Goodnight Stories for Rebel Scientists – Creativity vs. COVID: Ending the Pandemic for Good

Objective:

As a project, Goodnight Stories for Rebel Scientists aimed both to start conversations with scientists and incentivize them to sign the Open COVID Pledge. As an interesting project/piece of art the book was meant to captivate the attention of scientists we reached out to. Then it aimed to incentivize them by offering recognition of their work by including them among a collection of other important figures, IF they signed the OCP or worked in some other way to free the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Project:

Goodnight Stories for Rebel Scientists is the beginning of a book that tells the tales of scientists and access to medicines champions who worked diligently to end the COVID-19 pandemic in a just and equitable way. The book is a series of square images. The front cover is dark blue with the title “Goodnight Stories for Rebel Scientists” with drawn images of a syringe, the COVID-19 virus, an erlenmeyer flask, and a face wearing a mask. Following the cover are entries for two scientists, Hanneke Schuitemaker and Marion Koopmans. Each entry has a story written about the scientist and a portrait of them made by different artists. The last page of the book draft features an email written to the featured scientists asking for their help finishing their story in the book and to sign the Open COVID Pledge.

STRATEGIES:

TRY THIS:

Make a version for your target.

What worked?

The project helped us get the attention of Marion Koopman’s assistant. It also brought us in contact with access to medicines champion Ellen ‘t Hoen who gave our group instrumental advice in carrying forward with the campaign and who will also be featured in the book.

Other Notes:

The project was inspired by the book Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls which shares the stories and work of important women throughout time.

Original files can be provided for exhibition

Reflections from Fiona Davey

What skills or perspectives did the collaborators bring to this?

Each collaborator brought different skills from art, design, writing, and organizing.

What would be your next steps, building on this idea, if you had a million dollars and all the time and skills in the world?

If we had a million dollars and all the time in the world we would turn this project into a printed book with entries of all the important figures in access to medicines. We’d also commission portraits for each entry and support artists around the world.