The Space Between Cushions Collective, based in East Williamsburg, shifts the public art paradigm by creating sustainable, locally-grown couch forts. They take furniture relinquished by their owners and turn them into interactive pieces that literally change lives forever. Their upholstered installations have been seen everywhere from Flushing Avenue to several blocks south of Flushing Avenue, and have brought a sense of wonder and exploration to the previously bleak industrial landscape of the neighborhood, when not stolen or defaced by stray dogs.

Now, we want to bring our couch stylings to towns across America, and we need your help.

The Collective will travel from coast to coast, showing people how their drab, boring lives can be transformed just by rearranging their furniture. We find that when a couch is tilted against a wall and the cushions used as “doors” to enter it, the couch becomes a maze, a labyrinth, a treasure trove of discovery. It transforms from a mere piece of furniture into a world unto itself. Especially if it has a part that folds out into a bed, because those are awesome.

But the Collective doesn’t just build a fort and leave it there. For a small fee, we show passers-by how to discover these newly transformed spaces. How to look at the light trailing in through that tiny space between the couch’s arms and the floor. How to inhale the musty air escaping from the exposed padding and recognize it as the smell of freedom. And for a modest exit fee, we allow patrons to leave the fort and see the rest of their lives through new eyes.

Your funds will go toward the following details essential for our mission:

• Repairs to the Collective’s fixed-gear van, currently in need of a new alternator, muffler, and one of those iPhone chargers you can plug into the cigarette lighter.
• A custom mural painted on the side of the van by Britton Manship, one of Bushwick’s hottest airbrush artists. We’re thinking about a painting of a dolphin in Elvis Cotello glasses dunking a basketball, but we are open to suggestions.
• Development and beta testing of our new couch detecting app. When completed, this app will be able to pick up the presence of an abandoned sofa from a distance of 200 yards, provided the sofa has an embedded GPS chip.
• 13 dozen sleeves of vegan burritos.
• New safety equipment such as shin guards, helmets, shoulder pads, etc., to deal with the inherent dangers of manipulating couch placement, such as unexpected fall-overs, rug burn, and so on.

Those who contribute to our quest to liberate the nation from the normal, boring way of looking at couches will receive our gratitude, which should be thanks enough. However, we will also throw in a premium based on your donation.

$5: A thank-you postcard mailed from a genuine truck stop.

$10: A swatch of upholstery cut from an actual couch used during our tour.

$25: A couch fort named in your honor

$50: A couch fort given a filthy name in your honor

$100: Couch fort-naming privileges and a Polaroid of your couch fort, suitable for framing

$200: An exclusive MP3 of members of the Collective singing along to a Best Coast song of your choice, recorded inside the van

$500: A genuine bit of loose change found in one of the couches

$1,000: All previously mentioned premiums, plus you can pick us up from the airport if the van breaks down

The Collective is not exaggerating when it says that this will be the most important art project in American history–even more important than that guy who tried to make a seven-story-high tall-bike. Contribute now and be a part of the magic.

FUNDING STATUS:

3 Backers

$0.73 Pledged of $95,000 Goal

12 Days to Go