Kickstarter Campaign: 2nd Floor Rear: a 24-Hour Festival of Alternative and Itinerate Spaces

Hey guys!

I’m sure many of you have seen my “I AM” project (If not, it’s here).  Well I have some good news! The project has been selected to be a part of an upcoming art event called 2nd Floor Rear, put together by It’s a Pony Projects here in Chicago.  It’s going to be a wonderful art event with works installed and exhibited in nontraditional spaces for 24 hours (February 4-5, beginning at noon).  There will also be activities, dances, drinks, etc. and everyone is welcome to attend.   

It’s a Pony Projects is raising funds (up till February 1) to help cover the costs of the festival.  If you can find it in your hearts, pockets, purses, Paypals, and wallets, please donate at least $1 (just $1! Only 4 quarters! You can find that in your sofa!), it would really help to bring this event to fruition.

Here’s more info on the festival:

2^nd Floor Rear is a 24-hour festival of alternative spaces, apartment galleries, and ephemeral and migrant projects celebrating Chicago’s vibrant community of alternative and DIY art spaces.

In 1980, the Neoists, a little-known avant-garde subculture descended from Fluxus, held their first annual “International Neoist Apartment Festival” or APT, a four-day long event complete with concerts, performances, film screenings, and installations, in the apartment of one of the members of the Neoist group. Poorly documented and marginally historicized, it is thought[1] that APT carried on annually, in various iterations, until 1988.

Drawing on the 24-hour block party model (think Chattanooga, Tennessee’s Mainx24 festival), 2^ndFloor Rear adapts the spirit of APT to a condensed, 24-hour timeline. From noon on February 4^th to noon on February 5^th, festival participants such as Pop-up Art Loop, Carousel Space Projects, Milk Gallery, the Happy Collaborationists, and individual artists such as Chiara Galimberti and Karen Faith will host pop-up exhibitions, dream yoga sleepovers, site-specific installations, and New Wave synth-pop art extravaganzas.

Here, also, is the official site, where you can see my name in the Collaborators list! :D

Thank you all, and I hope you can help pitch a buck or two! 

- Kiam

Here’s a great example of a well-done chirigota - original satirical songs, performed by groups dressed up in various creative outfits.

Pre-Carnival, Rota, Spain

Fiesta de San Juan
June 23, 2010

Deriving from the Pagan ritual of celebrating the Summer Solstice, or the beginning of the summer, this Spanish Festival is one of the biggest parties of the year.

I hosted a pre-midnight party, complete with great food, loud music, and cool friends, hanging out in my downtown pad.  

For the festival, the townspeople erect a gigantic bonfire, and burn some kind of papier-mache model (last year, it was Neptune) at the strike of midnight.  This year, the Rota town council was low on funds (“Estamos en crisis!”), so they did not light a ceremonial bonfire on the beach as they have in the years past.  Instead they had a few smaller fires set all over the town, I’m guessing in a manner similar to Las Fallas in Valencia, but on a much smaller scale. 

Also, there is a wishing tradition that my guests and I partook.  You take 3 pieces of paper, and write down three wishes.  At midnight, you throw the wishes into the fire, and make your way to the beach.  You get in and let 3 waves wash over - one for each wish.  Then, you either jump into the water altogether, or get out.  They say that at least one of those wishes will come true.  A coworker recounted the year when she and all her friends would altogether wish for one of their friends (who has been unsuccessful in the previous years) to finally bear a child.  And that year it came true! Only months later, the said friend was pregnant!

After the fire burning, the town engages in a wild party all through the night.  People are also allowed to sleep and set up tents on the beach that night.  My apartment being right in front of the city beach, it was difficult to sleep and get up the next morning.  And that morning, you should have seen the beach, what a mess it was! Cups and beer bottles, and all kinds of crap all over the sand. 

The Spanish sure know how to party.