From Brewery to Venice Beach: Documenting a Collaboration Practice

Kristine Schomaker
Apr 8
2 min read

Hi everyone,

LA Art Documents just released two videos documenting my work at Startup Art Fair and I wanted to share them with you.

Perceive Me https://vimeo.com/1180700400/0a2bc6f256

Jason Jenn and Vojislav Radovanović captured the whole installation - the salon-style walls filled with 100+ collaborative portraits, the live nude portrait sessions happening in real time, people choosing vulnerability and experiencing body liberation firsthand. Jason has been documenting Perceive Me since the beginning. He gets what we're building - not just portraits but actual infrastructure for transformation.

Call and Response https://youtu.be/l2mhnsq6M4o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2mhnsq6M4o

This video shows something I don't talk about enough: collaboration itself is my art practice.

For the past five years, I've been creating Call and Response - a global collaborative art program that randomly pairs artists across disciplines and countries to create work together. No applications. No gatekeeping. No barriers. Just trust, vulnerability, and the belief that artists are stronger together.

At Startup Art Fair, we brought 90 collaborative books into physical space for the first time - works created by 190 artists across six continents. The exhibition became another collaboration, with visitors contributing to our Exquisite Corpse drawing table, creating zine pages with strangers.

This is social practice. This is my medium.

I create the infrastructure that allows artists to connect. I build the systems that remove institutional barriers. I facilitate the conditions for collaboration to flourish. And then I step back and watch artists create something neither could make alone.

To date, Call and Response has connected 500+ artists across 20+ rounds. Every pairing is random. Every collaboration is an act of trust. Every finished work is proof that when we remove gatekeepers and create space for connection, extraordinary things happen.

When people ask what kind of art I make, they're usually waiting for me to say "painter" or "sculptor" or "photographer."

But my art practice is connection itself. Collaboration isn't a compromise - it's a catalyst.

Both of these projects - Perceive Me and Call and Response - are about the same thing: creating systems where transformation becomes possible. Where bodies get seen without shame. Where artists connect across continents. Where vulnerability becomes power.

And you can see both projects in person at Brewery Artwalk, April 25-26, 11am-6pm. Come to my studio (#3) and experience the work firsthand.