Kickstarter Updates

To keep my Kickstarter donators invested in my project I thought it a good idea to push out regular updates. I like to follow an artist's work in progress myself to see how they develop ideas and resolve problems and I am sure that many others feel the same way. I decided to commit to a weekly update on the project that published to my Kickstarter page and automatically emailed existing donators. I also publicised the updates to my social media accounts so that potential new donators who were interested could follow the link to my Kickstarter project page. I found that updates are a useful tool for generating new donators. Every time I published an update a few new donators would join the project.

The project has been a big success and has met my goal of raising £500 to cover my printing costs. With 18 days to go the project has raised 107% of the funding requested.


The updates are listed below:

  

Still I Rise: Feminisms, Gender, Resistance - De La Warr Pavillion

This exhibition explores the history of resistance movements and alternative forms of living from the perspective of gender. The work of a number of artists is on show and the exhibition certainly requires a couple of visits to get the most from it. I was mostly drawn to the work of the following artists:

Judy Chicago - Smoke Goddess. 1972 - colour photographs of an installation performance featuring naked women, coloured smoke bombs and fire in the desert. Chicago states that 'Smoke provides a liberation from structure, while its colour was intended to feminise and soften the environment'. To me these images are images of resistance to patriarchal norms in the art movements of the time such as overly grand landscape art mainly constructed by men.

Judy Chicago - Smoke Goddess. 1972.

Osias Yanov - Aoot. 2018 - This structure represents a stylised ladder and relates to key symbols and moments of queer and trans resistance. As a prop maker I found this work to be informative. I like the symbolism of a ladder to indicate time and progress. I always enjoy looking at physical pieces and find myself drawn more and more away from photography and painting into sculptural forms. 

Osias Yanov - Aoot. 2018.

Micha Cardenas - Becoming a Dragon. 2009 - This piece consisted of print outs of a piece performed entirely online in the 3D world of Second Life. Described as a mixed reality performance the viewer was able to watch online as the artists inhabited the world of Second Life for 365 days. This piece relates to the requirement for trans people to experience 'real life' as their chosen gender before receiving gender confirmation surgery. This was an interesting piece to think about. The print outs convey a real sense of performance, of which it is argued in Queer theory what gender mostly consists of - being culturally constructed. 

   Micha Cardenas - Becoming a Dragon. 2009.

Vali Mahlouji - Archeology of the Final Decade 2014 -2018 - Is a platform for recovering cultural memory. In the work at the De La Warr gallery we see 'Recreating the Citadel'. This piece consists of documentary photographs and writings from an archive pieced together over eight years. It is the only surviving record of the destruction of a red light district in Tehran in 1972. The photographs show a once vibrant and squalid urban neighbourhood inhabited by marginalised groups that had its own set of rules and values. The work is very poignant and reminds me of the destruction of the cultural life of the LGBTQ bars and neighbourhoods by the Nazis. These stories are almost always forgotten and glossed over by traditional historians.

Vali Mahlouji - Recreating the Citadel. 2014 - 2018.

There were many more pieces of work on display, most of it fairly non traditional and radical in nature. Lots of political posters from feminist and LGBTQ groups adorned the walls and a library of reading matter and a seating area was provided too. This was a very well thought out exhibition that gave voice to a wide range of marginalised groups.

Keeping A Promotional Campaign Fresh

Thinking up new ways to continue to engage with an audience as an artist is very time consuming. There are lots of strategies to think about and new skills to learn. This all takes time. But this time is necessary as making art that has no audience seems ultimately fruitless and frustrating.

So far I've used a number of strategies to promote awareness of my exhibition. Firstly I began by make updates on social media about my progress towards the exhibition. This involved images of my work in progress on individual pieces, making bases for props and the acquiring of items such as plinth bases. I feel that showing how an artist puts an exhibition together would be of interest to the viewer and also help to build and sustain interest throughout the campaign.

 Making a base for a prop

Plinth bases for props

Another line of promotion I am about to utilise is to link my exhibition with various events and things to do in Margate. I propose to post to social media a different aspect of Margate every week. There is a lot of choice in this seaside town such as the newly refurbished Dreamland amusement park, the old town quarter, Margate Pride, the Turner Contemporary, the beach and the harbour arm cafes and bars. I learned how to make GIFs with Photoshop. The steps are fairly simple and there is a number of videos online explaining the process. As with anything the time comes in designing a GIF that looks appropriate and getting the feel of it right. Here is my first effort that I pushed out to social media yesterday:

BE BY THE SEASIDE (Dreamland) promotional GIF

Once I was satisfied with my newly created GIF I attempted to push it out to social media. I soon realised that although Facebook and Twitter were fine, Instagram did not support GIFs! After all my efforts that was really frustrating! I investigated and found a third-party app that purported to have a work-around but it corrupted my GIF. Eventually I had a brainwave and realised that Photoshop could export my GIF files to a small movie format that Instagram would support. This blog also has trouble displaying one of the images correctly but it works fine on all my other SM formats now.

When designing my GIF I tried to keep it basic and used the strapline "BE BY THE SEASIDE" which I will use for the other GIFS too. The intention is to raise awareness of other activities that could be done by a visitor that may be considering travelling to Margate for my exhibition. As with all marketing attempts it remains to be seen how effective this strategy will be. This is the conundrum. How much time do you spend learning new skills and putting together new campaigns against all the other numerous tasks that need to be completed for the exhibition deadline!

BE BY THE SEASIDE (Turner Contemporary) promotional GIF

BE BY THE SEASIDE (Harbour Arm) promotional GIF

BE BY THE SEASIDE (Shell Grotto) promotional GIF

I need to continue to promote my Kickstarter campaign by providing updates on my progress. I have just finished a new collage piece 'collage 3' and will write about that. One idea I've had to get more engagement is to ask for suggestions for a title for it. All the Target Practice photographs are numbered 1 -- 11. The three new collages will have names. It will be interesting to make a Kickstarter post about naming one of the collages and see what (if any) feedback this generates.

Collage 3