Category Archives: Grantees

Blog, Grantees

Winner! The Underground Library

Awarded $1000 FEAST grant

Books by local collaboratives hand crafted and shared by a network of readers.

Project Summary
The underground library is a full-scale book-making and distributing project aimed at resuscitating the literary impulse with mystery, community, DIY verve, and innovation. Through the hand-crafting and self-distribution of 6 limited-edition hardcover books annually (70+ per edition), the group will:
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Publish works by members of The Metric System, Red Bucket Films, and other New York/Brooklyn based collaborative communities.
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Distribute them through an Heirloom process whereby books are passed through peers, their name retained on a library card, and access given to a community web space, in addition to past publications.
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Establish a web component facilitating community discussion.

How will your proposal manifest itself at the next feast?
A reading of the first published work will commence at the next FEAST, along with a distribution raffle to give out 10 Heirloom books to “ambassadors” within the FEAST audience, initiating and encouraging the books’ travel through the larger FEAST circuit.

How will you use funding (approximate $500-$700) towards the project?
Funding for the underground library would be used to purchase inexpensive book-making supplies for book production, facilitate the creation of the on-line forum, and launch each underground library publication with public readings by published and un-published members of the community.

Why is this project critical to the FEAST community?
Creating an alternative to the internet-encouraged “get anything, anytime” impulse, the group hopes to recapture a personal, valuable experience with artwork by distributing projects along a community circuit – whereby books are passed along based on close relationships rather than wide-scale marketing strategies. Each Heirloom book carries a trail of signatures, and becomes a collaborative space wherein an individual experience can be understood as shared amongst a larger whole. A value placed on physical objects uses self-distribution to encourage face-to-face interaction, and empowers individuals as arbiters of work they believe in, with considerable hand in the trajectory it travels.

Blog, Grantees

Winner! Camper Kart

Awarded $400 FEAST grant

Shopping-cart campsite roves the city.

PROJECT SUMMARY
As a FEAST grantee, I will build the CAMPER KART: a pop-up camper affixed to a shopping cart which can be pushed to a chosen location and opened to serve as a functioning habitat for an urban camper. After its completion, the CAMPER KART will be exhibited in a series of mock campsites in Brooklyn and Manhattan where the FEAST community and beyond will be participants and observers of art in public. In addition to serving as an experiment in autonomy, the project investigates habitats and housing; recycling and ecology; exploration and mobility.


HOW WILL YOUR PROPOSAL MANIFEST AT THE NEXT FEAST?
I will create an on-site installation of the CAMPER KART for people to interact with and explore—it can be installed outside in McGorlick Park or indoors in a diorama setting. As part of the installation, attendees will receive a printed instruction manual to serve as inspiration for building their own CAMPER KART and as a token of their support.

HOW WILL YOU USE THE FUNDING TOWARDS THE REALIZATION OF YOUR PROJECT?
The majority of the funding from a FEAST grant will go toward the construction of the CAMPER KART and the remaining money will go toward the creation of mock campsites and on-site installation. The construction costs include the purchase of a salvaged 1970/80s era Coleman pop-up camper (that I’ll locate through my hometown newspaper); shopping cart (if costs apply); transportation costs; building materials such as wood, fabric, and basic hardware; and lots of marshmallows.

WHY IS THIS PROJECT CRITICAL TO THE FEAST COMMUNITY?
Many of us are making due with less and it seems natural to consider what we have and how to maintain what’s important to us. The spirit of frugality is something that we often embrace after it becomes a necessity, but can be liberating nonetheless. The CAMPER KART prompts a dialogue about mobility, housing, recreation, and what is possible with less. Additionally, a public exhibition of the CAMPER KART is equally as important as its construction. Engaging those outside the current FEAST community allows the circle of participants to grow, and broadens the number of people interested in funding art.

by Kevin Cyr

Blog, Grantees

Winner! Brooklyn Makes

Awarded $400 FEAST grant

Films depicting local labor screened on manufacturing facades.

Project Summary
BROOKLYN MAKES is a video walking tour of the Williamsburg Greenpoint Industrial Zone revealing the work of Brooklyn manufacturers today. I am making four videos that show the choreography of work at a paper maker, a smoked fish factory, a printer and an architectural fabricator. I will project these videos on the outside of the buildings at night, letting the hidden tapestries of manual labor spill onto the public space. The community will visit each business, lit up on a building facade with a projection showing what happens inside during the day. Soundscapes will be mixed from audio captured on site. After this event, the public may download the videos for self-guided mobile tours.

How will your proposal manifest at the next FEAST?
At the next FEAST on October 3, I will project the videos silently throughout the dinner, which will add to atmosphere of supporting and celebrating local economy and creation. The videos emphasize both the highly skilled processes of the work as well as the human element of fabrication. As a set, they exemplify the diversity of manufacturing in North Brooklyn today. I will make a short presentation on the project and invite everyone to come to the projection event, which will take place the following Friday, October 9.

How will you use funding (approx $500-$700) towards the realization of your project?
I will use the funding to rent projectors for outdoor projection ($640 with Rooftop Films) and print promotional postcards about each business at our local Brooklyn printer ($360 at Print House in Bushwick). This business selection is in keeping with supporting local businesses and manufacturers thematically promoted in the project.

Why is this project critical to the FEAST community?
The FEAST community is concerned with local economy and sustainability. Though many people know about Brooklyn’s industrial past, not many in our community are aware that there are plenty of businesses to support in the industrial present. Many of the artists and DIYers who attend FEAST will recognize similarities in the work of these small well-run manufacturers and their own practices. These businesses provide work that is more creative and sustainable to new immigrants and workers without higher education. They also provide work for many artists and designers. BROOKLYN MAKES will reveal these natural alliances to the FEAST community, and set the stage for future collaboration and community building.

by Sarah Nelson Wright

Blog, Grantees

Winner! The Great Trans-Gowanus Cable

Awarded $1000 FEAST grant

PROJECT SUMMARY : The Great Trans-Gowanus Cable

We will be building a telegraph along and across the Gowanus Canal, from the corner of Second St. and Second Ave. to the corner of Third St. and Third Ave. At either end of the telegraph wire will be stations outfitted with vintage telegraph keys and a guide to Morse Code. Posted will be Morse’s famous transmission: “What Hath God Wrought.” Passerby will be able transmit their answers to this question (with brevity), as well as receive responses. All sent messages will also be transmitted to us, off-site (call it wire-tapping; call it what you will).

How will your proposal manifest at the next FEAST?
As participants answer the question “What Hath God Wrought?”, their morse code answers and communications are digitally recorded to disk and translated for presentation at the next FEAST as a slideshow presentation through the duration of the event.

How will you use funding (approx $500-$700) towards the realization of your project?
The “technology” required is relatively inexpensive (it’s been around for centuries). Costs include vintage telegraphs, a microcontroller, materials for a “Telegraph Station” and a very long cable.

Microcontroller: $120
Vintage Telegraph Relays (manufactured in Brooklyn!) $50.
“The Great Trans-Gowanus Cable” $200 for 1000ft.
Materials for a telegraph station: Virtually free, from the street.

Why is this project critical to the FEAST community? (max 100 words)
Brooklynites spend a lot of time documenting changes in our space; unprecedented and unbridled housing/development boom has ramped up (rightly so) our attention to what spaces were and are. Our goal is anthrogeographical: we want to highlight that people are talking and thinking about the Gowanus Canal in many of the same ways that they were just after the Civil War, by implementing a communication technology that requires interacting with the landscape in the same fashion that it would have been then. The Gowanus Canal, while obviously changing in some ways, has actually remained rather constant over the last 100+ years. It made headlines in 1877 for being “Very Vile” and just this week for its proposed designation as a Superfund site.

After the completion of its residency along the canal, we will move the telegraph to other Brooklyn locations that have similar closed loops of history.

Thanks again for your consideration. Sincerely,

Benjamin Cohen & Sierra Pettengill
Director, The Gowanus Studio Space Inc.
www.GowanusStudio.org

Blog, Grantees

Winner! Brooklyn Torch Project

Awarded $400 FEAST grant

PROJECT SUMMARY
The Brooklyn Torch Project aims to create a local currency to benefit the local area businesses and artists. The project will bring together both artist communities and immigrant communities in our area to improve integration of social groups and economies and boost our pride.

The Brooklyn Torch Project is looking for interested persons for all aspects: Steering Committee Members, Local Business Owners, Artists/Designers, Local Printmakers, and Public Relations Specialists. Please contact committee@brooklyntorch.org for more information on how to participate.

MANIFESTATION AT THE NEXT FEAST
The manifestation of the Brooklyn Torch project will unfold in two FEAST dinners. The next FEAST will be an opportunity for the presentation of renderings for the new currency and a list of expectant participating local merchants. A following FEAST will be the official launch of the paper Brooklyn Torch. Each FEAST attendee will receive one bill to begin trading with other FEASTers and local merchants upon entrance.

HOW I WILL USE FUNDS
The funds will be used towards operational costs of starting up the Brooklyn Torch as a physical and communal object. This ranges from establishing start up materials and designing/implementing to public relations. Additionally, a portion of the funds are intended to grant FEASTers with the first issuance of the Brooklyn Torch.

WHY THE PROJECT IS CRITICAL TO FEAST COMMUNITY
We have a lot of key elements to make a successful local currency here: a strong sense of community and pride, a wealth of talent ranging from artists and designers to food purveyors and health care as well as emerging micro industries. In a time of economic decline, we aim to support these startups as well as maintain traffic for local merchants that are already here. This is an exciting opportunity to synthesize our wealth from our community! The Brooklyn Torch aims to continue as long as our community finds it useful.#mce_temp_url#

Blog, Grantees

Winner! Work for Pay

Awarded $400 FEAST grant

PROJECT SUMMARY

I will hire three unemployed or underemployed artists as dancers in a new performance piece. The performance piece, titled work for pay, will be made collaboratively over the course of four weeks during twice-weekly rehearsals. I will recruit artists with no prior dance experience through an open call. During the rehearsal process we will discuss their individual artistic processes and how those relate to movement. We will use improvisational scores in order to create the choreography of the final piece.
HOW WORK FOR PAY WILL MANIFEST AT THE NEXT FEAST

work for pay will be performed at the next FEAST as an installation during the “downtimes” of the evening—as people are gathering and leaving and during breaks in other presentations. As part of the installation, FEAST participants will be able to access digital copies of the dancers’ resumes and email them to friends—instantaneous networking. This piece will continue to be performed in public and private settings (Bushwick Open Studios, dinner parties, etc.) until the dancers have found employment.
HOW WORK FOR PAY WILL USE FUNDING

The primary use of funds will be to pay the dancers $8/hour.

Two 3-hour rehearsals/week, for 4 weeks = 24 hrs/person

x $8/hour = $192/person

x 3 dancers = $576 (dancer fees)

24 hours of $5/hour rehearsal space at Chez Bushwick = $120 (rehearsal space)

= $696 TOTAL
WHY WORK FOR PAY IS CRITICAL TO THE FEAST COMMUNITY

work for pay is a critical project in the discussion of sustainable tactics in art. It aims to create a discreet economy in which artists are paid for creative research—the artists I “hire” as dancers are deepening their creative process by engaging in mine. I believe that dance is a uniquely valuable tool in creative research—it helps artists explore concepts with their physical body so as to establish an emotional and physical connection. work for pay also suggests a new model of connecting artists to resources by using the art itself as a means of communication.