Kickstarter

Have we said it enough? THANK YOU!! We are stunned and awed and excited and full of gratitude for the overflowing generosity! Please excuse us if we ever sounded stiff with outreach efforts – juggling the fundraising and the management of actually doing the project is leaving little time left over for pleasantries. But we are consumed by passion bringing this new community gathering place to Burning Man! 

We are literally out the door to build the Otic Oasis now. If you land on this page after this funding round has closed and are inspired to donate, please use this link:

http://www.razoo.com/story/Oticoasis

We’ll see you at the Otic Oasis - at 2:30 way past L deep in Walk-In Camping!

http://www.oticoasis.org/

THANK YOU!!  We made the goal with two more days to go!! But we still want -- and need -- your support.  We now will get the Oasis to the playa -- but remember, it's not burning, we still have to buy a container to store the structure in Gerlach.  Please keep donating.  We are so energized by the support of the community -- and we can't wait to be on the playa creating this amazing space. 

UPDATE:  Ritual Coffee Roasters, San Francisco's most famous coffee and cafe, has generously offered to donate a package of their incredible coffee (12 oz.) for any donation over $40.

UPDATE: Deepest gratitude to everyone who has supported us to date since your donations have allowed us to buy our build materials and paid for all the milling! We are off to a solid start but making a donation now is essential to help bring this vision to the playa. This second round of fundraising on Kickstarter is necessary because we can't help but add additional refinements to the Oasis, such as built-in seating and incredible lighting (it will be a moon-less event this year), and costs such as transport to and from the playa are much more than we anticipated.  We are not burning the OTIC OASIS and hope to bring it back to the playa refined and more accommodating with every year – imprinted with the previous year’s DNA (humm….perhaps literally) - so your gift will support our gift that hopefully keeps gifting every year!

BACKGROUND: There is one constant at Burning Man and that is the ubiquitous thump/thump of the deep bass beat of the electronic/trance/Burning Man branded music. Unbelievably, in such a vast arena, air space has become a premium. As the event's population has grown, the sounds pumping from massive DJ speakers have filled all the remote crevasses of Black Rock City, and it has been virtually impossible to find a quiet space to escape the wall of sound and commune with our internal and external environments. This year, our installation, the OTIC OASIS, intends to bring citizens an audio antidote to the cacophony of BRC by providing an alternative of peace and quiet. This will be the first structure placed in a cordoned off wilderness area, deep in walk-in camping, where no motorized vehicles are permitted. This unexplored zone is also free of loud amplified music, Las Vegas-like lights, and frenetic energy. The OTIC OASIS can be reached only by foot or bike, enhancing the desert calm. And in keeping with the requirements of this area, all build materials will be hand-carted into the Oasis' wilderness location, and it will be erected without use of any motorized vehicles. At last, a retreat where the aural options are in keeping with the indigenous stillness and aesthetics of the Black Rock desert. Please don’t misinterpret our message. We also make the trek to Burning Man in order to allow our neurons to fire at a higher frequency. We love fire art, surround sound music, and the higher level of engagement and awareness that we rarely can tap into elsewhere. That said, we celebrate DIVERSITY too and we are attempting to assist broadening the playa’s ever evolving offerings.

o•tic [oh-tik,ot-ik] – Anatomy, of or pertaining to the ear.

THE STRUCTURE: The OTIC OASIS will be comprised of a 35-foot geometric cluster structure that provides shade, shelter and comfort for quiet and contemplation. It will have a crystalline, honeycomb configuration of interwoven modules for individual, as well as group, use. The OTIC OASIS is an ingenious design by artist Gregg Fleishman.    Made completely of interlocking wood, with no nails, glue or metal fasteners, our construction will leave virtually no “moop” (matter out of place) since it will be precut off playa. On-playa, we will mostly be assembling the various pieces, rather than leaving any traditional construction site detritus. The composition will complement the Black Rock Desert backdrop and offer a manmade structure that takes inspiration from the rocks, mountains, caves, and plateaus found in nature. We are honored to have the opportunity to construct such an important piece of the Burning Man experience.

The Otic Oasis is a sponsored project of The Immediate Life, Inc., Reverend Billy’s non-profit community service organization, due to the Oasis' civic, environmental and educational nature. Contributions to the Otic Oasis are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.