CONTENTSThe Island

Our PhilosophyThe People

Residency ProgramExhibitions and Publications

Our AudiencePartners and Support

PressContact

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”

John Muir

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Rabbit Island lies three miles east of Northern Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula on a gentle rise of sandstone which breaks the blue surface of Lake Superior. It is an undisturbed 90 acre island of forest and rock teeming with wildlife; a rugged, northern ecosystem that remains in its natural state, never in its history suffering development or subdivision.

The island’s ecological integrity remains intact, the environment hosts several species of birds including Bald Eagles, Great Northern Loons and various nesting shorebirds. The surrounding waters provide habitats for world-class lake trout and salmon fisheries. The island is a truly wild space.

In collaboration with the Keweenaw Land Trust, a conversation easement has been placed on the island, ensuring that the Rabbit Island ecosystem will remain healthy and protected forever.

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THE ISLAND

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The  English  language  does  not  have  a  fitting  opposite  the  word subdivide, strangely. Combine, reconstitute, aggregate, multiply, unite and others come close, but none serve as antonyms in the context we use subdivision, and none are closely related to economic principles underlying the way we subdivide. Rabbit Island will never be parcelled, and that certainty provides a unique opportunity for those who experience it directly, and those share in its experiences off of the island. Land division is a complex issue that involves scales and time frames larger and longer than the individual.

Being allowed to exist as it was, is, and will always be, Rabbit Island focuses a collective experience of the landscape. The island’s intact natural purity and isolation make it a unique location to illustrate contrasts. This isolation also lends to the island’s symbolic potential. The work created and research undertaken on the island are markers along the path to this symbolism and allow the question “what if things were different?” The personal challenges and accomplishments on Rabbit Island aspire to answer that question.

PHILOSOPHY

There are no more deserts. There are no

more islands. Yet there is a need for them. In order to understand the

world, one needs to turn away from it on occasion; in order to serve men better, one needs to hold them at a distance for a time. But where can one find the solitude

necessary to vigor, the deep breath in which the mind collects itself and

gauges its strength?

Camus

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The Rabbit Island Residency is made possible by a large number people. The local population of the Keweenaw Peninsula, friends and family, Kickstarter backers, online supporters, and the volunteers who have visited the island to lend a hand in person have all helped make the program possible.

Native Michiganders Rob Gorski and Andrew Ranville make up the core team who conceptualized the residency program during in late 2010. Rob has family connections in the Keweenaw and both have spent formative years in the parks, forests and lakes of Michigan.

THE PEOPLERob Gorski is an emergency room physician living in New York City. He is the owner of Rabbit Island, finding  the  listing  for  the  property on Craigslist. Rob’s interests and ongoing projects  in  the fields of art, photography, travel and conservation are the driving force behind the Rabbit Island Residency.

Contact Rob– rob@rabbitisland.org

Andrew Ranville is an artist and explorer currently based in London, United Kingdom. His internationally exhibited photographs, installations, sculptures and other artworks investigate our interaction with remote environments and the natural world around us. Andrew is Lead Artist for the Rabbit Island Residency.

Contact Andrew–andrew@rabbitisland.org

« Rob Gorski

Andrew Ranville »

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”

Shakespeare

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RESIDENCY PROGRAMFounded by Robert Gorski and Andrew Ranville in 2010, the Rabbit Island Residency is a platform to investigate, expand, and challenge creative practices in a remote environment. By living and working on Rabbit Island residents engage directly with the landscape, responding to notions of conservation, ecology, sustainability, and resilience. With a frontier spirit informed by the  idea  that wilderness  is civilization,  the residency reflects on the insights provided by the hundreds of years of settlement and division of land. The island – itself an unsettled and undivided space – enables residents to present commentary on these ideas, creating interpretations and even solutions.

The Rabbit Island Residency is open to individual applicants worldwide. Small collaborative groups (2-3 people) may also apply. The minimum age requirement is 21. The residency is open to artists of all disciplines, writers, poets, architects, designers (graphic  or  industrial),  musicians,  filmmakers,  composers,  and choreographers.

Rabbit Island’s ecosystem has persisted throughout history without experiencing subdivision, forestry or industry and retains objective characteristics conducive to well-controlled study of nature.  In  light of  this  scientific  research will be encouraged and supported on the island in any subdivision under the broad umbrella of science—biology, botany, forestry, ornithology, ecology, geology, sustainability and more. Biologists and other scientific researchers should email science@rabbitisland.org.

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« Andrew Ranville photographs old cabin remains

Local musicians with Mostly Midwest filmmaker Steven Holmes »

« Residency pioneers around the campfire

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From September-December 2012 the DeVos Art Museum of Northern Michigan University hosted the inaugural exhibition of the Rabbit Island artist residency. No Island Is A Man by lead artist-in-residence Andrew Ranville featured artwork created on and about Rabbit Island.

Artworks  included  a  high-definition  video  projection  with quadraphonic surround sound, large photographs, audio recordings, found objects, a topographic map adhering to USGS standards, and large-scale installations made from driftwood and stones sourced from the island. In addition, a comprehensive catalogue, limited-edition artifact kit (seen right), and talk at the university coincided with the exhibition.1

The artist partnered with two local conservation organizations, The Keweenaw Land Trust and Superior Watershed Partnership, to help raise money and awareness for the organizations’ operations in the area.

Opening the TEDxHoughton event in March, 2013, Ranville spoke about his experience on the island and the residency program.2 Ranville was also invited to speak about Rabbit Island at the Norwich University of the Arts in the United Kingdom, and the Artist-Run Michigan event at the 2013 ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

1 Andrew Ranville’s artist talk at Northern Michigan University (link)2 TEDxHouhgton No Island is a Man – The Rabbit Island Residency (link)

NO ISLAND IS A MAN

‘No Island is a Man’ at the

DeVos Art Museum and ‘Rabbit Island Quadrangle’ map

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Hosted by The DeVos Art Museum in October-November 2013, the exhibition showcased a selection of work from over 20 artists, designers, musicians, writers, chefs and students who have acted as residency beta testers over the past three years. As the official residency program is set to launch in 2014, the exhibition looked back on the founding projects inspired by and created on the island. It is both an experiment in and discourse on the intersection of creation, consumption and conservation. A fully illustrated catalogue was produced for the exhibition.

The exhibition features works by Emilie Lee, Andrew Ranville, Charlotte X.C. Sullivan, Colin Curry, Cabin-Time 3 (Sarah Darnell, Ryan Greaves, Geoffrey Holstad, Isabella Martin, Miles Mattison, Colin  McCarty,  Mary  Rothlisberger),  LoT  Office  for  Architecture (Leonidas Trampoukis & Eleni Petaloti), David Buth/Summer Journeys/Christina Mrozik, David Drennen, Emily Julka, Helen Lovelee, Lucy Engleman, Rob Gorski, Sara Maynard, Tony Cenicola and Will Holman.

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115  applications  were  received  in  2013  for  the  official  launch residency program in 2014; This exhibition highlights the work of six artists and writers who were selected for supported residencies in summer 2014. The artists featured were—

Elvia Wilk, a writer based in Berlin, Germany whose work explores themes of isolation, connection and the relationship between physical and virtual space through essays and poems. The written pieces in the exhibition were designed in collaboration with designer Edwin Carter.

Nich Hance McElroy, a photographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. During his time in residency, he focused on documenting the movements and migrations of people, nature and objects on and between the mainland and island. He also captured people, places and objects around the adjoining Rabbit Bay and Keweenaw areas.

Waboozaki consisted of four interdisciplinary artists, writers and curators: Dr. Dylan Miner (Métis, East Lansing, Michigan), Dr. Julie Nagam (Anishinaabekwe-Métis, Toronto, Ontario, Canada), Dr. Nicholas Brown (Iowa City, Iowa), and Suzanne Morrissette (Cree-Métis, Toronto, Ontario, Canada). During their residency the artists spent time working on individual projects as well as collectively remapping the island from indigenous perspectives.

In addition to the exhibition Wilk gave a reading, and several artists were featured in a panel discussion at NMU’s United Conference.

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Our target audience is the not only the artist or researcher who benefits by coming to the island itself; our on-island activities and off-island discussions have been joined by supporters from around the world. Every exhibition, publication, and story the Rabbit Island generates is disseminated through our highly engaged and continually growing online community.

OUR AUDIENCEThe KickstartIn 2011 we ran a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Our story was picked up by various media outlets resulting in an outpouring of public interest and support. We reached our funding goal within 28 days. The funding helped  us  complete  the  first  phase  in establishing the residency program. Additionally, our project was highlighted in Kickstarter’s Year in Review and Dreaming Big.

» $14,970 raised in total

» 119% funded

» 192 backers from 12 countries

www3470+ Facebook fans

150,000+ Flickr views

2,000+ monthly visits

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“The artist brings something into the world that didn’t exist before, and that he does it without destroying something else. A kind of refutation of the conservation of matter. That still

seems to me its central magic, its core of joy.”

John Updike

DeVos Art Museum, Northern Michigan UniversityLocated in Marquette, Michigan, the DeVos Art Museum is one of the few major cultural institutions in the Upper Peninsula. As one of the core members of our network they are committed in helping promote and develop the residency program by providing exhibition opportunities for artists-in-residence. Rabbit Island Residency participants will be invited to give artist talks and lead workshops developed with the unversity’s Department of Art.Online at nmu.edu/devos

Keweenaw Land TrustThe Keweenaw Land Trust is an organization and “community partner protecting land, water, and quality of life through conservation, stewardship and education.” Early on, their guidance and collaboration was instrumental in developing the conservation easement which protects the island in perpetuity.Online at keweenawlandtrust.org

OthersHannula Family, Best Made Co., our Kickstarter backers.

PARTNERS

We are always interested in partnering with organizations and companies that have principles or spirit analogous to the Rabbit Island Residency. Such partnerships should be mutually beneficial while fostering an ongoing discussion related to art, design, ecology, and other contemporary issues. Please get in touch with us if you’d like to support the Rabbit Island.

SUPPORT

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The story of the island and its artist residency has resonated with the people as well as the press. Over the past two years Rabbit Island has been featured in a variety of print, radio, and online articles including The New York Times, The Alpine Review, Blouin ARTINFO1, Newsweek, Gizmodo, PAPER, NPR Michigan Radio2, Gawker, CoolHunting, Treehugger3, Inhabitat, Village Voice, Great Lakes Echo4, The Mining Journal, Experiment with Nature, Notcot, WBEZ Chicago, NiceArtLife Magazine, DesignTAXI, Kickstarter, SHFT, Mother Nature Network, VeoVerde, Cold Splinters, and Artserve’s Creative Impact Michigan.

1 ALTERNATIVES: A Lake Superior Island Invites Artists to Create in the Rough (link)2 North Woods: An artist residency on Rabbit Island (link)3 Uninhabited Island Bought on Craigslist to Become a Haven for Artists (link)4 Michigan natives plan artist residency on Superior’s remote Rabbit Island (link)

PRESS “Giving artists, if only very few

of them, a peaceful, beautiful place to do their

thing is a great goal.”

Gizmodo

“From its foundations to its guiding ideology, Rabbit Island

challenges the status quo.”

Blouin ARTINFO

“Spectacular experience to be so far away from civilization

and enjoying the energetic powers of nature...”

NiceArtLife Magazine

“Super cool.”

Mother Nature Network

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www.rabbitisland.org

Rob Gorski, Owner, Co-Founderrob@rabbitisland.org(917) 861-7757 (US)

Andrew Ranville, Executive Director, Co-Founderandrew@rabbitisland.org

(810) 412-8884 (US)

CONTACT

“Explore thyself”

Henry David Thoreau