In the iconic art town of Marfa, Texas, where Rule has its second destination, art is seen as more of an experience. This innovative approach served as inspiration for Rule’s next venture in Denver: satellite exhibitions. “We think that there's better ways for us to have our artists' work be experienced by the world,” Beitz explains as she begins to outline Rule’s future.
Imagine this: an environmental art exhibition that takes place in the natural habitat of the Rocky Mountains, with art pieces placed along streams and among natural grasses — a future gallery Rule is planning with artist Amy Hoagland in late June. Or picture seeing the retro-futuristic work of Nathan Abels in the Newhouse Hotel. Nathan Abels’ exhibition has already come to fruition as a successful test run for these types of exhibitions and a promising example of what more Rule has to offer.
Nathan Abels' Machine Dreams installation view at Rule's one-day satellite exhibition at Newhouse Hotel.
Amy Hoagland
Instead of a brick-and-mortar gallery exhibit that runs for weeks, Rule imagines a new kind of art experience playing out over just one weekend. With a new generation coming into the art world seeking out exciting and unique experiences, Rule’s response to this emerging need is just that.
“We've seen people change. They walk in, and if there isn't something experiential, it doesn't necessarily grab them,” Beitz shares as she gestures at the perfect rows of framed polaroids, all containing UFOs, as part of a collaboration with artist El Disco. “And that's what contemporary art is supposed to be. It's supposed to be at the forefront. It's supposed to be the thing that finds the next big thing and gives it to people.”
Beitz adds that the plan is to allow the art and the artist to dictate the space in which their work is shown, bringing unheard-of immersive experiences to the minds of the creators and the intent of their work. Beitz believes that this “marrying of the artist's intent with the location” will allow for a new way for audiences to experience art.
Expanding on the terminology and ethos of this project, Beitz adds, “Satellites connect people, right? That's the whole idea — satellites are up there, and they're sending data all over the world.”
As with most things at Rule Gallery, this idea traces back to Robin Rule, the founder of Rule Gallery, and her infatuation with Marfa after she pioneered a famous pop-up gallery there. Rule was never able to visit Marfa again before she passed away in 2013; before Beitz and her colleagues decided to continue the gallery, they traveled to Marfa in Rule's memory and fell in love, just as she did, with the isolated art town.
“The shops, the galleries, everything's kind of open when it wants to be… it's this adventure place,” Beitz says. Beitz and her colleagues were able to reflect this sense of adventure and engagement with the Marfa gallery they soon established, where work is presented throughout a seemingly ordinary house: in the kitchen, on the bed and even in the bathroom.
The shift from Rule’s conventional gallery to satellite exhibitions is inspired by what this creative endeavor in Marfa has shown is possible. “We've really enjoyed having these deeper conversations with folks,” Beitz says, “because it's part of an adventure versus just walking into something, and it's clean white walls.”
When she established the gallery, Rule was trying to open people’s minds to contemporary art. “We wanted to honor her, but not by copying her — by growing her legacy and becoming whatever the contemporary art world wanted at the time,” Beitz says. From experimental works like having a mechanical broom constantly push sand from one side of the gallery to another, and now as they work on the future with satellite exhibitions, Rule is constantly evolving.
Rule’s satellite exhibitions are just another chapter of the gallery's influence in pushing the boundaries of art and continuing its legacy of being a force in Denver’s evolving contemporary art scene.
Check Rule Gallery's website and Instagram, @rulegallery, for more information about its upcoming plans and satellite exhibitions.
