FoxCarn And The Betel Store

2015 foxcarn

FoxCarn & the Betel Store is the China and Taiwan regional project for Burning Man 2015. 

The project will feature “worker” participants drawn from Burning Man attendees, who will make Apple parody products as part of an interactive art installation in which participants will experience working in an electronics factory meant to draw parallel to the real-life Foxconn, complete with a robotic overseer arm overhead.

The installation draws from both the Taiwanese-owned but China-based company Foxconn, which manufactures much of the key electronic components in Apple projects under inhumane labor conditions, as well as the Taiwanese tradition of betelnut beauties who are a common sight in the Taiwanese countryside.  As described by organizers, this is meant to call attention to commodity fetishism in contemporary capitalism as well as the role of gendered labor.

[Source: New Bloom]

The FoxCarn Facebook page is more direct in its commentary on FoxConn:
Screenshot 2015-07-31 13.03.59
They met their lucky $2888 funding goal on Kickstarter. Looks like robotic overlords are pretty cheap, these days.
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The Jackrabbit spake:
A cybernetic collaboration between Taiwan, China and the Burner diaspora, FoxCarn & the Betel Store, will set up shop in the Midway at the Man base this year. Exploring the symbiotic relationship between Chinese factories and Western consumer culture, FoxCarn’s rallying cries include: “Consume different! Think global, exploit local. Decommodifying the fetish, unalienating labor. Circulating gifts of Taiwan and China with the Burning world.”

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FoxCarn & the Betel Store is the third in a series of regional projects from Taiwan and/or China to Black Rock City.
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The first was Enlightenment in 2013, an eighteen-foot tall meditating man.
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The second was the Taiwan Temple Market last year. They return to the market theme again in 2015 with the Betel Store.
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The team for FoxCarn is largely composed of members from these past two projects plus the organizers of Dragon Burn, Shanghai’s regional event. The team mixes up “diaspora” Taiwanese and Chinese, with Taiwan and China-based expats.

ian china contactIan Rowen is the China Regional contact for Burning Man. He has put together and continues managing the concept and the team, and has written all of their copy.

Nathan Melenbrink is the lead architect and robot designer. He, Jiyoo Jye, and Tiffany Cheng (Taiwanese-American) are all students at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Nathan designed the 2014 Dragon Burn effigy.

Kenny Yu, from Hong Kong, is the lead graphic designer.

Michael Huang, Taiwanese/Chinese-American, freelance designer and fire lead on Enlightenment, is co-managing.

Jen Childs and Nick Kothari, Dragon Burn organizers based in Shanghai, are leading up China-side sourcing along with Elaine Kang. They are also providing additional design help.

DJ Furth, Beijing-based filmmaker, cut their Kickstarter video.

Jimi Moe, Spring Scream co-founder and member of the Taiwan Temple Market last year, is helping with materials production.

Ty Chen, founder of dance troupe Luxy Boyz, will choreograph the “product launch” on Tuesday night, during which Ian Rowen will don a turtleneck and wire rim glasses for the launch of:  iSwag: their most personal swag yet. Tagline: “This changes nothing!”

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FoxCarn robot team. Photo credit: FoxCarn & the Betel Store

Ian Rowen, the producer of this project, recently gave an interview about the project to Taiwanese Columbia University student Brian Hioe in New Bloom magazine:

IR: FoxCarn shows how Taiwan is implicated in China’s economy as investor, manager, and mediator between the Chinese party-state land masters, Chinese labor, and global capital. The design of the space, with the FoxCarn factory and the adjacent Betel Store, also in some ways reflects cross-Strait economic geography. In general, the piece takes aim at commodity fetishism and capitalism more broadly, and is meant to give participants a visceral reminder that their objects of desire don’t materialize from thin air, without real human and environmental costs. In this way, we intend to playfully “unalienate labor”.

BH: I also want to ask about the aspect of the betelnut beauties.  This is something distinctively Taiwanese and isn’t something which has any direct relation to FoxConn that you’ve incorporated into FoxCarn. What is the role of the betelnut beauties in regards to FoxCarn?

IR: FoxCarn is the production side of our project, while the Betel Store is the sales and marketing side. The Betel Store satirizes Apple, and adds a uniquely Taiwanese sense of place that highlights the erotic imaginaries that drive so much of consumer product marketing. Instead of the Apple Store’s “genius” salesperson, our sales staff, male, female or otherwise, will be a “beauty”. By, if you will, “decommodifying” the oft-fetishized betelnut beauty, our project also plays with desire as a motive force of capitalism, not just in the sales of stuff, but in the deployment of the human body. So we’ll swank up our otherwise sleekly minimal Betel Store with gaudy pink lighting, and our staff will wear provocative Taiwanese/Chinese uniforms, including Betel-branded dudou.

IR: FoxCarn & the Betel Store are in a premier, highly-trafficked set of tents located right at the base of the Burning Man, the center of the whole event. The Man Base is meant to manifest the year’s art theme, and in recent years has also been a showcase for the globalization of the event’s culture. This year the theme is Carnival of Mirrors, so they’ll be sent up like a Carnival Midway, hence our name, FoxCarn. Burning Man is a big place—with 70,000 people and thousands of projects, there’s too much for one person to see. But pretty much everyone makes it to the Man Base, so this is a perfect spot to interact with the very wide variety of creative and influential people that compose the city’s population. Given Burning Man’s increasingly broad impact beyond its temporary urban confines—and with most major press organs in attendance—we also look forward to our message, and our “goods,” spreading far and wide. We’re also building our online presence and community. Of course, supporting our Kickstarter is a great place to start.

265f30db759f99b2989277a29db2ea06_originalLast year, with Caravansary and the Silk Road, the theme was commerce and trade. We had a souk at the Man base, a market place selling (ironic) timeshares and whatnot. This year, in the carnival, it looks like we have ironic retail stores again (and ironic Commodification Camps). We get  some subliminal messaging about our robot overlords thrown in, buzzing over our heads while we enjoying playing rubes at the carny.
I’m surprised they’re not handing out “Hello Titty” t-shirts or something. Perhaps that’s more of a Japanese thing.
hello-kitty-satva-horizontal-2

First we had the iPhone on the Playa, now we have an Apple Store and iPhone factory. This comes after previous Burning Man advertising ironic looks at commodity fetishism:

2013_iphone

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Image: Curtis Simmons/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Image: Curtis Simmons/Flickr (Creative Commons)

bummer hummer 2008

Image: jojomelons/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Image: jojomelons/Flickr (Creative Commons)

big-vw-bus-burning-man

 

burning man burger kingmcsatans

Baal Mart and TaarGay. Image: Wayne Stadler/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Mal Mart presents Baal Mart and TaarGay. Image: Wayne Stadler/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Image: Blip.TV documentary on Helco

Image: Blip.TV documentary on Helco

baal mart night

Baal Mart, 2012. Image: Wayne Stadler/Flickr (Creative Commons)

bm_ghostbusterschaosManhattan01-X2forbes-sm

Image: razlfections.com

Image: razlfections.com

SpamTanic by Karen Weir (Burning Man 2012) Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

SpamTanic by Karen Weir (Burning Man 2012) Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Image: Hiker Carl

Image: Hiker Carl

Some of these were pretty funny. Some of them fell flat. It’s a fine line  – let’s hope that Foxcarn and the Betel Store falls more on the funny side than the thinly veiled commercial promotion side.

Ultimately, psychologically, the thing that you are mimicking and emulating is the thing that you are promoting. The irony helps make these mainstream brands more palatable to those who might otherwise be offended by them. As They say, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”. And as They also say “sex sells”. It doesn’t matter whether money changes hands: you are being sold this commodity fetishized lifestyle at this art project that supposedly parodies it.

For anyone interested in exactly how subtle and psychological modern marketing can be, I highly recommend Douglas Rushkoff’s book Coercion: Why We Listen To What “They” Say. It was published in 2000, before social media, smart phones, and Big Data, but everything described is still part of the system and working better than ever.

cocercion

 

Apple is the world’s most valuable company, and a core part of the Bay Area tech scene. Many current and former Apple employees are Burners, as are many loyal Apple users. Building robots for Apple is right there at burningman.org, on the Founders page. Slavery, robots, and the tech industry are interesting themes with which to build a bridge towards potential Chinese Burners. To me this showroom and production line says “commerce and politics” more than “art and culture”.
Burning Man is becoming a must-see place for an upwardly mobile generation of Mainland Chinese, and there is even a major Chinese theme camp now. More on that “coming soon”…

SHIFTPODS: The New Generation of Burnitecture

SHIFT-POD-SILVER-600x400

Years of Burning and dealing with yurts, tents, RVs, and everything in between, have led to SHIFT Camp developing this new solution for Playa Accommodation. They are offering them as a Gift to anyone who donates $800 or more to their camp fundraiser. They will be diverting a portion of the funds to create shelter for people devastated by the recent earthquake in Nepal, the rest goes to support their camp which is a registered non-profit. This is a way to give back to actual Sherpas!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN NEPAL?
We are raising funds to take 500 SHIFTPODS to Nepal to house victims of the earthquake. We are manufacturing them at cost, delivering them and setting them up ourselves as one of our camp out-reach programs.  Interested?  Please join us.  We need funding and people.  Let us know if you have something to add to the program. WE ARE SHIPPING THE FIRST UNITS TO NEPAL AUG 15TH 2015!

I have seen the SHIFTPOD in action, there was plenty of room for my 6’3″ frame. It has many features that make it superior to a yurt, including Playa-ready windows. The production model is a substantial improvement on their earlier prototypes. It’s amazing how quickly they set up and fold back down, compared to the struggle with a regular tent that many Burgins seem to experience on the Playa. When folded up, it is much lighter and more portable than a yurt – and it doesn’t need to be re-taped every year. Some people are charging more than $1000 just to rent yurts, so this $800 minimum donation seems more than fair.

Check it out – fast forward to 2:30 to see all the features of the Pod. The music gets a lot better then as well…

From the SHIFT Camp website:

THE SHIFTPOD!

FIVE MINUTE SET UP – FIVE MINUTE STRIKE WITH ONE PERSON!

HEAT REFLECTIVE AND INSULATED!

“Wow! It is so much bigger and cooler than I thought it would be!”- Most heard response

Hands down the best festival tent available!! After spending 23 years on the playa we finally sorted out the best way to tent it at ANY festival! Yep, RVs are comfortable but there is something really nice about having your feet on the ground and connected to the Earth. The SHIFTPODS make it easy. Set up in less than 5 minutes and take-down is a blur. No loose poles and connectors to manage or lose, everything is together and in place for easy pop-up. No foam panels to cut or store. Easy to carry, transport, set up, take down, clean and store… finally the perfect festival tent.

Designed by us for us, these tents reflect heat, stay cool in the heat of the day and warm in the cool of the night. The SHIFTPOD is quick set-up quick take-down high-tech 4-meter x 4-meter pop-tent you can stand up in and plenty of room for a queen size air mattress, and air conditioner or two inflatable couches that fold out into beds! You can be set up and hanging out in record time.

With high quality dust proof zippers and windows these tents feature a quick up, quick down pop-up integrated system so you wont have to keep track of poles and clips which get easily lost in between events.

Insulated reflective nylon fabric is easy to wash and blow out. The SHIFTPOD is the perfect place for a shift experience! Available in Space Ship Silver the SHIFTPODS are made with a heavy duty 3-layer insulated shell, 6 windows to let the light in, with water-proof zippers keep the rain and dust out. Reinforced corners and heavy-duty construction, large built in mesh pockets, stainless steel stakes, and heavy-duty storage bag. SIZE: 12 feet (4m) x 12 feet (4m) x 6.5 feet (200cm) tall — 64 pounds. Shipping size is 74″ x 14″ x 14″ and can be shipped UPS or taken on the airplane!  Includes stakes and clips to secure the POD.

Lights and TWO-TUBE air-conditioner recommended but not included.

A great amount of thought has gone into this design.

The SHIFTPOD stuffs the best lessons of camping on the playa for 23 years into a fast set-up and fast take down weather, wind, rain, dust and UV proof living POD.  Don’t blow the excitement of arrival on the playa with an hour or set up, a SHIFTPOD can literally be set up in ONE MINUTE and 28 seconds (not including hammering in the stakes).

Hung over and burned out after a week at a festival in the desert?  How about three weeks if you are helping build a camp?  Not to worry the SHIFTPODS can be taken down and stuffed in the bag in less than 3 minutes. Hard to imagine but very true.  Check out the video: HERE (NEW INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS COMING SOON)

The SHIFTPODS can be used anywhere.  With three layers of welded UV reflective insulated fabric, waterproof zippers, sewn in screens, “black out” sunshades, heavy YKK zippers, the PODS are ready for anything.

They weigh in at less than 65 pounds and the packed size is airline compliant so they can be taken with you on trips all over the world.  Heavy travel bags with wheels are also available.

For the burn and other hot festivals, the SHIFTPODS are designed to be used with two-tube air-conditioning units which are available at Home Depot, Lows, Walmart, and many other retailers as well as Ebay and Amazon. These units cool the inside of the SHIFTPODS without as much of a vacuum inside of the POD.  You can use the single tube systems in a pinch but it is highly recommended to use the two-tube system or make filters for the outside of one of the windows.

If you are hardcore you can forgo the AC units and the extra $400 or so for the AC.  SHIFTPODS have two 6 inch ventilation ports with filter pockets to help keep the dust out.  The windows also zip out for better ventilation, cleaning, and replacement.

The SHIFTPODS are built strong and and can be set up and taken down many many times or left up and used as a small house. We have several farmers using them as seasonal housing, we have people traveling with them and we are working with a UN group to use the PODS as shelters for the homeless and disaster victims around the world.

SHIFT Camp are bringing in the first load of Shift Pods as a camp fundraiser, but they have opened the offer to anyone else who wants to support them. More than 100 Burners have already taken up the offer, and there could be as many as 300 SHIFTPODs at Burning Man this year.

Donate here to support SHIFT Camp and gets yourself a SHIFTPOD for this year’s Burn.

 


 

 

SHIFTPODS 2015
CAMP SHIFT FUNDRAISER

SHIFTPODSUPDATE

AFTER MANY ADJUSTMENTS AND UPGRADES WE ARE VERY EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE WE WILL BE SHIPPING OUR FIRST CONTAINER SOON!ONCE THE SHIFTPODS ARRIVE THEY WILL HAVE TO CLEAR CUSTOMS AND BE DELIVERED TO OUR WAREHOUSE IN SONOMA, CA.  FROM THERE WE WILL BE SHIPPING YOUR ORDERS AND LOADING THE TRUCK TO GERLACH, NV.
IF ALL GOES WELL WITH CUSTOMS WE EXPECT TO BE SHIPPING BY AUGUST 10 – 2015.

NEW UPGRADES:ROUND WINDOWS:We have upgraded the windows to a new design which eliminates the leaks we found during rain testing.  This new design also allows for sewn in screens which reduce the number of loose parts and additional zippers.  The new design incorporates three weep hole which allow the windows to shed even large volumes of rain.  The shades roll down and fold neatly out of the way.BETTER FABRIC COATING: The new coating is more reflective and cooler.  It reduces the amount of heat inside of the POD and reflects more of the UV light from the sun.STAINLESS STEEL STAKES: After a lot of testing we found the titanium stakes we planned on using were just not durable enough to meet our requirements.  We have designed new heavy duty stakes and made them out of stainless steel so they will not rust and will last for years.  The stakes are designed to be pounded in flat so people don’t trip on them and then pulled out easily when you are ready to go.AC PORTS: After looking at the worn out elastic on and old pair of boxer shorts I  thought “Hhhhmmmm maybe we should not use elastic on the SHIFTPODS“, that day we upgraded the AC ports to a draw cord with a clasp.  This allows you to cinch the AC tubes in tight and gives you more options for hose sizes.VENTILATION PORTS WITH FILTER POCKETS: We have built in filter pockets to help reduce the amount of dust in the PODS. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER: ALWAYS LEAVE THE VENT PORTS OPEN WHEN IN USE.  CARBON DIOXIDE (FROM YOUR BREATH WHILE YOU SLEEP OR BREATHE) CAN BUILD UP IN CLOSED AREAS AND KILLYOU.

The SHIFTPOD stuffs the best lessons of camping on the playa for 23 years into a fast set-up and fast take down weather, wind, rain, dust and UV proof living POD.  Don’t blow the excitement of arrival on the playa with an hour or set up, aSHIFTPOD can literally be set up in ONE MINUTE and 28 seconds (not including hammering in the stakes).

Hung over and burned out after a week at a festival in the desert?  How about three weeks if you are helping build a camp?  Not to worry the SHIFTPODS can be taken down and stuffed in the bag in less than 3 minutes. Hard to imagine but very true.  Check out the video: HERE (NEW INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS COMING SOON)

The SHIFTPODS can be used anywhere.  With three layers of welded UV reflective insulated fabric, waterproof zippers, sewn in screens, “black out” sunshades, heavy YKK zippers, the PODS are ready for anything.

They weigh in at less than 65 pounds and the packed size is airline compliant so they can be taken with you on trips all over the world.  Heavy travel bags with wheels are also available.

For the burn and other hot festivals, the SHIFTPODS are designed to be used with two-tube air-conditioning units which are available at Home Depot, Lows, Walmart, and many other retailers as well as Ebay and Amazon. These units cool the inside of the SHIFTPODS without as much of a vacuum inside of the POD.  You can use the single tube systems in a pinch but it is highly recommended to use the two-tube system or make filters for the outside of one of the windows.

If you are hardcore you can forgo the AC units and the extra $400 or so for the AC.  SHIFTPODS have two 6 inch ventilation ports with filter pockets to help keep the dust out.  The windows also zip out for better ventilation, cleaning, and replacement.

The SHIFTPODS are built strong and and can be set up and taken down many many times or left up and used as a small house. We have several farmers using them as seasonal housing, we have people traveling with them and we are working with a UN group to use the PODS as shelters for the homeless and disaster victims around the world.

SHIFTPODS come with 6x 8″ STAINLESS STEEL stakes with clips and lines to hold the PODS to the playa even in the strongest winds.

SHIFTPODS offer enough room to hold a queen size bed or two inflatable couches, a small refrigerator, table, and more.  You can find these on Ebay or Amazon.

ALL DONATIONS GO TO SUPPORT SHIFT AND SHIFT PROJECTS. HELP US MEET OUR GOALS AND GET THE BEST CAMPING POD ON THIS PLANET!
I ORDERED A SHIFTPOD ALREADY!!  WHEN WILL I GET IT?
Thank you for your support! Your SHIFTPODS will be in the order currently being built and shipped.  The shipment is expected on August 10th and can be shipped directly to you, picked up in Sonoma, CA or they can be delivered to Gerlach, NV.CAN I GET IT SOONER? 
Yes.  We will have a limited quantity available June 29th that can be shipped by air for an ADDITIONAL rush fee of $250 plus US shipping or pick up fees.HOW MUCH ARE SHIFTPODS?
Right now they are available as a gift for any donations of $800 or more.DO THEY COME WITH AC, BEDS OR ANY OTHER ITEMS?
Nope.  It is up to you to outfit your PODs. The SHIFTPODScome with; The POD itself, the stakes, lines, and the storage bag. They have five windows, AC ports, power cord ports, and two doors.WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN NEPAL?
We are raising funds to take 500 SHIFTPODS to Nepal to house victims of the earthquake. We are manufacturing them at cost, delivering them and setting them up ourselves as one of our camp out-reach programs.  Interested?  Please join us.  We need funding and people.  Let us know if you have something to add to the program. WE ARE SHIPPING THE FIRST UNITS TO NEPAL AUG 15TH 2015!WHAT IF MY WHOLE CAMP WANTS SHIFTPODS? DO YOU OFFER DISCOUNTS?
Yes! It’s good to want!  Contact us for more details.  You can sign up to be an affiliate and earn money for your camp for every SHIFTPODS donation you bring.  We also offer discounts FOR VOLUNTEERS, VETERANS and on bulk orders of PODS.Have other questions?  Let us know!

~TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK~

THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT!

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*SHIFTPODS is/are NOT affiliated with Burning Man, Walmart, Costco, Ebay, Amazon, Home Depot or Lowes. they all respectively own the rights to their names, logos and their IP. 🙂

GET A SHIFTPOD NOW!