one-minute vacation
 
m (luminous constellations)

This page describes a theme-related art installation for Burning Man 2004.

Implementation details are at the bottom of the page.

Please write me with any questions or call me anytime at (415) 487-9439 (home), (415) 637-5347 (cell).

 

 

encountering the galaxy    

Far out on the playa, a field of subtly-colored lanterns is encounted. The lanterns are silent, suspended on bamboo poles at various hights. From afar they blend into the flickering lights of our carnival city, and the twinkling stars above. Up close the flicker of their small lights creates a gently wash of color on the playa.

The lights are spread seemingly at random over an area of perhaps forty feet in diameter. Seen from above, the installation would look something ike this:

Each lantern is mounted on a bamboo pole at a height varying from close to the ground to a maximum of 8'.

Each lantern and has six facets, many of which are covered with gels so that the light cast is colored.

The gently flicker light is not particularly bright; at night, it casts a soft colored aurora on the playa below it. On the deep playa, this is more than sufficient to create a place that is welcoming and alive. The lanterns are fixed on bamboo poles, apparently by rope... the overall feel is austere but natural, plain but warm, beautiful and quiet. The last two years, similar installations of ours were described as peaceful, serene, a refuge, and Hobbiton-like.

There is a clear ordering to the arrangement of lanterns in space. Circled on foot or on bikes, it becomes clear that the lanterns are almost all on arranged a plain at a gentle angle to the playa, on one end nearly touching it and 6'-8' on the other side, an angle of about 10-15 degrees. The density of lanterns is highest in the center of the group, and there lanters form a central mass, distending out from the implied plain.

On close examination, the lanterns are seen to create a five-armed spiral galaxy, mirroring those invisible above. The lanters are stars, providing an opportunity to float among a cozy, human-scaled galaxy.

 

<PICTURE COMING - RSI problems delayed>

 

   
inspiration for the piece    

One of my favorite aspects of the playa is how it strips space of its scale references. Illusions and mysteries of scale abound -- how far is it, anyway, to that sculpture? How big is that thing over there?

At night in particular, small point sources of light are very hard to fix in space. A bright light six feet away and thirty feet away look quite similar. Is that light a dropped glow stick, or a rave, or a whole installation I missed...?

My installations that past few years have played more conceptula games with this aspect of the space. This year I considered a satisfactory final cerebral extension of the themes of the past few years, but I decided ultimately that the aspect most important to me right now is the creation of a welcoming, safe space.

As a result, while I intend as in past years to inject a careful ordering of the lamps' placement to create an effect as described below, the primary goal this year is simply to create a recognizable celestial object, a galaxy, on an inviting and welcoming scale. I would like the materials and form to speak for themselves and to acknowledge the wonders of the universe, rather than concentrating on a more intellectual game that dilutes the actual experience of place (as I had originally conceived).

Nonetheless, I look forward to imbedding in the galaxy at least one recognizable form, picked out in color, as described below; perhaps the clear figure of Orion, lying on his side; or perhaps, simply a red circle, as with my pieces the last two years, that inscribe a figure around the distant Man when viewed from the correct perspective.

Regardless of what figure I intentionally embed in the lantern arrangement, the real point and joy of encountering the piece will be the visceral experience of moving around a three-dimensional array of lanterns and seeing that as they shift in relation to one another, constellations are made and dissolve -- a reminder that our view on the universe above is a result of our relative stasis, not grand design.

I hope that my piece will reveal its own 'milky way' banding of dense light, but we'll have to see on the playa.

I describe the principal of constellation that will be used to embed intentional and unintentional figures below.

 

   
principles of constellations    

Coherence -- regularity, alignment, color -- forces the viewer to perceive the lights as a group, even though they are scattered in space. Humans are very good at detecting patterns and regularity.

Consider the situation of the viewer below:

 

The yellow circles show where objects (lanterns) are really placed, at varying distances from the viewer, at various heights..

From our perspective, looking from the side, they're all over the place, a random distribution.

But to the viewer on the left, the lights line up in a neat line. It's easy to see how the viewer will group them, unconciously, if they're neatly spaced -- even if that neatness is an "accident' of a specific perspective, a trick of lines of sight, at a unique viewpoint.

The key is that at one viewpoint, s/he doesn't care that some of the lights are closer than others. We could slide the lights closer or farther to the viewer, anywhere along the dotted line axes, without upsetting the perceived line.

Another example of this principal is how how constellations work:

Whatever constellation I embed in the 'galaxy' I build, will be constructed on just these principals: it will only be visible from one specific perspective.

   

PRIOR ART: Burning Man 2002: sign of light

   

These ideas were all realized last year in my installation for the deep playa, Sign of Light, which you can see here:


photography by Fritz Hoddick

The 'secret shape' in this piece, installed in 2002, was not a letter precisely, but the Japanese symbol enso, a slightly open or disjoint circle which often appears in Zen calligraphy.

Though you can't see it perfectly in this picture, but the circle appeared only from a unique perspective, from a unique place. If you sat in the right spot, with the installation between you and the Man, the lanterns would form the circle-symbol Enso around him.

There were hints that this was the case -- even a casual observer would notice that all the red facets faced in one direction; but it took a little effort to find the true, precise ordering. Much of my artwork in all mediums relies on active attention, a s small effort: in other words, participation.

 

 

 

 
PRIOR ART: Burning Man 2003: insightment    

For last year's piece, the installation was very similar, but bigger. Instead of 23 lanterns it used about 55.

As described above, 2002's Sign of Light contained only a single 'hidden character.'

Last year's Prayer Wheel has five juxtaposed symbols to be seen. Each one can only be see n from a unique, seperate location, as shown below.

Let's look again at the pattern of lights introduced at the top of this page, but with a new understanding:

From each of five special points of view (the graphic shows six, but I'm too tired to remake it!), the lantern facets of a specific color pick out one of five characters. One letter, one color, one unique viewpoint.

To see the entire message, the participant-viewer had to walk around the entire piece. As each vantage point is approached, a particular color of lantern-facet will begin to predominate. It's much easier to see how compelling this is than to describe it -- but as you bike/walk around the piece, it will be clear that there is something going on, that the arrangement of color is not accidental.

It will still take a little patience to find the 'right' spots to read each letter/character however.

   

The message I decided on is:

LET GO

As in 2002, the circular red O appeared to encircle the Man.

As described above, each letter appeared from only one position. All of the lantern-facets done in a particular color faced in only direction, and as part of a single level.

The message was as short a mantra as I could realize which resonated as completely true to my intent.

(Originally I thought about using Tibetan characters and the common mantra, Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum (hence the six-sized shape above), but I decided that most people would not be familiar enough with the Tibetan characters in the mantra to see them, especially if they were crudely realized.)

Here's a picture of the final installation:


photography by Fritz Hoddick

 

   
implementation details for 2004    
lanterns    

In 2004 the piece will consist of about 55-65 lanterns (about $6, from Ikea!). Lanterns are about 14" high, light metal (aluminum perhaps) and glass. Lanterns contain an interior fixed well for inserting a tea candle or oil catridge, and a door that opens and latches firmly shut.

In our design each lantern contains a rigid interior wind screen made of a plastic tube, which in turn surrounds a small unbreakable votive-candle sized oil "cartridge" lamp, the Hollowick HD8 tea candle replacement which burns for 8 hours.

Each cartridge is secured in the lantern inside its "wind shield," a plexigass slit tube which affords great wind protection, in 2003 lamps remained unphazed in gusting 30+ MPH winds. The tubes offer the additional benefit that they prevent the cartridges from unseating inside the lanterns.

The lanterns have six facets, each of which is covered with a colored professional lighting gel, affixed to the inside.

 

   
mounting    

Each lantern is mounted on a bamboo pole, which in turn is secured to a minimum 2' length of rebar, most of which is anchored in the playa. In past years we've sunk all rebar at least 18" and had no problems with poles falling over, or even swaying more than a few inches, even in very strong winds.

Bamboo is affixed to rebar with multiple lashings of rope.

Lanterns are affixed to poles via a convenient combination of wire, bolts and washers, and rope. The lanterns happen to have 3 holes in the bottom, through which long bolts can be anchored firmly; these in turn 'grasp' the top of the bamboo on three sides like pincers. The resulting structure can be made very immobile using 8' of rope and if necessary a little armature wire or similar.

The only lamps that have had problems have been the ones stolen; no lamp has come undone, tilted, become insecure, etc. from the elements.

   
fire issues and other impacts    

The self-contained oil cartridges we use instead of re-filling small glass oil lamps are unbreakable plastic. To date we have had not a single cartridge break, melt, deform, leak, etc. They are made by a restraunt supply company called Hollowick, we use the model HD8 catridge which burns for 8 hours or so.

Experience last year shows that the microscopic wicks included with the cartridges produce a 1/4" or smaller flame, similar but slightly smaller to that produced by a tea candle.

Oil lamps will be lit each dusk and when necessary blown out each dawn to preserve lamp oil.

An advantage of using self-contained, disposable plastic oil lamp cartridges is that no bulk or loose fuel must be kept and protected. Oil cartridges are each self contained and are stored in original box housing (300 count per box, totally perhaps 2-3 gallons of fuel maximum). Fuel is NOT inflammable; catridges are capped and no vapors emitted or fuel evaporated until installed.

As in past years, all fuel (two boxes totally 600 catrridges or fewer) will be kept isolated, in cool dry shade, away from other camp supplies of flammables.

Two fire extinguishers will be maintained in camp, where the lamp cartridges are stored, and one taken to the installation sight when catridges are transported.

Potential for firescars on the play is extemely small; catridges only burn inside plexiglass tubes inside glass/metal lanterns which are rigorously affixed to bamboo.

Experience with bamboo burning in early burns (mid-90's on Larnie Fox's various exploits) is that bamboo is VERY hard to ignite, even when dry and cracked; there is effectively no chance that a bamboo pole could ignite even if an oil cartridge ruptured and all fuel was consumed inside a lantern at once. Howver, if this worst case scenario occurs, we will seek advice and support from BMorg personel onsite to insure the playa is properly treated and restored.

The only impact of the installation on the playa should be 50-60 max rebar holes to a max of 24" depth, which will be restored by hand with loose playa.

Experience from past years is that assuming no vandalism (ie breaking glass of the lanterns, which has not yet happend), this installation is MOOP free.