LUMEN-ade: $1.25/lumen

Carole Kim is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

LUMEN-ade: $1.25/lumen

($15k -- or #nights rental at $1200/night)

Projections on a large scale.

BACKGROUND

I am an interdisciplinary artist and I'm onto a project of a lifetime.

For the past 20+ years, I have been primarily focused on site-specific video projection for immersive environments, live performance and photography. I am particularly interested in exploring ways in which to render digital media more like “clay”: malleable, organic, tactile and connected with the physical world. After many years of creating very intricately constructed projection surfaces by hand, I began to point my projection beams to nature's landscapes. Whether it be the backyards of friends, the rockscapes of the Joshua Tree desert, the Norwegian forest or Descanso Gardens where I am currently an artist-in-residence (more details below), landscape has proven to be a very exhilarating canvas to work with. The behavior of light, gesture and image on as variable and variegated a surface yields results that have me completely engrossed and inspired. It is an interaction and collaboration with nature.

Recently, I was granted the opportunity to become a year-long artist-in-residence at Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge – a new position that was created after meeting with the Executive Director and Director of Membership/Guest Experience. The residency will culminate in a comprehensive solo exhibition in three sizable galleries and a full monthly program of site-specific projection drawings and performances within the gardens over the course of the 3 months of the exhibition which will run from July 14 - October 13, 2019.

PROJECT : Shine A Light

I cannot underline enough what a perfect laboratory this is for my work at present. I wish to honor these circumstances with the utmost outcome possible. It's time to dream big. My primary challenge with the Descanso Project, and the main driving force behind launching this GoFundMe campaign is the issue of scale. I have been a consistently DIY artist, accustomed to working within my means. With the Descanso Project, I have quickly come to realize that I am faced with circumstances where I need to figure out how to grow my means.

Descanso Gardens is known for its canopy of old native California Live Oak Trees. There are five Heritage Oaks that survived a devastating wildfire in 1878, the first recorded of its kind in LA County. Their forms speak to a gnarly resilience, persistence and perseverance that I would like to tap into. The projection equipment I have at present is not quite up to the task of taking on the scale of these trees. I am seeking a significant boost in lumens (brighter projector).

With rental fees running at $1200 per day, the numbers point to trying to buy a 12k projector--projector plus zoom lens would cost $15k.

EPSON V11H910820 PRO L1505UHNL PROJECTOR $13,869.00
LCD, WUXGA W/ 4KE, 12,000 LUMENS, HDMI, USB, HDBaseT, 20K HR LASER, 3YR WARRANTY, NO LENS

With zoom lens:
EPSON V12H004W05 0.77-1.07:1 ZOOM LENS $1,249.00

If 0.77-1.07:1 throw ratio would suffice, then the total would come out to $15,118.00 for the projector and the W05 lens.

$15k is an impressive lump sum. Thus, here I am, casting out a net to dear friends. If it proves to be an overly ambitious fundraising goal, then any funds raised will go towards the maximum number of times that I could rent one.

At $1.25/lumen, any amount of assistance that you can muster will be much appreciated. I feel enormously lucky to have this opportunity. I feel that I am sitting on a ground swell of potential that I have no choice but to meet head-on and find a way to make what I see in my mind materialize onto these trees. Thank you for reading through and considering.

With heartfelt devotion,

Carole

keep in touch!