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Through A Glass Brightly: Art & Consciousness in the Age of Surveillance

Paleontologist-poet-philosopher Michael Garfield's ecodelic transmedia explorations on the promise and peril of the new digital era...!

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Through A Glass Brightly: Art & Consciousness in the Age of Surveillance

Paleontologist-poet-philosopher Michael Garfield's ecodelic transmedia explorations on the promise and peril of the new digital era...!

2 Campaigns |

Austin, United States

$3,850 USD 65 backers

115% of $3,333 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

Story

FAQ

Updates 4

Comments 15

Highlights

2 Projects 2 Projects

S-T-R-E-T-C-H GOAL!

If we reach $4000, here are some more perks I'll have for everyone who helped:

• A supporters-only three-hour teleseminar on how to surf our changing landscape of technology, privacy, health, and creative living – an open conversation in which I'll share my research and invite your questions for moderated group discussion.

• A free download of my forthcoming double-disc live album to all supporters. It's a collection of highlights from some of my strongest sets yet (including Burning Man, Rootwire, and Unitus Festivals), groovier, wilder, and more passionate and dynamic than ever.

• A free pdf eBook from scans of my favorite sketchbook pages, 2004 - 2013. The chronicle of my development as an artist and illustrator – and many, many deep thoughts scrawled in the margins...

Thank you for your support!

About This Campaign:

Q: What is the difference between a weapon and an instrument?
A: How it's used.

Google selected me on the basis of this tweet to be one of the first few thousand people with access to their new wearable computer, which allow me to share my work more fluidly than ever before. Since I'm dedicated to exploring the intersection of art, science, and spirituality – and since this device is at the center of so many important controversies about our modern age – I want to use this chance to inspire and empower as many people as possible by making my life a work of art...as well as to examine its potential risks and share my findings with the community.

Part of this will come as a series of essays on how Glass fits into the Big Picture of the evolution of life on Earth – and how our sense of self is changing as we become increasingly intimate with our machines. Hopefully these essays will help a generation of digital natives navigate their world with more care, discernment, wonder, and respect. Here is the first in that series:

"The Evolution of Surveillance, Part 1: From Burgess Shale To Google Glass"

Organizing my thoughts for The Long-Delayed Book!

I'm also working on a series of firsthand views into my life as an acoustic-electronic musician, live painter, and awestruck naturalist – as well as the work of other inspiring people:

Message To Your Future Self, Part 3: Burning Man 2013

Projecting Through Glass onto stage at Gratifly 2013 (video by Morphis Art)

Rootwire 2013 Live Art Mural Through Glass

And I'm wide open to YOUR ideas for what I could be doing with Glass. If you have a question you want answered or a perspective you want explored, email me and I'll try and find a way to work it into this campaign.

The money I'm trying to raise is just enough to cover the costs I incurred to pick up the Glass in New York ($1600 for the device, $800 to make the one-week trip) and have just enough left over to to help with bills so I can publish my best work yet for free.

Please support this project with your donations if you can. Even if you're as broke as I am you can still help by sharing it (share buttons above!) with anyone who believes in technology's potential to empower and not merely enslave us. Thank you for your support!

The Perks

In addition to various interactive offerings (including first-person guitar and art lessons, private concerts, and original artwork) I have a ton of art for people who support this campaign.

Here is the limited-series Creation Skateboards deck for the $80 level only:

Here is the set of three pins available to patrons at the $55 level only:

Here are pictures of the vinyl stickers and limited edition brass pin I'm distributing to supporters who make a donation of $20 (music & stickers), $50 (music, stickers, & pin), or more (exceptions above):

Looking for more information? Check the project FAQ

Let us know if you think this campaign contains prohibited content.

Choose your Perk

Wink, Wink

$5 USD

For the price of a cappucino, you'll get a download code for my cyberguitar set from Gratifly Festival - where I projected first-person video while performing on stage for the first time in human history! - as well as your name in the acknowledgements, and a unique personal thank you note by email. You'll also get free access to all of the videos and essays that come out of this project, which I'm releasing into the Creative Commons. Yay, gift culture!

Estimated Shipping

October 2013

12 out of 1000 of claimed

I See You, Baby

$20 USD

For the price of a movie ticket and some popcorn, you'll get all of the above AND a set of four 4" vinyl stickers of my most popular live paintings – including "Every Day Is A New Year," the piece that convinced Google to select me as a #glassexplorer!

Estimated Shipping

October 2013

8 out of 250 of claimed

Eye Laser

$22 USD

For the sum of 11 + 11 (my favorite!), you get the download code for my set from Gratifly, your name in the liner notes, a special thank you, AND one of three cool enamel pins (a dragon, a dinosaur, or a butterfly - see the campaign description or gallery for pics) based on three of my most popular live paintings. (This is an exclusive perk - these pins are individually available only at this contribution level.)

Estimated Shipping

October 2013

3 out of 33 of claimed

Retinal Prints

$30 USD

For the price of a nice lunch, you'll get a download code for my cyberguitar set from Gratifly Festival, your name in the acknowledgements, a unique personal thank you note... AND any two 11"x17" poster prints of my live paintings from the list of 250+ pieces at http://michaelgarfield.bandcamp.com/merch. The best deal you can get on my art!

Estimated Shipping

October 2013

6 out of 200 of claimed

Here's Looking At You, Kid

$50 USD

For the price of a tank of gas, you'll get all of the above AND a limited edition brass pin of my painting, "Temple Burn" to remind you that creation and destruction go hand in hand, and what LOOKS like the end of the world is also another beginning...

Estimated Shipping

October 2013

9 out of 80 of claimed

Pinned Eyes

$55 USD

For 5 x 11 (which is one sacred number multiplied by another), you get the download code for my set from Gratifly AND a set of three cool enamel pins (a dragon, a dinosaur, and a butterfly - see the campaign description or gallery for pics) based on three of my most popular live paintings. (This is an exclusive perk - these pins are available only at this contribution level.)

Estimated Shipping

September 2013

2 out of 25 of claimed

Rolling Eyes

$80 USD

For the price of trip to the grocer, you'll get a download code for my cyberguitar set from Gratifly Festival, your name in the acknowledgements, a unique personal thank you note... AND one of the limited series Creation Skateboard decks made from my cosmic dragon painting (pictured in the info section to the left)! I won the 2012 DIY Skateboard Design contest and only about 100 of these will be produced. Grab yours artist direct!

Estimated Shipping

November 2013

7 out of 100 of claimed

Watching You Watching Me

$100 USD

For the price of a dashboard stereo, you'll get my set from Gratifly, the set of four vinyl stickers, the Temple Burn brass pin, AND two 25-minute guitar or art video hangout lessons through Glass so you can learn more intimately and directly than ever before - by seeing the creative process from Michael's point of view!

Estimated Shipping

October 2013

2 out of 25 of claimed

Magic Eye

$250 USD

For the price of a summer music festival ticket, you'll get my set from Gratifly, the set of four vinyl stickers, the Temple Burn brass pin, two 25-minute guitar or art video hangout lessons through Glass, AND a custom-painted hat (flatbill or fedora, in your size - check out the custom hats album on http://fb.com/michaelgarfieldart for examples).

Estimated Shipping

October 2013

1 claimed

The Long View

$420 USD

For the price of 100 tacos, you'll get my set from Gratifly, your name in the liner notes, a personalized thank you, all four vinyl stickers, the Temple Burn brass pin, AND a 24" x 48" signed canvas giclée print of "Every Day Is A New Year," the cosmic dragon painting that Google liked enough to pick me as a Glass Explorer...! (The print is UV-resistant, gloss-coated, and stretched on 3/4" bars. Shipping included. You can see a hi-res image of the piece here: http://bit.ly/newyeardragon)

Estimated Shipping

October 2013

1 out of 99 of claimed

The Overview Effect

$500 USD

For the price of an iPhone, you'll get my set from Gratifly, the set of four vinyl stickers, the Temple Burn brass pin, two 25-minute video chat lessons, AND an original live painting I'll create just for you, with video clips of the painting's creation recorded through Glass!

Estimated Shipping

October 2013

1 out of 20 of claimed

Visionary Patron

$1,000 USD

For the price of a small horse, you'll get my set from Gratifly, the set of four vinyl stickers, the Temple Burn brass pin, two 25-minute video chat lessons, a live painting created for you and video-recorded through Glass, AND I will visit your home (anywhere in the United States) sometime in the next eight months to play a 90-minute private* concert in your home you can stream to your friends online! * Your call.

Estimated Shipping

October 2013

0 out of 3 of claimed

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