Fort Night 24-Hour Zoom Experience
tent: Avery Rose + Thea Cohen; design: Matthew Giddings
WHAT IS FORT NIGHT?
Fort Night invites you to make a blanket and cushion fort in your home and call in to Elsewhere’s 24-hour extravaganza of a Zoom call with live performances, contests, workshops, and more. The schedule of events is being built over a fortnight, the two weeks leading up to the event, and everyone is invited to add to the event if they would like.
The event begins at 12PM on Friday, December 18th continues for 24 hours until Saturday, December 19th. Guests can drop-in and participate for as much of the event as they like.
Entering the Zoom call means you are part of the activity - the conversations, the contests, everything! We will also be live-streaming from the main zoom room aka “lounge” so you can see what’s going on when you can’t be in the Zoom.
The creation of the event is part of the event. The open invitation to our larger Elsewhere family and public audience and the live scheduling of programming over the fortnight (two-weeks) leading up to the event is part of the experience.
This event serves as a fundraiser to support the mission of Elsewhere - to build collaborative futures with people and things - by inviting everyone to become a members of the museum, which provides critical financial support that makes creative programs such as this possible.
Inspirations:
Over the Summer, co-founder, Stephanie Sherman, tweeted that the maximum length of a Zoom call is 24 hours.
Matthew’s neighbor, Betsey Brooks, who is a therapist, mentioned creatively resorting to spending the first 15 minutes building forts of her virtual therapy sessions with children and then holding the rest of the session from inside their respective forts (Betsey and Matthew will have a live conversation about this during Fort Night).
Fort making is a way to carve out a little sense of comfort and belonging within a larger environment. Like all things at Elsewhere, they are adaptable and impermanent.
While the title sounds like the immensely popular online game “Fort Nite,” it has no formal relationship to it.
“Elsewhere Forts.” one of which is featuring in the image above, were made as part of our pop-up exhibit, “Wish You Were Elsewhere,” at Greensboro Project Space. The forts were created by Jess Hoyle, Yvonna J, and Thea Cohen, with materials gathered by Avery Rose. they were made of collection fabric, collection books, collection chairs, soft sculptures by former Elsewhere Resident, Alexander Hernandez created as a part of “Spirits & Guests” in 2017.
GET YOUR TICKET
Fortnight is FREE for members of Elsewhere’s museum and everyone leading activities or performing at the event.
Current Members: RSVP here to receive your ticket(s) and updates about the event. Members include anyone who has given $36 or above to Elsewhere in the previous 12 months.
Become a Member: Become a sustaining member for as little as $3/month through Patreon or an annual member for $36/year.
Lead an Activity: Lead an activity and get a FREE ticket! See section below for more info.
Purchase a Ticket: We have a number of tickets to Fort Night that come with membership to Elsewhere, as well as event-only tickets: $20/adult admission and $5/kid admission.
LEAD AN ACTIVITY OR PERFORM (OR JUST SHARE YOUR IDEAS!)
CALLING ALL COLLABORATORS! With 24 hours to fill, we are inviting everyone to pitch ideas for activities they can lead as part of Fort Night. This can include curating and discussing your favorite YouTube videos, leading Pictionary. We will reach out to talk through your idea and get it added to the living program schedule.
Examples include:
Dr. Mark Hyman, a long-time Elsewhere member, discussing the connections between art and dentistry in a session titled “ArtFlossing,” where he brings in art history, color theory, and sculpture techniques.
“Candy. Bedtime Stories. Teeth Brushing.” with Topher Lineberry, artist and Elsewhere’s first intern at age 14 in 2005. They will lead a group in eating candy, followed by reading from Walter Benjamin’s “Radio Benjamin” (transcripts from his children’s radio shows), and ending with everyone brushing their teeth.
Jolie Day, former Elsewhere intern and art teacher of Greensboro’s Experiential School, leading “S’Mores Du Jour” deluxe s’more making followed by a group campfire song sing-a-long.
*Your great idea here* - click the button below or contact operations@goelsewhere.org asap!
LIVING PROGRAM SCHEDULE
THE SCHEDULE IS ALIVE! IT IS BEING ADDED TO DAILY! The schedule for Fort Night will up updated in real-time below as its activities added to and arranged over the fortnight (two weeks) leading up to the event. The FORT NIGHT LIVING PROGRAM GUIDE will also be added to and updated as we go, and will have additional information about each activity and performance.
