Vision

It's a chilly night out on the open playa.   You and your friends are on an adventure cruising along towards the Man .   You see a large group of people and hear the sounds of clunk, bang, crash, clunk, clunk, bang, klank; some abstract metallic drumming sound . The smell of wood fire fills your senses and takes you back to childhood memories, you smile and move on. Then, you see flames shooting out of the top of a large metal sculpture. There is one big flame, another, whoa another, wait there's five, no six big ol' flames. C'mon lets get over there!   You arrive at the undulating red hot sculpture.   All who are there are talking, playing, and warming themselves from the intense heat waves emitting from this creature of fire energy.   A group of fire performers light up and start their dance with the element.   A group of musicians are playing music.   A conversation is overheard of the building of this fire caldron. How two traveling artists came up with an idea to build a sculpture in six different cities, and how they shared the art of fire caldron building. Over 60 people worked on the six pieces of sculpture placed together in front of you as a symbol of unity.   It represents the nature of collaboration in the sub cultural art communities across the United States.

This will be the first interactive sculpture of its kind. A fully collaborative, group built, and cared for fire caldron. The sculpture is made up of six units built in six regions across the United States. The sculpture consists of six dynamic parts. The five somewhat similar outer sculptures will make up a pentagonal shape, the sixth is the central core. The outer sculptures will stand 12 feet tall, four feet wide, and five feet deep. The central section will be 18 feet tall and 4.5 ft wide. These sculptures can be repositioned and locked down creating different compositions during the week. This will result in a spectacular ever changing art piece during Burning Man. The space needed for the sculpture is a 100 ft circle.

The six sculptures will be assembled during workshops held in the following regional areas: New York, Georgia, Texas, California & Washington. The sculptural sections will be built in six workshops by 10-15 participants from local communities. These communities will in turn be the care takers of the sculptures at Burning Man and back in their community. Each community will take shared responsibility for the operation, tending, and clean up of the sculpture during Burning Man. This will create a central space ("synapse") where all of the participants from around the country will get to know each other as they tend the sculpture during its nightly firings. After the event, each regional group will be responsible for the return of their sculpture to their region. Post Burning Man 2005 the regional group can use this icon for their gatherings. The sculpture in the community will act as an iconic symbol of our sub cultural art community. The community retains and takes ownership of the sculpture from its creation in their community and on through the life of the sculpture.

 

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