Proposal: MOLTENi NET WORKS

Maria Molteni

Describe your idea.
My idea is simple. I plan to hand-crochet basketball nets and install them on hoops in environments where such are missing or damaged. I'll create an email address, blog, and google map to keep track of spaces where nets have been installed or have yet to be. Interested participants may follow the progress of MOLTENi NET WORKS and report sightings and requests for nets in their own neighborhoods. Efforts will begin locally, with hoops down the street from my Lower Allston apartment, but contribute to additional projects such as artist Kevin Clancy's "Portable Utopia" (a resource that will travel around Johanessburg hosting public works projects in South Africa). I hope to engage other creative enthusiasts collaborating via stitch-and-bitch-style skill shares to fabricate nets and exchange new design ideas.

Familiar with the many ways nets benefit the game, both functionally and beyond, this project is inspired by my own bball history and the love for sinking a "nothin' but net". As an artist I am interested in a mapping process that creates a network between communities and utilizes abandoned space as a new venue. I'm also motivated by a DIY form of slow production that will restore dignity to such preloved neighborhood totems. I hope that installing a functional while quality, hand-crafted product on an industrial rim will foster creativity, encourage the questioning of standard measurement/design, and create a bond of trust between artists, athletes, and neighbors.

How will you use your grant?
A FEAST grant would be much appreciated to help me get a running start on an exciting project that I hope will grow and spread to other artists and communities as FEAST has done. So far, I have installed one test net. Each net uses about 2 balls of yarn which are typically sold for $8–12 each. If I average $20/net, $500 could fund 25 nets—about 12 full basketball courts worth. That would be a wonderful start!

What is the expected status of your project by the next Feast?
I aim to send 4 nets to South Africa for Portable Utopia, and restore nets to courts at the following coordinates in Boston by the time the next FEAST comes around.