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.

MOTHERSHIP LOVE: The Story of our Effigy

"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."

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.

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!

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!

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. 

Mothership Love-Raiser: August 29

[I N C O M I N G  T R A N S M I S S I O N]

MOTHERSHIP LOVE-RAISER Saturday, August 29, 2015 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

$10 gets you all this, all night

Necto Nightclub - Red Room 516 E. Liberty Street Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48104

FEATURING THE SOUNDS OF:

DEZIGN | House, Classic Hip-Hop, UK House & Garage M I X T A P E | Cosmic Disco & Trouble-Funk / Soulful House EGGS BLACKLY | House & UK Garage

The Mothership Love crew is reaching to our friends and burner family to join us in a night of fun and dancing while supporting this year’s Mosaic effigy team. We will be beaming down to host an event in the Red Room at Necto in Ann Arbor pushing the boundaries of reality! We will also have our scale version of the effigy on site.

If you are unable to attend but still want to donate, please take a look at our Indiegogo campaign.

About the Mothership Love: The Mothership Love is an effigy project like no other! Using the power of FIRE we will make the fifteen foot tall effigy defy gravity in a multitude of ways. Utilizing science and ingenuity as our tools we aim to create a highly interactive and engaging experience before, during and after the burn.

2015 Defying Gravity Logo

Introducing 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.

2015 Tickets Announced!

Did you get the news? Ticket sales have been announced! Tickets for Mosaic Experiment go on sale on Brown Paper Tickets on Wednesday, June 3 at 12 pm. For adults (age 13 and over), tickets are $75, and child tickets (12 and under) are no cost, as a gift to the community. BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE: http://mosaicexperiment2015.brownpapertickets.com/

This year, your Mosaic organizers are intent on making our burn even more incredible. We’ve got our minds on sustainability of the event, not just for 2015, but for years to come. Since our February planning retreat, we’ve been thinking ahead, making goals, researching possibilities, creating budgets… all in the name of planning a safe, sustainable, well-organized event where creativity and community reign.

Take a look at what’s new and exciting for 2015:

• A BIG INCREASE IN ART GRANTS! We’ve budgeted $500 for Youth Art Grants, $500 for Medium Art Grants (plus two fundraisers for even more funds, to be held in Cincinnati and Indianapolis this summer), and $2000 for Large Art Grants. A total of $3000 to support more art!
• MORE FUNDS FOR EFFIGY: We previously announced a budget of $500 for the effigy (as we offered in 2014.) Well, hold on to your hats, y’all, because we’re increasing that budget by $500... for a total $1000.
• INVESTMENTS IN INFRASTRUCTURE: Let’s face it. We need to safely shelter our fabulous volunteers from the unpredictable Ohio weather in October. We’re making sure that our front Gate has a shade structure that doesn’t fall apart, that our Greeters are sheltered from sun and sleet while hugging your necks, that our Fire Safety team has the gear needed to protect us, and that DPW (Department of Public Works) has the tools and supplies they need to create signage, lighting, and other common use areas. These tools, structures and gear have to be housed somewhere, and a central storage space maintained and inventoried by the organization saves individuals from taking on this financial investment and liability. It’s worth it, don't you think, to be able to reuse these resources year after year?
• LEGAL FUNDS: We’ve taken an important step this year in garnering legal counsel to help us navigate sensitive situations that impact everyone at an all-ages burn, to further investigate fire safety laws in Ohio, and for general counsel as needed.
• FIREWOOD INCLUDED FOR ALL: As you might know, our landowner prefers that all firewood be purchased from one approved source, and that no firewood be brought into Reclaim from across state lines (for environmental reasons). This presents a challenge. Last year, we budgeted $600 to provide firewood for everyone at the burn. Sadly, by late Saturday night we were all a little chilly… so this year, we’ve increased the firewood budget to $1000. Firewood will be freely available for pickup onsite to all campers with registered campsites.
• GIFT TICKETS FOR CHILDREN: No cost for child tickets (12 years and under.)
• LOW INCOME TICKET PROGRAM: Last but not least, this year we are implementing a low income ticket program. A limited amount of lower cost tickets will be made available, to help some of those who might have difficulty affording the increased ticket price. We love ALL of our Mosaic family, and are sensitive to financial issues. Please read all details & apply by June 17, 2015: Google Doc PDF

As our Experiment grows, we grow along with it. Each step we take towards responsible growth ensures that we burn brightly and safely together for many years to come. Want to get involved in shaping Mosaic Experiment's future? Check out our volunteer lead positions.

Interested in learning more about how planning, organizing and budgeting for a regional burn works? Want to read about last year's burn, and how we made some of these decisions? Check out the Mosaic Experiment 2014 Afterburn Report.

More questions about ticketing? Be sure to read the 2015 Ticket Information for all the details you need, and mark your calendars to buy tickets starting June 3rd at noon.  For questions not answered here, email tickets[at]mosaicexperiment[dot]com.

Open Lead Callouts are now live!

Want to burn all year? VOLUNTEER! Mosaic Experiment, the event, is the result of a lot of year-round work by Mosaic Organizers (also referred to as MORG.)

Some of the MORG work exclusively on site, but others work offsite for most of the year because, like so many of you, they don't want the burn to stop!

The MORG is not just an organization planning Mosaic. The MORG burns all year, resulting in Mosaic.

Burning year-round isn't just desired to create Mosaic, it's required! Mosaic cannot sustain its continued growth without the participants who dedicate their passionate enthusiasm to creating an even more awesome event.

Do you want to burn all year? Are you a wizard wishing to make Mosaic more magical?

We have many opportunties for you!

How will you participate?

Mosaic Experiment's Official 2015 Open Callouts Page

Bureau of Unclaimed Secrets

Name/Burner Name Havoc

Where are you living currently? Indianapolis

When was your first burn? How did you find out about burns? Burning Man 2010 was my first burn. I first heard about Burning Man in 2003, but it took me seven years to get my shit together.

Project Name and Description: My project is the Bureau of Unclaimed Secrets, an interactive secret exchange.

The Bureau of Unclaimed Secrets is an opportunity to explore and evolve thoughts and feelings. Part therapy, part interactive art, this installation allows participants to record and share their secrets. Participants are encouraged to write down their secrets on 3x5 cards (provided). The secrets are then filed for safekeeping with the Bureau, and the participant given a matching numbered tag, allowing the bearer to come back and access, change or destroy that secret. Participants are encouraged to gift tags to others and to come back throughout the burn to check on the evolution of their secret.

The Bureau of Unclaimed Secrets is highly interactive and often cathartic for participants. I love that the secrets evolve over time and that people can be deliberate and potentially strategic about who gets their secret.

Inspiration: I was highly inspired by the piece "Terrain" by Julianne Swartz. ("Terrain" is a site-specific sound installation at the Indianapolis Museum of Art that evokes secrets, whispers, and memories. The murmuring voices are largely indiscernible; however, in certain moments private intimacies can be distinguished, such as the words “I love you.”) The quiet, contemplative nature of the piece got me thinking about secrets and how we share them.

Time spent on project: For this incarnation, probably 20 hours of prep work, 40 hours during the event and 10 hours after the event matching people up to their unclaimed secrets.

Collaborators? Helpers/Assistant Builders? My fiancee, Chris Miller, was a huge help!

Challenges during the project: It's always a challenge to figure out the logistics of something like a secret exchange. Figuring out the mechanism by which people could give away a secret and let someone come back and claim it was a bit of a challenge, but once the idea of tokens came to me, it was just a matter of getting the materials and setting it all up.

“This was by far my favorite experience at Mosaic. There's just something so incredibly profound and freeing about this. Thank you both again for bringing this to us.”

Do you have a link to where people can learn more about your art? www.unclaimedsecrets.blogspot.com

Any words of advice for future art projects at Mosaic Experiment? Make a budget, make a timeline/plan, have at least one person who knows the project and can help you out in a pinch.

---

INSPIRED?

Start creating your own experience for Mosaic Experiment 2015. Check out Art Grants and Effigy, and sign up for our mailing list: [wysija_form id="1"]

Everyman speaks on bringing Burning Man home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y67XxbsW5Kw&feature=youtu.be How do we bring Burning Man home? Everyman, Event Lead, speaks about Mosaic Experiment: history, lessons learned, and the future of expanding burner culture on a regional level.

Hear about the humble beginnings in his Cleveland home - the origins of Mosaic Experiment are in the story of Reclaimed Rainbow, the first Ohio burn. From 2007 to Mosaic's first official year in 2013, Everyman explains the failures and success along the way. If you've ever considered how to start your own regional burn: watch this. Learn from our mistakes. Please!

Many thanks to the 2015 Great Lakes Burner Symposium for hosting a full night of incredible presentations about different burn culture sparks that have become works of art and community. You can watch the full night of presentations here. Mosaic Experiment is honored to be included.

Burning Man is not limited to Black Rock City. THIS is Burning Man. This is home.

Want to follow along with the slides from Everyman's presentation? Check out the slideshow here: 2015 Great Lakes Burner Symposium: Mosaic Experiment

2015 THEME: Defying Gravity

Decades ago, we began our ascent into the unknown cosmos. While fighting against the very real force of Earth's pull on our new celestial bodies, we were also challenging our notions of the solemn, once sacred Space. An untouched realm was interrupted; this ripple effect shifted status quo to include the impossible, the unhinged. We could now touch our fantasies. The veil had been parted.

There are hints at this weightless existence here on our earthly sphere. Insects defy the laws of gravity: chunky bumblebees fly with inexplicable wings using brute force; ants climb walls, overcoming resistance with their miniscule weight. Plant shoots unfurl and trees stretch towards the sky, aided with the movement of water and nutrients by the phenomena of evaporation.

GRAVITY: The force of attraction by which terrestrial bodies tend to fall toward the center of the earth. Also: of a serious and solemn nature.

DEFY: to challenge the power of; to resist boldly.

Mosaic Experiment continues this year on a reclaimed strip-mine - or is it a portal to a new time space, our temporary home in the cosmos? Here, “reality” is up for debate. We may encounter visions of galaxies, nebulae, and newborn stars that melt in our hands, messages of light transmitted across sound, laughter expressed through prisms of color, knowledge of otherworldly sentience, small doors leading to vast spaces. Beyond the looking glass sphere of Earth, this dimensional shift brings about curiouser and curiouser visages, where anything is possible and even the stars aren't the limit.

How will you leave gravity behind?

---

 PARTICIPATE!

---

Sign up for the Mosaic Experiment mailing list:

[wysija_form id="1"]

Cake or Death?

Name/Burner Name: Dominic Barbato and Emily Gosnell

Where are you living currently? Ann Arbor, MI and Baltimore, MD

When was your first burn? How did you find out about burns? Em and I actually went to our first burn together back in 2011 when we finally made it to Burning Man. I had found out about burning several years prior to that (it took me 8 years from discovering Burning Man to actually making it to the desert). At one point during college I was reading "This is Burning Man" by Doherty, and it came to a point in the book where they were describing an artist attempting to build a full-scale model of the game "Mousetrap" complete with a piano dropping off of a crane at the end of the Rube Goldberg-esque contraption. It never worked..... so they spent their time dropping pianos from cranes...

It was at that point I thought: "Wow, there is a place in the world where someone would let me build an elaborate contraption to drop a piano from a crane..... and then would be completely fine with it failing?"

It was only a matter of time.....

Project name and description: We did an interactive game called "Cake or Death". Emily carried around an open platter of cake and Dom (dressed as Death) had a closed container.

When a participant chooses Cake, they got themselves a tasty treat and went on their way. Those who were brave enough (or foolish enough depending on your disposition) to choose Death were given a Death Tarot Card that said the following:

"The receipt of this card signifies that the bearer has experienced a symbolic death. Think of all the regrets you carry with you each day, the painful memories you try and hide, and the worries you may have about the future. As you have symbolically died today, take this as an opportunity to feel reborn and live the rest of your time here as if all of those regrets and worries have been lifted from you.

Your Rebirth begins the moment you hand this card to another person."

The goal was to give people a positive mindset for their time at the burn while simultaneously setting the stage for future gifting (since the last line asks you to pass it on).

What was your inspiration? Well, Eddie Izzard (a British comedian we are both fans of) does a bit called "Cake or Death". The gist being that the Church of England can not do fire and brimstone very well (thus the ridiculous cake or death choice). Obviously, our project does not have anything to do with that other than the name.

We originally did the piece for another regional (Transformus in North Carolina) where our camp was running a tea house. We needed snacks to go with tea and cake was an obvious choice... the Cake or Death set-up flowed from that because we thought it would be funny.

As for the Death Tarot, Dom was the primary writer of that. His explanation: "I was going through a major bout of depression in the spring of 2014, and it was really rough. I had a thought during it that what would really help me out was just someone (even a stranger) giving me an excuse to drop my baggage and go about my day without it burdening me. The writing on the Tarot Card was my attempt at that."

Time spent on project? About a month. The hardest part was getting the costumes, that and laminating and printing all of the Tarot Cards. The writing on the back went through a few drafts as well.

Did you collaborate with anyone else? All of the awesome members of the Bliss Junkies Union: Olga, Chelsea, Dave, and Morgan

Challenges during the project: We actually did not start out planning on laminating the cards.... but through a mistake at the printer, they were on much thinner paper than we were initially thinking of using. We were worried they would easily become MOOP or would disintegrate in bad weather. Emily had the idea of laminating them and we are really glad we did.

We also went through a few different arrangements when it came to the "performance" At first the Tarot Cards were visible, which made people choose them exclusively without thinking. Then we tried having Dom hide them in his cloak and not present anything. This created a problem because people would often not realize "Death" was an actual valid choice and would think we were just jokingly pointing to Dom wearing a costume. It seems hard to believe, but it took a few trial runs for us to realize the most effective thing would be for us both to have plates with gifts... but only one visible.

Having done this twice we can say with certainty: People at Mosaic were much more willing to choose Death over Cake compared to people at Transformus.

Any words of advice for future projects at Mosaic Experiment? Just prepare for sudden changes in weather and you should be fine. Mosaic is such a fun place to do a project because it is such an intimate setting, so you can really experiment and be creative without having to worry about working out the kinks in your project with thousands of people present.

That is about it..... we never really considered ourselves artists..... just bliss junkies who like provoking responses from people :).

Mosaic Experiment 2015: How will YOU participate?

Get notified! Sign up for Mosaic news including ticketing, art grant info, and more:[wysija_form id="1"]