Mark Allen

California
Arts Professional
Artist in Residence, 2018

Artist Statement

I am an artist, educator, and curator based in Los Angeles. I was the founder and executive director of Machine Project, a nonprofit art space that produced more than fifteen hundred events between 2003 and 2018, including shows with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Hammer Museum at UCLA, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, the Walker Museum in Minneapolis, and the Tang Teaching Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York.

While at Headlands

While at Headlands I will be writing a case study of the closing of Machine Project, the nonprofit art organization I founded and ran from 2003 to 2018. My hope is to create a philosophical and practical guide for how to close an art space in a loving and deliberate fashion. I’m also planning to read some books and make some paintings.