chant cooperative’s mission is to replace artworld gatekeeping with accessibility, inclusivity, and mutual development. founded by two femme artists, we believe in collaboration over competition and offer services to members including participation in community events and exhibitions focused on critical, global topics, marketing/PR support, and connections to art collectors.

Artwork List

1

members of chant cooperative (laura beacom, kat cafaro, andrew cline, dani/elle cunningham, nick gutierrez, stuart sachs)

uprooting empire (we made our own mithril)

Instant photos and laser engraved coin blanks

NFS

*individual coins available for trade - see co-op member for details

*dani’s photos shot by julio alejandro

Made collectively, this installation resists capitalism by documenting literal and symbolic anti-capitalistic activities such as gardening, making art, and reclaiming bodily autonomy. By centering collaboration as a key process, the artists highlight chant cooperative’s mission—accessibility, inclusivity, and mutual development—while also emphasizing the important role the structure at 2400 Curtis Street has played in building community for 143 years. Whether home to synagogues, underground music spaces, or artist studios, this building has been a site for expression and interpersonal connection throughout its existence.

2

dani/elle cunningham

fire is a portal

Installation (cyanotype, digital projection, bricks found at the temple, and mixed media)

2024

$400

Inspired by the series of fires that devastated 2400 Curtis Street near the fin de siecle, this installation explores the idea that natural forces like fire serve as catalysts, transforming physical reality while opening channels for energy to travel interdimensionally. The work encourages viewers to contemplate the duality of destruction and renewal, emphasizing how fire can release emotions and memories, spark both personal and collective transformation, and honor the past while transcending it. Through this lens, the installation suggests that although the Temple building has endured damage over the years, these trials have played a crucial role in shaping Denver's spiritual and creative community--including those who currently create at the Temple--for more than a century.

Fire footage by Lindsay Goodman.

For more information about the Temple’s fires and other history, visit the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Search “Temple Emanuel” or “24th and Curtis”.

dani/elle cunningham is an artist, art historian, and psy-borg living in Denver, CO. Interested in the lives of materials, she draws from mysticism and science fiction/fantasy themes to transform everyday matter like concrete, machinery, and craft supplies into otherworldly objects and performances. She often uses the artistic process to interrogate and subvert the impact of capitalism on gender, sexuality, and disability and is especially concerned with humanity’s uncertain future. dani has also curated exhibitions and written about cyborgism and magick as a means of de-stigmatizing various experiences, particularly mental illness and neurodivergence. Passionate about eliminating gatekeeping behaviors, dani is dedicated to supporting emerging artists and creating non-traditional exhibition spaces. She regularly writes for regional art publications, co-directs chant cooperative, and is a resident artist at the Temple Contemporary Artist Haven.

3

nick gutierrez

Funhouse Fun (I)

Digital Edits

2024

$60

Funhouse Fun (II)

Digital Edits

2024

$60

Funhouse Fun (III)

Digital Edits

2024

$60

Funhouse Fun (IV)

Digital Edits

2024

$60

Funhouse Fun (V)

Digital Edits

2024

$60

Funhouse Fun (VI)

Digital Edits

2024

$60

This short series of posters was inspired by the Temple’s temporary stint as a concert venue known as the “Funhouse.” The posters feature bands local to the Denver and Loveland areas, references to important dates in the Temple’s history, and feature images of the Temple throughout the years. I wanted to highlight how the Temple functions as an area of convergence for artists to foster a community and how it has accomplished that historically as a synagogue and venue. Although none of the shows are real, I think this adds to the theme of portals and plays with our perception of reality. They’re not real events now, but perhaps they could be in another universe. 

Nick is a visual artist and graphic designer, frequently exhibiting with chant cooperative. They primarily work with ink illustrations, gouache paintings, and acrylic plate prints. Their work explores numerous themes such as identity, existentialism, heritage, loneliness, physics and astronomy, and religion. Through their work, they aim to express themselves, reflect on past experiences, and navigate topics that are traditionally difficult to approach.