As part of CITYWIDE, Vox Populi will present a collaborative project by its members, Fort Thunder Attaks…Again!, at Space 1026. This exhibition and series of programs was conceived of by a group of Vox Populi’s member artists as a re-working of a 1998 exhibition presented at Space 1026 by the Providence-based collective Fort Thunder. Vox Populi proposed re-creating an exhibition from Space 1026’s archive they felt “defined them,” and Space 1026 chose Fort Thunder Attaks!.
ARTISTS
Gary (Gay-Wee), Dick Moccasin, j-pëgg, Snuggleuptogus, Mixed White, Sam-E, Lentls, Hannibal Saint Clarice, no-name, and Pudgie
In the past months, Vox members have contacted members from Fort Thunder and Space 1026 who participated in the original exhibition. In addition to speaking with artists, Vox members researched archives online, which resulted in a somewhat disjointed perception of events and histories. Since Fort Thunder existed at a moment when artist spaces began relying more on online documentation and less on printed material, the majority of resources gathered online replicated surfing the Internet from the late 90’s: searching chat rooms, comic reviews, PDFs, youtube and the WayBack Machine Internet Archive. Members uploaded both inspirational and factual images related to Fort Thunder on ftthundy.tumblr.com, which aided in the production of the installation at Space 1026. Vox’s recreation of the exhibition emulates the spirit of both Space 1026 and Fort Thunder while posing questions about history and memory, individual versus collective activity. From the beginning, Vox’s exhibition mimicked Fort Thunder’s philosophy that the individual artist was no longer present, egos were minimized, and aesthetics were unified under a collective identity.
Fort Thunder was an artist collective working out of a warehouse in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island, much like Philadelphia’s own rapidly developing neighborhoods. From 1995 through 2001, Fort Thunder artists produced comics, comic tabloids (Paper Rodeo), screenprints, and bands (Lightning Bolt and Forcefield), and hosted events within the same vein. Fort Thunder gained international recognition when members from Forcefield participated in the 2002 Whitney Biennial. Space 1026, a Philadelphia-based collective and Fort Thunder regularly collaborated and exchanged programming throughout the 1990s.
The 1998 exhibition at Space 1026 was their first exchange exhibition and featured work that reflected Fort Thunder’s usual maximalist, comic and skateboard-inspired aesthetic. Space 1026 was transformed into a funhouse featuring a mannequin with a violin dressed in a neon, patterned, camouflage-like mash-up of fabrics, a huge see-saw, and walls plastered with posters and comic art.
