2015 Placement Map & Descriptions

FINAL2015Placement

Mosaic Experiment: Defying Gravity 2015 Placement Map

ART INSTALLATIONS

ANTI-GRAVITY ELIXIRS Anti-­gravity elixirs aim to challenge the force of attraction by which our bodies fall toward the center of the Earth. The consumption of anti­-gravity potions are the gates of which to enter an alternate world of possible impossibilities. By creating possible impossibilities, we enable ourselves to lose touch with the physical laws of attraction that bind us to reality, and unhinge fantasies of weightless existence of which evoke transformative change.

DEFIANT PHOENIX “Defiant Phoenix” mixes Mosaic 2015’s “Defying Gravity” theme with the Big Burn’s “Man Effigy”. This installation is a family of wooden birds which will be set ablaze. Each reminds us to defiantly soar high above the challenges of life. Their cycle of "life from death" reflects our own experience from default world to burner community.

GALLERY OF THE FOUND Gallery of the Found is a interactive gifting gallery for art and writing. Found in a tiny alcove of trees, the Gallery is place to discover art, poetry, crafts and writing all gifted by our burner community. The Gallery will also feature the Altered Book Project, a creative way for you to make art and poetry at the burn. Find us among the trees... bring or make something to gift, and hang it in the gallery to be found anew. Please, don’t be shy - take a piece of Mosaic art home with you when you depart!

FLYING BADONKADONK MACHINE How does one describe a flying badonkadonk machine? It's mobile musical instrument that anyone can play (if they are tall enough); it’s mounted on wheels, so you never know where it might fly off to. You’ll know it when you see it. Play it! Interactive participation of this mobile musical art is encouraged!

MANIC DYSPHORIA A stately willow with an impossible garden stands beside a clouded sky. The central tree canopy sways fluidly as an unseen breeze imparts momentum to the sculpture; its lifelike actions captivating in their apparent simplicity. The tree has surprisingly chaotic behaviors while still being structurally strong and stable. Lights flow across the limbs and reflect off the cloudy sky. The garden is beautiful but seemingly cannot truly exist, just like people can still hold beauty in times of seemingly impossible hardship. This environment represents the chaos and the beauty in which the severely mentally ill and those close to them live.

REFLECTIONS Reflections is a wooden pergola with a rope suspended bed made of reclaimed wood. Like swinging on a swing set as a child, Reflections defies gravity by offering a feeling of weightlessness, happiness and flying while being safe for burner participants to hang out on and reflect. At night, the effect should be something similar to floating around in space, staring up at the stars.

TAKE MY HAND Take My Hand is a passive interactive piece that encourages spontaneous moments of slow dance. Imagine as you are on one of your walking adventures to check out what Mosaic is doing, with a person you are happy to have in that moment - ­ a friend, a lover, a parent/child/brother/sister, a new acquaintance, a crush, a recent stranger­ - and you frolic across a stand-alone space where you can sweep in and out of a dance at both of your wills. Maybe it makes you nervous, and maybe it gives you butterflies, maybe it feels like the most natural thing in the world... sway back and forth all night or until the end of the song.

Based on the artist’s fond memories of dancing with her father, Take My Hand recalls being spontaneously twirled around and sharing a dance, then letting it end as quickly as it came on with zero awkwardness. This project is being built in hopes to offer a platform to offer your hand to someone and be intimate with another human, the slow dance way.

TARDIS (BIGGER ON THE INSIDE) We'll be making a tardis out of plywood with mirrors (some of them carnival style) lining the interior walls and solar lighting from the edges. The idea is to create a multi-angled infinity mirror effect in which a person can view themselves in ways they were never previously capable. Perhaps even realizing like a Tardis, they too are bigger on the inside.

TEMPLE OF UNOBTAINABLE EXPECTATIONS The concept of the Temple of Unobtainable Expectations is simple, really. Expectations are all around us and in our daily life. We really do take for granted that things will always be the way they are now and they won’t be. Each moment in time is different than another. There is no going back, only forward. So, why not go forward with a new direction? The direction of healing. The Temple’s goal is to help transmute the energy of guilt of expectation into a loving remembrance of who we really are. When we free ourselves of expectation, we make room to express more love and joy. You are invited to interact with the Temple by writing on the outside, or leave unobtainable expectations within on the heart shaped papers provided. The Temple is located in Sacred Grove, and the artist will often be nearby and invites you to reach out to her if you need help letting go. The Temple of Unobtainable Expectations burns Sunday morning as the sun rises.


THEME CAMPS

ASGAARD When you feel consumed by the fog of uncertainty, when you feel driven to break free from the oppressors, heed the summons of the heathen horn. This is the home for those who embrace the white frost, a haven for the fighting spirit, consecrated by hearts of fire and steel. Harken the battle cries of our warrior brethren, the strike of the anvil, the lightning crash. We welcome you to Asgaard, to answer the thundering call of the north.

People can come and hang out, listen to our music, dance. We will be playing mostly Nordic and European metal as well as some other music. People are encouraged to express all of the 10 principles, but especially radical self expression.

BIPOLAR DRAGONS The large art "Manic Dysphoria" is integral to the theme camp. It's expected that several people at once can be creating art of the dance through the movement of the chaotic willow limbs and playing with complex light patterns in the limbs via smart phones. All of these activities interact with each other. Cooperation tends to produce the most beautiful actions with the seeming chaos. The floating boulder is there specifically as an art play area for kids. A specific activity is drawing on the boulders with colored chalk. Hopefully this will foster the concept of being artistic without permanently marring outdoor beauty. More introspective interaction is writing/drawing/etc. on cloth that people can quickly glue to the tree trunk and roots. It is expected that there will be additional art to gift that helps carry the discourse about Bipolar Disorder beyond the limits of the Mosaic Experiment.

CAMP BLAST OFF! A place made up of people that love space and all space related things. BYOA: Bring your own alien and no MIB allowed.

CAMP BYE FELICIA! Camp Bye Felicia! is a camp with a unique attitude. We welcome the stranger as long as that stranger isn't a jerk. Anyone thought to be a jerk will get a very loud "Bye Felicia!" from us. We are a camp full of silly grumps. We will have odd and possibly bitchy art lying about. We are also offering an activity called Frankenfurries where you can sew together your own crazy creature out of various stuffed animal parts. We want to spread the message that even though we are at a burn, we don't have to put up with rude jerks. Our camp definitely abides by the Fuck Yer Day mentality!

CAMP CUDDLEFISH Camp Cuddlefish is an aquatic-themed cuddlespace. We also run workshops, usually including Good Touch Games, an experiment in consensual touch gamification that also just so happens to make people practice good consent culture.

CAMP GROWN-UP We are Camp Grown-Up, an art-centric group of cool people from Boston. We come all the way to Ohio to make sure hippies have the things they need to burn successfully - we practice radical over preparedness. We also have a sober adult person on premises all through the burn - so if you lose your shit we'll help you find it.

CAMP NEVER B IV - THE OFFICE An interactive office, play, and teaching area.

CAMP SNAKE OIL Camp Snake Oil will serve the finest in libations meant to give you the pep, vim, and vigor you need to promote health in the body and mind using the oldest and best science. No fancy double blind studies here folks! Just good old fashion know-how! So long story short, we're a bar, which promotes all kinds of interactivity in one way or another.

CAMP CLOUD CITY Camp Cloud City brings out the kid in you. Imagine walking through the clouds into a space filled with toys from your past. Imagine playing games from years past. Imagine drinking tea from toy tea cups. Imagine seeing the stars and moons scattered on the ceiling from your childhood bedroom. Here you can escape from the hustle and bustle of your busy camp life, and retreat into your inner child - free of pressures, filled with joy and innocence.

The camp also hosts several art installations, one of which is the recipient of the medium art grant. You can write a postcard to your future self. Drop it into our Cloud City mailbox, and we will keep it safe and mail it to your future you. What would you like to say to yourself? What wisdom would you like to impart? What would you like to remind yourself? It's all here - waiting for you.

On Friday for a couple of hours, kids are welcomed to the Cloud City to play games led by one of our camp members. On Saturday for a couple of hours, we will be serving an adult brunch where everyone is welcome to participate.

Camp Cloud City serves as a haven. A way to ease your burden and take a few minutes of your day to let the kid in you play again.

DEITY CAMP Come to Deity Camp and become a God or Goddess (your choice), complete with immortality ceremony, sacred geometry creation, and a pantheon sound altar that will burn after the effigy. We have some amazing never before heard electronic based sets ready to go with both high and low energy times happening. Come gather and worship around the fire alter, feel or dance at the sound alter, or join in on some cuddle opportunities, and don’t forget to say high to Z(i)us: God of the gods, God of sound, and God of cuddles.

FIRST FIRES First Fires invites you to take a step back in time and a step into coziness. Here we celebrate the first fires of our civilizations that drew people together for warmth, comfort, companionship, and expression. We invite you to relax in our cave dwelling, and leave your mark on our time together by adding to the murals inside. Stop by any time, or join us for one of our events, including a Wild Things Tea Party, Open Mic, and Beginner Fire Spinner Workshops.

FIX YOUR SHIT Fix Your Shit started as advice, turned into a philosophy and now it has evolved into a theme camp. We provided shit-fixing supplies, including sewing kits, basic first aid, things to keep you warm, and more. Need something fixed? Come see us, we’ll do our best to help! Camp FYS is also radically inclusive as our members are involved in a variety of activities, many of which are counter culture. We attend burns, pagan festivals, kink parties and are open to any and all people regardless of gender, orientation, marital status, and blood donor type. We are poly and kink friendly. Several of our members also love to hand drum and that draws in many visitors and people looking to get away from the EDM. We will have many drums with us to loan people and several people with large mouths to draw people in.

FROSTED KRAKEN COOKIES Our flavor engineers have crossed the Indus River and climbed the highest peaks of the Himalayas to fetch the sacred milk of the finest Nepalese cows. We’ve traversed across China in search of the holiest of holy grains. We’ve sought out the oldest of Irish druids in search of divine swine. We solicited the help of the righteous brotherhood of the Canadian Maple. We even had some dolphin bits left over from our last endeavor. Look for our Cookieketeers making the rounds passing out our most sacrilegious treat yet.

HELPING HANDS SUCCORS We are a camp offering a place to stay for new burners, who would like to already have connections before experiencing this wonderful life changing event called burning. We are here to offer help, guidance, answer questions and ensure the newest members of our community have a better burn experience. We also will offer a gifting tree or loan hub where people can register extra supplies they bring, hoping to gift or loan to those who have forgot, lost, broke, ran out of, or didn't plan on bringing. We all need a little help from time to time, and even the most seasoned burners can run into a snag while at an event. There is no shame here. No sparkle ponies, just inexperienced or uneducated future friends.

LAST CAMP With an iron-clad pack-all-the-muck back out plan we intend on setting up a hookah bar for ages 18+. We will have 4 hookahs, wind covers for the bowls for safety, and a variety of flavors for everyone to try. Will have a pillow pile for sitting out to look at the stars or discuss all the things. We want to provide a relaxing place in a quieter area for folks to gather and talk or take a breather.

MOTHERSHIP LOVE Mothership Love Command Center. Welcome Humans! We are honored by your open arms and profuse usage of this H2O substance you keep drinking. How weird. Come hang out and say hi to the Crew and come visit with the Mothership! Make sure to stop by on Burnday afternoon. Our crewmembers have fallen in love with this… grilled cheese concoction you humans eat. We will have plenty of these grilled lactose slices for you all. Don’t believe their lies!

NOTACAMP We'll bring our big metal dome back this year filled with electronics, blinky lights and tons of fun stuff to do! Live music and DJs will be playing in the dome throughout the event. Want to play your own stuff or jam, then stop on by! We're also bringing back Mosaic Radio, 88.5 FM, so bring your FM radio to tune into what's going on in the dome. We also accept submissions for radio programming, so submit something!

PIONEER Much like it was in 2014. We're going to have a book swap (leave a book take a book) under our -better built- front porch. We're also planning on having olde fashioned checkers set up for folks to take a siesta and relax ye olde pioneer style. On one of the nights we're going to have corn on the cob. The following day we're going to teach people what some uses pioneers had for cobs. Other than wiping their butts - making checkers, scrub brushes and other stuff Peppers brain contains.

PRIORITY5 Our vision is to create a space to demonstrate our camps incredibly varied skillset to the community as a whole. We plan on having a bar, to lure people in, and have a large scale sound system to keep them enraptured by our DJ roster. We have a number of fire spinners that will be performing their flow art, as well as hosting at least two events (a talk on cryptography and a bourbon tasting). As a whole, we focus on building strong social ties within the community by enabling unmediated experiences.

SACRED GROVE "The Place Where People Meet to Seek the Highest is Holy Ground."

Our vision for Sacred Grove at Mosaic is to intentionally and energetically interact with a designated space to create “the Sacred.” In a Blessing Ceremony, all are invited to imbue the space with the gift of our own sacred energy, gratitude for the sacred energies present in the space, and an interest in mutually awakening and expanding these energies together in the space. We will summon within ourselves: trust, acceptance, and openness to change and expansion.

Throughout the course of Mosaic, we will work and play in that sacred space, and offer it up to whomever would like to do the same. As Mosaic draws to a close, we will offer a Blessed Ceremony, to conclude our personal experience with the space, and also take it forward into the next chapters of our lives.

We promote radical inclusion by opening the space to all at any time. We also open the idea of what is “sacred” to be explored by all who enter the space with awareness of its intention. We promote radical self-expression by celebrating all forms of self-expression as sacred. We promote communal effort by supporting each contributor in manifesting their offering to the Sacred Grove. We promote participation in the space through both physical and energetic offerings that will be described in an intentional schedule posted at the entrance.

We promote immediacy by encouraging experience that drops participants’ energetic expression/ reception down from headspace into heartspace and root-creativespace. In the same vein, we encourage participants to fuse any intention that they carry together with openness to whatever is present – to fully and sacredly experience the beauty of the NOW experience.

THE SECRET GENTLEMEN’S CLUB The Secret Gentlemen's Club is an oasis of leisure and sophistication, a bulwark of civility against an increasingly savage world. Here a Burner can embrace their more cosmopolitan side, engaging with other like-minded individuals in an atmosphere of refinement and urbanity.

Whether enjoying liquid refreshments lovingly concocted by one of our expert cocktail craftsmen, playing one of our outsized lawn games, voicing their innermost thoughts through participatory art installations, testing their skills at classic arcade machines, or simply engaging other Secret Gentlemen (keeping in mind that ladies can be the most secret gentlemen of all) in scintillating conversation, Mosaic participants will find The SGC a most welcoming environment for expression, repose and intellectual edification.

Proper attire required (or will be provided).

SKRAMBLES**!* Born from confusion and tempered by mild incompetence. Home of the world famous "Now we dance! Now we fight!" Dance/Fight party (now with fewer stuffed animal related injuries!). Absolutely no eggs. All hail String.

SPIRIT ILLUMINATIONS We believe in creating a space where a person’s body, soul and spirit are free to connect to the Creator of the Universe. We provide a safe place where one can interact with the spirit through creative art, dream interpretation, readings, and healing.

SUMMER CAMP REJECTS PART DEUX Were you the outcast at summer camp when you were a kid? Now you can be the popular one! This camp is for all of us who were not accepted. We will have interactive projects such as coloring books, fabric paints, beading and LEGOS! We will be hosting a Lego Build Party on Saturday from noon to 3 PM. Dragoon DailyFlame, camp mascot and all around good Dragon will also be in attendance.

SYNCITYUM An Ann Arbor/Detroit based theme camp with bar, sound and whatever fire Ohio allows us to bring.

UNDER SEAGE Under Seage is collaborating once more with a bunch of wonderful people and camps to create Ocean Motion Village! With Art, Music and an interactive space for performance, spiritual expansion, TED talks and cuddle space, if you are not having fun, you're doing it wrong! So come play and learn.

WHITE RABBIT White Rabbit offers a safe, chill space to enjoy. We have gallery space to display art. Art supplies and paper to create art. Hookah. Quiet, and chill music, as well as an interactive art installation.


Many thanks to Lady D, our Placement lead, for her hard work coordinating our village.  Huge thanks to Lindsey Pepper of Pioneer camp for the gorgeous graphic design!

Questions? Email our placement department at placement[at]mosaicexperiment[dot]com.

Temple of Unobtainable Expectations: An Interview with Kristal Light

Our community has known Kristal Light for a long time. She exemplifies the Burning Man 10 Principles through the artistic gifting nature of her personal lifestyle, and over the years she's volunteered to work First Aid at more regional Burning Man events than we can keep track of. If you've been to a Midwestern or Southern regional Burning Man event in the past 10 years, chances are good you've met her! She also became one of Kentucky's first official Burning Man Regional Contacts, and was one of the founders of Reclaimation, Kentucky's first official regional burn.

Currently living in Lexington, Kentucky, Kristal received a Large Art Grant to bring her vision for The Temple of Unobtainable Expectations to life. She was kind enough to answer a few questions for us, and sent us a few pictures of the work in progress (but nothing too specific, she's not going to spoil the secret!)

How did you first get involved in all this Burning Man business?

My first burn was Transformus in 2005, but I heard of Burning Man years prior from an article published in Wired back in 1996. I moved from my birthplace of Louisville, Kentucky to San Francisco in 1998 and attended some fundraiser parties for Burning Man, thought hadn't yet made it out to the actual event. It took finding community in the woods (at Transformus) to inspire my first journey to the desert. My first actual Burning Man was in 2008, and like with so many others, it radically changed my life. Finding others who are inspired by large art, blank canvases, and vision, I started to make big art of my own for regional burns, not to mention participating in Burning Man's first historic C.O.R.E. (Circle of Regional Effigies) project in 2011. The project was called the F-N Bourbon Barrel and was a 16ft tall by 16ft wide Bourbon Barrel that housed 350 individual art pieces from people here in Kentucky and some native kids in Canada.

Would you mind telling us a little about your project for Mosaic Experiment?

I'm building a temple for Mosaic called The Temple of Unobtainable Expectations. The vision for this art piece came to me while doing 108 days of mantra meditation earlier this year. I wanted a way to help myself and others to let go of the expectations of others so that we can be free to feel more joy and love.

I was inspired by my meditation , my job and my life to make this project. I wanted to use recycled materials from my workplace in a way that dresses them up from their original use. I also wanted to show the art that anyone can make if you make the time to do it.

Our families and friends think they are helping us when they tell us we will be judged by others around us. Sometimes, we are filled with these expectations by friends who want us to do more and more for them. It's when we realize our truths and let go of these expectations holding us back that we can be free to be whatever we choose to be.

The art is very personal for me as I work through the thoughts and ideas that have held me back over the years. I just hope this project helps others to know even well-meaning expectations can be harmful to the psyche and transmutation is the way of freedom.

I look forward to seeing the reactions of others as they interact with the piece and hope we are all healed as this burns at dawn Sunday morning.

This sounds like a profoundly deep project for you. May we ask how much time you've spent on it so far?

Wow.....good question there.....I started with the vision in February this year (2015) and started the work in March. I knew I wanted to bring this piece to Mosaic all along and I'm grateful that I'm getting closer to making my vision a reality.

Are you collaborating with anyone on this you'd like to mention, or working primarily alone?

I've been working on this piece alone, for the most part. I did consult two friends on the building/spiritual parts of the piece, but this has been a single person build all along. The Sacred Grove camp has taken me in as a member this year and have offered to keep sacred space around the piece when I need a break.

Have you run into any unexpected obstacles while building / designing this Temple or has everything been going to plan?

My main challenge has been making sure I collected all the recycled materials to make the project. Luckily, I have done that, and now my only challenge will be muscle help on site to help me lift pieces while I put it together/break it apart.....want to help out? I'd love volunteers.

Would you mind sharing any advice or wisdom to other participants considering a major project like this for a future Mosaic Experiment?

Dream big! Don't be afraid to try something out of your league. It's just a new thing you've not tried yet. Don't give up on yourself or your art. Anything is possible when you have dreams!

One last question: Mosaic's theme for 2015 is "Defying Gravity." How does your Temple defy gravity?

I've decided to look at the world differently than before, and part of doing that is baring my soul for all to see. This project is a sort of therapy for myself dealing with loss, depression, and abuse. As you walk into the project, you'll see several phrases in negative tones. Those words are from the heart and I cried as I let the pain come through me and be placed into the wood for you all to see. Likewise, I have positive phrases inside the heart of the piece to show the healing that has taken place in my life so that it helps others to not suffer as much. We have so much in common and yet we forget that we all hurt, cry, bleed the same. Life is a terminal illness. It's time we fly beyond our faults and embrace our beauty in those differences. Letting go is the hardest part. Dream big and believe in yourself.....that's how true miracles happen.

I hope this temple helps someone not feel alone, ashamed or afraid of those dark things inside. I hope this temple is the vision of beauty I've seen in my meditations. I hope this temple helps heal others as I know it will help heal me.

Remember, this isn't magic, this is your life. Your game, your rules. You can change those rules you've set for yourself if they hold you back from your highest potential. Don't give up on yourself. Don't stop believing. Never stop dreaming.

Thank you, Kristal, for sharing your vision and gifting of yourself with an art piece we can all participate in. The Temple will burn on Sunday morning, October 4, 2015. We look forward to sharing this experience together.

Are you ready for Mosaic Experiment and all the beauty and creativity you'll experience? Be sure to come prepared so you can fully enjoy it! Check out our Weather Preparedness & Self Reliance post, and of course, don't forget to read the Survival Guide.

2015 Art Grants Awards

Photography by Levi Kill

2015 ART GRANTS AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Mosaic Experiment’s Art Grant Committee is pleased to announce the following 2015 Art Grants awardees. Thank you all for your hard work, participation, and vision. Giving out funds for art is probably the best job around!

As you can see, most grants were not funded in their entirety. Help our fellow artists out! Click the donate button next to any description to donate directly to that project. If you’d like to donate to ALL the projects (your donation will be divided evenly), donate here:

Donate Button Our temporary home in the cosmos of Reclaim is being built slowly, art project by art project … we can’t wait to see the magic you all create.

LARGE ART GRANTS

DEFIANT PHOENIX by Joel Lam Defiant Phoenix will represent a bird, a symbol of “Defying Gravity”. The bird will be more of a skeleton, with straight sticks of wood representing its feathers. It’s wings spread wide, as though emerging from the flames and beginning it’s ascent to the heavens. This installation is a reminder that we can soar high above the challenges of life. This phoenix is defiant; she burns brightly, gives warmth, follows her own path, and soars higher than anyone says she should. She’s also a constant survivor. Budget: $1,000 | Granted: $550

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REFLECTIONS by Jaime Robbins R DrawingReflections is a swinging pergola. This structure accomplishes this feeling of weightlessness, happiness and flying while being safe for burner participants to hang out on and reflect. Hanging from the roof of the pergola will be many small mirrors medallions reflecting the light from the LEDs that will also be added to the structure. The effect should be something similar to floating around in space, staring up at the stars. Budget: $970 | Granted: $550

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TEMPLE OF UNOBTAINABLE EXPECTATIONS by Kristal Light Temple of Unobtainable Expectations highlights the fact that expectations are all around us and in our daily life. We really do take for granted that things will always be the way they are now and they won’t be. Each moment in time is different than another. There is no going back, only forward. So, why not go forward with a new direction? The direction of healing. The artist’s goal is to help transmute the energy of guilt of expectation into a loving remembrance of who we really are. When we free ourselves of expectation, we make more room to express more love and joy. This art project will be a structure you walk into and experience the messages the project has to show through the well thought out art. Able to be walked into in small groups. Budget: $679 | Granted: $300

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MEDIUM ART GRANTS

CLOUD CITY P.O. by Bill Fisher CCPO DrawingCloud City P.O. allows the Mosaic community to live outside the box, “Defying Gravity”, by creating a mailbox from which they may mail postcards to their future selves. Participants will be able to create a personal message they will mail to themselves to be delivered in the future. Participants can be as creative as they want with the postcards. They will be able to draw, color and write whatever they wish. If a participant does not want to include their address or does not have an address, they can address it to the universe. It will still be mailed out, so it is delivered in the eyes of the participant. This installation hopes to inspire the Mosaic community to think about where they are in the world, with themselves or with others. To look within themselves and take notice of the aspects they would like to see evolved. To set small goals for themselves. Or even to simply say hi to their future selves and put a smile on their faces.

Preprinted postcards, pens, crayons and markers will be provided. Names and addresses will NOT be used for ANY other purpose. The mailbox will be participatory 24 hours a day. It will be lit up on the inside and the outside at night by battery powered E.L. Wire. The postcards will be mailed out at a time no longer than one year later. Budget: $330 | Granted: $250

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CAMP FYS BURNER SURVIVAL TINS by Jaime Robbins Camp ‘Fix Your Shit’ is offering up Burner SurvivaFYSST Picturel Tins made out of recycled Altoid tins. The outside of the tin will be spray painted to look like a miniature galaxy/starscape and will say Mosaic 2015. Anyone can visit our camp and build a tin, which includes first aid supplies, sewing supplies, ear plugs, mini lights, nail trimmers, mylar blankets, etc. It’s a little bit of functional art for participants to take with them to use again and again. Budget: $300 | Granted: $175

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TAKE MY HAND by Katelin Fisher Take My Hand was inspired by incredibly fond memories of one participants dad walking into a room with a tune or hum on his lips and spontaneously twirling her mom or one of the kids around and sharing a dance­ be it a swing, slow, bluegrass, funk­ and then letting it end as quickly as it came on with zero awkwardness. For about 60­ -120 seconds at a time, they were engaged with one another and having fun, no preamble, no time limit, but definitely smiling. At burns, participants often hope that they will be able to share the same kind of sentiment in their interactions with new friends and old family alike...spontaneous moments of meaningful engagement. Take My Hand intends to create a space that facilitates these interactions. Imagine as you are on one of your walking adventures to check out what Mosaic is doing, with a person you are happy to have in that moment­ a friend, a lover, a parent/child/brother/sister, a new acquaintance, a crush, a recent stranger­ and you frolic across a stand alone space where you can sweep in and out of a dance at both of your wills. Maybe it makes you nervous, and maybe it gives you butterflies, maybe it feels like the most natural thing in the world... sway back and forth all night or until the end of the song.

Take My Hand, either we’ll tether each other to Mosaic or we’ll float away together. Budget: $191 | Granted: $175

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THE OFFICE by Robert Kolb The Office is an experiment in alternative realities, perceptions, learning, and interpersonal communication through highly interactive experiences. The Office is a replica office setting from 1972 complete with file cabinets, desk, phone, water cooler, and more. The concept is blending the burner world with the default world, a world from the past. There will be board meetings, office parties, company picnic, and cutting edge industry discussions. Budget: $333.22 | Granted: $250

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TOAST & JAMS by Carrie Myers TJ DrawingToast & Jams is meant to be a fun activity to bring people together to bond over food and music. This will be a multi-session occurrence, each taking place for approximately 1 hour of toast making/eating and music appreciation. A small portable boombox will be used for playing music and will be quiet enough to encourage conversation. Lanterns and battery powered lights will be used for any night time toasts. This will not be a visually remarkable art project, but rather is meant to be interactive. Careful thought will go into the selection of food and music selective to encourage and provoke conversations. Budget: $270 | Granted: $150

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FULLY FUNDED ART GRANTS

BROKEN DOLL MINUET by Highwire Broken Doll Minuet brings one burner’s joy and energy of hook suspensions to the burner community. Hook suspension helped the artist in some trying times, eventually turning her into the strong individual she is now and helped in her discovering the burner community & friends. She would love to share a hook suspension with the community at Mosaic Experiment and would love for this to be an experience that not only she enjoys. She wants to share the energy she feels is understood by others. Budget: $150 | Granted: $150

PACK PACK by Kat Pope BEWARE!!! A werewolf is on the loose at Mosaic! One ‘bite’ and you’ll find yourself transformed into a werewolf yourself. This lone wolf is looking for participants to become part of her pack at Mosaic Experiment.

PkPk Heads PicMoon Moon the lone wolf will be making at least 6 wolf heads and tails to ‘turn’ ordinary participants into moon howling werewolves that roam the streets of Mosaic (and beyond). It’s her way of expressing Immediacy, self-expression, and participation. Moon Moon wants to share her love of being a wolf and to embrace your inner wolfness, run around, and howl at the moon.

Ultimately, Moon Moon is hoping that her wolves will want to make other wolves and that someday she’ll go to a burn and meet a werewolf she doesn’t know. That would be epic. The process used to make these wolves has become fairly streamlined, and uses easily ­replicated patterns. Moon Moon is working on making an instructional video so that anyone can do this themselves, but for now she’s the only werewolf­ making person around. Budget: $125 | Granted: $125

UV PHOTO BOOTH by Josh Kaplon UV Photo Booth is an interactive shadow booth. It is an 8’x8’ screen covered in a UV reactive material. A custom built 100W UV light to charge the screen allowing participants to pose in front of the screen and take temporary silhouette photos. Props like hats and other things that can make interesting outlines will be provided. There will also be various UV flashlights and laser pointers available to draw on the outlines and add detail to the photos. Budget: $100 | Granted: $100

YOUTH AR T GRANT

PICTURE PLANET by Miles Asselin PP DrawingPicture Planet is a round ball like you can crawl inside and draw things inside. But the outside is painted like a planet. And there are lights inside, with batteries for night that make it glow and you can do the art at night. You can draw things that fly on go in the air on the top and things that are on the ground in the bottom. One grown up or 2 kids can fit inside and use the markers to draw. My family will help me bring it there and make it work.

Parent’s note: We are planning on creating a sphere using multiple size rings of thin pvc pipe, then covering the structure with tarps that will be prepainted on the outside. Budget: $50 | Granted: $50 (FULLY FUNDED)


omg!OMG! Immediacy Grant: Anti-Gravity Elixirs by Helen Arth Anti-­gravity elixirs aim to challenge the force of attraction by which our bodies fall toward the center of the Earth. The consumption of anti­-gravity elixirs are the gates of which to enter an alternate world of possible impossibilities. By creating possible impossibilities, we enable ourselves to lose touch with the physical laws of attraction that bind us to reality, and unhinge fantasies of weightless existence of which evoke transformative change. Budget:  $230 | Granted:  $150

MOTHERSHIP LOVE: The Story of our Effigy

MothershipInterview"Mothership Love" is Mosaic Experiment's official effigy for 2015, selected by our Art Grants Committee because its design so perfectly fits this year's theme "Defying Gravity." Thaddeus "Osito" Micelli

This week we've been fortunate to get a few moments with Osito (Thaddeus Micelli), project manager/coordinator of the effigy team, to discuss the inspiration and efforts involved in making this artistic dream become reality. The effigy team is hard at work designing and prototyping what will soon be the final centerpiece we set fire to Saturday evening during Mosaic.

Where you living these days, Osito? Osito: Ypsilanti, Michigan

When was the first burn you ever attended? My first burn was Lakes of Fire 2013: Superstition. My wife Kyrie and I found out about the burner community from a friend who had gone the previous year to Lakes of Fire.

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Tell us a little bit about your effigy project, Mothership Love: Mothership Love is a kinetic art piece that gives a peek into the wonder of space and the universe, and offers to teleport you away. We want to truly defy gravity and show the rotation of the planets. For years, we at Mothership Love have sent out a signal into the night sky, across all frequencies, and through all known languages, and we have finally heard back. For the first time, we bring visitors from another world to our planet’s humble surface.

What inspired you to build it? For me this piece comes from a yearning to continue creating art within this culture. It is very much a culmination of the past three years of my life and this adventure being a 'burner'.  After the Tree of Life, my wife and I started small with our first theme camp (Treasure Island), evolved into our first art grant/project (Snatch-n-Balls) and escalated to creating the effigy for Mosaic. This community continues to show what is truly possible when the right energy is put into this reality. I only wish to continue this tradition and inspire the next person to shoot for the stars.

How much time have you put into creating the effigy so far? It's really hard to put an exact amount of time. It all sort of starts to blend together. A number of hours have been spent just in group conversation discussing schematics, issues, organizing events, etc. Every weekend since we were granted the effigy has been spent at one of our build sites and will continue throughout the month of September.

Fundraising, although easy enough to set up online, takes a lot of time and energy to properly hype/advertise online. Big kudos to the Mosaic leads and volunteers that spend countless hours making sure we all know what's going on!

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So we know you're not doing this all by yourself.  Who are you collaborating with and what are their roles? None of this would be possible without the help from my core team:

Aiyami (Spidermonkey): Skilled chemist by trade and Fire Lead for our effigy. Excellent knowledge of creating and burning stuff. Methodical burn designs will ensure this is one effigy you will not want to miss. One half of our mad creation team!

David Yates (Total Neglect): Design lead and engineering specialist. Brings years of experience with woodworking and fires. I'm 100% sure that this man could make anything work with enough time and tools. The other half of our mad creation team.

Kyrie Micelli (BrattyCakes): The yin to my yang. Community event organizer and overall human networker. A lot of our presence online and our fundraising event at Necto is due to Kyrie's help along with helping keep me organized and on track. Cannot thank her enough.

Although our core team is small we have been lucky to have others come to our assistance. Necto nightclub in Ann Arbor has been generous enough to offer their downstairs area (the Red Room) for our local fundraiser along with some excellent local talent. Mixtape, one of our DJs for the fundraiser, has also greatly contributed to Mosaic with his image designs and other media that will be released related to the event.

Also, our friend Jon: Our build site would not be possible if not for his generosity (and overall curiosity) of the Mothership Love effigy. The tools and space available have greatly helped in the completion/burning of the scale project and translating that to the main burn. I also have enjoyed an amazing meal or two at their place and I'm humbled by their generosity.

What kind of roadblocks and challenges have you run into so far? One of our biggest challenges is making sure that our burn effects work as we have initially planned. So far, we have successfully recreated this in the scale model and look forward to hammering out the rest. If you're coming to our Mothership Love-raiser, you'll get to see what we mean!

Scale panel (David Kyrie)Other challenges have been organizing people/time to make the builds happen, sourcing parts for the build at a reasonable price, keeping the community engaged and participating and making connects with people who can assist us with some of our harder components. We have been lucky enough to make all of these happen with a little luck and a good amount of hard work. Again, none of this would be possible without the help from the community.

Any words of advice for artists wanting to make their own project for a future Mosaic Experiment? I would definitely not take on such a large project unless you've worked on some other small ones first. The experience our crew gained on our first group project (Tree of Life, Lakes of Fire 2013) and our own personal projects since then have given us the building blocks to base our build and timeline on. It doesn't hurt to know how to use a power tool either.

Be ready to make changes. Things come up. Stuff doesn't fit or pan out. You're going to make a few revisions to your design before it gets burned. The board game Monopoly was revised over forty times before it was up to snuff. It's not a bad thing. It's just evolution. Roll with it.

Have fun! There's a lot of hard work involved in making your dreams a reality but above all make sure you and your team are enjoying what they're doing.

Got a link to your project you want us to send people to? Maybe the fundraiser page? Yup! Mothership Love Indiegogo Page

THAT'S IT, FOLKS! Osito had to go back to work!

For those wanting to help gift this project in either physical or financial ways, we highly recommend you attend the Mothership Love-Raiser this weekend:

MOTHERSHIP LOVE-RAISER Saturday, August 29, 2015 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Necto Nightclub (Red Room) Ann Arbor, Michigan

$10 gets you in the door, and you can meet the Osito and his project team in the flesh, discuss the project, offer to pitch in however you'd like, or just hang out, dance, and have a good time with burner friends supporting a project of burnerly love! Of course, if you can't make it to that, you can always donate your cover (or more!) to to the Mothership Love Indiegogo Page

Mosaic Experiment 2015: SOLD OUT

  MOSAIC MOONAs of Wednesday, August 19th, Mosaic Experiment 2015 has sold out! This is great news for those of us behind the scenes who planned wishlist budgets based on selling 400 Adult tickets. This year we increased Art Grants and Effigy budgets, upped our firewood stock for all, implemented a Low Income Ticket program, gifted Child tickets (12 and under), and now organizers are busy bees getting infrastructure ready to create our community village. How will you defy gravity? Time to prepare!

Did you miss getting your ticket? Check out the Mosaic Ticket Exchange & Rideshare Facebook Group. To transfer your ticket, we recommend calling Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006. They are super helpful and quick!

DefyingGravityballonsTICKET TRANSFERS INFO: Tickets may be resold through the Brown Paper Tickets network. If you need to sell or transfer a ticket, you must do so through the ticket vendor. Once your ticket has been transferred, Mosaic Experiment will receive notice of the transaction. Beware when buying a ticket from an individual. Only the first occurrence of a ticket code will be honored at the gate. We take no responsibility for tickets sold outside of Brown Paper Tickets.

FIND A TICKET? Awesome! NOW read the Survival Guide. You MUST READ to attend... there will be a quiz!

10 PRINCIPALSSELLING YOUR TICKET? Do your part and make sure the lucky person who buys it understands what they are getting into. It's everyone's job to spread our principles! Download the Survival Guide in PDF, or send them this link along with their ticket info.

WHAT'S NEXT? Start preparing! Get your tents and gear ready for Autumn camping in Ohio. Figure out how you'll radically express yourself - with costumes? Performance Art? Service to the community by volunteering? Start pondering the Ten Principles and how you can deepen your participation this year. What's that crazy creative idea for an impromptu art installation you had? Do it! Want to organize a happy hour, a wandering karaoke tribe, an interactive gravity defying game? GO FOR IT. The experiment only takes off when we all launch it together!

See you on the strip-mine playa!

xoxo

Mosaic Experiment 

2015 Defying Gravity Logo

websitelogobannerIntroducing the Mosaic Experiment 2015 Defying Gravity logo! Skennedy (Scott Kennedy) of Cleveland, Ohio gave his time and talent to craft this logo for use by the community. More on his process and inspiration:

I was asked to do my part in creating a logo for this year's Mosaic Experiment, based on our theme.

We talked about Defying Gravity, and Everyman made some suggestions for how that might look, and I ran with it.

The idea here is that a person with wings has leapt from a ledge, bridge, or tree into the air, surrendering themselves to the wind just before the incredible effort of flying, of resisting the irresistible.

Defying a force of nature is hard work, but there is a joy in that defiance, in controlling your own destiny for as long as you can, even if you know that eventually you will land, and have to start all over.

To me, that is what we do when we carve a space for ourselves to experiment with art and society - often walking a tightrope of regulations designed by the rest of the world to avoid risk and conflict so that we can embrace those things, together.

Without conflict, there can be no change.

And so the Defier pushes away from the cultivated, safe farmland for something stressful, intensely joyful, and all too brief.

Sound familiar?

See you at Mosaic.

--Skennedy

This image is available for any creative project your burny heart desires. Ideas include screen printing, stickers, etchings, engravings... anything you can imagine!  Several file types available here.