Indiegogo

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Atlas Obscura & Radical Departures present: BIKINI LINES!

We're turning the Bikini Atoll debris into a monument to raise money for Fukushima orphans by creating the world's largest painting ~ and we want you to come!

  • Team:

    20120107165725-stringio20120107-15014-x1wtc6-0 20120206134917-chad see more »

  • Location:Enewetak Atoll, CACTUS DOME!, Marshall Islands

  • Category:Art

art | adventure | collaboration | documentation

(fly-on-the-wall dialogue overheard when first discussing the project) 
Q. What is Bikini Lines?
A. Bikini Lines is a proposal to create the world's largest street painting using the Cactus Dome as a Canvas.

Q. What is the Cactus Dome?
A. The Cactus Dome is a 107m (350ft) wide dome in the Marshall Islands (South Pacific) that looks like the disk section of the USS Enterprise. 

Q. Is this dome famous?
A. Yes, in a way. Actually, it's infamous. It was built between 1977-80 to contain the radioactive debris from Bikini & surrounding atolls. 

Q. Ahh, so that's why it's called Bikini Lines. Why are you painting it?

A. So that we can film an awesome feature length documentary that includes elements of travelogue, adventure and art. The project is huge and the location incredibly interesting yet under represented in popular media.

Q. Anything else you can tell us about the documentary?
A. Indeed! We will release this documentary to broadcasters  & the general public with 100% (one hundred percent!) of the profits, now & forever, being donated to the Ashinaga Foundation for the benefit of children orphaned in the Japanese 3.11 disasters. 

Q. Wow, sounds cool! Can I get involved?
A. If course! In fact, there are 7 ways you can get involved. Pick one, or pick all!
1. Consider skipping Starbucks & donating a minimum of $5 to our IndieGoGo campaign to make this happen. Bikini Lines relies on public donations, and for each level of donation you give, we'll give you an awesome reward.
2. Upload a design that you would like to see painted on the Dome! Yep, that's right, we're taking submissions from artists & designers as to what we should actually paint on the dome. Think of it; your art painting for all the world to see in Google Earth. That would look pretty sweet on a resume!
3. Upload some videos for a chance to become our official documentary director. (seriously!)
4. Upload some photographs for a chance to become our official on-site photographer!
5. Upload a written proposal for a chance to become our official blogger!
6. Or, try your hand at our wildcard spot if you're an adventurer without artistic ability :)
7. Lastly, *crush it* on social media. Blog about us, Tweet us, spread the word by Facebook or G+ or even Linkedin. Become Bikini Lines ambassadors in your local niche or scholastic ecosystem. Get your friends & family involved artistically and financially. $5 man, that's it!

Oh, one more question.
~shoot
Can you give me a detailed rundown of everything ever?

Yep, here we go~!

BIKINI LINES is a proposed massive, mixed media installation inspired by the lack of standardized nuclear disaster reporting, in particular the panic that set in over Tokyo following the March 2011 Earthquake, Tsunami and subsequent meltdown. (Check out our sexy webpage!)

Our main focus is on creating the World’s Largest Painting on an historically significant & sublimely remote Pacific Island (no, seriously!), using the Cactus Dome as a canvas (!!). The Cactus Dome was built between 1977-80 to house the radioactive debris from Bikini & surrounding atolls (!!!). We're using this awesome setup as an excuse to film a great documentary: we feel that 20+ strangers living on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific working together to create a piece of art viewable in Google Earth has an inherent excitement to it. And you know what? When this movie is finished, we plan on selling it, but instead of collecting any $, 100% of the profits will be donated to the Ashinaga Foundation, an NGO that helps children orphaned in Natural Disasters. We basically want to help Fukushima children that were orphaned in the March 2011 Japanese disasters, you dig?

Before you read on, though, please understand that none of this happens without your generosity. Also, if you're an artist, you're gonna really like what's coming up!

Largely forgotten, the Cactus Dome has long been declared safe but was off limits until now: with special permission from the Marshallese government we invite you to participate in this crowd sourced adventure as financier and potential participant & documentarian, because really, you’re as much a part of it as we are. 

To clarify:  we’re giving you a chance to have your design painted on the dome; to direct our documentary; to be our official on-site photographer & writer. (!!!!). No, really. We're taking online submissions from artists, videographers, photographers and writers. The crowd decides the winners in each category! And you know what, it's free to enter. I mean, we do hope that you're interested in donating some money to the campaign (your choice), but again: this all hangs on your generosity. We need donations to make the painting to justify the video to help the children, so yes, as Mike Tyson said after taking out Robocop with a swift uppercut: "won't you please think of the children!"

We even have wildcard spots for people who want a chance to join but don't have an artistic bone in their body! That's right, anybody can tweet #bikinilines at any time to tell us, in 140 characters or less, why you should join. We'll scour the tweets daily and handpick the awesomest answers. 

Consider this a new type of crowd-funded reality media built on art, adventure, collaboration and documentation, but with much higher stakes. The people of Fukushima will only be helped through great collaboration, and this is our way of giving back, so join us as we converge on the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands where we will collectively spend December 2012 living on the secluded desert island of Runit ritualistically cleaning and painting the Cactus Dome, turning it into a monument. Conscientious & participatory art, adventure and reality media.  Only you can make this happen.

Impact
We really want this project to be a benefit to everybody involved. The artists (designer, videographer, photographer and writer) who earn a chance to join us by winning the design, videography, photography or writing aspects of the contest will hopefully achieve instant recognition for their work and benefit from greater career options afterwards. The Marshall Islands will gain more recognition from international media & hopefully see a boost in tourism. Most importantly, though, Fukushima orphans will benefit from media sales. Again, 100% of the sales of our documentary will be donated to the Ashinaga Foundation, which helps orphaned children achieve an education. 

What we need & what you get
$200,000 allows us to run operations without cutting too many unforeseen corners. Paint alone will cost between 25K and 50K depending on the quality used. Boat and airplane charters will run another 25K. Getting artists (designers, videographers, photographers and writers) & the standard production team (3-4 people on site) to Enewetak from their hometowns will cost 4-5K each. Food, fresh water, survival gear and island infrastructure will run upwards of 20K. These major points will use up 75% of our budget; it would be nice to have extra cash on hand in order to ensure a higher level of quality and safety. Post-production marketing will be solely reliant on the amount of reserve cash we have. We will also be asking for corporate funding to help ensure safety & success, though their presence will be minimal. This won't be like Burning Man, well, not with regards to branding!

Note: we will be running 2 consecutive campaigns. The fundraising goal for each campaign is $100,000 USD. This is because we can begin gathering supplies and planning logistics over the course of a longer campaign, and it gives artist's time to prepare, submit and market their proposals. We know that many campaigns benefit from shorter, immediate pushes, but feel that ours has to be quite long to really give artists a chance to properly prepare and market their work. 

Campaign One: February 1st until April 30th 2012
Campaign Two: May 1st until July 31st 2012

But what happens if we don't reach our funding goals?

We can't proceed if we don't reach a minimum target of $75,000. In this case we will personally return monies to all people who donated more than $100 to our campaign. As we are still committed to helping children orphaned in the Fukushima disaster, any leftover monies will be donated to the Ashinaga foundation. The production team will keep nothing aside from dashed dreams!

$75,000 - $125,000; The Skeleton Crew
The following people will be brought to the Dome: two producers, director, photographer and extra local Marshallese members. The writer will be asked to join if it's within budget; the wild card will not be able to join. The artist will not join but will still receive credit for their design. A modified, paint-economical version of the official design will be painted on the dome. The film will still be produced and all other rewards honored, including those who paid a deposit to join us on-site. Accommodations and entertainment will be minimal. 

$125,000 - $200,000; The Zombie Crew
The following people will be brought to the Dome: two producers, director, photographer, writer, wild card and extra local Marshallese members. The artist will be asked to join if it's within budget; as per above, their proposal might have to be made more economical from a paint perspective. Again, accommodations and entertainment will be minimal.

$200,000; The Standard Crew
The adventure will commence as planned!

And what if we surpass our goals?

$250,000+
An extra photographer and wild card will be brought (as selected from the short listed nominees). More money will be spent on developing the local infrastructure. Accommodations will be more comfortable & entertainment more entertaining. 

$350,000+ (The Party Crew)
An extra photographer, writer and 2+ wild cards will be brought (as selected from the short listed nominees). We'll also send out an invite to bands who may want to perform live. Accommodations will be as good as they get; rice will turn into BBQ, water into beer. More money will also be allocated to the film's post-production (editing, marketing, etc). We will populate the Dome with more & more Wild Card members depending on how much we raise.

How you can help
We've tried to incentivize this project for artists ("artists" = designers, videographers, photographers and writers) by giving you a free opportunity to submit & market your respective proposals for a chance to join us on site; again, we feel that this is a great project to help out young artists! We would love it if 10,000+ artists submitted proposals and asked their family and friends to vote for them! Of course, we would love it if you & your family also donated some money to the campaign since this project won't happen without your work, but also your generosity. All you have to do is upload your proposals to Flickr (photography & design proposals), Userfarm (video proposals) or Scribd (writing proposals), and then market your work! We will shortlist 10-20 proposals in each artistic category based on the amount of "favorites" & positive commentary you receive from your friends and fans. Instructions on how to upload and market each type of proposal are easily found at www.bikinilines.net. 

This is also a great opportunity to consider the other rewards and prizes we're offering through IndieGoGo. We've tried to make them personal, so that you really feel as if you're part of this epic adventure! Some are pretty cool, like the chance to become an associate producer or own a relic from on-site; others are more down to earth, like pre-purchasing the finished documentary or a handsome giclée print of the final design. 

But you know what? Even if you don't have an artistic bone in your body there is still a chance to win a "wild card" spot to join us on site! This is actually pretty cool: you see, because we want to make this adventure open to everybody, we're giving you a chance to Tweet "@bikinilines" why you should join us. Again, check out our homepage for full deets. 

Lastly,
...if you get an A-list celebrity to tweet us, we'll give you a "digital media consultant" credit in the finished film :)

We've got a pretty extensive FAQ, so head on over if you have any questions. 

Bikini Lines really is about art & adventure for a really good cause, so help us spread the word today!

Thanks for reading,

The Bikini Lines Production Team




FREE! Tweet "#bikinilines" (one word!) why you should join us on site. We'll scour the tweets daily and pick our favorites. If we pick you, it means that you have a chance to join us on site, all expenses paid. You know what, if you wanna do us a proper solid, tweet #bikinilines #

FREE! Get an A-list celebrity to tweet this IndieGoGo proposal and we’ll give you a Digital Media Consultant credit on the finished film. Or, if this describes you and you want to help out, ask your people to contact our people, which is us :)

FREE! Elementary schools, middle schools and high schools are encouraged to leave a message for us in the digital archive. Teachers only, please! Submissions can be uploaded here.
Estimated Delivery: now!

Team on This Campaign: