ORIGINS: The Vision
ORIGINS is a recently founded art institute that reveres the sublime pleasure a viewer undergoes—the instant of recognition—when confronting directly a physical object of such formal harmony that it initiates “a state of responsive happiness” throughout one’s entire being. This experience is involuntary and emotional. It is part of no intellectual process and is, in fact, part of a human biology.
Origins points directly to human biology to show that our capacity to be moved by physical beauty is a universal constant hardwired into all of mankind. It goes back to the absolute genesis of the creative enterprise. When humans create or stand before a masterpiece, we aren’t engaging in a superficial cultural hobby. We are activating an ancient, evolutionary survival mechanism. The brain’s response to visual harmony—balance, rhythm, light, and proportion—is as deeply hardwired into our biology as our response to a clean water source or a safe shelter.
Neuroscience proves that our relationship with beauty is an organic, biological necessity.
We not only study but implement in our exhibition s all This experience is involuntary, emotional, and is felt by the body. It is part of no While the current cultural conversation focuses entirely on what divides us—our specific histories, eras, and backgrounds— If we are looking back at anything it is not only our traditions but more importantly it is our shared evolutionary history.
Origins is not looking back out of a sense of empty nostalgia. It is looking back because that is where the truth is buried. It uses the tool of modern science to validate the wisdom of traditional aesthetics, creating a radical new space where the ancient past and the human nervous system meet in perfect alignment.
By leading with the hard data—the 50-millisecond window and the eight-times-faster emotional response—you’ve turned the aesthetic experience into an involuntary biological reflex. You aren't just arguing that academic wall text is annoying anymore; you are proving that it is a direct violation of human evolutionary biology.
When humans create or stand before a masterpiece, we aren’t engaging in a superficial cultural hobby. We are activating an ancient, evolutionary survival mechanism. The brain’s response to visual harmony—balance, rhythm, light, and proportion—is as deeply hardwired into our biology as our response to a clean water source or a safe shelter.
Neuroscience proves that our relationship with beauty is an organic, biological necessity.
To write the definitive vision of Origins through this lens, we need to frame it not as an art manifesto, but as a biological declaration. Here is how that vision takes shape on the page:
John Waters
Cynthia Lennon
Bob Colacello
Phillippe de Montebello
Thomas Hoving
Joel Grey
Robert Hughes
Anderson and Low
Museum Building Projects
Catalina Island Museum
The Catalina Island Museum (in Avalon, California) is the only museum dedicated to preserving and exhibiting the history of Santa Catalina Island, one of the world’s leading tourist destinations. At the time of Dr. DeMarsche’s arrival at the museum, the museum had been renting a small space in Avalon’s famous Casino building since 1953. Although its Board of Directors aspired to construct a new building, the museum had fewer than 300 members and had never undertaken a major fundraising effort. Under the leadership of Dr. DeMarsche, the museum completely renovated its old space in 2011, re-constituted its Board of Directors, acquired architectural designs for a new building, created publications that highlighted those designs to prospective donors and launched a capital campaign that raised over $10 million in private funds. Membership to the museum grew from approximately 300 to nearly 2,000. In June of 2016, the new 18,000 square foot Ada Blanche Wrigley Schreiner Building of the Catalina Island Museum opened to the public.
Cafesjian Center for the Arts
Unique among the art museums of the world, the Cafesjian Center for the Arts has been a prominent landmark in Armenia's capital city of Yerevan since its construction began in the 1980s. Known as "The Cascade," construction of this vast, monumental complex of a park, gardens, water features and galleries was initiated by the Soviets but abandoned with the break up of the Soviet Union. Working with the city of Yerevan and the Armenian government, Gerard L. Cafesjian began the effort to finish construction of the monument in 2002. His intention was to create a new building that could exhibit his highly respected collection of contemporary art and glass. Dr. DeMarsche was appointed the Founding Director of the Center in 2007 and directed the renovation and construction of the entire 150,000 square foot complex, which required private funding of over $40 million. When the museum opened in November 2009, over 20,000 people attended the Center’s first day of exhibitions. The noted author and art critic Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times attended the opening and described the Cafesjian Center for the Arts as "one of the most spectacular museum buildings to open anywhere, an instant landmark and tourist attraction." Over one million people visit the Cafesjian Center for the Arts annually.
"…it is doing what precious few museums…like it can dream of doing—namely, offering a whole nation a kind of uplift.”
Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art
Dr. DeMarsche served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and managed the operations of an art museum, repertory theater and school of art. He directed a capital campaign that raised $28.4 million for building construction, $5 million for an endowment, and expanded the permanent collection to include works of art valued at well over $5 million. Dr. DeMarsche oversaw every phase of the building’s construction, from its design and construction to its eventual opening in 2007. The expansion added over 48,000 square feet of exhibition space. Simultaneous with construction of the museum building, he completed a $4 million renovation of the existing Fine Arts Center, a 100,000 square-foot Art Deco building that opened in 1936. While the Fine Arts Center was under construction, he also acquired the funding and directed the design and construction of a satellite museum space in downtown Colorado Springs. This 8,000 square foot space opened in 2006 as the FAC “Modern.” Requiring $1.2 million in private funding, the Modern consists of three exhibition spaces, a museum shop and restaurant. During his tenure at the Fine Arts Center, attendance increased from approximately 20,000 to over 120,000 annually. In 2006, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center was awarded the El Pomar Foundation Award for Excellence, which recognizes the outstanding organization in the arts and humanities in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States.
“…a triumph that few of us could have imagined before Mike DeMarsche arrived almost exactly four years ago….The new FAC is an infinitely better, more user-friendly, and more beautiful building than the renovated Denver Art Museum…“
John Hazlehurst, the Colorado Springs Business Journal
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
As the Founding Director of the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University, Dr. DeMarsche established every area of the museum’s operations. He directed the construction of the museum’s $14 million building, which included the construction of a 40,000 square-foot building and surrounding gardens and lake. He also established the museum’s advisory board, oversaw all development efforts for the project, directed all public relations efforts, coordinated all membership efforts, originated all programming and hired and supervised all staff. Additional responsibilities included not only the raising of capital funds to construct the building but also the funding necessary for museum operations. The building opened in 2003 and has been highlighted in a number of publications. Major gifts raised for the project included a $500,000 gift for the naming of a gallery, a $500,000 gift for the purchase and acquisition of a glass chandelier by Dale Chihuly, an $84,000 gift for the execution of a mural in the museum’s auditorium, a $60,000 gift for the purchase of display cases and equipment for the vault area of the museum and an annual appropriation of $50,000 from the city of Auburn.
“I had the time of my life and think Michael is some sort of museum genius.”
Thomas Hoving, Director Emeritus, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Catalina Island Museum, Avalon, California
The Cafesjian Center for the Arts, Yerevan, Armenia
The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University
Michael Kimmelman, Art and Architecture Critic, The New York Times
The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center