Dear origami friends, About 16 days ago I started a crowdfunding campaign to support a museum of paperfolding that is developing in Uruguay (South America).
To learn more about this project, mission and vision, click here: www.origamihousecolonia.wordpress.com. If you wish to contribute, do it so by visiting its Indiegogo campaign at: igg.me/at/OHC A main component of the museum will be Folding Paper, an exhibition that toured the USA for four years and now will find a permanent home in Uruguay. I came to the US this week especially to pick up the models already stored not far from Washington DC. The plan is to take them down to Uruguay before the end of the month. Then, we’ll start working on the exhibition design and installation and we hope to open the museum by September. Some people have been asking if I am doing all this by myself. I should say the most unpleasant part (e.g. dealing with bureaucracy in Uruguay, paying fees, handling tons of paperwork, etc.) I do it myself. But the most creative part, which is designing the installation of the exhibition, I definitely need to be surrounded by creative people. And I can't be luckier. Grupo Signo is a team of Argentine museologists and architects who loved the idea of a museum of paperfolding in Uruguay and have been committed to it since the beginning, back in 2011, shortly after I purchased the house in Colonia. Grupo Signo was in charge of very important projects in recent years (such as the Argentine pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2015 and the Argentine pavilion at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Mexico) and the level of creativity they have demonstrated is outstanding. Grupo Signo's partners --Federico Fischbarg and Pia Villaronga-- will design the museum exhibition. The project also has received the support of Hernán Vilchez, a film director who created award-winning documentaries and has worked for Discovery channel. Hernán made the short video presentation for the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign (igg.me/at/OHC). Last week, origami artist Giang Dinh, offered a poster featuring the step folds for a clown, that he especially created for this campaign. You can find it among the perks, it's really beautiful. I hope many of you decided to contribute by choosing Giang’s poster at igg.me/at/OHC. Beth Johnson created a gorilla and its crease pattern. And Román Díaz gave the monkey face's photograms. All of them are being offered as rewards to help raise fund for the museum. And of course, I should mention Meher McArthur, the curator of Folding Paper, who had the idea of bringing the exhibition to Uruguay once the tour around the US was over. The following are the artists from Folding Paper who agreed to donate their artwork: Krystyna and Wojtek Burczyk, Joel Cooper, Brian Chan, Erik and Martin Demaine, Giang Dinh, Christine Edison, Shuki Kato (USA), Eric Gjerde, Miri Golan, Tran Trung Hieu, Tom Hull, Paul Jackson, Ruth Kitagawa, Daniel Kwan, Robert Lang, Linda Mihara, Bernie Peyton, Andrea Russo, Victoria Sedova, Heinz Strobl, Nicolas Terry, and Polly Verity. To all of them, my eternal gratitude! We still have a long way to go before this campaign ends. I can’t stress enough how much we need your contribution. If you are planning to make one soon, maybe now is the time for you. Remember that no amount is too small. It is up to you whether you wish to make a full donation or contribute selecting a perk (just check the crowdfunding wepage and follow the instructions: igg.me/at/OHC). Last but not least, please help us spread the word: tell 5-10 friends about the museum of paperfolding in Uruguay, one of the first of its kind in the world! Let them know, and ask them if they’ll contribute. Together we’ll make it! Thank you very much! Laura Rozenberg igg.me/at/OHC