Tag: Surprise!

Stick Me.

Description:

The Stick Me. sticker is for people to stick on each other, like playing tag. If stuck with a sticker, they have to come to the table to find out why. Once someone is ‘stuck’ and find out about signing on to the Open Covid Pledge as an individual they will ideally sign it, get a sticker that says ‘I stuck it to _______’ and fill in the blank and add to a poster to visually represent those that have signed the Open Covid Pledge. The last step is a selfie prop where they can fill the university or org they stuck it to and share on social media and tag the university and others to encourage them to sign on. They can take some ‘stick me for free’ stickers to put around different places to encourage people to go to the website and see what it’s all about.

Objective:

This could be for a physical action, a series of stickers and posters that encourage people to interact with each other. Great for a tabling event.

About this project
Creators:
  • Stacy Early

July, 2020

Image/graphic, Installation/Intervention, Print

United States, Memphis

Varies

Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

Download Original/High-Resolution File:

What worked?

Ideally the success of this would be people having fun, being included, and feeling like they have the power to make a difference by signing the pledge.

Other Notes:

This work had input from the Free the Vaccine for COVID-19 group in general, and C4AA for their inspirational how to get people to act videos!

Reflections from Stacy Early

What was the process/journey of creating this work?

This one took me a little bit to get to. I had tried another interactive piece, but was a bit too involved. After stepping back, watching the C4AA videos, this just kind of came to me. Being able to bounce ideas off others in the group helped, hearing what was needed and wanted allowed me to think more creatively, I wasn’t thinking about this just for me.

Interpretive Statement

User Instructions

Print it and use it! 

Make a version for social media.

Goodnight Stories for Rebel Scientists

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.

About this project
Creators:
  • Esther Barfoot
  • Kasia Horodynska
  • Vreer

July, 2020

Image/graphic

Netherlands, Amsterdam

2658 X 2658 pixels

Creative Commons BY

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.

A Bad Match

Description:

This poster references Tinder by using the word “match,” a flame symbol similar to the Tinder logo, and a pink/orange gradient similar to the Tinder colors.

Objective:

The objective is to get students to question the role of patents in the pandemic and to ask their university to sign the Open COVID Pledge.

About this project
Creators:
  • Navya Dasari

June, 2020

Image/graphic

United States, Phoenix

1728 x 2304 pixels

Creative Commons BY-NC

Download Original/High-Resolution File: PatentsandPandemicsRevised.png

What worked?

People familiar with Tinder were immediately able to get the reference and found it amusing! Hopefully, this means it can effectively catch students’ eyes on a university campus.

Other Notes:

Reflections from Navya Dasari

What was the process/journey of creating this work?

I created a draft, modified it using the feedback of other Free The Vaccine participants, and then submitted it for review by Avram Finkelstein. Using Avram’s feedback, I then revised the poster again. I also added a QR code created by Fiona Davey.

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 I had unlimited resources, I could imagine having giant posters installed all over university campuses. (We could modify the ask as needed, but continue using the concept of patents and public health/pandemics/coronavirus being a “bad match,” and continue using the pink/orange color scheme and flame symbol.)

Interpretive Statement

User Instructions

Print it and post it.

Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine

Cartoon – CureVac, Sign the Open COVID Pledge!

Objective:

Get CureVac to sign the Open COVID Pledge

The Project:

The cartoon targets CureVac (a German biotechnology company working on a COVID-19 vaccine) to sign the Open COVID Pledge. It depicts the problem of access to a COVID-19 vaccine and shows ShareVac (in place of CureVac) coming in as a superhero solving the problem of access with the Open COVID Pledge.

STRATEGIES:
TRY THIS:

Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine

Make a version for your target.

 

What worked?

The cartoon depicts the problem well and is able to grab the attention of the viewer with its oddness of animations, voiceover and music.

About this project
Creators:
  • Caitlin Berrigan
  • Christina Meyer
  • Daphne Lenz
  • Sina Wahby

June, 2020

Online/web thing, Video

Germany, Berlin

45 seconds

Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

Link to Original or High-Res file

Other Notes:

  • Original files can be provided for exhibition

Links:

Reflections from Katharina Wolfenstetter

What were some of the responses to this work?

People love it! Some people were confused at first, but the oddness of the cartoon has the power to draw people in.

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?

We would love to work on an English version of both cartoon and website. Additionally we would like to provide the cartoon as a template for other groups and other targets.

Push Uni. of Texas to Openly Share Their Research for COVID-19

Objective:

The objective behind the video was to raise awareness of UT’s role in the pandemic, to raise awareness of the petition, and to move university researchers to sign it.

The Project:

“Push the University of Texas to Openly Share Their Research for COVID-19” is the title of my video on YouTube. The video itself is a music parody of “What a Wonderful World It Would Be [if we freed the vaccine]”, targeting the University of Texas Pharmacy department and representatives from AskBio pharmaceuticals.

STRATEGIES:
TRY THIS:

Share it on social media. #FreeTheVaccine #PeoplesVaccine

Make a version for your target.

What worked?

The quality of the video and audio (and singing!) wasn’t too shabby. I was very limited to my equipment and space (and singing capabilities), but I managed to produce the video very simply in one day. It could have been even simpler and it still would have been effective. Making a music parody was not as hard as I initially imagined. So, having just made it, whether or not it got the response I desired, was still a success in itself.

About this project
Creators:

June, 2020

Video

United States, Austin

1920×1080

Public Domain

Link to Original or High-Res file

Other Notes:

According to UT, “researchers are racing to develop innovations in fields like virology, immunology, epidemiology and medical engineering to support the fight against COVID-19” (giving.utexas.edu/covid-research/). They have already developed and licensed an innovative vaccine delivery method to AskBio pharmaceutical (hnews.utexas.edu/2020/03/04/new-delivery-method-could-transform-vaccine-distribution-to-remote-developing-areas/).

I believe UT should pledge to make their intellectual property available free of charge for use in ending the COVID-19 pandemic and minimizing the impact of the disease! So instead of just posting online about our petition for UT students/staff/professors and other members of the Austin community to sign urging UT to join other heroic companies and universities in making the Open Covid Pledge (opencovidpledge.org)… I thought instead that I would try to make an eye-catching video with the hopes of gaining more traction on social media.

  • Original files can be provided for exhibition
  • The work can be reproduced on site with instructions (provided)

Reflections from Dannie Snyder

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?

I would love a team who could simply help me make social media posts on a regular basis, with targeting popular groups/individuals on social media who might be interested in sharing our video, and with taking other measures for making the video go viral. It would be cool to make the process of sharing the video more interactive, where students/staff/professors at UT in particular could be part of the fun and voice their own opinion rather than merely sharing/re-posting our video. It might mean remaking the video and getting students/staff/professors to lip-synch (see next reflection question).

If someone else were going to make/use/do something like this, what advice would you give them?

I had to unfortunately make this video on my own, but I believe it would be so much more effective if I had a team of people, videos showcasing different UT students/staff/professors lip-synching. For example, the #JoleneVaccineChallenge by another team with Free the Vaccine was very popular (they also made a parody using Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” song to target Vanderbilt University).

Gift Boxes for the Technical Transfer Office at the University of Texas

 

To target the Technical Transfer Office at the University of Texas, I decided to make a gift box. Representatives at the office were not responding to my emails or phone calls, so I decided to go with generous snail mail. The gift boxes I made included handmade masks with the Free the Vaccine logo on it and coffee cups with the University of Texas logo on them (except I changed their tagline from “What starts here changes the world” to “What starts here SAVES the world”. It also included beautiful flyer of the Open Covid Pledge, article from the World Health Organization advocating for the pledge, and an imaginary cover of TIME Magazine with UT Pharmacy’s faces (see images).

 
STRATEGIES:
TRY THIS:

Make a version for your target.

Objective:

The main objective was to get representatives from the Technical Transfer Office at the University of Texas to respond to me, so that we can start a discussion about the Open Covid Pledge, on how to pledge making their research for COVID-19 free / available to all and how to make their therapeutics for COVID-19 sustainably priced. My tactic was to take a generous approach, to show that the Austin community deeply cares about their researchers’ efforts in ending the pandemic.

About this project
Creators:

June, 2020

Fabric, Image/graphic

United States, Austin

N/A

Public Domain

Download Original/High-Resolution File: IMG_6365-3.09.19-PM.jpg



What worked?

This was one of my first attempts to “craftivism,” as inspired by Sarah Corbett.

Other Notes:

  • An original object can be provided for exhibition
  • Original files can be provided for exhibition
  • The work can be reproduced on site with instructions (provided)

Reflections from Dannie Snyder

What was the process/journey of creating this work?

As mentioned above, I watched Sarah Corbett’s TED Talk on “craftivism”. This really inspired me to make a gift box for my targets. I did not really personalize the crafts to the targets themselves, but will try this the next time. Meaning, I will do more research on the targets – their interests, hobbies, history, etc. – and incorporate these elements into the crafts.

What were some of the responses to this work?

Unfortunately, I still did not get a response from the Technical Transfer Office. I actually cannot even confirm if they received the packages. Hence why I am considering sending another gift box…

Will You Accept Our Dream?

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?”

STRATEGIES:
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:

May, 2020

Fabric, Wood

United States, San Diego

3x5x7″

Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

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.

Catching Mark’s Attention

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

Image/graphic

Canada, Montreal

variable

Public Domain

Other Notes:

  • Original files can be provided for exhibition

Reflections from Olivia Bonardi

Access Warrior Trading Cards

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.

STRATEGIES:
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:

May, 2020

Image/graphic, Print

United States, Los Angeles

2.5″x3.5″

Public Domain

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

Free the Vaccine Beaded Mask

Objective:

I made the mask as a conversation starter to bring discussion on the accessibility of a COVID vaccine into my day-to-day activities.

The Project:

An embroidered, beaded mask that says # Free the Vaccine in black thread, outlined with beads in green, yellow, and pink. The other side has a beaded syringe in black and blue beads.

STRATEGIES:
TRY THIS:

Make one.

What worked?

I think because the mask decorations are unconventional and sparkly, it has really grabbed attention and indeed started conversations about what the mask means.

About this project
Creators:
  • Fiona Davey

May, 2020

Fabric

United Kingdom, Cambridge

3″ x 9″

Public Domain

Download Original/High-Resolution File: WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-29-at-20.25.30.jpeg, WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-29-at-20.25.30-1.jpeg, WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-29-at-20.25.30-2.jpeg, WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-29-at-20.25.30-3.jpeg

Other Notes:

I love embroidering and this seemed like an interesting way to bring embroidery to my participation with Free the Vaccine.

  • An original object can be provided for exhibition
  • Original files can be provided for exhibition

Reflections from Fiona Davey