The haudenschildGarage seeks to provide cultural platforms through which international and regional artists are encouraged to experiment and engage in broad-ranging dialogues. The goal is to offer a facilitative context for opinion and production.
In 2003, Eloisa founded the Garage that works with artists through international and regional projects and commissions to present symposia, lectures, and film screenings to the public. A series of artist residencies introduced numerous young Chinese artists to the U.S. for the first time.
Eloisa is a collector and active supporter of global contemporary art, especially the work of emerging artists. Collecting is primarily a result of Eloisa's involvement with artists and the artistic community in Latin America, China, and Europe.
Her Latin American collection, in particular, began in the early 1990s due in large part to Eloisa's involvement with INSITE, a binational initiative that commissions artworks and projects conceived for specific sites and political-social contexts. As President of the Board of INSITE since 1997, Eloisa works closely with significant Latin American curators and artists.
Board members for the haudenschildGarage include Anna Haudenschild Meier, and Rita Haudenschild.
Garage Projects are long-term collaborations in which the haudenschildGarage works directly with artists, institutions, and communities. Highlights include SPARE PARTS (2006–2009), a three-year cycle of commissions with Steve Fagin, and projects in Argentina, Mexico, and the US with artists such as Teddy Cruz, Mark Bradford, Kim MacConnel and Erick Meyenberg.
Garage Talks are the haudenschildGarage's public programs. Garage Talks are open presentations, often the culmination of a long-term project or exhibition, ranging from panels and lectures to multi-day symposia and performances. Fuel4Talks are smaller gatherings with visiting artists, including roundtables, interviews, and film screenings.
The haudenschildGarage routinely commissions artists internationally, ranging from films and performances to site specific works like Erick Meyenberg’s Even When Fall is Here project in the Garden, and The Graffiti Project in Los Angeles, among many others.
The haudenschildGarage has invited emerging and established artists from around the world to create new work, and participate in seminars in residence. Residencies often culminate in a public Garage Talk or performance. Highlighted artist residencies are Mexican artist Eduardo Abaroa and Chinese artist Yang Zhenzhong, Cao Fei, Yang Fudong, and Argentine collective Eloisa Cartonera.
The haudenschildGarage routinely supports a wide range of programs aligned with its mission that are hosted by non-profits and arts organizations. Some of the many supported programs include the Sharp Healthcare Foundation Mural, INSITE, the Ronald McDonald House, and the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library.
In the late 1990s Eloisa began traveling to China where she forged friendships with young Chinese curators, artists and gallerists. Selections from the Haudenschild Collection of Chinese photography and video toured five cities in the US, Mexico, China, and Singapore as Zooming into Focus: Contemporary Chinese Photography and Video from the Haudenschild Collection in 2002–2005. The exhibition was the first of its kind in San Diego and Singapore and the first contemporary Chinese photography exhibition at the Centro Cultural Tijuana, Mexico. It was the first time the Shanghai Art Museum exhibited works on contemporary Chinese video and photography from a private collection and most importantly, it was the first retrospective exhibition of Chinese photography and video ever held at the National Art Museum of China, Beijing.
In 2018, these works from the Haudenschild Collection were donated to the Hammer Museum.