Objective:
To connect the current pandemic to the legacy of Jonas Salk
The Project:
An essay about the history of loss, and the importance of a free vaccine.
STRATEGIES:
TRY THIS:
Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine
Write an essay for a local publication.
What worked?
I really liked how the pictures and the essay made it more personal.
About this project
Creators:
- Kisha Patterson
November, 2020
United States, Pittsburgh
8 1/2 X 11
Download Original/High-Resolution File: Vilomah.edited.201119.docx-1.pdf
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Original files can be provided for exhibition
Reflections from Kisha Patterson
Objective:
We wanted to make our targets aware of the Free the Vaccine campaign and the Open COVID Pledge. We invited them for a conversation with us.
The Project:
The Thank You Cards were sent out to researchers as an appreciation of their work and efforts in investigating COVID-19. The Free the Vaccine campaign and the Open COVID Pledge was then introduced with a text tailored towards the recipient.
STRATEGIES:
TRY THIS:
Print it and send it!
What worked?
The Thank You Cards highlight the important work that the researchers have been doing, thanking them for their efforts without pressuring them.
About this project
Creators:
- Simbie Yau
- Heloise Widdig
- Magali Heijkoop
- Defne Zuhal Yorgancioglu
- Katharina Wolfenstetter
November, 2020
Hungary, Budapest
1890 × 2522 pixels
Download Original/High-Resolution File: Thank-You-Card-1.jpg
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Original files can be provided for exhibition
Reflections from Katharina Wolfenstetter
What was the process/journey of creating this work?
We wanted to find a way to contact our targets that wasn’t just an email.
Kasia told us about her lab’s action from season 1, where they identified “Covid research champions” and sent letters to thank them for their work and bring their attention to the Open Covid Pledge. We decided this would be a great way to contact our targets.
We discussed the fact that people love to get compliments and positive feedback about their work and how this would be the best way to our targets into a conversation. Starting a conversation on a negative note is likely not to be effective.
We decided to design a Thank You card with a bright and snappy message on the front and a simple, tailored letter on the other. In the tailored letter we referred to their specific work, achievement, and institution.
What skills or perspectives did the collaborators bring to this?
Simbie worked on the artistic input and brought together the amazing layout. The other collaborators worked on the targeting of specific researchers.
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.
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.
About this project
Creators:
- Esther Barfoot
- Kasia Horodynska
- Vreer
July, 2020
Netherlands, Amsterdam
2658 X 2658 pixels
Download Original/High-Resolution File: 0001.jpg, 0002.jpg, 0003.jpg, 0004.jpg, 0005.jpg, 0006.jpg, 0007.jpg, 0008.jpg
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.
Objective:
We wanted a meeting with VIDO-Intervac to discuss the Open Covid Pledge.
The Project:
This is a photoshopped image of all the VIDO-Intervac (Canada’s largest vaccine initiative) executives. I attached in an email to the communications director, the woman in the center.
Sample Interpretive Statment
STRATEGIES:
TRY THIS:
Make a version for your target.
What worked?
We thought that putting this woman in a photo with all the executives of her company would catch her eye and that she would be inclined to respond.
About this project
Creators:
- Olivia Bonardi
June, 2020
Canada, Montreal
variable
Other Notes:
- Original files can be provided for exhibition
Reflections from Olivia Bonardi
Objective:
We mailed this to the office of a UCSD sleep researcher who has received substantial Covid-related funding and is very active on social media, hoping he would amplify our message.
The Project:
A deep blue sleep mask embroidered with the words “Sleeping well… a vaccine is free” sits on red felt inside a wooden box with a sliding lid. The lid is painted with the words “Will you accept our dream?”
TRY THIS:
Make a version for your target.
Build a performance around it.
What worked?
We tailored this piece to this specific individual because he is a sleep researcher. It successfully taught us to consider our audience, although he did not respond.
About this project
Creators:
- Eshita Garg
- Eric Olson
- Mary Clare Rietz
- Jocelyn Edens
- Zeph Fishlyn
May, 2020
United States, San Diego
3x5x7″
Other Notes:
Reflections from Zeph Fishlyn
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?
Our next steps are continuing to target researchers and making more sleep eye masks. If I had a million dollars, it would be easier to get more (fancier) material to quickly roll out many more masks for the researchers. If I had all the time in the world, I would continue working on making the sleep eye masks non-stop and hope to get a bunch of people on board in helping us create these awesome, soft bundles of self-care!
If someone else were going to make/use/do something like this, what advice would you give them?
Teamwork makes the dream work! Feel free to take your time – homemade masks have an amazing feel to them and make it extremely personal for the researchers. Don’t be afraid to stalk your targets and create the masks specifically for them. Ask yourselves: what makes them unique and how can this mask reflect that? Research your targets and make sure to keep in touch with the targets throughout the process. We want them to be surprised and also for them to know we truly appreciate their work! We want the targets to rock those sleep eye masks and share our dream together.
Objective:
We wanted to set up a meeting with the technology transfer office to convince McGill to sign the Open Covid Pledge.
The Project:
I attached this to an email to the VP Innovation in the McGill technology technology transfer. He responded!
STRATEGIES:
TRY THIS:
Make a version for your target.
What worked?
The graphic is editable so we can switch out the image depending on our target.
About this project
Creators:
- Olivia Bonardi
May, 2020
Canada, Montreal
variable
Other Notes:
- Original files can be provided for exhibition
Reflections from Olivia Bonardi
Objective:
Pressure the Researcher, or the University as a whole, to sign the Open Covid Pledge.
The Project:
Sports-style trading cards depicting University Researchers, customized with their photo, school colors, and achievements as stats listed on the back. The cards were sent to the researchers, as well as the President or Chancellor of their University, with yarn pom poms and a hand written note asking them to sign the Open Covid Pledge.
TRY THIS:
Make a version for your target.
Invent a game to play with them.
What worked?
The cards were eye-catching but also easy to send by mail (as social distancing is still happening on campus).
About this project
Creators:
- Vivian Peng
- Tod Brilliant
- Kaity Licina
May, 2020
United States, Los Angeles
2.5″x3.5″
Other Notes:
We targeted UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and USC (University of Southern California) because there is a long-standing sports rivalry between the two universities, which are both in the city of Los Angeles.
- Original files can be provided for exhibition
Reflections from Vivian Peng
Objective:
Invite an Indiana University researcher whose lab is working on a COVID vaccine for young children, to pledge to license his work via the Open Covid Pledge.
The Project:
A 1-page comic illustrating why one Indiana University researcher should license his lab’s work via the Open Covid Pledge. We emailed it to him with a note about how much we admire his work and a recommendation for how to print the image.
TRY THIS:
Make a version for your target.
What worked?
It didn’t generate a response from the researcher, but the project helped me build my image-making skills, and I learned a lot about the software I used to create it. I’d never made a visual narrative like this before!
About this project
Creators:
May, 2020
Image/graphic, Online/web thing, Writing
United States, Indianapolis
14 x 8.5 inches when printed
Other Notes:
- Original files can be provided for exhibition
Reflections from Laura Holzman
What skills or perspectives did the collaborators bring to this?
I made this drawing mostly independently – but it was inspired directly by a comic that one of the other groups drafted to send to researchers at the Salk Institute. Theirs also started with the famous quote from Dr. Salk. I liked their idea so I made a new and expanded version, tailored for a different researcher.
Objective:
We’re hoping to create a massive collage of tattooed people from the McGill community (or another university). It’s a fun way to show the admin that people support the FTV mission. We find the faces to say a lot more than a list of signatures on a petition.
The Project:
We asked our friends to send photos of their skin and gave them FTV tattoos.
TRY THIS:
Make it specific to your community.
What worked?
It’s really easy to scale this action!
About this project
Creators:
- Isabel Levine, Syndey Stevenson, Marilou Binder, Olivia Bonardi
May, 2020
Canada, Montreal
462 x 600 pixels
Download Original/High-Resolution File: FTV-Tattoo.jpg
Other Notes:
- Original files can be provided for exhibition
Reflections from Olivia Bonardi
What was the process/journey of creating this work?
This was a collaboration between multiple labs!
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?
Make this become a trend- actual tattoos, sell them on tattly, etc.
Objective:
Our larger objective was to get Indiana University to sign the Open Covid Pledge. With this image we wanted to initiate the conversation in a way that wouldn’t be overlooked as easily as a typical email might.
The Project:
This is a screen shot of a section of an email that we sent to leaders at Indiana University. First we designed images of hand-decorated facemasks that connected the Open Covid Pledge to IU values. We then photoshopped them onto the headshots of IU leaders we were emailing about the Open Covid Pledge. We paired the image with text that highlighted how IU had already embraced open licensing in the fight against COVID-19. We emphasized that for IU, signing the Open Covid Pledge would be “High Visibility, Low Risk.” The email included relevant hyperlinks and a brief introductory message.
TRY THIS:
Make a version for your target.
What worked?
These messages combined images and language that we’d been exploring in other contexts – here it really came together cohesively. Also, everyone we sent these images to responded to us (although these images might not be why that happened).
About this project
Creators:
- Laura Holzman
- Emilie Seibert
- Megan Williamson
- Sofia Hessler
May, 2020
Image/graphic, Online/web thing, Writing
United States, Indianapolis
variable
Other Notes:
Reflections from Laura Holzman
What was the process/journey of creating this work?
We initially wanted to do something that had a personal touch. We also wanted to connect signing the Open Covid Pledge to IU’s values and to celebrate a way that the university had already contributed to the open sharing of information related to the pandemic. An IU professor had designed an origami face mask and freely shared the pattern. We’d identified key IU values for a previous project, and we thought it might work well to put those values and a mention of the Open Covid Pledge on one of the origami masks.
It wasn’t feasible to send hand-painted face masks, so we came up with a digital alternative. Megan is a painter, so she made an image of the embellished masks. We considered just sending an image of the mask but decided instead to photoshop it onto the headshot of the person we were sending it to. That extra step made it more personal – and it’s hard to ignore a picture of your own face. By doing this we ended up making an image that envisioned the outcome we wanted – leaders at IU supporting the Open Covid Pledge.
We paired the image with some carefully written text – language that we hoped would be short enough that someone would read it, and language that made a clear case for why IU should adopt the Open Covid Pledge.
Another important factor here is that I’m a professor at IU – I sent the emails from my university address with a personalized note that explained that this was related to my scholarship. Even though this email didn’t make anyone immediately sign the pledge, we think it put the issue on a number of people’s radars and helped open up a conversation.