Museum of No Spectators / John Marx + J Absinthia Vermut

The Museum of No Spectators, a pop-up museum project that challenges the traditional museum experience, has returned to Burning Man 2023 with new artwork and features.

The museum, which was founded in 2019 by architect John Marx and artist Absinthia Vermut, encourages visitors to participate in the creation of its annual exhibition. Lonnie Graham returns as curator/director of cultural inclusion.

“The Museum of No Spectators is a place where everyone is an artist,” said Marx. “We want people to come and share their creativity, regardless of their skill level or experience.”

The 2023 iteration of the Museum of No Spectators includes artwork from, Madelon Vriesendorp, Hank Willis Thomas, Deborah Willis, and other notable artists alongside spontaneous onsite contributions from the public.

This year, the museum built by volunteers has expanded on its 1400 sqft steel frame and aluminium-clad structure, at once enlarging the gallery space and providing the finished effect of a beautiful iridescent glow in the sun.

The Museum of No Spectators was thrilled with the positive response to its incorporation of poetry in 2022. In response, the collective is expanding its poetry and spoken word programming for 2023. The museum offered daily readings and workshops and coordinated for several poets to participate. The Museum of No Spectators also provided blank pages of paper to audiences to encourage extemporaneous writing. And, the museum included a new stage for performance art.