ArtWank! at the Edinburgh Fringe 2012

Performing Arts
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
FUNDED

ArtWank!

Vintage Porn. Modern Toss.
"A treasure-trove of preposterous fixations" Erotic Review

Radical joy and mass debate through porn and pop music! Yup!

ArtWank! exists to educate, entertain and enliven through the hidden history of erotic cinema, progressive comedy and cabaret performance. Rejecting body facism, alienation and mass-marketed sexual identity in favour of mass debate, sexuality as FUN and joyful gems of vintage erotica, ArtWank seeks neither to condemn nor condone pornography, but to explore it's purpose and potential publicly.

We have a unique archive of smutty movies from the 1890s to the 1970s and for the first time ever we have an original score, composed by Michael Roulston and Sarah-Louise Young for the world premiere of our all-killer-no-filler whistle-stop tour of the annuls of smut and the impact of pornography. Our campaign video was shot by the awesome Alex Sufit.

After 18 months of events, research, radio broadcasts, journalism, parties and experiments in London, Brighton and Edinburgh we are ready to take our fans and new audiences on the ride of their lives.

What we’re doing:

We are proud to be taking part in the Edinburgh Fringe this year, as part of PBH's Free Fringe, at the beautiful Voodoo Rooms, and we need your help to get there! Yes, it will be FREE to come and see this unique show. We want to be as accessible as possible, and, frankly, the Free Fringe offers us the only financially viable way to take part in the world's largest arts festival.

We will be giving 21 performances, one of which will have a British Sign Language Interpreter, with the intention of bringing our work to new audiences, to contributing to the growing cabaret scene in Edinburgh, and with the hope of attracting touring and production opportunities.

We will also be conducting several research sessions at the Fringe to give you the chance to give your views on the state of smut today, with the intention of writing a book combining our existing research, the stories of the sex industry professionals we have collaborated with and cutting-edge opinion and action.

 

What we need:

As well as commuting weekly between London and Weston-Super-Mare to run ArtWank, our production costs include:

Transport of our crew to and from Edinburgh
Accommodation and food
British Sign Language interpreter for August 16th production
Costumes and props (fruit, liquor, explosives)
Publicity printing, admin costs for registering with the Fringe
Original music and filming costs

We are not paying ourselves for this show (nor any of the hundreds of hours we have put in to ArtWank! over the past 18 months) but we are ready to expand, to grow and to promote ourselves as a company.

As part of the PBH Free Fringe we can put a collection bucket round at the end for audiences to contribute to our future work, and any money taken during the festival will be put towards buying our own projection equipment and our forthcoming week-long ArtWank! festival, taking place in London at Theatre Delicatessen, September 17th-23rd.

10% of our takings will be donated to Outsiders, the amazing charity working for the equal rights and recognition of people with disabilities.

 

How you can help:

First and foremost, please come and see the show in Edinburgh at the Voodoo Rooms. 8.25pm, August 3rd-12th, 14th-19th, 21-24th FREE! It's going to be great and we can't wait to meet you! 18+

Engage your most interesting friends in conversation about pornography and performance

Please consider contributing to our fund, be it a few quid or a life-changing lump sum, we are equally grateful for the support and enthusiasm! We've got some great gifts and goodies for our supporters :)

Tweet us!

Sign up for our mailing list!

Spread the word about this campaign- we're on a deadline :)

Cross your fingers and wish us luck!

Thanks so much for reading, and for your support.

With love,

Ophelia Bitz and Le Porn Ferret

www.artwank.co.uk

 

 

 

 

Gallery: 
Audio File: 
£2000 target celebration!
Posted: Friday, 20 July, 2012 - 14:07

Oh yes! We are flying along now my loves!

 

To celebrate; if/when we reach £2,000 we will be giving away an original artwork by the brilliant Sarah Beetson to one sponsor as an extra special thank you gift. (Please note the above picture is an example of Sarah's work, not the actual piece)

 

www.sarahbeetson.com

 

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

 

 

Thank you!
Posted: Tuesday, 17 July, 2012 - 14:07

Oh yes yes, thank you so much to those friends, fans and family who have donated to our dream. It means the world :)

 

Love,

Bitz and The Ferret x

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GBP £1,885
47% raised of our GBP £4,000 goal
This project ended on Sunday, Jul 29th - 20:22

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Feed Us For A Day!

£5.00 or more : Starving artists or ladies who lunch? It's up to you! If you can treat us to (packed) lunch whilst we're flyering on the streets of Auld Reekie then we'll add your name and picture (or avatar of your anonymous choosing!) to our dedicated Patrons' Hall Of Glory on the ArtWank website.

 

Perish(ables) At The Thought!

£10.00 or more : Each performance of ArtWank uses a certain amount of fruit, explosives and liquor that needs to be replenished; we're doing 21 performances in August PLUS all the guest spots we can get so it's going to be pricey! Spot us a tenner and that's one performance covered, thank you very kindly. If you invest in the ArtWank props department we'll add you to the Patrons’ Hall of Glory AND to the credits at the end of the show. Cheers!

 

Pressing Issues...

£25.00 or more : The best way to publicize our show is to get out there and press flyers and flattery into the sweaty palms of Fringe audiences. We're aiming to distribute 1500 flyers per week, 230 per day! A week's ration of print will cost us £25, which includes some nice posters to bribe shop-keepers to put up for us. Shout us £25 and we'll give you everything we've promised so far PLUS a saucy ArtWank poster, designed by the amazing Sarah Beetson and signed by Ophelia Bitz and Le Porn Ferret.

 

There's No Place Like Home!

£50.00 or more : Amidst the performances, research sessions, running around town, flyering, having melt-downs, drinking too much and gadding about we are hoping to get a few hours of sleep in the nice flat we've bagged for the duration. It at least will be somewhere to recover from the inevitable bout of Fringitis! £50 pays our rent for a day and in return gets you all the rewards. PLUS an invitation to ArtWank's 2nd Birthday Party! An exclusive cast, crew, supporters and bohemian weirdos PARTY in London this September. Cabaret performances, dirty movies, live music, DJs and all the intellectual perverts you could hope to meet, all in an amazing SECRET LOCATION in the fancy part of town.

 

You Can Reach Me By Railway...

£100.00 or more : A show is only as good as its crew so we're really hoping we can get the ArtWankers to Edinburgh in one piece. We hope to flirt our way in to First Class once we're on the train because they have free biscuits, but hunched in the luggage racks next to a slobbery dog will do. £100 gets one ArtWanker to Edinburgh and home again. Choo choo! Rewards are everything previously mentioned (PARTY! Woo woo!) PLUS a limited edition illustrated lyric sheet to a song from the show. It'll be lovingly hand-crayoned by Ophelia Bitz and Le Porn Ferret. Mostly boobs and willies probably, but we'll try and make it pretty.

 

Body Language

£250.00 or more : We want our show to be as inclusive and accessible as possible so we are booking a British Sign Language interpreter to accompany us on our August 16th performance. Because of the live music in the show we'll need to pay for the extra time it will take for them to perfect their timing and will cost £250. This is very important to us so if you can help out with this we will be incredibly grateful! You will receive all of the rewards listed previously PLUS Ophelia Bitz and Le Porn Ferret will cook and serve you dinner at your home (3 courses plus cocktails shaken in Bitz's cleavage for up to four people). Travel expenses outside of London will need to be covered separately.

 

Music Be The Food Of Love

£500.00 or more : We are absolutely delighted to be working with Sarah-Louise Young and Michael Roulston on the music for the show, and we want to give them something in recognition for their time and talent. They have composed three original songs for us and we are just thrilled with the results! Every artist works for the love of the project, but until overdrafts can be cleared with good feelings we need your cash! £500 will go a small way to expressing how grateful we are to Michael and Sarah for their inestimable contribution to the show. You will receive all of the rewards listed previously PLUS we'll provide an after-dinner private ArtWank show for as many friends as you want to invite to your living room. Any equipment hire costs will need to be covered separately.

 

Guilty By Association

£1,000.00 or more : Well now, if you're so inclined to be an angel and sport us a grand then you are here and now promoted to Associate Producer of the show and our bestest friend forever and ever! You'll be credited as an Associate Producer of the Edinburgh run on screen and in print, we'll give you all of the prizes listed previously PLUS you will have LIFE-TIME guestlist to all events and parties that ArtWank produces (and we've got some pretty tasty plans up our sleeve) for you and 5 friends. We'll also hand-illustrate a complete songbook and script from the show and hug you so hard that you POP! Thank you so much!