October 24: UPDATE COMING SOON

An article about the Emergency Response Studio recently appeared in the Los Angeles Times. Although the photographs accompanying the article no longer appear on the paper's website, an image by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Carolyn Cole appears on the "About the Artist" page.

July 30: Matt Petersen, President and CEO of Global Green USA, visited the Emergency Response Studio at Socrates Sculpture Park, and met with Villinski while on a brief trip to New York from Los Angeles. Last March, Petersen offered significant funding for the project, and his enthusiasm on viewing the ERS, at the midway point in its construction, was gratifying.

July 28: Work on the project has and is proceeding apace. The thirty-foot high aluminum mast for the wind generator is in place, and we are "flying" a small, home-built wind turbine constructed around a used treadmill motor. A 48V production "micro turbine" has been purchased at cost from Affordable Solar in Albuquerque, NM, (thanks, guys!) and will arrive shortly. The mast will be extended another five feet when this turbine is mounted, and it will be wired into the main "DC bus" to create a hybrid solar/wind system, charging 1300 lbs worth of batteries which will provide all the power for the trailer. A highly-engineered battery box was constructed below floor level. It is covered with a thick lucite panel which is flush with the floor, so one walks over the eight large batteries upon entering the trailer, and they will be visible underfoot. Architect Gregg Wagner was instrumental in engineering the battery box to support the enormous weight of the batteries, even as the trailer bumps down the road to New Orleans and beyond. Gregg also provided load calculations and design work for the recently completed nine-foot wide wall section which folds down to create a deck area. This deck is designed to support 1000 lbs, and the opening it creates in the side of the trailer radically changes the feeling of the formerly cramped space. Also completed is the re-skinning of a thirteen-foot section of the trailer with clear, twin-wall polycarbonate, allowing a great deal of sunlight into the space. Most of the design work for the ERS is complete, and the new interior walls have been framed-in. The front door and several windows have been relocated to relate to the new floor plan. Ananda Hartzell at groSolar has assisted with engineering and design of the 1.7KW photovoltaic system, and preparations for its installation are nearly complete. These include strengthening the roof of the trailer to carry the weight of the solar panels; adding 18 gauge sheet metal "hurricane bracing" to the walls to strengthen them; installing blocking and "unitstrut" rails to the roof to mount the racking system which will allow the six roof-mounted solar panels to tilt-up to face the sun; and the installation of a small wall to which the charge controller and voltage inverter will be mounted. Cabinetmaker Bob Mason has been hard at work, helping to fabricate all the recent modifications. Up next, Bob will fabricate the bed structure, which houses the fresh water tank, hot water heater, and water pump below it. Bob is designing a new compact kitchenette, and construction of this will begin shortly. Smith and Fong Co., manufacturers of the gorgeous "Plyboo" materials are donating these bamboo-based sheet materials for construction of the cabinets and various shelving. The unbelievably good, high-tech screws by GRK are being used exclusively for all fabrication, and they are going into the structure by the thousands! Check the "Images" page to see some of the recent modifications. More to come….

July 11: Our largest capital contribution to date was received from Adam Lewis through U.S. Biennial, Inc., in the amount of $15,000. The contribution will be enormously helpful, and, as with all the generous contributions, we will use it carefully and make every penny count.

June 20: The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation announced its support of the project with a generous $5000 capital grant. We are extremely grateful for their timely grant.

April 4: With a rented 1-ton pick-up truck, a 30' Gulfstream "Cavalier" trailer was towed from Smyrna, Delaware, to Socrates Sculpture Park, in Long Island City, NY. Socrates has accepted the project as a "work-in-progress" for their summer exhibition, Waste Not, Want Not, which runs May 4 through August 3, 2008. The show explores issues of recycling and adaptive re-use and transformation of the by-products of our culture's production and consumption. The ERS will be housed in the park while it is under construction. Although the exhibition closes on August 3rd, Socrates is very generously allowing the trailer to remain there until it is moved to NOLA for the Prospect.1 New Orleans exhibition in mid-October. In addition, Socrates is providing $5000 in much-needed funding for the project.

March 26: Evergreen Solar, a leading manufacturer of photo-voltaic panels and a vendor to groSolar, has agreed to donate nine large (180 - 190 watt) panels to the project. These panels represent one of the largest single line items in the budget for the project, and Evergreen's donation is a significant step forward. Hearty thanks to Jeff Wolfe for encouraging Evergreen's donation. Also at his request, Outback Power Systems is donating one of their high-end power inverters, a major component of the photovoltaic system.

March 21: Jeff Wolfe, CEO of groSolar met with Paul Villinski at their Vermont headquarters. The lengthy meeting detailed the project and the specifics of the photo-voltaic system, and included a tour of the groSolar facility and a hands-on look at solar components. Wolfe and his engineers are designing a sophisticated, robust, off-grid solar system that will provide adequate power and be a visual centerpiece of the ERS. groSolar is donating much of this costly system directly, and will send a system installer to New York to provide the installation.

March 16: A "well used" 2002 Gulf Stream Coach travel trailer was purchased on a General Accountability Office online auction, for $5015. The purchase of the trailer is funded in full by a contribution from the project's initial contributor, Pete Henig, CEO of Greenhouse Capital Partners. Although it was not described in the auction as a FEMA trailer, (it could not be released into the market if it were, due to the pending litigation over formaldehyde off-gassing,) it is indistinguishable from the 50,000 2005/2006 Gulf Stream trailers supplied as FEMA trailers

March 13: New Orleans gallerist Jonathan Ferrara and Paul Villinski met with Matt Petersen, President and CEO of Global Green USA, in Santa Monica, CA. Petersen generously committed his organization to provide $10,000 in much needed funding to the project. In addition, he will seek additional donations from Global Green's New York partners.

US Biennial released the list of artists participating in the Prospect .1 New Orleans biennial exhibition, which included mention of the Emergency Response Studio as one of the show's highlights. A listing can be found here: www.e-flux.com/shows/view/5211