Let me stop you right here.

I’ve left things a bit vague and mysterious in terms of documentation on purpose, so that people can enjoy a bit of surprise. As the saying goes: expectations are per-meditated disappointments.

So, feel free to back up and quit reading the rest of this page.

But, I ALSO know folks don’t always want to walk into things blindly, so I’ll give you a bit on my perspective - which I hope will serve as a satisfying substitution for actual details.

Here goes…

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Mark Krawczuk creates events and installations that dismantle the distinction between spectator and spectacle. He produces interactive installations and performances that convey the emotional reality of a communal, illicit activity in a way that binds the audience and the event together. Shared discovery, tension, and spontaneous action help participants enter alternative cognitive and emotional frameworks of social interaction.

Themes such as collaboration versus competition, trust versus risk, respect and hospitality, and cultivation versus control emerge from a meticulous scaffolding of cascading events.

The heart of this practice is the act of planning, a manifestation of “possibility space” which provides a blueprint for performative recreation.

This current work: “The Journey to the Nebula by Cualquier Tours - a Subsidiary of the Werewolf Union LOCAL #667” is a continuation of the exploration of the concepts behind the Lost Horizon Night Market - of exploring open source creative platforms where artists create interactive installations and performances - establishing a scaffolding for autonomous creative activity, interactive imagination, and joy.

But while LHNM used financially attainable rental box trucks to create one-off liminal spaces that would last for a single evening and then sublimate into the ether, this project’s aim is to create more durable experiences while also navigating the fierce financial real-estate realities of urban centers by asking the question: what would art space in storage units look like.

Krawczuk first considered this after his drive from San Francisco to New York in early 2020 during the height of the pandemic. Moving back to NYC and traveling across the country in a Toyota Tacoma with all of his possessions, he found a storage unit with 24 hour, 7 day a week access for under $200 a month. When all of his belongings were safely stashed away, he realized: this is an accessible spot for installation!

Over the pandemic, the idea grew - informed by the social realities of the pandemic: people socialized in “pods” - do creating an experience for two people over a time frame equivalent to a play or a movie.

The idea of creating a control room for a spacecraft intrigued Krawczuk: it’s dimensions could fit into a storage space, and the idea of a “road trip” in space for two people also resonated.

Channeling post-war artists like Pier Paolo Calzolari and Jannis Kounellis, part of the Arte Povera movement, who used everyday materials to create anti-elitist art (see Hyperbeast’s Guggenheim Spotlights Diverse Works Made With Found Objects) - Krawczuk continued to inspired by the proliferation piles of cardboard from Amazon and other shippers. Having focused on cardboard in an earlier piece (Cardboard Animal Parade), Krawczuk considered how and why a spaceship would be made from cardboard.

The answer came from a thought experiment: what if deep space travelers found that their metal ships were problematic for their purposes and that having a spaceship made from living material would make more sense. Research to understand symbiotic relationships that already exist, and plants that can exist in harsh environments lead to the Sagurao Cactus and its relationship to the Gila Woodpecker and and the Purple Martin - who live inside it. Also the cactus does not have leaves, but photosynthesizes on its skin.

In order to further elevate the cardboard into the imagination of outer space, black light mycelium networks have been illustrated on to the cardboard, invoking a dual nature and greater depth. Other objects that others may easily discard have been incorporated throughout the experience, at once creating an environment that is both playful and inspiring to others.

Another call back to the artists precious work is the Werewolf Union. When considering who would be using these freight services, what would they be hauling, why would they need freight or passenger services and who would be working on them, Krawczuk pulled from a previous project - the Werewolf Union. Started as a way for individuals to casually engage with the thought of unionization (Why Werewolves? Because vampires would never unionize!) - and grew into Krawczuk’s personal way of collectivizing independent artists he works with - by creating a logo and giving out t-shirts to other creatives he has worked with since 2020, so other artists could know they had a common connection when they wear the shirts. The Werewolf Union evolved again when they became the stewards of the space freighters, leaving earth so the full moon would no longer trigger a metamorphosis.

The piece also takes a turn from LHNM in some other crtical ways -


Audience Size - mass to one or two people

Potential for Scalalbility - recurring revenue, and passive income

This piece while a worthwhile work, with real interactions for those who engage with it, it could be seen as a protoype to inspire others throught it’s use of accessible and easy to work with materials, comprehensible scope, and relative financial scale.

It should also be noted that work has not yet reached its stated goal of being installed into a storage space, and may never get there. The artist is looking to work with a storage unit company, but is also looking for grants for space, or other business with an unused space that could possibly be publicly accessible.