Kosmologym: Dirtball

Join plants, birds and others to play your way to healthier soil!

This campaign has ended, but you can still make donations by visiting this fundraiser's general support page.

Love Letter to Dirt

Dirtball is a re-imagined basketball court where humans, plants, animals, minerals and microorganisms can play together to nurture soil and increase its carbon sequestration.

New York, NY, US

$6,115 raised of $6,000 goal
30 donations
-1933013 minutes left

Fiscally Sponsored by Fractured Atlas

Upcoming Events & mini-update

Hoisting a fan backboard with green square into the maple tree while Sally and Hannah wedge Staten Island clay.

We're hard at work in our final week on the island. We're wedging Staten Island clay, cutting letters, pouring concrete and hanging the backboard in the hybrid sugar/black maple.

We'll send out a more complete update once we've washed our hands but wanted to invite you to join us this weekend for a Dirtball court preview and free soil testing with the Urban Soils Institute from 12-4. Afterwards join Project: Soils Virtual Resident Artist Simone Johnson, ecological engineer Paul Mankiewicz and soil scientist Donald Parizek for a porch chat from 4-6pm. More event info here.

Save the date for Dirtball's premiere on July 17th! We'll have more details in the next email.

We're on the Island!

On the Island

We arrived a few weeks ago and have been hard at work getting Dirtball installed. Upon arrival we discovered the vehicle ferry to the Island was in for repairs and getting materials to the Island was a bit difficult as a result. Luckily the ferry is back in service now and we’re making progress!

The new Dirtball court location, exposed dirt shows planned location for special concrete play surface. Mockup backboard in tree shows planned location. Image Description: A 14’ trimmed grass verge between a road and a sidewalk. A basketball backboard hangs in maple tree behind 3 dirt shapes cut into the grass.

For a few different reasons we have shifted our Dirtball court to a slightly different location. Our original plan had been to cut into the surface of a parking lot and sink the Dirtball court into this surface. We learned the Dirtball court might see regular heavy construction traffic in this location and recent upzoning of the area made us question our semi-permanent approach

(we had planned to install an in-ground basketball hoop with several thousand pounds of concrete).

As a result we have moved to the verge along the road between maple trees. Our Dirtball concrete surface will now connect the road and sidewalk as play surfaces. We’re currently designing and building a mobile basketball hoop that can be non-invasively fastened to a tree or post. You can see it’s planned location in the above photo

Pouring the concrete pad and securing the tower’s siding. Image Description: Image A: Two people pouring concrete from a mixer into a form at the base of the chimney swift tower Image B: A person on a ladder fastening siding to the side of the 12’ tower.

The Swift Tower

The swift tower now sits, soon to be surrounded by a garden, in the row of maple trees behind the play surface (you can just see the backboard mock-up in the tree behind us pouring concrete).

We’ve poured the concrete pad and the primary structure and siding are up. Next week we’ll wrap up painting and put on the tower’s final touches. We’re pretty sure we saw a chimney swift briefly last week but we’ve definitely been investigated by many birds including: killdeer, red-winged blackbirds, house sparrows, barn and tree swallows, robins and we even had a close up visit from two red tailed hawks.

Screening soil ahead of testing. Analysing soil with the pXRF device. Image Description: Image A: A 8” plastic bowl with a wire bottom separates roots, rocks, leaves etc from the soil sample. Image B: A hair dryer sizes soil testing gun with a phone sized screen uses X-ray Fluorescence to analyze soil samples.

Soil Testing

We also had a great day of soil testing with the Urban Soils Institute. USI holds a monthly soil testing event when folks can bring soil in for testing. While we knew the soil directly surrounding Swale House has quite high lead levels (from the house’s paint) we weren’t sure exactly what to expect on our site.

Testing of several locations around the Dirtball court and Swale Lab site revealed lead levels at the lower end of what is considered elevated and other common trace metals at expected levels with no other surprising results.

Steel face of the in progress mobile backboard Image Description: A fan shaped basketball backboard shape cut from steel plate in a metal shop.

What’s next?

This week we are in the studio building our mobile tree-hanging basketball system and on the Island working on the garden. In the second week of June we’ll be planting and installing the experimental play surface. More soon!

We've reached our fundraising goal!

Thanks to everyone's donations and support we've made it to our fundraising goal for Dirtball! We're incredibly excited to bring Dirtball to Governors Island! We'll be in touch with funders about rewards soon. If you haven't donated yet and have to have a DIRTBALL t-shirt or gamepoem postcards there's still a little over 24 hours left. Thanks for all your help!

Experimental Concrete Testing

The first Dirtball court was a playful experiment and a material prototype. We aren’t concrete engineers and our early research quickly revealed that little work has been done to make a concrete that might be worn away much faster than bedrock especially by feet and a basketball.

A view of the Dirtball Court at Franconia Sculpture Park a year after installation. Image Description: From behind the basketball hoop we see the concrete key. Closest to the hoop plants grow through the text cut into the concrete pavers. Farthest from the hoop the pavers have already begun to break down. We can see the purple martin hotel and garden key across the court.

It’s simple enough to make bad concrete. The ratio of cement, sand, gravel, water and air can be manipulated in many ways to make a weak mix but our goal is a particular Goldilocks of decaying concrete. The first Dirtball court tests six concrete formulas with the pavers closest to the hoop similar to a standard mix and the weakest mixes farthest from the hoop.

Our DIY Freeze/Thaw testing suite. Image Description= Outside with trees growing in a large lawn with a road and buildings behind. Two sidewalks intersect at an open concrete area. A table with a book, miniature concrete pavers and two special vitrines (one filled with pavers, the other empty). Beside the table is a solar dehydrator which has a tilted solar collecting area that leads to a birdhouse like cabinet. Finally a chest freeze with an unusual lid.

For the second Dirtball court on Governors Island we are running freeze/thaw tests on several formulas. The freeze/thaw test is used to simulate the effect of seasonal weather on concrete. We had initially hoped to do some testing in a freeze/thaw cabinet but the pandemic and other conditions interrupted these plans. As a result we have been developing a DIY freeze/thaw testing setup.

Image Description: A standard narrow, counter high, white chest freezer. Its lid replaced with a raw wood vitrine that holds two rows of miniature concrete pavers (each paver approximately the size of a deck of large playing cards)

A standard chest freezer brings our miniature concrete pavers down to approximately 22 degrees Fahrenheit. Special trays and vitrines hold the pavers.

A modified solar dehydrator. Imagine Description: If a Skee-ball court and a bird house had a baby. An inclined solar collector leads to a white cabinet with a green roof.

A solar dehydrator is used to warm the pavers.

Mixing an experimental concrete formula. Image Description: From above, small containers of dirt, cement, rock dust and biochar. A hand with a measuring spoon prepares to scoop biochar into a mixing container. A measuring cup full of water. A small form made from a Panda Puffs box awaits the concrete.

We are currently cycling several formulas through freeze/thaw testing. These formulas use various ratios of cement, sand, gravel, water and air as well as the addition of rock dust, biochar and soil. These tests will help us develop concretes that will decay but not too quickly for our Governors Island Dirtball court.

Match Donations for the next week!

Image description=Two players shoot free throws from the edges of the experimental concrete key. The text "1 week left to double your donations" floats above the backboard

A generous donor has agreed to match up to $2000 of donations! Can you help us make our goal and bring Dirtball to Governors Island this summer?

We built a Dirtball court at Franconia Sculpture Park in 2019 alt="3 people play basketball on a concrete free throw lane that has text carved into it. The concrete free throw lane is cut into a grass field, opposite it another lane holds a garden and a purple martin house. A small house holds two more basketballs."

What is Dirtball?This summer Kosmologym will work with the Urban Soils Institute and Swale House to build a Dirtball Court on Governors Island. Dirtball is our love letter to Earth. Dirtball is a reimagined basketball court that uses experimental concrete, a garden and a birdhouse to tie individual humans and their actions to the soil making process. As people play on the experimental concrete their movements wear away the surface and release minerals that enrich the surrounding soil and help plants draw carbon from the atmosphere.

Did you know that improving soil health could drastically reduce greenhouse gas levels?
In healthy soil plants pull more carbon out of the air and store it in the ground around their roots. To do this plants need access to minerals. Many human activities have caused erosion of minerals from soils. Some climate scientists believe that improving soil around the planet could even bring greenhouse gases back to pre-industrial levels.

The slowest part of soil formation is the physical weathering of bedrock (which adds and replenishes minerals to the soil). Dirtball’s experimental concrete is designed to decay. As humans play games on this experimental surface the pounding feet and bouncing ball slowly wear down the concrete. The same physical and weather related processes and flora & fauna that drive the centuries slow breakdown of bedrock will work alongside humans to release the court’s minerals into the soil at an accelerated pace.

The first Dirtball Court includes a prairie plant garden and a purple martin hotel. alt="Two people stare at rows of plants in the shape of a basketball free throw lane with a purple martin house in the place of of a backboard and hoop"

A chimney swift tower invites swifts to join in and draws attention to the vast web of non-human activity that goes into soil formation. As the swifts cavort and tumble in pursuit of their airborne meals they fertilize the soil. A garden carves a space for plants and smaller non-humans. As plant roots dig down and pull minerals to the surface they make homes for a variety of microorganisms.

The Dirtball court ties individual human actions to the centuries long process of soil formation. It frames non-human activity and the ecological issues faced by the surrounding landscape. Dirtball reveals the ground beneath our feet not as a static landscape but as an entity with a history and a web of potential futures intertwined with human actions.

Who is Kosmologym?

Kosmologym is an art and game collective. We make games that challenge players to consider their relationships with others, both human and more than human. Like Plant Race, a collaborative race at a plant’s pace:

Plant Race at Kosmologym: GYM alt="A man in a penny lies on a bench beneath a plant growing over a scaffolding, they are both bathed in grow lights. People cheer on bleachers behind them."

We also make games that place human bodies in direct relationships to complex systems. Like Long Dash, a dance challenge about a city’s response to climate change:

Long Dash: Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute alt'"4 people holding attached paddles turn in a circle"

We believe games can help us remember and find radical ways of seeing ourselves, others and the world.

How will we build Dirtball?

Concrete is usually composed of fairly local materials mixed with portland cement. Our experimental concretes will add pulverized bedrock, activated charcoal and other materials. alt="A closer view of the experimental concrete pavers, text is cut through them that reads: THE VIOLETS IN THE MOUNTAINS BREAK THE ROCKS"

The Concrete

Concrete is usually composed of sand, gravel, cement, water and air. Our experimental concrete uses different ratios of added materials: rock dust, biochar, and soil. Our first Dirtball court focused on material tests. The Governors Island Dirtball Court will allow us to test new formulas and in collaboration with USI monitor their effects on the surrounding soil.

Because of our ability to do increased testing the Governors Island Dirtball Court will consist of a collection of independent circular pads. This will allow us to test the soil around each experimental concrete pad and determine its rate of mineral release. The circular pads will be composed of pavers to increase surface area and drainage.

The Garden

The Garden will mirror the concrete pads and begin as a collection of circular interventions. We are finalizing the plantings now based on Governors Island’s vegetative history, human history, nitrogen fixing capacity and the other garden installations surrounding the court.

The Swift Tower

Chimney swifts were early adapters to the human industrial age. As forests were clearcut and the swifts' previous home of hollow trees dwindled they moved into the chimneys and smokestacks of human architecture. Dirtball’s swift tower will provide a roost and resting place for swifts and invite them to join us in play. The swifts’ adoption of human architecture also reminds us of the messy border between human and nature.

The hoop, concrete pads, gardens, and swift tower alt="Drawing of all the components of Dirtball with arrows pointing to the installation location on Governors Island"

How are we going to do this?

We will complete concrete testing, fabrication of concrete pad forms, backboard and components of the chimney swift tower in our studio over the next few months. In late April and May we will arrive at Governors Island to complete installation.

TIME FRAME

February: complete Phase 3 experimental concrete freeze/thaw testing; Finalize Garden Planting Plan, order seeds that need starting
March: Follow up Site visit; finalize installation details; Build forms for concrete pads; Fabricate chimney swift tower
April: Order any remaining materials; finalize install schedule based on COVID restrictions
May: Install basketball system; Cast pads on site; Install garden
June: Open to public (conditional on COVID restrictions)

Why this fundraiser?

Your donations will help us bring Dirtball to Governors Island. Beyond the raw materials, there are transport costs, labor costs, installation workshops (pandemic allowing), equipment rental and maintenance. We are passionate about Dirtball and the improvement of soil. We hope that you can help us build Dirtball on Governors Island not just for the surrounding soil but also to raise awareness of ways that urban soils can help fight climate change!

LOCATION

Governor’s Island: Governors Island is a 172-acre island in the heart of New York Harbor nestled between Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn waterfront

PARTNERS

Urban Soil Institute: NYC Urban Soils Institute (USI) works to advance the understanding and sustainable use of urban soils through research, education, conservation, restoration, and collaboration.

Swale House: Swale House & Lab supports the work of artists, writers, and ecologists who engage with urban land policy, agriculture, food, and water as a commons.

NEIGHBORS IN URBAN FARM

Dirtball will have some incredible neighbors on the island:

Earth Matter NY’s Compost Learning Center & Soil Start Farm

GrowNYC’s Teaching Garden

The Honeybee Conservancy & Island Bee Project’s Bee Sanctuary

Rewards

Fan

Donate $1.00 or more

Amount is fully tax-deductible.

Join the Dirtball fan club! We’ll put your name on Dirtball’s online project site. You’ll receive updates about Dirtball’s progress and early access to our workshop signups.

Commentator

Donate $25.00 or more

Amount over $6.00 is tax-deductible.

Send and receive a Love Letter to Dirt! We’ll send you and a person of your choosing a personalized Dirtball postcard that includes a dirt poem-game. Your name will appear on Dirtball’s online project site and you’ll receive updates about Dirtball’s progress and early access to our workshop signups.

Player

Donate $50.00 or more

Amount over $25.00 is tax-deductible.

Are you a dirtball? Wear your love for dirt with a Dirtball t-shirt! We'll also send you and a person of your choosing a Dirtball love letter. Your name will appear on Dirtball’s online project site and you’ll receive updates about Dirtball’s progress and early access to our workshop signups.

Coach

Donate $100.00 or more

Amount over $25.00 is tax-deductible.

For the serious dirt lover. Stay warm in a Dirtball sweatshirt! We'll also send you and a person of your choosing a Dirtball love letter. Your name will appear on Dirtball’s online project site and you’ll receive updates about Dirtball’s progress and early access to our workshop signups.

Sponsor

Donate $250.00 or more

Amount over $100.00 is tax-deductible.

Sponsor an experimental concrete! You’ll appear in the Dirtball sponsor circle on our onsite and online project map. We’ll send you a miniature test paver made of the formula you’re sponsoring in a miniature vitrine. We'll also send you and a person of your choosing a Dirtball love letter.

Backboard Benefactor

Donate $1,000.00 or more

Amount over $350.00 is tax-deductible.

Sponsor the Dirtball backboard! The backboard entices players into a new relationship with dirt. We’ll create an in-person or online game just for you, and we'll send you a t-shirt and you and a person of your choosing a Dirtball love letter.

Fully Claimed!

Swift Tower Sponsor

Sponsor the chimney swift tower! As we move towards renewable energy migrating swifts have less and less places to take their rare rests. Receive a project drawing, a special mention on our onsite/online project map and we'll send you and a person of your choosing a Dirtball love letter.

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