Inside the Kickstarter-Funded Museum Dedicated to Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding
Two Brooklyn roommates started a Kickstarter fund as a joke.
— -- A pair of comedians from Brooklyn has taken their obsession with the Tanya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan feud to a new level by creating a museum to detail the more than two decade-old scandal.
Viviana Olen and Matt Harkins, friends who live together in Williamsburg, had their interest in the figure skating scandal renewed after watching an ESPN documentary and couldn't let go.
They both have full-time jobs but met at the famed comedy club Upright Citizens Brigade and thought it would be funny to launch a Kickstarter to blow up photos of Kerrigan and Harding for a long hallway in their apartment.
The Kickstarter campaign -- which had an initial goal of $75 -- was so successful and they received such an outpouring of fellow devotees that they decided to turn their burgeoning collection into a full-fledged museum documenting the feud. As of this afternoon, the Kickstarter campaign has received $1,410 in donations.
"We want to make it an audio and visual thing with the timeline," Olen told ABC News.
At first, they started receiving fan art of Kerrigan and Harding, and then others started sending them memorabilia including pins and backstage passes to early 90s skating competitions where the two competed.
One of the reasons why Olen, 28, and Harkins, 27, didn't have any memorabilia of their own was the fact that they were children at the time of the 1994 attack, when Kerrigan's knee was clubbed by associates of Harding.
"We were both at the age where we remember it happening," Olen said. "I talked to some 25-year-olds who don't remember it."
Since delving into the history of the two skaters, Olen and Harkins have found sides of their own.
"I'm more of a Tonya and Matt is more of a Nancy," Olen said.
As is a problem for so many New Yorkers, space presented a challenge for the duo but they have dedicated the unusually long hall in their apartment to the cause. When the museum is complete next month, they will start showing visitors the collection on an appointment basis because "we both have full time jobs," Olen said.