It’s been three months since the last recipient received the GLOBALL Rover in Tokyo, Japan. I strongly feel like it’s still there but can’t be certain. I’ve written a dozen emails and have no other way to contact the new recipient. I also wrote the person who handed it off to him in February. The new recipient did write then, promising pictures on Feb 7 2019, but nothing since. The rules, of which there are few, state that the GLOBALL should be handed off within one month. None of the “passers”have done it in that time. It’s OK, people find it hard to find someone who wants to take on the responsibility. I don’t blame them, friends are sometimes hard to come by and responsible ones, harder still. I’ve also noticed that some people don’t have friends like other people. They might have one or two that they see a few times a year. All of this is allright, and I did ask for it, but I’ll also confess that waiting is difficult. GLOBALL is advanced citizenship but in making such high minded requests, I must remind myself that it will take all types to move a ball around the world and in the case of GLOBALL, none of us can do it alone.
How do YOU define friendship?
Seiko's Hand-Off To Her Friend Poses An Interesting Question.
How do you define friendship? Could it start online? What percentage of it needs to be in person versus online or through traditional forms of connection such as pen pals? One of the wishes I have for GLOBALL Rover is that is will touch on all different forms of connections and friendships. So far I gave the GLOBALL Rover to my friend of 30 years, Adam. He gave it to his wife Seiko. She is posed to hand it to her friend Masaki, who she first connected with on Twitter. These illustrate three different ideas of friendship. One goal of GLOBALL is to have people down the road see these kinds of connections and find parallels in their types of friendships with others' halfway around the world. Hopefully, this will create empathy with people who would normally never meet. Here are several of Seiko's answers. Read more here.
3. Who are you giving the GLOBALL Rover to and why?
I am planning to giving this Globall to my friend Masaki! Since she is one of our first friends in our network since we arrived in Tokyo! Why? cuz she is cool.
4. Tell us something about them or how you met.
I met her through Twitter. I really cherish this social network friendship. I have met lots of great people through social networks that I wouldn't be able to even get to know them without Twitter, (used to be Facebook, but no more FB for me though). And I've met these social network friends in person and they are great people as I imagined.
I met her for the first time when we went back to Japan for vacation in 2015. We set up a "social friend network meet up" thing and it was awesome. We went to a maid cafe in Akihabara and deepened our friendship.
Adam: Writer, Rider, GLOBALLer!
ADAM! The GLOBALL Rover's first recipient is a writer about film who now lives in Tokyo, Japan. Discover more of his work on Twitter @FilmEssaying. He's handing the Rover off this week! Check back soon to find out whom! #shareadventure #playtheworld #DIY#sociialmedia #voyage #journey #tokyo#japan #buckyball #connection #wood#worldtraveller #explorer
The GLOBALL Rover has LANDED in JAPAN!
Adam, the GLOBALL Rover's first recipient has moved to Japan. He arrived yesterday to live with his wife in Tokyo. There's an inside joke in this photo. Adam and I grew up near a local Ohio mini-mart called Lawson's. Somehow, Lawson went big in Japan and Adam wrote about it in this awesome article for Belt Magazine. Apparently he found one in Tokyo on his first day. What a surprise! Read this: http://beltmag.com/islands-lawsons-lost/
Adam with the GLOBALL Rover in Tokyo, Japan. 11/2/17
GLOBALL Rover has LAUNCHED!
GLOBALL Rover is the test run of an experimental art project who's goal is to unite people throughout the world. You can WATCH the first "hand-off" video below! Hopefully, this project will bring positive meaning to your daily feed! Please SHARE or tell someone special about GLOBALL Rover.
Above is my buddy Adam, who I've known for 30 years. We met in Berea, Ohio, USA in the late 1980's and have been friends ever since. Watch me hand off the GLOBALL Rover to him above, it's a hoot! Then look for his answers to some important GLOBALL questions soon!
GO WEST!
I’ve decided to take the plunge. It was a difficult decision. Last year, I did not get the money for GLOBALL as hoped. It was upsetting to say the least. I decided to take a few months off and regroup. In the interim, I did something I sorely needed to do: I moved. In my case, it was across the mainland to Los Angeles.
LA has been wonderful so far. I landed in a quiet, sweet apartment in Culver City. I think I needed to change locations to start the journey of changing my mind. Not changing my decisions, literally changing the way in which I think. The first result was knowing that I had to launch GLOBALL, in some capacity, into the world.
The first GLOBALL, called Rover, will launch this August. It’s a test run that will help me figure how to proceed with the plan of launching the first seven (one for each letter in GLOBALL, with wood sourced from all seven continents). Rover is a pioneer, an explorer. I hope you come along for it’s journey. Stay tuned for more information in the next month. I’m excited, I hope you are too.
UNITE! A'IGHT?
CALL TO ACTION! What jumps over walls, unites distant friends, creates meaningful connections and includes the whole world? Why it’s GLOBALL of course! Join the revolution of revolutions (orbit-style). PLEASE take a moment and make a generous donation to get this project rolling!
GLOBALL RECEIVES FISCAL SPONSORSHIP FROM NYFA!
“Dear Oliver Warden,
Congratulations! Your project GLOBALL has been accepted for Fiscal Sponsorship with New York Foundation for the Arts. We are excited to begin our relationship with you, provide technical assistance to support your project’s growth, and ultimately watch GLOBALL come to fruition.”
YEAH!! Now GLOBALL and the Mula Bula Ball can start to accept tax free donations through the NYFA. Whew!
Stay tuned, more to come after August 12th, the day I sign the contract with the NYFA.
GLOBALL PRESENTS THE MULA BULA BALL
HELLO FRIENDS! I would like to ANNOUNCE the launching of the Mula Bula Ball! As a real-world, analog fundraising device for Globall , the Mula Bula Ball will be sent around the United States and taken to public venues in the hopes of connecting with people like YOU. To see more, PLEASE watch this video and feel free to share! To make a donation, please go to www.wheresgloball.com. Chicago is first!
The traveling case if finally finished!! Whew. There was a lot of iterations to get it right.
The case itself is the Yamauchi family bowling ball bag. On the handle is a laser-engraved luggage tag made from red oak, complete with the GLOBALL logo on the one side and my address on the other. Inside there is a laser-engraved placard with the instructions on how to get it through customs and a few details about the ball itself and how it was made. The ball was too small to fit exactly into the metal brace, which is normally made for a larger bowling ball, so I added the blue tape to thicken up the cushions. Ta-da! Everything is GO!
A TOUGH YEAR
2015 was TOUGH. I heard it was tough for everyone. It was also tough on GLOBALL. I did get a lot done, A LOT. The first prototype ball, finished. The pitch packet, executed. The travel case, nearly done too. I got a template, several in fact, ready for the future GLOBALL website and got the website for my other artwork done as well. I also met some amazing people and even had a few truly mind blowing revelations. The “export” letter from the USDA, received. The prototype ball made it to San Fran and back, with only one stop by the TSA - and cleared. I even got a special gift of inspiration. But for every accomplishment, a set-back.
I didn’t meet with the gallery that I had been organizing a meeting with for over a year - they pulled out. I didn’t meet the patrons that I was hoping to. And I didn’t get the grant that GLOBALL was so perfectly suited for. In other words, I didn’t get the money to really start going into production. What to do next?
Keep at it. Get back to work. But this year I also promise to do something I sorely lacked in in 2015. I promise to keep you guys more in the loop. My friend from back home visited NYC and reminded me of something: the process is interesting. The steps along the journey help us all to understand what it takes to pull off something bigger than yourself. Those stories are the first stories of the connectivity of GLOBALL. They are the first network and they involve all of you.
See you more in 2016. This might just be the year we make a work of art the size of the world.
On the way back from San Francisco, the TSA at SFO stopped me to inspect the GLOBALL traveling case. I’m not sure why it was stopped and inspected, but the inspector said is was not because of it’s shape. They would not answer any more questions as to why it was flagged. I suspect it’s just a bit weird and not really that big of a deal, but it was interesting.
“Monetizing GLOBALL makes it worthless.”
“You don’t need pizza, you have ideas.”
Said to me on my lunch break after talking about GLOBALL at his father’s shop, Miya Shoji.
This land was made for you and me.
“The business of artists is to explode. Explode ideas, standards, notions, feelings. All in the spirit of expanding human consciousness.”
It took a year to make the first one. It will take much less to make the rest. Finally, with the spring, comes birth. Please hit the DONATE button below to help this globe trotting project take off!
““How big can we think?” ”
After just one week, I received this letter from the USDA stating that the GLOBALL is “ineligible” for certification. That’s a good thing! This means, because of the way it’s processed, it doesn’t have to be inspected and I don’t get charged. It can exit the US once without any problems!! Our government working for us!
“Art, by it’s nature, must be anti-market.”