The Moon by Robert Jones, Spring PDF 2015. Photo by Sara Muskulus

Art enables humans to grow, thrive, learn and love. Art projects thought, feelings, movement and participation. It creates experiences and can help build community. Constellation Art Team Support (CATS) is proud to administer and offer art grants to help you fulfill your creative visions and contribute to creating these community building experiences. These grants are intended to support and promote radically-expressive, community-based, interactive and/or collaborative projects that help shape the creative core of the event. Anyone can apply for an art grant; you don’t have to be a professional or even consider yourself an artist.

The following projects have been approved for Art Grants for Constellation 2017.

Art Grants for Constellation 2017

ProjectThe Elemental Abode of Peace

Artist: Scho

Description: A tranquil, naturally enhanced space beneath a double peaked marquee tent within a landscaped area where participants can freely experience PEACEFUL LUSH EXUBERANCE with a cascading waterfall, potted plants, a votive altar, Turkish rugs and pillows, and interactive prayer flag creation. The Abode is the perfect space for quiet contemplation, thoughtful conversation, workshops, meditation, yoga, reiki, and drum circles. A padded table will be on-site for consensual massages and body buffing.


Project: REFLECTION: The Stars that Change who are Ourselves

Artist: Badger

Description: “Reflection” is a mirrored infinity room, inspired by the works of Yayoi Kusama (probably closest in resemblance to “The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away” or “Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity”) that participants can enter and be temporarily immersed in. Upon entering the structure and letting the door close, a few LEDs are suddenly magnified into an endless field of stars. Everywhere they look, participants will see themselves in silhouette interacting with and within this universe of light. This effect will also be applied to any light brought inside, allowing a range of experiences from tranquil to sensory overload (and letting patrons decide how much they wish to appear or disappear visually). Also, for better or for worse, the Hirschhorn show definitely proved that infinity rooms are stellar selfie material!.


Project: Climate Chain

Artist: Bardia Saeedi / MOOP

Description: Climate Chain is made up of 4 stars rotating around each other in a limited fashion. Each star houses 152 LED lights that are groups of 4 LEDs in 38 prongs. Each star sits on two curved tubes that connect at the bottom and to the base. Each tube contains 36 LED lights. The base of the tubes is connected to a washer that is placed on top of a small rod, for rotation. The stars are situated in a fashion that can only rotate a certain degree before they are blocked by each other. This limited movement is a symbol of destruction of our planet, exaggerated to effect the entire planetary system. The outer layer of the stars as well as the tubes is made of up of white cotton fabric covered in clear resin wrapped over bubble wrap and then covering the LED lights. The frame of the stars is expanded metal. There are two marked spots on each tube that encourage the user to touch and rotate the star. As the public touches these points, the animation patterns of the LED lights in the stars and the tubes change.


Project: DIY Bling

Artist: Juniper Bunny / Meghan Rimelspach

Description: The project will begin with a workshop. Each participant will learn how to use stamps to imprint a word of their choice onto a metal necklace. During the workshop I will encourage discussion around how the project incorporates participation, radical self-expression, and potentially gifting. Total workshop time will be 4 hours and participants can stop by at any time during the session to learn and create. Actual necklace construction just takes a few minutes. To encourage further participation after the workshop, people will be challenged to find others with necklaces and do something creative with the words- craft a haiku, make up a joke, tell a story, ask a question, talk about the ten principles. People can participate as much or as little as they want, whenever and where ever. It is an easy conversation starter and way to encourage creativity and interactions with new people. I try to be mindful of creating an experience that people of varying ages and abilities can participate in. We offer adaptable levels of assistance to meet the needs of anyone who would like to create with us.


Project: Mini Burn

Artist: Heidi

Description: We’ll supply the materials (toothpicks, popsicle sticks, matches, lint, twigs..) for people to build a down-sized burnable sculpture under 12″ high. We set up a table for people to gather and learn about the art of art burning and collapsing.


Project: Over Four Flaming Knights, Two Queens Topple Unconsented Kings

Artist: Julie

Description: It is a full size lawn chess board complete with pieces that will be lit on fire via a torch on top. Players can play their respective match with the flames lit and then extinguish them once pieces are captured or they can leave the pieces lit for the entire match (or not lit at all). Our intent is to burn the pieces on Sunday night in correlation with the temple burn so participates can challenge each other to matches all weekend. On a wider scale, one of the concepts of burning man (as represented by the effigy) is the notion of building art to ultimately burn it down – we would like to contribute to this concept through our art.


Project: DropCityFX

Artist: Justin Evans

Description: My project uses an Xbox One Kinect v2 to generate a particle effect in Unreal Engine 4 in real time, which I project onto a screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maMi7QTSc2c


Project: Dots N’ DISCourse

Artist: Polka Dot (Dotty)

Description: Dots N DISCourse will have a main station with which to begin and end the primary game, although participants wandering through the city can interact with it and the players at any point along the course. At the main station, participants will be treated to a visually stunning display of polka dots and be invited to stay and consume polka dot themed food/beverage and play a variety of polka dot themed games (Twister, connect-four, on the dot, ect.) while engaging each other in thoughtful conversation. Every game will be augmented slightly with questions to encourage silly, thought-provoking, deep, playful and serious conversations and encourage points of connection. While playing and connecting with new friends/lovers/enemies, participants will have the opportunity to begin the main course. The main game is a part disc golf, part scavenger hunt, part intellectual, emotional, social and creative exercise.


Project: Panthalassa

Artist: Ashley Andrews

Description: PANGEA is a sound camp aimed at bringing together all aspects of music. Just like our world that was once melded into a supercontinent, we aim to collide cultures and interfuse all types of individuals through music & the arts. Our current setup involves a large open tent housing an outdoor soundstage. The sound stage is PANGEA’s land element – a Mesozoic jungle themed production, complete with dinosaurs and foliage. This art grant would aim in constructing

PANGEA’s oceanic element – Panthalassa. Panthalassa was the superocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangea over 650 million years ago. Our goal is to build a large, covered geodesic dome that will serve as a multisensory oceanic IMAX-esque lounge. The dome will be projection mapped to create a large-scale, fully immersive audiovisual experience, as if you’ve landed in a psychedelic sea. Visual displays are audio reactive, coinciding with the tunes at our soundstage next door. Our bar and seating will be decorated with recycled art forming interactive sealife and coral décor. The idea is to relax, and feel as if you’re floating in a surrealist fishbowl.


Project: Playa Telephone & Telegraph

Artist: Rechner

Description: PT&T technicians will provide at least 4 public phone booths scattered throughout the event, and will provide priority wireline service to M.A.S.H. (reachable by dialing 911 from any PT&T phone), Rangers, the volunteer station (Find-a-job service), and to any camp that requests service. The PT&T central office, located at Furry Camp, will publish a daily directory of all serviced extensions, and provide operator and directory assistance as required.


Project: Created Equal

Artist: Wax

Description: Chaotic systems, ones where slight changes to initial conditions can create vastly different outcomes, have been fascinating me for the last 20 years. I’ve wanted to create artwork around this idea since I first started creating artwork and I’m extremely excited to debut Created Equal, an interactive LED triple pendulum, at Constellation. Each run of Created Equal will start the same, but how it looks will be entirely unpredictable – what is often referred to as the butterfly effect. Not everything is left to chance though – participants will be able to use a special device to “play” the LEDs mounted to the bottom-most arm of the pendulum.


Project: Tree of the Dead

Artist: Mir

Description: The Tree of the Dead was inspired by the Mayan creation story from the book of the negative Vu. The tree grew up from the underworld and provided a path for the first humans to escape from the underworld and populate the tera firma. Using the inspiration of this myth as a starting point I have created my own interactive Tree of the Dead. This tree was constructed from a dead one and uses yarn, wire, beads and skulls in its design. In its current form the tree lacks foliage or flora, which is where the interactive portion of this project begins. Participants will do so by constructing leaves and flowers from card stock then inscribing the names of those who have passed on the flowers and bad habits they wish to abolish from their lives on the leaves. On burn night both the flowers and the leaves will be put into the effigy where they will be incinerated thus commemorating the dead and snuffing out bad habits that no longer serve.


Project: Catastrophe! & The Octonest

Artist: Hap

Description: Support for theCatastrophe! & The Octonest.


Project: Geometric Illuminations

Artist: Adam Phelps

Description: A wooden tower constructed of interlocking triangles, with shifting internal illumination that respond to participants in the vicinity.


Project: Fire and Glass to Share

Artist: Cussata

Description: I want to setup a lampworking torch and show people how to make glass beads. My idea is that burners will have a few lampwork beads they made themselves to keep or gift. Lampwork is really beautiful, and it’s an artform that isn’t as hard as it seems, once you learn how. You know, and who doesn’t love getting to shape glass with fire? I will bring all of the supplies; torch, fuels, glass, safety eyewear, tools, extinguisher, and extra coverup clothes that are appropriately safe.


Project: The Effigy

Artist: Hap Rust

Description: The effigy will consist of two elements: a 4-foot tall octagonal dais, 4-feet long on each side, and the effigy itself, an approximately 8-foot tall rooster, celebrating the year of the rooster in the Chinese zodiac.