About this project
7/24/010
Any additional support will be put to good use. I have some shows I am working on in San Francisco and Europe.
http://kaltek.wordpress.com/new-york-city-show-82010/
7/12/10
OK!
so great the support I have gotten!
Here is the 22' long tree in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch...
Here's The Tree B-Q I am taking:
http://www.youtube.com/user/namlak#p/u/6/1TEhvuzD_YQ
The photos are looking fantastic, about 15, 8-10" tall collaged photos of Palms, Sequoia's, Redwoods and Monterey pines.
If I I can go over $3,000.00 I will give everyone who pledges $20.00 or more the $50.00 reward, $50. the $100, etc.
Hows that? Any extra support is definitely needed. With photo printing, building the machines, shipping, let alone plane tickets the 3k is, well, gone. I sure wouldn't have gotten this far without it!
all the best
kal
6/26/10
I need to get the work finished and me and the work all the way across the US of A. For me it will cost a fortune.
The pieces from this show represent a year's worth of hard work, informed by 30 years of making art. I build machines and robots and have had some great success exhibiting them over the years. This show will have a 20' long robot tree, a functioning tree BB-Q, a large series (a forest if you, will) of collaged 8-10' tall tree photos (hopefully), a suite of small photos in a handmade redwood box and a small tabletop version of the 20' tree.
The opening night will also include BB-Q to eat from a machine/tree BB-Q and the DJ stylings of only S.F., Ca. musics by multiple Ca. x-pats located in NYC.
here an example of my work:
http://www.youtube.com/namlak#p/u/5/idMcVIGx-BM
Getting funding will also help me after the exhibit, so I can ship it all home! And, have some wind in my sails after the exhibit by not being thousands in debt. It will help me along to my next project, having microorganisms operate my robots.
I have never had any sales to speak of. Frankly, who wants a giant robot or machine in their living room? I do this work because I love it, and I truly believe that it is an important and valuable cultural contribution.
I can't count on sales to make money; the 30 years of no sales proves that. Hoping for sales is like hoping you win the lottery. I have to rely on odd jobs to make it happen. I have always felt artists who work in alternative or fringe fields take take a vow of poverty. I know I have.
Realistically, this show will cost me around 20k.
Expenses:
shipping
studio rent and bills at home
photo printing
machine fabrication
plane tickets
food/expenses in NYC
BB-Q for the masses
shipping
unknowns, which are always a lot
I need to go to NYC twice, to set the work up early, and at the end to take it all down and ship home what I can afford to ship after all of the expenses.
In addition to other costs, having proper shipping is key. This is very expensive, as the main piece, a 20' long robotic tree is pretty damn heavy and yet delicate. Shipping jeopardizes the piece even before it gets there. If I do not get some funding this exhibit will be sorely compromised. I will have to cut up and destroy the sculpture at the end of the exhibit because I will not be able to afford to ship it home. really.
It sometimes seems overwhelming to take on something like this. To go in debt yet again to do yet another great show. It can make you crazy! I do it because I love it, not because it is easy.
It is an honor to have a chance to exhibit, especially in NYC.
I used to teach at Universities, but that ended 3 years ago when the economy tanked. Since then it has been even harder to get adequate funding and income as an artist. Sometimes I think the only way to keep making art is to have a patron, sales or a trust fund. I have none of these. That is why I am calling on you, the people, for help. I have helped with numerous fundraisers over the years and have donated my time and work. If we can all just give a little, perhaps these projects can be accomplished without the elusive mythical wealthy donors and benefactors.
There is obviously no upper limit to the amount I can spend on this. The amount of funding will determine the quality and extent of the show. You all can decide the size of the spectacle...
here are examples of my work:
http://www.kaltek.org/
http://www. seemen.org
Here is the first, smaller treebot:
http://kaltek.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/photos-from-show-at-jacks/
http://www.youtube.com/namlak#p/u/10/EYbcyYPkWzE
Here is the small one I am giving away for the $1000.00 donation:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/namlak/
Press on my work:
http://kaltek.wordpress.com/pressmedia/
http://seemen.org/press/
I always thought if we could choose where our tax dollars go, little to none would go to the military and a lot lot more would go to the arts. A proposal like this works that way in a sense. A society gets what it invests in.
FAQ
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88
Backers
$3,137
pledged of $3,000 goal
0
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on July 25, 2010.
Pledge $5 or more Pledge $5 or more
Recognition on http://kaltek.wordpress.com/ A real piece of Usnea Barbata, a healing Lichen sent to you.
Pledge $10 or more Pledge $10 or more
Recognition on http://kaltek.wordpress.com/ A real piece of Usnea Barbata, a healing Lichen sent to you. DVD of my previous work
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
Recognition on http://kaltek.wordpress.com/ A real piece of Usnea Barbata, a healing Lichen sent to you. DVD of my previous work Come to the opening in NYC and get a hug from me A signed show flyer
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
Recognition on http://kaltek.wordpress.com/ A real piece of Usnea Barbata, a healing Lichen sent to you. DVD of my previous work Come to the opening in NYC and get a hug from me A signed show flyer Archival photographic print from the exhibit
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
Recognition on http://kaltek.wordpress.com/ A real piece of Usnea Barbata, a healing Lichen sent to you . DVD of my previous work Come to the opening in NYC and get a hug from me A signed show flyer Archival photographic print from the exhibit A tour of my studio and you operate some fire breathing robots
Pledge $250 or more Pledge $250 or more
Recognition on http://kaltek.wordpress.com/ A real piece of Usnea Barbata, a healing Lichen sent to you. DVD of my previous work Come to the opening in NYC and get a hug from me A signed show flyer Archival photographic print from the exhibit A tour of my studio and you operate some fire breathing robots Your name plate on a robot
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
Recognition on http://kaltek.wordpress.com/ A real piece of Usnea Barbata, a healing Lichen sent to you. DVD of my previous work Come to the opening in NYC and get a hug from me A signed show flyer Archival photographic print from the exhibit A tour of my studio and you operate some fire breathing robots Your name plate on a robot An 8' tall photo of one of my Ca. tree photos
Pledge $1,000 or more Pledge $1,000 or more
Recognition on http://kaltek.wordpress.com/ A real piece of Usnea Barbata, a healing Lichen sent to you. DVD of my previous work Come to the opening in NYC and get a hug from me A signed show flyer Archival photographic print from the exhibit A tour of my studio and you operate some fire breathing robots Your name plate on a robot Gift of a miniature actual moving kinetic version of the sculpture exhibited in NYC
Project By
Connected as Kal Spelletich (2038 friends)
My art represents technology meeting nature and the paradox of technology. Being an artist to me means speaking truth to power, adding something to society and culture and showing the things that can't be spoken to with any other medium.
I am compelled to make art so as to have a voice. My ideas originate and are incorporated into my work seeing technology used in all of the wrong ways and engaging the audience in a direct interactive way. We are all climbing the mountain together, trying to reach/communicate some higher state.
Art is the perfect field for me, determined to follow my own path, regardless of all outcomes. I do it at the risk of my life, against all suggestions and ridicule from society. Operating in the no-man's-zone between what we're thinking and what we're feeling.
The dominant medium in the 21st century is technology. Technology is the overriding medium ruling, healing and terrorizing us. It is saving lives, eases workloads and slaughters with deft precision and ruthlessness. Fear is also a source of terrorization. Terrorized by a fear of everything. This year it is Environmental and financial collapse. The last few years it was terrorists. Previously Communists, Black people, Native Americans, next, maybe Martians. So, I also work with fear as a medium.
I am currently exploring the issue of environmental dystopia also using photography and video. I am creating radical nature melding nature and technology as an aberration celebrating and warning about the loss of species and our environment.
I build machines and robots for my audience to operate. This interactive work is inspired by political activism, volunteerism and getting people involved in life. The collaboration with the audience completes the work. Man is not an island hence my work is not complete without some participation.The participant is a part of the work, the subject matter and the content. I experiment with creating a feedback loop between participant and machine. This work questions the role technology plays in our lives. How far people are prepared to submit to external forces and how far they can allow a machine to intrude on the body.
My work attempts to challenge the applications of technology, the boundaries between art, the audience, fear and play. Within this hybrid arrangement, assumed boundaries between art and audience, sentient and non-sentient are questioned. It is not about machines replacing people, instead the machines facilitate the thing that only humans can do: feel.
