Neo-ephemerisle
27-Jul-10
via flickr.com
Neo-ephemerisle was awesome! I’ve uploaded some of the photos. Will upload more tomorrow.
Posted via email from crasch’s posterous
via kickstarter.com
“Crew members from the project “Swimming Cities of Serenissima” by the artist Swoon have teamed up with an all star crew of Bay Area artists to rescue a 1945 hand crafted houseboat from the dump. We plan to convert the boat into a mobile artstead in the ad-hoc style of San Francisco’s unique D.I.Y. arts community: the birthplace of Burning Man, Maker Faire, Camp Tipsy, and Survival Research Laboratories.
The Seasteading Institute has provided funding to purchase of the boat and the rest is up to us! We will repair the hull, build a stage, and drive The Relentless from her current location in Bethel Island to the Ephemerisle Festival in the Sacramento River Delta. throughout the multi-day gathering the artstead show boat will serve as the festival’s main stage.
Post Ephemerisle, The Relentless will continue on to the San Francisco Bay where she will be berthed at the Oakland 5th Avenue Marina for ongoing shenanigans and perpetuity.
The boat has been lifted out of the water so our incredible crew of volunteers can refinish the hull this week! We need to purchase marine grade lumber, epoxy and other costly materials in order to get this old girl back in the water. Once underway we will utilize recycled materials, including a converted Mercedes diesel car engine, to make the vision come to life. “
Posted via web from crasch’s posterous
Declan MuCullagh wrote a a new article on CBS news regarding the Ephemerisle event, in which I’m quoted.
“The consensus is that next year we’ll do it again in the delta,” says Rasch, who helped to build the floating platform. “Some people, like me, were attracted to the political aspects. Other people were attracted because they like building things on the water, or solving technical challenges. There’s virtue in the camaraderie you get when you build an art project or a platform. The platforms we’re building aren’t appropriate for the open ocean, but the friendships will survive.”
Note that my role in the build was pretty small–I helped with the final build steps on Saturday, but the vast majority of the work was done by Chicken John, James Hogan, and their crew in the weeks leading up to Ephemerisle (and afterward).
First mainstream coverage of Ephemerisle, via patrissimo:
Floating innovative ideas in a sea of creativity
This is Ephemerisle, the latest defiant undermining of the stereotype that California’s tech grotto has no artistic or real-world skills to call its own. The idea, when hatched, was as wobbly as the ferry: hold a festival on water, built and then dismantled by its attendees in the course of a weekend. But then, this is the same intersection of communities that grew Burning Man, a festival that now hosts more than 40,000 attendees in the middle of a barren desert.
Some of the figures involved in that event are here today.
Ephemerisle ’09
08-Oct-09
I was pretty busy trying to keep the houseboat flotilla from floating away (Friday) and building the platform (Saturday), so I didn’t take many pictures until the Saturday feast. For many more pictures, video, and blog posts, see the Ephemerisle coverage page.
Patri’s crew on the pirate pyramid
I make a brief appearance:
Ephemerisle: We’re on a Floaty Thing, Motherfuckers from Dav Yaginuma on Vimeo
Thought dump following Ephemerisle ’09
05-Oct-09
I’m exhausted, but I wanted to get some thoughts down before I forget. Don’t expect much coherence.
Via Patri:
I’d like to remind everyone of our upcoming Second Annual Conference and First-Ever Ephemerisle Festival, where the far-flung seasteading community will gather in person to explore the theory and practice of seasteading.
Second Annual Seasteading Conference
People from from across the globe have registered to see esteemed speakers like TSI Funder and PayPal founder Peter Thiel, Stanford University’s Paul Romer, HavenCo founder Sean Hastings, anarchist economist David Friedman, How To Start Your Own Country author Erwin Strauss, controversial political blogger Mencius Moldbug, and many more. Featuring the unveiling of our strategy for the next 5 years, a unique seasteading simulation, Annual Open Board Meeting, and our Annual Member’s Dinner, you don’t want to miss this gathering of luminaries, entrepreneurs, and pioneers – so register today!
For more information, check out the conference webpage.
World’s Only First-Ever Ephemerisle Festival
To make seasteading happen, we need practice as well as theory, which is why this year our conference is accompanied by the first ever Ephemerisle festival of politics, community, and art. Out on the water we’ll work, play, talk, and immerse ourselves in a deep but temporary world of possibility. We’re constructing 3 main platforms (a prototype is pictured above, holding a coffeeshop-in-a-trailer), to which numerous houseboats, ships, and homebuilt platforms will dock – each with their own set of laws. And we’ve awarded 7 grants so far to art projects such as those pictured below:
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The attendees of this year’s Ephemerisle will be able to say, for the rest of their lives: “I was there when it all started.” Don’t miss your chance to begin at the beginning and contribute to the future of an event that will change the world – register today! For more information, check out the Ephemerisle webpage, as well as Patri’s discussion of how Ephemerisle advances seasteading
Ephemerisle scouting trip
18-May-09
The Seasteading Institute (TSI) is organizing Ephemerisle this October (think “Burning Man on the water”). The festival will be held on the Sacramento delta, as it’s protected water and already hosts raucous houseboat parties. In preparation, TSI organized a scouting trip to find a good location, and invited me to come along. Here’s some of the pics.
On the houseboat!
This guy showed us how to operate the houseboat. Very enthusiastic! The Paradise Marina treated us well. Among other things, they gave us a ride in their rowboat when we made a wrong turn, and let us switch from a pontoon boat to a speed boat on the second day.
Liz organized the trip and fed us a delicious steak dinner.
Kevin at the wheel of the houseboat. Kevin has been vacationing at the delta for several years, and was invaluable in making sure that we didn’t kill ourselves.
James got the first crack at the speed boat.
Then me… What fun! Breaking over the wake of a passing boat is rather exciting.
Island for sale
