Swami Hamsvarupa; Trikutvilas Press, India, 1903; Wellcome Library, London, Asian Collections

Update: The campaign is now live.

Consumers seem to be willing to help fund anything, whether it be a “Veronica Mars” movie or a Web site that covers murders in D.C.. How about a Smithsonian exhibition?

The Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery will launch a crowdfunding effort later this month to support “Yoga: The Art of Transformation,” an exhibition that explores the goals of the ancient activity.

“Together We’re One” will be launched on May 29 and run through July 1. More details about the campaign will be available on the exhibit’s Web site later this month.

This is not the Smithsonian’s first crowdfunding effort. The Hirshhorn Museum attempted it for an Ai Weiwei exhibition. But it’s the first one of this magnitude. Allison Peck, a spokeswoman for the Freer and Sackler galleries, told DCist the campaign’s goal is $125,000 in just over a month.

Peck said Sackler will get a PR assist from publications like Yoga Journal, as well as yoga studios and organizations, who are excited about the exhibition. The museum will also rely on “yoga messengers” to take the materials they will provide out into the community to spread the word, Peck said. They also plan a robust email, video and social media campaign.

According to Peck, Sackler will use the crowdfunding site Razoo, which, unlike Kickstarter, allows fundraisers to keep any money they make even if they don’t reach their goal.

Federal budget sequestration has forced the Smithsonian to close parts of its museums, including the Hirshhorn and National Museum of African Art. But as Peck explained, all exhibitions at the Sackler Gallery are funded by donors, grants and sponsors. The money needed to be raised, sequestration or not.

Want to know more about what you could be funding? From the press release:

The Art of Transformation, the world’s first exhibition about yoga’s visual history, will explore its diverse meanings from its early roots to its emergence on the global stage. 90 masterpieces of sculpture and painting, dating from the third to the 18th century, will illuminate yoga’s central tenets as well as its obscured histories.

Some 40 colonial and early modern photographs, books, and films will reveal how yogis became despised during the 19th century and how yoga was transformed in early 20th century India as a democratic practice open to all.

“The Art of Transformation” will open Oct. 19 and close in January 2014.