The Iron Monkeys are back and as fabulous as ever! This year we’re excited to tell you about the REM Cafe and Croquet, the latest mad-Monkey creation. Given recent history, we needed one less serious thing in our collective lives. With that in mind we wanted to create a project with levity: fun to build, fun to staff, and something that doesn’t add weight to anyone's shoulders. We wanted to return to our roots by focusing on our craft as blacksmiths, and by creating something with no deep meaning beyond our passion to build art and gathering spaces for the community. We also wanted to add a bit of humor and goofiness to the world. Goodness knows we all need it.

REM Cafe is a place of shared play, where all who participate are encouraged to take reality with a grain of “playa dust.” We want to invite people to be kids again, to feel the whimsy and possibilities of their imagination in a playful space. Do your feet hurt? Come sit at our funky tables! Are you cold? We have lots of fire to keep you warm! Feeling cold and artistic? Check out our 8’ flaming candelabra, or draw in our sweet fire zen gardens. And if that’s not enough, come play croquet! Yes, actual croquet!

Who are we?

Hi! We are the Iron Monkeys, a collection of volunteer artists, metalworkers, dreamers and do-gooders. We are based in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle, but have our dirty primate fingers in cities and towns from Vancouver, BC, New York, San Francisco, and all the way across the pond to London. We believe that art should be an experience , and we endeavor with each piece we build to warm and welcome all who wander our way. For over a decade we have been building and burning art together and this year is no exception.

What the heck are we building this year?

At 60’ in diameter, the REM Cafe will have 3 metal and wood tables, each designed with  playful and interactive elements. A see-saw table? A maze table? Why not?! The centerpiece will be an approximately 8’ tall metal candelabra piped with propane flame effects and embellished with graceful blacksmithed details. Fire zen gardens will be placed throughout the space and a ring of lanterns will define the perimeter. Weaving in and around the space will be a croquet course with custom crafted mallets, balls and wickets made by the Iron Monkeys.

Sweet! But what does the money go to?

We have received a grant from Burning Man to pay for a portion of the REM Cafe but it doesn’t cover all of our costs. We need an additional $9,000 to help bridge the gap. The money we raise from you fine folks will help pay for: transportation, steel, bolts, taps, welding gas, oxygen, lighting, storage for the pieces of the project, propane, and much more.

Is that all you need?

While we can build and display the project for $9,000, at that price we will re-use our past generator-based solution to provide electricity for the project. We very badly want to convert our projects to solar, in order to minimize the ecological trace our projects leave behind.  Any amount over $9,000 will go towards converting our project to solar power. We estimate that we need $2,000 to cover the necessary panels, charge controllers, and batteries giving us a stretch goal of $11,000 for this year’s project. 

Help a Monkey out?

Now is when we ask you to help us! Any gift, from $1.00 to $1,000 helps us create this piece of art. We have a bunch of great rewards this year to entice you. Check them out out over on the right.

Thank you! THANK YOU! There is no way we could build this kind of big ass art without the support of our friends and fans. This is our 14th year in Black Rock City and it is thanks to all of our supporters (that's YOU!) that we have thrived for so long. We look forward to sharing our art with the masses yet again, be it in Seattle, in Black Rock City, or beyond!

From the bottom of our rusty little hearts, thank you.

Risks and challenges

This is our 14th year building a project for Black Rock City, and we have completed our project on time, every time.

That said, things do happen. If we find ourselves in a crunch for time there are elements of the project we can simplify or cut out.