Ballroom Marfa is an internationally recognized non-collecting contemporary art museum located in Marfa, a rural town of less than 2,000 people in Far West Texas. Established in 2003 by Virginia Lebermann and Fairfax Dorn, Ballroom Marfa’s contemporary art and performance space is housed in a 1920s-era ballroom and is free and open to the public. With generous support from individuals and foundations, Ballroom commissions new site-specific and site-inspired projects and gives artists and musicians the opportunity to engage with the magnificent landscape of the Big Bend.
Ballroom Marfa
Donna Huanca: Espejo Quemada, June 26, 2021–January 2, 2022. Installation view. Courtesy the artist and Ballroom Marfa. Photo by Makenzie Goodman.
Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas, detail of Bloom Boom from the Greetings from West Texas series, 2020. Collage. Courtesy the artists. Commissioned by Ballroom Marfa for the exhibition The Blessings of the Mystery.
Elle Pérez in residency during Ballroom Sessions—The Farther Place, 2021. Photo by Daisy Nam.
Roberto Carlos Lange and Kristi Sword, Kite Symphony, 2020. Courtesy the artists. Commissioned by Ballroom Marfa.
Kenneth Tam, Silent Spikes, 2021. Installation view at the Queens Museum. Courtesy the artist. Photo by Jason Mandella
1964
Philip Johnson commissioned Warhol to make a large-scale work for the exterior for his pavilion for the New York World’s Fair, along with other artists. Warhol’s provocative response, a multiple portrait of ‘Most Wanted Men’ was installed a few days before the opening but was deemed too inflammatory and contrary to the upbeat image of the World’s Fair and the work was taken down.