Proposal: Figment Boston

Jason Turgeon

Describe Your Idea.
Figment Boston is the Boston branch of a nationwide grass-roots participatory arts event. Figment is the anti-gallery, where all of the art is designed to be touched, pulled, climbed on, or otherwise played with. We believe that everyone is an artist and welcome everyone to bring their own art to our event, especially if it is participatory or interactive. Our two previous Boston events have included DJs, marching bands, spontaneous dance celebrations, giant hammocks, domes with aerialists performing inside, jellyfish made from recycled plastic bottles, free tutu making sessions, sidewalk chalking, giant bubbles, mutant bicycles, giant kaleidoscopes, interactive sculptures, video art, storytelling sessions, and much more.

Figment Boston will take place on the Rose Kennedy Greenway on the first weekend of June. Other Figment events have happened in New York City; Jackson, Mississippi; and Detroit, Michigan. Figment is completely volunteer-run and accepts no advertising or commercial sponsorships. We do not sell anything to raise funds. Our artists are free to do whatever they like as long as their projects are safe, somehow interactive, suitable for all ages, and non-commercial (no selling, advertising, or handing out fliers). All our projects are leave-no-trace.

How Will You Use Your Grant?
Figment Boston is a gift from the 200 or so artists and volunteers to the city and people of Boston. We do not accept any advertising or sponsorships and we sell nothing. Figment’s projected budget is around $10,000 annually. The project is funded through grants from non-profit cultural institutions and arts groups and private donations. We have almost no overhead; we are all volunteers and maintain no office space. Our expenses are insurance, portable toilets, signage, security, tent rentals, and a small amount for T-shirts and snacks for our volunteers. Much of our equipment for the events is donated or highly discounted.

If we win, we will use the funds for a specific piece of of the event, like creative signage, the rental of an outdoor dance floor for dance performances, or the rental of a “dark space” tent for the many digital artists in Boston who work with projectors and lights.

What is the expected status of your project by the next Feast?
Figment Boston will take place June 2–3, 2012. We are currently in the fundraising stage of our event, which lasts until the end of May or until we reach our budget, whichever comes first. Our “call for participation” for artists is open from mid-February to mid-April each year. We will be happy to report back to the group at any future Feast Mass, but would be even more delighted to have members of Feast join us for the fun in June!

Proposal: Don't Get Too Comfortable

Ian Deleon

Describe Your Idea.
Don’t Get Too Comfortable is a one-night event with a large pillow sculpture and a food-serving performance. We have two goals for this project: 1) to foster discussion regarding being comfortable and taking action in the context of the global revolutionary climate, and 2) introducing the alternate economic model of time banking. A critique of corporate-driven Capitalism and a call for true democracy in America, ties these two pieces together.

The sculptural element is a large, interactive floor installation made with all re-purposed, soft materials. Visitors to the space will be invited to lay on top of a pile of these hand-made pillows and listen to an audio score emanating from below, which features the voices of Occupy Boston participants. The performative element of our piece involves taking part in an actual time banking system. Kara Stokowski and Ian Deleon, along with several guest artists, will be providing a unique, three-course meal to visitors, in exchange for their time. Guests are encouraged to contribute their time by either sowing and stuffing more pillows to add to the installation, or by helping us serve food or wash dishes—but participation is not required.

At the heart of this piece is a desire to create community, empower people, and continue breaking the boundaries of art’s visibility and its potential for change. This installation will be shown at the Massachusetts College of Art & Design on October 27 in conjunction with the closing reception for the Futurefarmers’ show in the Godine Gallery.

How will you use your grant?
Grant money will go directly to:

1. Purchasing food for the opening—the three course meal will consist of a walnut, cranberry, goat cheese salad; curry cauliflower, peas, potatoes & jasmine rice; and pumpkin pie & apple cider
2. Procurement of the found materials—this includes time taken off from our jobs to look for materials as well as Zipcar rental, and the cost of thread
3. Promotional materials for the event—posters, fliers and signage for the installation

What is the expected status of your project by the next Feast?
By the time of the next Feast, our event will have taken place, but we hope the themes of our installation live on in other forms. One concrete example is that after the event we will donate most of our pillows to Occupy Boston, specifically the Spirituality Tent and the library, in order to enhance the comforting energy, which is so vital to the dissemination of ideas and the creation of an inclusive, democratic community. We hope that the library at MassArt also chooses to accept several of our pillows. This project could and should be recreated—in other schools, other cities, other countries. It is an idea that is not only ours; it belongs to anyone.

Proposal: Spectrum of Inevitable Violence

Caitlin Berrigan

Describe Your Idea.
In the midst of heated global discussions about economic and social structures, I am reaching out to wide publics to realize an upcoming video installation and participatory event that is in dialogue with many of these issues. The project, Spectrum of Inevitable Violence, will be part of the deCordova Museum’s 2012 biennial, curated by Dina Deitsch and Abigail Ross Goodman, with the support of the Boston Center for the Arts.

‘Spectrum of Inevitable Violence’ is an artwork to address unresolved and elusive forces in cultural and spatial politics. The surveying, mapping, and catharsis of class dynamics come together in this
participatory work. I hope to offer new ways of looking at class structures, one’s position and assumptions about other people. Emotions of anxiety, misrepresentation and the inadequacy of language are channeled into a battle—a class warfare food fight.

The battle provides an outlet for all these tensions that lie below the surface of language, and for the failure of survey and analysis. Yet the enemy lines are mangled and indecipherable. The inadequacy of language explodes into a spectacular mess.

Accompanying the event will be an installation of looping video tableaux, depicting people’s personal stories about class tensions, anxieties, and strategies of subterfuge. For the production of the videos and other exhibition material, I am soliciting people’s anxieties about social class. Exemplary incidents; present naggings, ancient family frustrations, your parents’ anxieties—anything. Visual, specific and descriptive stories are best!

How will you use your grant?
Any and all funds I can raise will be used to pay people to work on a video crew—props, site rentals, transportation of people and stuff to and from sites, pay or feed large groups of people to appear in the videos.

What is the expected status of your project by the next Feast?
The videos will be complete in January and will be on view at the deCordova Museum and at the Cyclorama in February when the Spectrum of Inevitable Violence is to take place. All are invited to take part in the class warfare food fight. It will be free, filthy and spectacular!

Proposal: Feast Mass for the Homeless

Ariana Almas

Describe Your Idea.
Five words: Feast Mass for the Homeless. That’s right. My idea is to take the basic structure and mission of Feast Mass and open it up to the homeless population of the greater Boston area. The purpose of the Feast would be to empower homeless individuals by providing a forum for their ideas to be heard, appreciated, supported, and most importantly, implemented. The structure would be very much the same: inviting homeless individuals to submit their ideas for an event or program that would raise awareness, funds, etc. for the homeless population. Over the course of the year, volunteers will meet with the homeless population at a soup kitchen, work with these individuals to develop their ideas, and encourage them to submit. Then for the actual feast, community members, advocacy and nonprofit organizations, and the homeless community will come together, enjoy a meal, and vote on the proposal they would like to see supported (all individuals who are not experiencing homelessness will donate at the door to support the grant). Over the next few months, volunteer will work together with the homeless community to ensure the idea is implemented. It is my hope that this event will engage the homeless population, build their confidence and self-esteem, and provide a sense of ownership for their advocacy efforts.

How Will You Use Your Grant?
I have spoken to Haley House, a nonprofit organization that believes in the power of food to bring communities together and to solve problems. They have a soup kitchen that hosts events for homeless or struggling individuals. If I win a grant, I will use it to partner with Haley House to pay the cost of their space, time, food, etc. The grant will also be used towards efforts to engage the greater Boston community to support this event—marketing materials, etc.

What is the expected status of your project by the next Feast?
In the next 10–12 weeks, I hope to establish partnerships with different organizations, create a strategic plan on how to engage the homeless population, complete outreach efforts to the homeless population, and secure any additional funding needed. By the time the next Feast Mass rolls around, I would hope for plans to be solidified and for Feast Mass for the Homeless to have taken place.

Proposal: Publication Studio Boston

Nate Grossman, Leah Craig & Paul Butler — 2nd place $250

Describe Your Idea.
Publication Studio Boston is the most recent sibling studio in an international collective of independent presses. Equipped with a small arsenal of readily available tools (printers, perfect binder, guillotine cutter), we are able to publish books on demand, both quickly and affordably, eliminating the cost and waste associated with traditional methods of publishing. Our books are composed of content both collected from local artists and authors and appropriated from other sources. Upon completion, books are shared between all the sibling Publication Studios across the world and are made available for purchase and online browsing through our free reading commons.

How Will You Use Your Grant?
The printer we have been using at Publication Studio Boston has been replaced by a newer model and ink cartridges are no longer available, so the grant money would go towards purchasing a new printer, ideally one that prints in color, allowing us to print color books in-house. Any additional funds would be used towards a supply of ink.

What is the expected status of your project by the next Feast?
If Publication Studio Boston receives the grant, the printer will be purchased immediately, and production will begin. We currently have three titles ready for print with one more nearing completion and many more on the way. By the time of the next Feast we would ideally have a large range of titles for sale in Boston and elsewhere.

Proposal: Bank of America Projection

John Hulsey & City Life / Vida Urbana — 1st place $600

Describe Your Idea.
In November, a group of Boston-area residents and homeowners facing foreclosure by Bank of America will project their stories onto the front facade of Bank of America in downtown Boston. The projection will happen at dusk, as people are leaving work. From the street, passersby will hear people’s voices echoing in the plaza while their words flash across the surface of the building. The voices will speak about the struggles faced by families in difficult economic times. They will speak about neighborhoods, and the meaning of home. They will speak directly to the banks that have foreclosed on their homes. Over the course of the evening, ten stories will be heard.

The event is being organized by members of City Life / Vida Urbana and the Bank Tenants Association, local grassroots community organizations that have been fighting to keep people in their homes. It is conceived as a form of direct action and will be part of a larger campaign to put pressure on the banks to stop post-foreclosure evictions by bringing increased public visibility to these ten cases.

How Will You Use Your Grant?
Due to the sensitive nature of this project, we are hoping to find extra funds to cover the costs of projection, insurance, and legal support.

What is the expected status of your project by the next Feast?
The event will happen in November, and will have documentation that can be shown at the next Feast.