We are excited to tell you that our very own Josie Schimke, Program and Development Assistant at the Black Rock Arts Foundation is a panelist tomorrow at Meet the Grantmakers: Funding Opportunities for Individual Artists at the Foundation Center.

photo: http://theblight.net/

The Culture Labs at Burning Man 2009

This year at Burning Man, the various outreach groups of Burning Man (Black Rock Arts Foundation, Burners Without Borders, The Regional Network and Black Rock Solar) teamed up to create a unified presence on the playa-The Culture Labs.

This year at San Francisco’s Decompression, The Culture Labs will once again host an interactive gathering space where together, we’ll create and propagate our culture to be carried into the default world the other 51 weeks of the year. How are you nurturing the seeds in your own community that we all collectively plant in Black Rock City every year?

You are invited to stop by, sit a spell and share your story of personal evolution with other folks looking for inspiration and ideas about how we can all bring the Burner ethos to our communities year-round.

To read more about The Culture Labs at Burning Man 2009

photo: Jewel

Playing Exquisite Corpse at the Culture Labs on the Playa.

The microscope and petri dish were great fun, and there is Freddy Hahne, the President of our Board hanging out with some visitor!

And there we all were!

There was information everywhere!

A poster of the “American Dream Temple” in Detroit

The campers who made the “Culture Lab” run this year.

And our own Executive Director, Tomas McCabe, early one day, waiting for you to stop by and say hello.

Haven’t you always wanted to know more about the outreach groups of Burning Man? You hear they are placing art in China, and solar in Nevada, are creating community activists everywhere, and have events hosted locally as far away as Spain and as close as Silicon Valley.

Well, if you do, I hope you got a chance to stop by the Culture Labs and play Exquisite Corpse, or check out our Microscope, or put your feet up and experience the symbiosis of the Black Rock Arts Foundation, Burners Without Borders, The Regional Network and Black Rock Solar.

I have a special place in my heart for these outreach groups, I love the idea of creating our culture and making a difference the other 51 weeks of the year. So here was a chance, just like 2008, to meet them all in one place as they teamed up once more to create a unified presence on the playa, known as… The Culture Labs!

The Culture Labs, housed under one large pavilion (which might have looked familiar… it’s one of the pavilions that surrounded the Man in 2007 and 2008!) hosted interactive activities, art projects, events and gatherings (which were listed in the What Where When guide). The goal was to breed and propagate our culture to be carried into the default world. Friendly ‘lab assistants’ were available to talk about their various programs and projects.

The center of the Culture Labs held a giant petri dish and microscope (containing a video camera)! You were invited (but not required) to lie underneath the microscope and tell the story of YOUR personal evolution. At night, hopefully, those recordings were projected on a 50 foot rear-projected screen. Of course there were some technical issues, that is how you know it’s Burning Man.

photos: Jewel, affinity, Extramatic

One of our 2008 Grant Recipients is about to have a residency at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts!

PRIOR POST

Tickets On Sale Now!

The Black Rock Arts Foundation presents our third annual fundraising event, The ARTumnal Gathering

Friday, November 20, 2009
The Bently Reserve,
400 Sansome St.
San Francisco, CA 94111

The Black Rock Arts Foundation invites you to the grandest annual celebration of our community’s vital spirit and extraordinary artists. Once again, we gather in the majestic Bently Reserve to revel in support of BRAF’s mission to inspire art, community and civic participation worldwide.

Enter into an enchanted world of abundant art, captivating entertainment and tempting libations. Participate in interactive art experiences created by communiy visionaries. Be the art!

Artwork by Cory and Catska Ench

Performances by
Andrew Jones (visuals and performance)
Brainchild (interactive video)
DJ Gravity with Krystal Jones (Pink Mammoth)
Dr. Abacus
Fou Fou HA!
Icon (Opulent Temple)
Kerri Kresinski (aerial)
Loyd Family Players
Mace (Brass Tax)
Mancub (Space Cowboys)
Miss Velvet Cream (fashions)
Ubuv
Interactive Art Experiences curated by Alchemy (False Profit)

…and many other special performers to be announced!

ARTumnal Celebration
$35 Online presale
9:00 pm – 3:00 am
Includes an evening of featured and roaming performances, DJs, dancing, raffle, photography sale and surprises.

$35 presale online, $45 at the door.

Feast of Imagination
6:00 pm – 3:00 am $200
Includes an individual seat for a sumptuous dinner, auction, performances, absinthe tasting, wine, dessert, presentations from BRAF artists and entry to the Artumnal Celebration.

Feast of Imagination – Reserved Table for Eight
$2400
6:00 pm – 3:00 am
Includes a reserved table for eight for the Feast of Imagination.

BUY TICKETS NOW!

The ARTumnal Gathering, 2008 Photo by Nick Winterhalter

One of our 2009 Grants-to-Artists recipients, Live Debris is hosting an event on Portland’s Eastbank Esplanade on September 19th…

What: Live Debris presents installations and interventions about garbage and social inclusion, from Rio de Janeiro and Portland, Oregon.

When: September 19-26, 2009.
All day opening event on September 19th, works on display until September 26th.
Installations will start to be built on September 17th

Where: Between Burnside and Hawthorne along Portland’s Eastbank Esplanade.

Live Debris 2009 is a series of international events sharing reuse traditions as a means of reducing stigmas around garbage, poverty and street culture. Live Debris has taken place in Beirut, Lebanon, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and now Portland, Oregon. Exchanging and comparing world perspectives on garbage and the people who work closely with it, Live Debris explores ways that collaborative reuse can affect how we see garbage and each other. This event is organized by Taylor Cass Stevenson of red semilla roja, with help from Portland City Art, the Black Rock Arts Foundation, Outside In, Chinook Book and Oregon Electric Group.

Opening Schedule- September 19, 2009: 9am
Free Breakfast. Bring a mug if you want coffee 12-1pm
Trashtastic garbage-related performances 1-2pm
Trash Mash-Up Parade All Day (10am-5pm):
Clothing Exchange- bring used clothes
Sewing Station – transforming old t-shirts into bags, bring t-shirts
Garbage Weaving -bring clean trash
Public Paste-Up wall- make a contribution with paper
Public Crafting Party – bring a craft project

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Taylor Cass Stevenson

(503) 888-6175

livedebris @gmail.com  (livedebris @gmail.com)  
http://www.redsemillaroja.org/

Local artists involved: Anitra Cameron, Basurama and Noaz (Spain), Caveman, Cheryl Lohrmann, Chris Haberman, Christine Claringbold, Dana Fenwick, Daniel Dancer, Heather Schmidt, Jason Brown, John Graeter, Josh Seaman, Katherine Ball, Klutch, Leah Bobel, P:ear youth, Rebecca Pearcy, Ruth Waddy, Ryan Birkland, Ryan Burns, Taylor Cass Stevenson, Tim Combs and Vicky Dekney

Pahvistan – 5.1 materialization of Cardboardia in Helsinki, on Kasarmitori square on 19-23 August 2009 during Helsinki Festival.

photo from kartonija’s blog on Live Journal

Rae Richman, Secretary, BRAF Board of Directors, Linda Gass, Maria Partridge and Melissa Alexander, all BRAF Advisory Board Members

Alix Rosenthal, BRAF Board of Directors and Larry Harvey, Chairman of the BRAF Board

Rae Richman and Reverend Billy Talen

Steve Young, President, Crucible Board of Directors, Dr. Dennis Bartels, Executive Director, the ExplOratorium, Tomas McCabe, Executive Director, Black Rock Arts Foundation

Joe Olivier, BRAF Board of Directors, Freddy Hahne, President, BRAF Board of Directors

Harley Dubois, Vice President, BRAF Board of Directors, Loren Carpenter, BRAF Advisory Board

Josie Schimke, BRAF Program and Development Assistant, Freddy Hahne and Tomas McCabe

Jewel, BRAF Volunteer and Affinity, BRAF Advisory Board Member

JennyBird, artist http://www.jennybirdart.com/ and Gabrielle, Glass Artist

Dana Harrison, BRAF Advisory Board Member and Executive Producer, http://www.burningopera.com/home/

Artists and Black Rock Arts Foundation supporters got together for a few drinks and snacks at Burning Man on Thursday. It is always great to meet the people who are creating and instigating art, and this was no exception.

Rachel Carpenter, BRAF Board of Directors Member, with her fabulous Paella

Vicki and T.R, BRAF volunteers

Rod, BRAF volunteer and Tomas McCabe, BRAF Executive Director

MonkeyBoy, BRAF Volunteer, Rae Richman, BRAF Board of Directors Secretary and Jared BRAF volunteer

Affinity, your BRAF blogger and MonkeyBoy, your blogger editor

Jewel, BRAF volunteer, and Josie Schimke, BRAF Program and Development Assistant

Freddy, President BRAF Board of Directors and Josie Schimke, BRAF Program and Development Assistant

Ellen, BRAF volunteer and Tomas McCabe, BRAF Executive Director

Last night, Freddy Hahne, President of the Black Rock Arts Foundation Board of Directors, and Rachel Carpenter, BRAF Board Member hosted the BRAF volunteers with a feast at their camp at Burning Man, the Mind Shaft Society. It was a great time, Freddy acknowledged the volunteers, we ate the fabulous paella Rachel and her crew made, drank a few toasts and then went off to enjoy Burning Man’s sights and sounds.

Thanks for thanking us! KUDOS to our volunteers, each of you make a difference, and a special shout out to the BRAF Board Members and BRAF Advisory Board and of course we could not do it without Tomas McCabe, BRAF Executive Director and Josie Schimke, Program and Development Assistant for all they do year round!

So now that you see how much fun the volunteers are having we would love to have you join us. The Black Rock Arts Foundation supports and promotes community-based interactive art and civic participation year round.

Have you been by to see Adaptations at Patricia’s Green located at Octavia at Hayes Streets? This site-specific work by Mark Baugh-Sasaki is constructed of welded steel and the limbs of trees and will be installed until December 31. Be sure and stop by.

To learn more about Adaptations click here
And HERE

photos: affinity

Each year, the Black Rock Arts Foundation returns to our source of inspiration, to that city where interactive art is everywhere you look: Black Rock City. We eagerly look forward to our stay on the playa as an opportunity to connect with our supporters, to inspire others to instigate interactive artworks in their hometown and to educate about our mission and our projects.

Last year, we joined forces with our sister outreach organizations, Burners Without Borders, Black Rock Solar and the Burning Man Regional Network to create ‘Everywhere Lane’, illustrating and educating the notion that the burner ethos is everywhere! This year, we and these outreach groups bring you The Culture Labs!

The Culture Labs will be housed under one large pavilion (which might look familiar… it’s one of the pavilions that surrounded the man in 2007 and 2008!) Under this large, inclusive structure we’ll host interactive activities, events and gatherings where, together, we’ll create our ‘culture’ to be carried into the default world.

BRAF will be spearheading two fun elements of the Culture Labs, so stop by to say hello, we would love to have you participate or rest awhile and hang out with us in Black Rock City.

We will be having cocktails on Thursday from 4-6 so stop and have a drink, meet some of the artists and other BRAF members.

You can find us at:

The Culture Labs

6:15 on the Esplanade

SEE YOU THERE!

Joe Olivier, our host for the evening, and new Black Rock Arts Foundation Board of Directors Member and Jessie Deeter the Producer of “Who Killed the Electric Car” and “Revenge of the Electric Car”
Trademark Gunderson founder of the band The Evolution Control Committee, jamming on the VidiMasher 3000, which is a rear-projected, infra-red, fake touch screen — hacked from Nintendo Wii controllers. It might just be the ultimate mashup musical instrument.
Robert Marcial’s presentation about energy in the Bay Area, how it compares locally, nationally and globally

Pacific Energy Center Director, Robert A. Marcial
Robert Silverman playing the Theremin
Alan Rory, PHD of Raygun Gothic Rocketship http://www.almostscientific.com/blog/ Actiongrl and her BFF, Mike Wilson, BRAF Advisory Board Member. Mike was visiting from Austin and it was great that he was able to join us for the evening
Advisory Board Member, Loren Carpenter’s Tesla Roadster, Electric Car #187 and Jessie Deeter’s Car #173 on display
On our way to the afterparty, affinity, JennyBird, Robert Silverman, Tim Larson and John Mosbough
The Pacific Energy Center was a perfect venue for an evening about electricity, thanks to the PEC and to Joe Olivier for making it happen
A feast, graciously provided by our host, Joe Olivier, thanks Joe
MonkeyBoy checking out the coolant display

A lively crowd soaked up the atmosphere at BRAF’s latest Elemental Interactions – and made some donations while they were at it. The presentations more than lived up to the high standards set by previous events in this series, and have us eagerly anticipating the next Elemental Interaction – tentatively planned for October.