*UPDATE 7/28: NEW GOAL $12,000*
We are nearing the end of our campaign, and we're far short of our ambitious goal. The reality of our situation is that if we don't make at least $12,000, we will be in debt. We've cut bells and whistles to get our budget as small as we can for the playa this year, and we'll improve it over the course of the next year.
Can you help us stay out of debt and meet our revised goal by Thursday?
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THE VULVATRON
The Vulvatron is an interactive, immersive mobile art environment that honors the female form using video projections, responsive LEDs, sound, and scent. Its compelling visual and interactive concepts enable a dynamic exchange of experiences between all participants. The environment responds, embraces, and transforms all who choose to interact.
DESCRIPTION
The Vulvatron consists of 3 main features: The Vulva & Clitoris, The Erogenous Zone, and Mobility.
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The Vulva and Clitoris
The Vulva is two 18’ tall video projection screens made of 4-way stretch fabric. Live video artists will perform projection-mapped video and multi media sets. Participants can play with a Kinect motion and proximity sensor to affect the projections. The Vulva lips are lined with RGB addressable LED strips that process the live video. The Clitoris is a 36” diameter acrylic dome lined with super-bright LED lights, hanging at the peak of the Vulva screens. When participants touch pressure sensors located inside the Erogenous Zone, both the Clitoris and the Vulva light up in programmed responsive animations.
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The Erogenous Zone
Get cozy in the EZ! This community connection space is an immersive, total sensory environment. Noises of natures hum and vibrate while soft female voices coo and murmur in the background. Gentle scents waft by from our custom-crafted aromatherapy essences. Settle into the velvety cushions and open your heart and mind to the present moment.
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The Mobility
The Vulva & the Erogenous Zones are mounted on a 16’ trailer, which is towed by a costumed vehicle. This maximizes the Vulvatron’s ability to be experienced at a variety of events, either as a stationary installation or a wandering installation.
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BUDGET
The Vulvatron is operating on a $30,800 budget total.
- Materials: $8800 (includes metal, lumber, hardware, fabric, consumables)
- Interactive Media: $9000 (includes 2 projectors and protective sculptural casings, LEDs, sensors, generators, electrical components)
- Mobility: $8000 (includes trailer, tow vehicle & costume, insurance, fuel, and fees)
- Administrative: $5000 (includes rent for wood and metal shops, fiscal sponsor fees, event tickets, and crew care)
We have some startup capital from fundraisering events which has allowed us to buy the trailer, a portion of the metal and lumber, and the projectors. We still have close to $20,000 in anticipated expenses remaining.
We hope to earn enough through contributed income that our project can pay to store the Vulvatron for a year, and offer compensation to the lead artists who have been donating their time. This last piece is a very important and dear one to our hearts as so many people give us months of their time entirely for free, an enormous sacrifice.
PURPOSE
We aim to educate children, men, and women about women’s initiatives, the female anatomy, sexual and reproductive health, and inclusivity. We believe with education comes respect, which reduces violence and promotes healthy relationships.
In the same way a womb expands to shelter and protect developing offspring, the Vulvatron is radically inclusive of all gendered identities, making a welcoming refuge for traditional and non-traditional individuals of all shapes and sizes.
The Vulvatron is more than simply an artwork; it is a community of centered individuals who are exploring the personal and collective transformation that emerges while creating together. Equally a movement and a sculpture, the Vulvatron seeks to reach to not only Burning Man and festivals, but also high schools, health clinics, and political platforms.
We hope that the words, ideas, and experiences that pass in her presence will inspire participants to embody inclusion and respect within their social fabrics.
EVENTS AND APPEARANCES
The Vulvatron will make her maiden voyage at Burning Man 2014. Afterwards, we will seek opportunities to appear at women’s rallies, youth sexual education workshops, and other festivals.
THE ARTISTS: THE CLITTERATI
We are a group of women and men who have come together through large-scale community art projects in the Bay Area. The Clitterati has enlarged as we meet people who are passionate about helping other people make big impact through big art. Our values include collaboration, abundance, appreciation, and dialogue.
Our backgrounds run the gamut from engineers to fine artists to educators to wise and foolish students to fabricators and much more. These diverse backgrounds bring diverse experiences, ideas, and ways of thinking to the table. We have pooled our strengths to create something we believe all humans can relate to and appreciate. This is our first collaboration, though our individual team members have built numerous large scale community-based art installations for the public and other festivals. Read the team bios here!
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Clockwise from Left: Meggie Pina, Rebecca Frisch, Geraldine Le Roux Matthews, Shing Kong, Kelly Toole, Tovah King, Lizzy Lynch, Becky Neil. Not Pictured: Jen Cohen, Julia Irwin, Courtney King, Emily Ward, Briana Schweizer, Margey Decuir, Marissa Comstock.
We are so honored to have a strong community of men and women behind us who support an art installation that can facilitate dialogue. The Vulvatron was originally conceived by a group of women, and our contributors include men who are valued as friends, collaborators and supportive community members. Our male team members are Brandon Ancier, Eamon Armstrong, Azael Ferrer Gordo, Clifford Florio, Graham McLeod, Simon Petruc, Andrew Sano, Matt Stone and John Sunderberg.
HOW WILL YOUR CONTRIBUTION HELP?
Your contribution will directly enable us to put fire to metal, fabric to seats, code to technology, video projections to screen. We need to purchase the materials (technology is expensive!), pay rent on shop space, and fill up the gas tank with the fuel to get us to your events. We need this funding to get us the final leg of the way to the desert this year!
SUPPORT US...SUPPORT EVOLVER
10% of the funds raised through this campaign will go to support the
The Evolver Network who fosters collaboration and brings awareness to people and projects working to restore our planet. 60 local chapters called Evolver Spores inspire activism and raise awareness around today’s most pressing issues such as permaculture, meditation, gift economies, nutrition, and visionary art. The Vulvatron is proud to support their efforts.
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THANK YOU!
