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The Awesome Foundation for Arts and Sciences awards monthly grants of $1,000 to people who do something awesome and awards
passionate people who loves to create. The grant supports people doing awesome things around the world and acknowledges the individual that evokes
surprises without the prospect of audience or profit. As stated on their website
www.awesomefoundation.org, “awesomeness challenges and inspires”. There are no strings
attached to the award.
Thoughts from the Director...
Based on
my interest in bringing people together through design of public art and objects. The idea is to
design, build and install a big hammock in the oldest public park in the country, the Boston
Common. The hammock originates over 1000 years ago in Central America with the Mayan
Indians; they designed web-like hammocks for lounging and sleeping. Hammocks were generally
made for one or two people but could be large enough to contain 5 children. The Mayans created
these by weaving the bark of the Hamak tree. As material technologies changed, cotton cord
was used as well as hemp rope and canvas.For stability, hammocks simply rely on the proper
spacing between attachments and they are easily installed anywhere.
General Information
Start Date: September 1, 2009; Pending Approvals from the City of Boston.
Installation will take 2-3 days with the assistance of a professional Arborist.
Removal of the artwork will take 1 day.
Exhibition will take 30 days.
The hammock will closed in the evenings by 8:00PM or during a rainy day. Every night the
hammock will be hosed down, rolled in a bundle, held tight through cables and locked at night
with a key. Alternatively, the hammock can also be removed by opening the Carabiner and
placing it in a storage facility until the next morning. The first option will be preferred. During the
opening hours, a volunteer will be able to observe the daily usage of the hammock, have future
participants sign a Release Waiver Form and limit the number of people to 20. No children under
4 will be allowed to participate without parental supervision. The opening and closing of the
hammock, installation and removal of the artwork will be supervised by the Applicant.
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