Hi! This is Chris, lead artist on the When We Were Young project 👋

I embarked this year on a journey to build a 30 feet tall tetherball game for the 2025 Burning Man event. Why? Because I have never seen one that large and it sounded like fun. I highly prioritize installations that invoke connection with one's inner child and a supersized version of one of my favorite playground games seemed like an excellent step into the world of large-scale installation work.

Well! Welcome to the world of the absurd because back in march I discovered that my installation proposal won a Burning Man Honoraria Grant! How cool! I had applied in November, and through a couple weeding out rounds, the committee saw the joyful, slightly dangerous, potential of the piece and decided to back it with funding and organizational muscle. Out of more than 500 proposals, 76 were selected to split a million-dollar pool, and mine was one of them!

The grant funding covers about half the expected cost, so here we are trying to fundraise the rest. I'm grateful to say I've already assembled a team of builders, makers, doers to donate their muscle and brains to the build, and all we need now is a team of fat-pocketed lovers of art and dreams to donate their dollars to make this whole thing possible. That's where you come in 🥰

The pitch for the installation is as follows: School-yard tetherball executed at three times the normal size. True-to-proportion upscaling with no frills. Participants are invited to play a classic game from their past with the dramatic size difference increasing difficulty. With the future bearing down, what else has changed since our youth?

As you can see, it's not a small task. We'll be working with heavy materials, human induced dynamic loads, renewable energy generation, etc etc. While much of this is well within our wheelhouse, there are some costs associated with getting it done.

I would be deeply grateful for your support in our efforts to get this thing out to the playa. Really looking forward to the time when we can play together.

Donation tiers come packed with small gifts and tokens of our appreciation. Thanks so much for supporting art! Specifically absurd art and supersized playground activities for supersized children.

❤️ Chris

Oh for reference, here is the pitch I gave the BM Honoraria Committee:

School-yard tetherball executed at three times the normal size. True-to-proportion upscaling with no frills. Participants are invited to play a classic game from their past with the dramatic size difference increasing difficulty. With the future bearing down, what else has changed since our youth?

An often-overlooked factor of tomorrow is the past. As we march forward into the unknown, we are supported by a foundation of memories: fallible and often idealized.

Take our memories of play, for instance. The way we know how to play today is quite unlike how we played in our youth. Simpler things in those simpler times; no hesitation towards participation, no posing, no cameras. Was the future brighter then? Was play easier? More fun?

Certainly, this grown-up version of a classic childhood game isn't quite what we would have imagined if prompted. As we have grown, it has grown. It now bears more weight, in both static form and dynamic force. How could it ever be the same?

I invite participants to join in, to reconnect with their youth through play, to embrace schoolyard-style imagination and group activity. I want to inspire wonder, spark inspiration, and foster determination; qualities that are crucial in preparing for tomorrow, today.