Lines of Flight -- Indiegogo

Our Story

We are Mirae Rosner and Jesse Scott (aka 'the memelab') two professional artists originally from Vancouver, Canada.

We have been invited to live and work at the Incheon Art Platform (IAP) near Seoul, South Korea, this winter as part of their Artists in Residence program. The IAP has invited us to research and deepen our practice with full studio, production, and accommodation support. Now, we need the support of our community to get us there and back: we are raising funds for our airfare.

We like to use contemporary art as a way to instigate conversations about important issues. We do this with a variety of means: we create social situations, performances, actions, events, workshops... even smartphone apps. Making connections between ourselves and the people in our community continues to be the ultimate goal of our work... initiating situations that encourage people to think, act, and create for themselves.

Our practice has developed at a grassroots level for several years. We find our inspiration in the deeper, hidden layers of culture, and have a talent for connecting diverse ideas, people, and places. Having been involved in numerous collectives, shows, installations, residencies, and performances throughout Canada, Germany, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Latvia, and Lithuania, we have often worked under pressure and deadlines, sometimes for little or no pay, all because we care about culture and community, and simply can't stop contributing to the places we share with others.

The Project

As international Artists-In-Residence, we will bring our personal and cultural histories in contact with a non-Western culture. This is an exciting prospect, considering the details of our project research: bringing the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari into social situations to 'test' the viability of their ideas through lived experience. Deleuze & Guattari are famous for developing the concept of the 'rhizome', a concept inspired by the structure of rhizomatic plants and describing non-hierarchical, lateral, decentralized and interconnected organization. Using this metaphor, they prototyped several abstract ideas of how to live in less hierarchical ways. Through a somewhat tongue-in-cheek approach to this radical political theory, we plan to make difficult concepts fun, interesting, challenging and approachable. This will be especially interesting given the cultural and language difference we will encounter at Incheon.

However, we are prepared to meet this challenge. One prime example of our strategy is something we're calling 'Radical Voku'. In Germany, a Voku is a people's kitchen, or a kind of cheap but tasty buffet. We plan to source edible rhizomes (ginger, wasabi, lotus, bamboo, turmeric) and cook them with people at IAP. 'You are what you eat' is apropos here, as we (perhaps) all become a little more radical through the consumption of rhizomatic plants. By holding co-cooking sessions with people, where we learn from each other, co-design new recipes, discuss the philosophy, eat some tasty meals, and publish our collective results in a cookbook(!), we will work towards embodying and manifesting this theory.

Another example is literalizing rhizomatic networks in an experiment we are calling '(p)art'. Here, we will set up a pen-pal exchange, on the topic of the intersection of philosophy and everyday life, between our audience at IAP and each donor. Serving as a nexus point for the conversations, they will soon evolve away from our control into an unmediated exchange. We will map these conversations with our own custom software, and create a installation visualizing all or our donors, audiences, and their newfound interconnections, in order to trace and acknowledge the diversified resources that enabled us to attend the residency, and the outcomes and lasting relationships that will ensue .

These are some examples... there will be others. Throughout the research period, we also aim to access our experience in performance, technology, and social mediation, in order to engage in such varied activities as modifying local area networks, experimenting with computer vision, developing radical bodywork practices, holding discussion groups, and performing a lecture demonstration for the public near the end of our stay.

The Impact

By supporting us, you will be contributing directly to intercultural exchange and the production of cutting edge contemporary art. You will demonstrate your belief in artists as cultural connectors, in the deeper sense of culture as a shared, living, and ever-changing exchange. You will also be voting - and in our minds, collaborating - for social practice and distributed authorship, both in the financial and aesthetic realms ... by donating, you will be throwing your hat in the ring for community power.

This is the first time we've asked for donor support, and it comes at a critical point as we expand our art practice to a wider audience, working internationally and with a public outside of our immediate cultural context. In the past, our work has received some support from festivals and other official sources, however if you added up all the hours we've put in, the majority of our work has been self-funded or assisted by volunteers and artistic collaborators. By supporting our work now, you will help push us into a new stage of our careers as we develop and deepen our approach to working with community.

The fields of artistic/theoretical research we are pursuing as part of this project are themselves ideas we believe to be quite vital, both on the side of how to integrate radical philosophy with everyday life, and how to go about social co-creation in contemporary art practices. By supporting us in this project, you will directly contribute to the development, dialogue, and distribution of these ideas.

What We Need & What You Get

What we need most urgently is airfare money - your donation will go directly towards flying us to Seoul and back. At the time of writing, this is just over $2,000 USD to-and-from Berlin to Seoul. Whatever extra is raised will contribute to our living expenses. We are aiming at matching the amount of money asked for with our own contribution of $2,000 towards these costs.

We will also be hosting a large event/party in Berlin in late November, towards the final days of the campaign. All donors will be given free access to the party. Additionally, we aim to credit all of our donors as 'co-authors' of our work (we're cool like that). You also get to be a part of our art; all donors, regardless of the amount given, can participate in our pen-pal project (see above). Finally, we have a great selection of perks, from personalized letters to a limited edition copy of our rhizomatic cookbook to jars of Kimchi to custom software programming!

Other Ways You Can Help

If you want to give, but can't afford to do so monetarily, there are several things you can do to help:

1) You can share/promote this page with others... on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, your blog, email list, etc.

2) Volunteer at our party... we will need help (planning, talent, general human power) bringing this to fruition. Details TBA.

3) Air Miles... since the end goal is using the monies raised towards flight costs, we can also accept Air Miles. Please contact us in order to facilitate this.

4) Theoretical discussion... are you involved in relational aesthetics or social practice? A fan of Deleuze & Guattari ? Drop us a line! We'd love to discuss our project, and find some way to collaborate!

5) Suggestions and/or feedback... we are open to hearing what you have to say!

Team on This Campaign:

Jesse Scott
Artist
Mirae Rosner
Artist

1.0045 Complete

$2,232

Raised of $2,222 Goal

0 time left

Flexible Funding campaign

This campaign received all of the funds contributed on Wed Nov 30.

Perks

for your contribution

$10 Multiplicity

"The quality of being made of many different elements, forms, kinds, or individuals..." There are a Multiplicity (not a crowd) of you that can give at this level. We appreciate each and every one of you. In return, we will put your name on our Website, Twitter, Facebook Page, and in our Cookbook! We will include you in our Pen Pal / visualization project (see main text). You also get into our party for free! (if you are in Berlin)
$25 Line of Flight

"The act of fleeing or eluding but also flowing, leaking, and disappearing into the distance..." Each of you that gives at this level adds a portion to the line of our trajectory. In return, we will give all of the benefits above + we will send you a personalized letter from South Korea, including a recipe from our cookbook, just in time for Christmas!
$50 Rhizome

"A rhizome allows for multiple, non-hierarchical entry and exit points and ceaselessly establishes connections." By giving at this level, so will you. In return, we will give all of the benefits above + a Limited Edition print publication of our Rhizomatic Meal Cookbook!
$100 Nomadologist

"To always come from the outside and threatening authority, infiltrating royal science, undermining its axioms and principles... refusing to be pinned down" By giving, you have set us free, free to travel, to experiment, to come to new conclusions. In return, we will give all of the benefits above + and send you a jar of homemade Vegan Kimchi, and free drinks at the party! (if you are in Berlin)
$250 Deterritorializer

"To take the control and order away from a land or place (territory) that is already established, to designate the freeing of labor-power from specific means of production." Help deterritorialize us yet further, 8,000 km to the east! In return, we will give all of the benefits above + you get to design the name of a recipe in our cookbook!
$500 Plane of Immanence

"Precisely what can never be attributed to a subject, being instead the matrix of infinite desubjectification. " But rest assured, we will attribute our succes to your subject, as you have immanently put us on a plane! In return, we will give all of the benefits above + a custom-designed software application for any computer or mobile OS. In addition, next time we are in the same city, we will cook a special rhizomatic meal for you!