Hidey Ho, Good neighbors!

We have some amazing developments on the horizon here at RuckusRoots! I'm so excited, I'm practically jumping up and down! Let me just tell you...The University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh's head of Sustainability has welcomed RucksuRoots back for a second Earth Week! You may remember that last year we brought a super-fun environmentally-themed musical installation involvoing the Sycomasher by Matt Moldover to the students of UW. This year we're promising something even bigger and brighter...something I've been wanting to do for quite some time. Luckily, I found just the right group of crazy artist types here in LA to realize the dream with me....and so it will come to be in April, 2010 in Oshkosh Wisc. We will create a sculpture out of trash. But not just any trash. NO, we will use the trash generated by the University over the course of a week, and we will build not just any sculpture, but a beautiful AND functional scupture that illusrtates that our waste is not only excessive, but also able to be used for constructive AND aesthetically-pleasing purposes.

More to come soon, but for now, check out my collaborator's wepage at www.artcustoms.com.

join the Ruckus!

Howdy all!

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written, so let me catch you up on what we’ve been up to over here in the RuckusRoom…

I was lucky enough to be invited this summer to travel to Borneo (the third largest island in the world) be my sister’s research assistant. My sister is a primatologist—yep, just like Jane Goodall or Diana Fosse in Gorillas in the Mist, my 29-year-old, 115-pound, PhD-holding sister chases monkeys and apes through some of the most remote areas of the world and over some of the most difficult terrain known to man. Over the course of three weeks we ventured into the interior of East Kalimantan, to the Wehea biological preserve, one of the last protected areas in Borneo. Our goal was to establish a network of trails for future researchers, and to spot, identify and track some of the primates she hopes to study and protect: red Langer monkeys, gibbons and orangutans.

This trip gave me the irreplaceable opportunity to witness Borneo’s natural treasures first hand—we walked among the remaining giants of Borneo’s old-growth forests, encountered scorpions the color of a bridesmaid dress, ducked beneath bats and Frisbee-sized butterflies and waded through waterfall-fed pools that would have made Indiana Jones jealous.

At the same time, the job also provided a front-row seat to many of Borneo’s political and environmental struggles.  While its bustling, exhaust-choked cities may seem removed from the surrounding preserved areas, the two are truly interconnected, and the preservation and success of one depends on the other.

Borneo is a conservation hotspot—it is one of the most bio-diverse places on the planet, home to over 15,000 species of known plants. Its forests are also some of the most rapidly disappearing on the planet as well. Since the 1970s, Borneo’s forests have been heavily logged for tropical hardwood, and to make room for lucrative oil palm plantations. Now, about half of the forest remains.

I came away from this trip with a desire to help protect Borneo’s remaining rainforests. I also came away with the understanding, however, that we cannot just expect the people of Borneo to cease palm oil production completely. Palm oil plantations are largely responsible for Borneo’s deforestation, but are also the biggest contributor to the island’s economic growth, a necessity for this poverty-stricken region.

So my next RuckusRoots initiative will focus on petitioning American companies that use palm oil to ensure that their palm oil comes from a sustainable source. While we must acknowledge that environmental, social, political and economic issues are inexorably linked, it is also true that there are ways for economic profitability and environmental conservation to coexist. Sustainable palm oil plantations are a way to reach this goal, for the people of Borneo to profit, and for the Bornean rainforests to survive.

We’re busy putting together a fall tour of some west coast festivals. We’re working with a new interactive audio instrument and are super excited to get on the road. More details soon!

Until then, learn more about Borneo preservation projects here:


http://www.unep-wcmc.org/resources/publications/LastStand.htm

http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/borneo_forests/

Whew!

What a busy and wonderful April!

Besides having the experience of a lifetime at Coachella 2009 (check out my blogs about the experience here) we had a blast at the University of Wisconsin Earth Day event on April 21st. Check it out:

University of Wisconsin Earth Day Event a Success!
We are proud to announce our first event in the Midwest went off without a hitch! On April 21, we infiltrated the Reeve Memorial Center at U of Wisc Oshkosh, where tons of students got to try their hand at making and recording mash-up sessions on the Syncomasher, a collaborative audio instrument created by Matt Moldover. While we are still working out the kinks in the Artivism Portal side of our website, we have pictures up from the event for your enjoyment. As soon as the new website is done, you Wisconsin kiddies will be the first to be able to log in, download you recordings, share them with your friends online and find out about activism opportunities in your local area! We can’t wait!

We’ll keep you posted on the website’s progress...until then, check out the pictures, and Join the Ruckus!

Howdy!

We pull ourselves out of the sawdust, away from the paint buckets and a surprisingly stubborn and treacherous sewing machine to let you know what we’ve been up to—we’re making a Syncomasher! (Well actually, we’re making the table and stand that will eventually house and display the electronic components of the Syncomasher).

Now, I realize some questions might have popped into your mind as you read the above and lucky for you I’m in an accommodating mood, so read on, oh curious one!

Q:    What the F is a Syncomasher?
A:     Read the title of this post and get back to me.

Q:    What the F is an Octamasher?
A:    Looks like someone didn't do his previously assigned reading, hmm? Oh that’s right, I said I was in an accommodating mood. Well then: the Octamasher is an interactive, collaborative audio installation created by Matt Moldover that connects eight unique instruments to one computer brain. It’s incredibly fun and allows musicians and novices alike to create electronic music together in a kind of jam-session format. (Don’t believe me? Check it out.) The Octamasher has had great success at events like SXSW, Mile High Festival, Burning Man, Coachella and more! For us here at RR, it was love-at-first-mashup with the Octamasher, and Moldover has generously allowed us to bring it with us to events like Treasure Island Music Festival and our upcoming Earth Week event at the University of Wisconsin. The Syncomasher is basically the same concept (see above image), but uses five instruments instead of eight, is in general lighter and more mobile, and will eventually have blinky lights and fancier components. Yay!

Q:     Who the F is “we?”
A:    Matt Moldover is the brain behind the Syncomasher and everything masher-related. On this project, John Taylor is carpenter-extraordinaire, having designed and built the pentagon-shaped table and stand that will house and hold the electronic Syncomasher bits. We here at RR basically just do as we’re told, helping with sanding, painting and sewing a skirt to cover the base. (The Syncomasher is no hussy, after all.)

Q:    Wait a second, you said “we” again.
A:    That’s right. I did. There’s no “I” in RuckusRoots, baby! Come to think of it, there’s no “we,” or “team” either, but suffice to say, when I say “we” I’m referring to my helpers and me, be they real, imaginary or somewhere in between.  

Q:    What the F does this have to do with RuckusRoots?
A:    Looks like it’s time for RuckusRoots 101, the abridged version. Here goes: our mission here at RuckusRoots is to engage peeps the environmental movement through art and music. (We call this merging of art and activism ARTivism.) And when we say engage, we mean to well, get you really freakin’ excited about it. We figure the best way to do that is to create a connection between eco-activism and things that already get you really freakin excited, like music and art. SO, that means that a big (no, huge) part of what we do involves curating, building and installing interactive art and music pieces for you to play with at our events. We’re hoping to one day have our very own Syncomasher-type piece that will accompany us to festivals and campuses, so we can spread the musical mashup fun far and wide! Until, or even after that time comes, we’ll do everything we can to help the artists who so generously lend us their art, which allows us to continue promoting environmental awareness and ARTivism.

Q:    Wow, great! How can I help you?
A:    So glad you asked! You can join our email list to get the latest news and to learn about volunteer opportunities AND you can donate, here! (Funds will be used to purchase and build interactive art and music pieces.) Also, we’re always looking for more interactive artists to contribute to our arsenal...if you’ve got ideas, contact us!

Alrighty, we’re about outta time, folks. If you’ve read this far, congratulations! A blue pony named Mel will visit you in your dreams as your reward.

Meanwhile, I’ll be trekking with the Syncomasher to the first annual TEDx Conference at USC on Monday, March 23rd and to a private party in San Francisco on Wednesday, March 25th. Pictures to come!

Join the Ruckus!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVnbyub85BU

Showcases RuckusRoots events at festivals, private parties, gatherings and campuses. RuckusRoots is Artivism (Art + Activism) in Action!