As was the case with "Cargo Cult," the Burning Man 2014 art theme of "Caravansary" also resonated deeply with Eridu Society's ancient Sumerian roots, and the decision was made early on to revise and improve upon the Ziggurati 2013 installation and camp infrastructure (you can check out the renders here).
As with any camp or installation, you start with an empty piece of desert and bring everything you're going to need with you. After months of preparation, we arrived during 'build week' with a full truckload of materials, equipment, and supplies.
Despite some harsh weather and a slow start, within a couple days much of the camp infrastructure was complete, and it was time to start on the art.
Using work lights, we were able to get started in the cooler evening hours.
The new internal support pieces (which had been designed and virtually tested in Autodesk's AutoCAD and Maya) performed flawlessly. They not only made for a much more stable structure, but were easier to assemble. The new pieces (which were cut from OSB lumber) can be seen in some detail in the two shots below.
When it comes to designing and building for Burning Man, you need to prepare for everything. In addition to high winds and sometimes ferocious dust storms, this year we saw some fairly significant rain on Monday morning.
Fortunately, that is something I considered in the design. The generator is under a shade structure that protects it from the sun as well as rain, most power cables are run along the conduit at the top of the structure (and not along the ground), and most of the installation's components were treated with clear-coat to protect against the elements.
Following Monday morning's rain delay, the installation was completed and it looked stunning by day and night.
The wall displays were one of my favorite elements. Inspired by Walter Knapp's Cow Parade installation, I designed and cut the outliines of camels that were either standing or on flying carpets, and the cutouts were 'adopted' by friends and campmates who decorated them as they saw fit.
The displays were lit at night by a combination of warm white LED rope light and a powerful LED UV flood that provided extra energy and made fluorescent colors really pop.
Where the desert had been relatively empty when we started mid-way through 'build week' it was a bustling metropolis a week later. The shot below was taken from the top of the Ziggurat shortly after sunrise, and shows how filled in things had become.
To provide some sense of scale, the figure of 'the man' in the lower right portion of the shot below is more than half a mile away, and stood 105 feet tall.
All in all, an incredibly successful project! Despite some logistical challenges that delayed our start of the build, a few weather issues, and smaller-than-ideal crews we were able to get the camp and Ziggurat finished by opening day and the wall displays shortly after. We had a great week in an awesome neighborhood, and left without a trace.
Location: Black Rock City, Nevada
Year: 2014
Status: Completed
Year: 2014
Status: Completed
