Ephemerisle 2009
History: 2009 - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015 - 2016 - 2017 - 2018 - 2019 - 2020 - 2021 - 2022 - Overview
The first Ephemerisle was held on October 2-4th, and located just SE of where Disappointment Slough (which extends to Paradise Point Marina) meets the main channel, as seen on this Google Map.
The event was sponsored & run by The Seasteading Institute, with central platforms built by Chicken John Rinaldi and his hard-working crew, who built a work boat and crane for the operation. The goal was to promote the cultural concept of seasteading - the construction of autonomous floating nation-states in a hands-on and accessible way.
The event amassed 9 houseboats and a community*built platform anchored to the shore. A variety of art projects were funded by TSI. The event attracted media attention and was the subject of a documentary by Stanford Film Master's student Jason Sussberg.12345.
Perhaps most importantly, it was successful enough to lead to community interest and growth in future years.
Contents
Inspiration and planning
Patri's thoughts about creating a festival starting back in 2001 are still up on his website.
Among other things, it contains his comparison of Ephemerisle vs. Burning Man.
In 2001, Patri wasn't sure how much he liked the name, but thought "Ephemerisle will do for now".
Art Projects
Achievement Lounge
People who reached the end of the path to the Achievement Lounge got free beer. Then they had to try to get back.
Details at http://nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com/232720.html
Artist: Matt Bell
Apocaisle
Apocaisle was an impressively large two-story pirate boat.
Flowers
Floating flowers with nighttime lights.
Artist: Anja Ulfeldt
Floating Swing
The floating swing was one of the interactive toys.
Artist: Dav Yaginuma
Ripple Theater
The Ripple Theater used the ripples in the water as an analog ray-tracer to create trippy visual effects from a projector's image. People dancing on platforms nearby created ripples in time with the music, which then created synced visuals on the screen.
Details at http://nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com/232033.html
Here's Matt Bell's blog post on Ephemerisle 2009 with pictures of all the art projects that year: http://nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com/236560.html
Artist: Matt Bell
Turtle Boat
Artist: Unknown
Videos
- Ephemerisle 2009 Documentary - 08:32
- Ephemerisle 2009 - by Tamas Kalman
- I'm On A Boat spontaneous community dance moment
- We're on a Floating Thing - by Dav Yaginuma - Ephemerislers all dancing to "I'm On A Boat" song Sunday Morning. Love the line: I'm on a milk crate!
- Natalie's Video
- Brian Doherty on Ephemerisle vs.Seasteading (shot by Jason Sussberg)
- love the transition out of the mini-interview (minterview?)
- First test of Patri's Pirate Pyramid raft - by Sean Hastings. This raft capsized during Patri's journey to the site when he tried climbing to the top for a better view.
- Ephemerisle Saturday night - short clip of how the island looked Saturday night.
- Matt and Holly fighting with light sabers
- Saikat describing Ephemerisle Sunday morning
- "Drunk" guy crosses back from Achievement Lounge Ben Lavender - seastead.org's sysadmin!)
- Matt's Ripple Theater
Photos
- Aerial images
- Chris Rasch (257 pics)
- Kalman (186 pics)
- Liz Henry (136 pics)
- Anja Ulfeldt (89 pics)
- Matt Bell (54 pics)
- Ben Lavender (29 pics) - Ephemerisle & Conference
- Danger Ranger (23 pics)
- Sean Hastings (21 pics)
- Lasse Birk Olesen (38 pics) - Ephemerisle & Conference
- For 2+ years, Ephemerisle 2009 (picture taken Friday, before full combining of boats/platforms) was in the Google Maps satellite image for that location, it was lots of fun to show it to people in their Google Maps :). As of 2012, the image has been updated and Ephemerisle is no longer there.
Participant Reports
- Sean Lynch: Lessons learned at Ephemerisle, and the dairy ferry (about the rope ferry).
- Matt Bell: the Ephemerisle experience - *It was beautiful, sublime, chaotic, messy, and full of potential for future years.*, many pictures.
- ephemerisle, year 1 - a grand success!
- Matt Bell's list of Lessons learned
- Peter
- Chris Rasch - Thought dump following Ephemerisle ‘09
- Will Wilson -- his questions before attending Ephemerisle, and his thoughts afterwards.
- James Hogan
- Patri Friedman
- Describing a few tiny fragments of an incredible experience.
