Tiger Strikes Asteroid is a 501c3 non-profit network of independently programmed, artist-run exhibition spaces with locations in Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Greenville, SC. Our goal is to collectively bring people together, expand connections and create community through artist-initiated exhibitions, projects, and curatorial opportunities. We seek to build an ethos of cooperative achievement in the visual arts, creating the physical and emotional space for artists to show their work and exchange ideas on their own terms. Our artist-run model expands the artist’s role beyond that of studio practitioner to include the roles of curator, critic, and community developer and provides an alternate model to the conventions of the current commercial art market. The core of our mission is our exhibition program at our five locations. Each site curates independently; at the same time, the network functions collectively through programming exchanges and the sharing of resources, connections and governing structure. While our unique, grassroots organization of spaces in multiple locations allows us to curate exhibitions that are sensitive to the needs and interests of their respective cities, our geographic reach also offers opportunities to connect local artists to a national conversation. Through a model of horizontal, rather than vertical growth, we are trying to rethink the way an arts institution can work, providing more space and opportunities rather than consolidating time and resources into a single space or vision. We want to create a true network of artists, a dynamic exchange of ideas between cities and an enriched dialogue at each space. We strive to foster relationships between artists from all career stages, lifting up underrepresented work and voices, and offering new contexts for the work of mid-career and established artists. Since the founding of our Philadelphia space in 2009, we have shown almost 1000 artists in about 250 exhibitions and projects. Our exhibitions and projects have been featured in numerous print and online publications including The New York Times, ArtForum, Art F City, Hyperallergic, The Huffington Post, The New Yorker, The Brooklyn Rail, Whitehot Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the artblog, WHYY, Sculpture Magazine, Sixty Inches From Center, Chicago Gallery News, LA Weekly, Two Coats of Paint, Artinfo, and Artnet News.
