ePlaya

This is one of the projects I'm bringing to BM this year. Hope you like the concept. Plan is to have it deep playa enough to have the sunset and city come through the word. Should make for a cool photo.

By the way, if there are any artists (budding or otherwise) out there who'd like to help paint or decorate this then feel free to get in touch. I'll be in Reno shortly before BM cutting and prepping the wood so it can be painted there or in situ on the playa. We'll be building from the Friday before it opens.
The basic idea is that all the shapes are black and covered in the negative words you see in the video (although I'm not fussy about which words go where). But it might be cool to paint those words in more artistic ways or compliment them with some designs/pictures perhaps related to the words or the emotions they bring out. Essentially, I don't mind too much how they are painted as long as the words/designs have a negative connotation, with the only positive thing actually being the negative shape of "HOPE" to be found in the centre of it all.

Very cool indeed !

That is wonderful!

Thanks, guys.

I've always liked the "big word" installations (BELIEVE, EGO, MOM, etc) at BM but wanted to try something like that but different, utilising negative space and perspective. So what I like about this is that it's a puzzle without obviously being so as there will be no clue as to the purpose of it or the "sweet spot" where everything aligns. I've no doubt there will be many burners who just wander around it and walk away thinking "well that was a bit depressing!" without realising what it's about, only to spot a photo of it later and go "Ohhhhh..."

Nice - looks like a negative space version of the Perspectives (alphabet blocks) project in 2011. Each of the individual pieces is fun to encounter on its own, but when you happen to find yourself in the spot where it all comes together, it feels magical.

Yes, Trilo - that was another inspiration behind this. I wasn't there in 2011 but the blocks came to my town, London, so it was cool to see them all aligned as they were suspended in the air so the words they made were vertical.

Also an inspiration was our Channel 4 logo here in Britain:

We've got some experience with letters and may have some time over the summer to help. PM sent.

like

One question - one of the hardest bits of installing this is going to be getting the distances just so. Some of the measurements of distance are pretty big (like 20m, 60') although most a bit smaller. The Sketchup model kindly makes that stuff easier.

So the question is, does anyone have experience of using digital tape measures out on the playa? The people I know who've used them (all non-burners) are all a bit uncertain as to whether it would work well in the dust. I'm sure a dust storm would cause problems but do these devices work OK during relatively clear air?

100' tape on a reel is oh so easy. Start with the tape laid out on the ground, held down as needed. Mark off the post locations, lay out the main structural pieces at the right dimensions, and start building. Besides ease of use, the big advantage is that the entire team can use it. If you just have one guy with one digital device, makes it much harder to have multiple sub teams building and checking their own work.

You may want to reach out to the ARTery (if you haven't already done so), not only because the scattered nature of this piece has special placement considerations, but because they've got experience working with other artists who've done these kinds of installations in the past.

I've only got limited understanding of the process (I've never built anything spread-out before), the only people I know who've done something like this had to work on a much bigger scale than you could get on a measuring tape. They used software and math to calculate distances, and then did test runs of parts of the project at public parks and in parking lots to validate their math. Once they'd double-checked their work, they were able to put together a pretty accurate map that was used for their submission form, and then once on-site they used teams with radios to coordinate setup. Hope that helps!

I just caught the part about the 60' dimension. So since that must just be part of it, gives me a great excuse to ask...

HOW BIG IS IT?

Even the little walls for our theme camp frontage get drawn out with AutoCAD so we can get angles/distances preplanned. Makes it easy for our playified brains to lay out.

You can buy a measuring wheel. It's basically a wheel on the end of a pole that measures distances.

I am against it, it is to smart, hip and helpful for the world.

but if i can help let me know.

unit

lost track of time

Yes, thanks Trilo - already in touch with the Artery.

The video you see is Sketchup, so I have every single measurement I need and can easily calculate the distance from any point to any other point. I think the longest distance I need to measure (the centre piece of the "P") is about 95 feet away from the magic viewing spot where most of the measurements will be taken from.

I'll be making some VERY detailed diagrams and plans for the builders so they can see all the measurements they need. And ultimately we'll have someone in the magic viewing spot with a loud speaker going "Right a bit, left a bit" to ensure everything is correct because ultimately that's the thing that matters most - the human eye in the field. I've got no problems building all the diagrams out of sketchup - I built the big wooden playa maze in 2012 and that effectively had a 260 page IKEA-style document on how to build that so that builders could largely work on their own.

So really it's just a question about the best way to measure between 2 distances. Will certainly ask the Artery about any knowledge they have about digital measures because if they DO work then they're accurate and super-easy. It's just the good old dust factor. Failing that I guess we'll have to have something to lay out in a straight line that doesn't have (or much of) a "stretch" to it. If there is a 100 foot tape then that'll do it - now I know that product exists it'll be important to have a few as a backup plan anyway. e.g.
http://www.tizaro.com/product/HT21IB/st ... llow-black

Was just curious about the digital vs dust.

You're gonna need someone with a riding crop to direct your crew, interpreting the model/sketch/instructions for the hands-on folks.

*raises hand*

gaminwench wrote:You're gonna need someone with a riding crop to direct your crew, interpreting the model/sketch/instructions for the hands-on folks.

*raises hand*

Yep, that'll be me - and my wife!

But it's not going to be anything like as tricky as the maze which had a team of 50 over 4 days and about 10 times the materials, so the tricky bit should just be about measuring those distances.

Just google 100' reel tape. You will find them in stores that sell construction supplies or surveying equipment. This one was listed as coaching supplies, and was the cheapest one that showed up on a quick search ($26): I've owned a surveyor model for years. Gets used for camp and pyro layouts.

And make sure the ones you buy are the same dimensions as your layout. They come in either architect (feet-inches) or engineers (feet.decimal). Probably also metric around.

So here's a link to the video showing the finished art piece from various angles including the magic viewing point, plus a time-lapse of the build & crew