Scott Gertner, you better look out below.

This Saturday, SKYDIVE art collective, located a few floors below the legendary jazz club — Scott Gertner's Sky Bar — in a Montrose Blvd. high-rise unveils it's latest concept: "An Exhibition of Proposals for a Socialist Colony." Organized by former MFAH Core Fellow Sasha Dela, Benison Kilby, Elysa Lozano for Autonomous Organization and Nancy Zastudil, the exhibition is based on a ersatz premise that during the 19th century Archives War in Texas, a box of documents was lost, leaving the property at 3400 Montrose up for grabs.

SKYDIVE jumped on this fabricated loophole to establish a socialist colony, and today they are on the verge of revealing their utopian plans.

SKYDIVE's highly conceptual call for proposals was met with open arms from art collectives the world over. This week, visitors may view socialist solutions from groups like N55, a collective based in Copenhagen that aims to create situations with a concrete and fundamental significance to daily life, which simultaneously maintain an aesthetic and ethical consequence.

In her proposal, San Francisco artist Amy Balkin examines how humans interact with and impact the social and material landscapes they inhabit. Her intent is nobly exhibited in her piece, "A research project on giving away land to sell products," which presents itself as an official Texas land deed certifying the socialist colony.

Artist and curator Erin Elder's contribution includes a photograph of a blazing campfire — an icon that with prehistoric precedents, that brings to mind story-telling, communalism and natural danger.

For British artist David Mabb, "colony" can be a loaded term due to the United Kingdom's precarious history of conquering far-off lands. To offset the pejorative connotations, Mabb contributed a set of tea towels designed by socialist 19th century textile designer William Morris, whose floral arts and crafts style will lend an ironic domesticity to the proposed colony.

Several of the artists are currently in Houston to mount the exhibition. On Thursday evening, Elder, Mabb, José Filipe Moreira da Costa, Chin Xaou Ti Won and Duncan Wooldridge explained their entries to a small crowd at the Glassell School's Freed Auditorium. Despite the participants' geographic diversity, all proposals build on local civic laws to designate a global zone for debate regarding distinctions between personal necessity and public life. In layman's terms, the exhibition combines institutional critique with public art.

Garnering such an international cast was an incredible coup for the exhibition's organizers — as was earning grants from three Portuguese outlets: Fundaçõ Calouste Gulbenkian, Ministério da Cultura and Direcção-Geral das Artes at the behest of contributor Moreira da Costa (perhaps part of Houston's recent Portuguese invasion).

The exhibition couldn't be more timely: A matter of weeks ago, the high-rise building located at 3400 Montrose was foreclosed upon and acquired by FH Properties. The fairly derelict building, which according to Dela hasn't increased its rent since the 1980s, now faces an uncertain future in which a socialist takeover could very well be as probable as a new HEB or H&M. Moreover, SKYDIVE's mission is reflective of a growing national movement of "pop-up" art spaces giving new life to foreclosed real estate, as well as a booming independent spirt in the Houston art scene.

"We're seeing an increasing and increasing number of artist-run spaces: SKYDIVE, Box 13, the Joanna; all are run by practitioners and unlike other art programs, these spaces are engaging students from universities," Dela said. "Very soon, I think we'll see these venues giving institutions a run for their money and wake them up. We're witnessing this very rich, exciting moment in Houston."

SKYDIVE art collective is based at 3400 Montrose, but An Exhibition of Proposals for a Socialist Colony is located at the Eldorado Ballroom at Project Row Houses. The show opens on Saturday from 6-9 p.m. and continues through May 22.