We’re back, and this time we actually backed things! This is a discussion about the Backers’ first assignment, to back a project from the Art category on Kickstarter. Brian and Chris grapple with the expectations they had before examining approximately 300 art campaigns and how that tracked with what they found once they dived in. We are introduced to the vibrant economy of enamel pins, naked money grabs, lost Michael Jackson heads, and an ode to Marcel Duchamp.

If you don’t wish to be spoiled as to which campaigns we backed, read no further! Otherwise, blaze on.

Second runner-up (and Brian’s first runner-up): Dinosaurs of the Wild West by Shaun Keenan.

First runner-up: RAW MATERIAL v.1 by Eliza Ivanova by Steven Morger.

Backed project: White Wanderer: A Climate Change Soundtrack by Luftwerk & NRDC.

First runner-up: Dinosaurs of the Wild West by Shaun Keenan.

Backed project: Solar System at a Date by Custom Generative Art.

Welcome to the pilot episode of Backers, a periodic podcast where we explore the most compelling campaigns in a random category on Kickstarter and each pick a campaign to back. I’m Brian Dupuis (@coldforged) and together with my cohost, Chris Rumpf (@rumpfy), we aim to inform and entertain… and hopefully back some cool things.

In this episode, we talk a bit about our intentions, define expectations and limits, and figure out what the heck we’re doing. Spoiler alert: we don’t actually back anything in this episode.

Please forgive the audio quality in this episode. We were still figuring out our tech and workflow and I had some serious crackle that made it into my recording. I tried hard to remove as much as possible, but much of it remains and is as annoying to me as I’m sure it is to you. Fear not, we worked it out for the second episode.

We talked about a whole lot in the episode. Here are some links you may find useful.

Our theme song, Podunk Stomp, was written and performed by Ian Dorsch (yes, the same Ian Dorsch who wrote the Zero Punctuation theme!) who comes up with the greatest riffs.