Egg
202 Centre Street
(At Howard Street)
Sound Project and DJ sets by Marina Rosenfeld. DJ sets by Raz Mesinai and Japanster
Friday, November 11, 11pm–2am

Emily Harvey Foundation
537 Broadway
(Between Spring Street & Prince Street)
Amy Granat, Sissel Kardel, Milan Knížák, George Maciunas, Jonas Mekas, Lisa Oppenheim, Jeffrey Perkins, Michael David Quattlebaum Jr.
Opening reception Saturday, November 12, 5–9pm
A performance by Michael David Quattlebaum Jr. at 7:30 pm and by Amy Granat with Flora Wiegmann at 8:30 pm
On view November 12–26. For an appointment call 917 319 0614

Storefront for Art and Architecture
97 Kenmare Street
(Between Cleveland Place & Mulberry Street)
Milan Knížák and Jonas Mekas
On view November 11–13, 11am–6pm
Closing reception Sunday, November 13, 6–10pm


Special thanks to Defne Ayas & Esa Nickle

Presented as part of Performa 11, the fourth edition of visual art performance biennial in New York City (November 1–21, 2011). Performa is a non-profit multidisciplinary arts organization established by RoseLee Goldberg in 2004 dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth-century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century.

*Marina Rosenfeld at Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane, Australia. September, 2011.
Photo: Bryan Spencer.