Using the pinwheel, a symbol of youth, whimsy, and transformation, we aspire to change the way people interact with art and think about community. As children’s playthings, pinwheels captured the imagination of kids, representing creativity and innocence. Now as young adults, we call on them to release it now when we need it most, to bring the imagination and optimism of our youth to help shape our future.

The pinwheel is an open-ended template. It is a blank slate waiting to be filled with photos, prose, secrets, or any other artwork. We encourage the viewer to put anything they want on their 8.5” by 8.5” sheet of paper, as long as it can go through the mail. By inviting the audience not only to have a say but a hand in the matter we give the power of the message back to the people. The audience becomes the creator, blurring the line between artist and observer, Each participant becomes a part of our team, spanning across the globe as the network of friends, relatives, co-workers, and interested individuals expands. The Car is a collage of all our self-expression, our memories, our hopes and our dreams; it is the combined essence of who we are. It is the best of us, all interacting and moving together as a functional and harmonious whole. It is the real meaning of community.

Currently we are in the design and funding stages of the project, which will continue until May. Junk collection will begin in late May and the project will be built during the four weeks before Burning Man 2012, which will take place in August. The vehicle will debut August 27, on the first day of Burning Man.

Our vehicle will act as a personal and communal discovery in the ways of teamwork, imagination, and constructive creativity. We started with three fundamental principles: transportation, living environment, and aesthetic sculptural quality. Our goals coincide with the 10 Burning Man principles  We will drive the Art Car around Black Rock City for people to interact with the pinwheels in a meaningful space that fosters imagination, wonderment, and self and global reflection.

Burning Man's Ten Principles

For more information about burning man, visit www.burningman.org!

Radical Inclusion
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.

First and foremost our vehicle is a living, breathing sculpture that embodies the spirit of creativity at Burning Man. We seek to include the viewer in our own artistic processes and discoveries.

Gifting
Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.

Decommodification
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.

This is a grassroots project thought up and executed by four dedicated art students. There is no corporate involvement, and we seek only to further enrich ourselves and our communities.

Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.

We aim to create a living space that is completely self sufficient and sustainable for the duration of our time at Burning Man.

Radical Self-expression
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

Our sculpture is pure expression, combining the thoughts and ideas of everyone in our group to create a cohesive aesthetic expereince.

Communal Effort
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.

Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.

Leaving No Trace
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

In order to minimize our impact on the environment, we will create our vehicle out of found and recyclable materials.

Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.

This project is a massive undertaking that will require our own expertise as well as the help of friends and family, professional artists, technicians and, YOU!

Immediacy
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.

We will have two tons and 60 miles per hour of immediate visual experience.

For the bare minimum, we need to raise $3800 to make the project feasible.

We need money for:

Tools, binders, and hardware: $600 (for holding our project together and keeping it moving; each pinwheel requires an armature and connection that enables spinning)

Recycled materials: $1000 (For the junk that’s not free; Junk yard fees, purchasing cool pieces from locals, metal under framing)

Gas: $200 (to and from Burning Man)

Tickets: $375 x 4 team members (Burning Man tickets enable us to get in to debut the sculpture)

Kickstarter and Amazon fees: $330 (10% combined)

Documentary & Distribution: $200

The more money we raise, the more we’ll be able to put towards recycled materials. The more we put towards recycled materials, the more elements, such as wind-generated sound and moving effects, can be added!

Spread the word! Share our project with your friends, family, and coworkers. The more people who know about the project, the more successful it will be.

Participate! Write about us on your blog, decorate and submit a pinwheel! Address it to:

Project Pinwheel Art Car

3144 Manhattan Bar Rd.

Auburn, Ca. 95603

Fund! Donate to help us cover construction and transportation costs so that we can bring the world's pinwheels to the world's stage! We have safe and reliable PayPal right here on our site Under the Donate Tab!