The Story Portal, LLC © Copyright 2022. All Rights Reserved
“The Story Portal is my favorite art installation. Best art piece ever!”
– Cid Davenall
Our Story began from a simple seed of an idea in 2012. A few friends, all with backgrounds as professional facilitators, asked, “what if we facilitate personal storytelling by the spin of a wheel?” We had been spending many a late night discussing our shared belief that authentic storytelling was one of the most powerful tools to facilitate human connection and build community. We decided to test our theory.
Our first story wheel was nothing more than a bike rim and piece of round plywood with 20 story prompts written around it. Some of our first story topics included, ‘That’s Gross!’, ‘All In The Family’, ‘A Star Encounter’ and ‘An Epic Adventure’.
This first very primitive wheel was taken to small local festivals & parties for a few months. The reception was fantastic! We discovered a burning desire in people to authentically be heard and to deeply listen to others – and WOW, was it powerful!
Following this perfectly imperfect proof of concept, we pondered new designs that might make the experience even more engaging. While our piece of plywood served its purpose, we felt we needed to upgrade the aesthetic. We wanted an iconic look that people would visually remember as much as the emotional experience. It occurred to us, what wheel is more iconic than the Price Is Right Big Wheel! So we set out to build our first Story Portal Big Wheel.
This wheel was a stand-alone piece. It was designed to hold 20 topics, but with the ability to swap out each. We now had 40 topics to choose from. It had a physical clicker, a giant rubber arrow that hammered against wooden dowels as it passed each prompt. It roared, “CLACK, CLACK, CLACK”, with each hammering across a prompt. This wheel lasted one event, Burning Man 2012. It sadly succumbed to the “CLACK”, ultimately breaking after 5 days in the rugged Black Rock Desert. But, again, it was a HUGE SUCCESS! Our space had an endless stream of storytellers and listeners. Laughs, tears and everything in between, were shared among perfect strangers day and night.
Upon returning, the decision was made that a fuller production was calling us. The first Story Portal stage was born. In the fall 0f 2012 we began recruiting a team of skilled artisans to bring this installation further to life. We began building what we coined a “steampunk time machine”. This first stage was supported by a volunteer crew of some of the most talented artists, engineers and builders as well as a vast community of volunteers. All of these people dedicated their time simply for the love of the concept. Just shy of $20,000 was raised through donations to fund the entire build. This was truly a community driven project. This stage was with us, giving community the space to be heard and listen to each other, for over 5 years. It traveled to festivals, street fairs and conferences, engaging a wide array of people and different communities who craved a space to be heard. In 2018 we decommissioned this installation in order to make room for our next iteration.
And the story continues…
