ePlaya

*CALL FOR APPLICATIONS*
The Sand Mandala Foundation is accepting grant applications for artists with projects at this year's burning man. Applications open today through May 30th and can be found on our website https://www.sandmandala.org under the apply tab.

Please reach out if you have any questions! My email and info is linked in the application.

As a reminder: ANYBODY can make and bring art to burning man. No special permission or curating is needed. Grants for art through this program, I think, is commodifying the association of artists with Burning Man. Maybe this is just a question of scale and this foundation wants to ensure large lasting expensive highly technical placed pieces get built.

Perhaps I've missed something, but how is this commodifying anything?

Just as anyone can bring art, anyone can choose to donate to an art installation headed for the burn. Many large scale projects run kickstarters and other fundraisers, giving people an opportunity to donate to art they want to see.

This is just a group of people who want to donate to art, and presumably do so at a larger scale than your average kickstarter contributor. Unless there are some other kinds of strings attached where they wind up with an economic interest in the piece, I don't see how the fact that they ask artists to apply makes any difference.

Would they support art that demanded no publicity or accolades that reflect on their foundation, and was burned at the end of the week? I see their projects as vaguely commercial high concept and brand building (afrika burn, films) with a global range beyond brc. Public relations and promotion. It seems like a hunt for a hidden resource of outsider art that needs nurturing and will be brought to market eventually. My impression. I may be completely wrong.
https://www.sothebys.com/en/digital-cat ... chatsworth

It was all fun and games until they fed us waffles.

A Belgian Waffle to be specific.



Brought to you by Lexus.

Much debate on this at the time … 100 paid workers, commercial deal for the LS460 commercial, was the undeniable jaw dropping grandeur worth a bit of sacrifice of ethos etc.

Elorrum wrote: ↑

Mon May 08, 2023 12:39 pm

Would they support art that demanded no publicity or accolades that reflect on their foundation, and was burned at the end of the week?

I don’t know. But I don’t see any sign of them demanding publicity or accolades, including in their grant application. I don’t think a 1-2 sentence synopsis on a list of the projects they funded posted on a sub-page of their own website qualifies as either.

Do you see something that leads you to conclude otherwise?

I see their projects as vaguely commercial high concept and brand building (afrika burn, films) with a global range beyond brc.

AfrikaBurn is just a Burning Man regional. Would you have the same objection if they made a grant to an artist who was planning to take it to Soak, Flipside, UnScruz, or Element 11? If so, why - is the Gerlach regional the only one that matters? If not, why does it matter that AfrikaBurn is farther away than those others?

Public relations and promotion. It seems like a hunt for a hidden resource of outsider art that needs nurturing and will be brought to market eventually. My impression. I may be completely wrong.
https://www.sothebys.com/en/digital-cat ... chatsworth

I fail to see why the Sotheby’s auction is in any way relevant to what this foundation is doing. If they were investing in art to then be presented for sale, then maybe, but there’s not even the vaguest hint of that here.

Further, if you read the application, it says the foundation supports “non-canonical art” and “wants to help bring more artists to Burning Man and give them the space to explore their full potential by supporting the art they dream of creating”. They even ask for an LNT plan.

Now *maybe* when you get to the stage of being approved you have to buy into all sorts of commercial terms - I wouldn’t know. But there’s nothing up front to suggest that, and plenty to suggest that this is just a group of burners with access to funds who want to help support some art.