The 747

[Captain Goddammit]

All that buzz for two years about the biggest art car ever... Then they cut part of the fuselage off, truck it out there and set it on the ground. Even after it was announced it would just be stationary rather than mobile, it was still going to be more than just the upper forward section of the plane dumped on the ground.
Granted, it was more of a 747 than anyone else brought, but after all the claims...

[kittyrodriguez]

I, too, was a little disappointed. I agree that it certainly more than I brought, but I just thought it was going to be a little more special...

[VultureChow]

In our company, the motto is Under-promise, over-deliver.

Silicon Valley is the opposite.

[Ratty]

The section of plane was ho hum. The presentation was nice. Searched and required to check my emotional baggage, pick my destination and the swag was first class. (Heavy metal wings to wear.) In my opinion not worth the money they plan to spend over the next few years lugging pieces of it out there.

[winterdream28]

We went looking for it one afternoon... and rode right past it. For some reason out there in the wild dust... it seemed so small compared to other stuff.....

I still applaud the folks for having a dream and following through:) It is an achievement, but maybe let folks spray paint it or something make it interactive art:)

[Sham]

I got a pin.

There are rumors that the other sections of it are coming in the future. The existing section will be stored in the local area and new parts added next year. I'm not sure of the validity of it, but that's the word on the street.

[maladroit]

It is a difficult project, and it seems like the organizers have decided to close their eyes and go for it anyway...which is not always an admirable thing to do.

[Eric]

I was way too nice to it in my article - the most impressive thing was the fact they got it out there.
It was just down the street from the bar I was slinging drinks at, and it wasn't even a decent marker to find the road, which for a "large scale" piece at Burning Man is a huge fail. They have given the playa two years of "meh" in a row, they had better pull something amazing out of their asses next time or this will just go down in Burning history as an expensive waste of time.

[GreyCoyote]

This thread really helps to put the entire scale of Burningman into perspective. When you can bring a big chunk of a Boeing 747 into the desert as an art piece, and people kinda go "meh", its a seriously MONSTER event!

[Token]

Who cares about junk-yard cut-outs when you can stick your head up a goats ass.

[Major Krash]

Who cares about junk-yard cut-outs when you can stick your head up a goats ass.

loved this piece....and the surprise you got when you looked inside

[maladroit]

Was it a fully functional 747 cockpit simulator inside the goat's ass?

[mudpuppy000]

I think that might be the result of all the hype around the big art projects nowdays. If someone just did it in secret and plopped a part of a 747 on the playa that would be pretty cool. I was kind of underwhelmed by several of the big art projects this year after getting bombarded with concept art from their fundraisers.

[Ratty]

Case in point. The catacombs. I'm not sure it was ever completely finished. People kept climbing them even though the shingles flew off under their feet. The Catacomb watch crew had their hands full. Some asshats came early and STOLE the art off the shelves. They even took one of the BIG gongs. They swung from the veils so those had to be removed. The whole thing was up for a few days and burned.

The largest structure ever in deep playa and disrespected to death.

I was anxious to see the Last Apothecary so I went on Monday. NOTHING in there was attached to the shelves. I didn't go back because I had a feeling it would sour my memory of it. And it was fabulous!!

[mudpuppy000]

Case in point. The catacombs. I'm not sure it was ever completely finished. People kept climbing them even though the shingles flew off under their feet. The Catacomb watch crew had their hands full. Some asshats came early and STOLE the art off the shelves. They even took one of the BIG gongs. They swung from the veils so those had to be removed. The whole thing was up for a few days and burned.

The largest structure ever in deep playa and disrespected to death.

I was anxious to see the Last Apothecary so I went on Monday. NOTHING in there was attached to the shelves. I didn't go back because I had a feeling it would sour my memory of it. And it was fabulous!!

That sucks, I think I must've seen the catacombs shortly after it opened so it was in relatively good shape, even though you could tell it wasn't completely done.

I was really excited to see the space whale, but in reality it just looked like a giant lump of dusty steel to me, not some beautiful piece of stained glass.

[Dr Helix]

I think you may have seen the tipping point of the major "wow!" large art projects. The 747 was as expected; a lot of hype, but not much else. I swear I thought it looked like the Space Shuttle when I first saw it. Felt bad for the Catacombs team as they tried their hardest to finish, but it was just too much. Almost all the mega projects were late getting done, if they got done at all, including the Man, which never worked. The folks who had booths in the Plaza must have been pulling out their hair as they were delayed far beyond the normal start date. And based on a sampling of a couple of projects fundraising sites, there are major shortfalls on funding that someone is going to have to make up. So my guess is that you might see less of the big art and more modest projects on the playa next year.

[VultureChow]

Case in point. The catacombs. I'm not sure it was ever completely finished. People kept climbing them even though the shingles flew off under their feet. The Catacomb watch crew had their hands full. Some asshats came early and STOLE the art off the shelves. They even took one of the BIG gongs. They swung from the veils so those had to be removed. The whole thing was up for a few days and burned.

The largest structure ever in deep playa and disrespected to death.

I was anxious to see the Last Apothecary so I went on Monday. NOTHING in there was attached to the shelves. I didn't go back because I had a feeling it would sour my memory of it. And it was fabulous!!

I have a dream of a placed art piece that is meant to be scavenged. It starts off whole, but nothing but a last few bits are nailed down.

One day....

[Captain Goddammit]

Give it a few more years, and that'll be all of them!
I remember years ago when Honda generators were left right out on the playa powering lights for playa art installations. No one took them.
Those days are OVER!

[maladroit]

I've come up with a rule of thumb for art projects, after having been part of several and observing others.

If your art and build team doesn't have enough money to make the project, you also don't have enough people, project management skill, and ability to complete the project. Getting enough cash through fundraisers (which rarely happens) is still only solving a fraction of the problem.

The best art projects are fully internal. No external forces shaped the project, the team used its own resources and skills and therefore tackled a project they knew they could do.

The other rule of thumb is that your project will take four times longer than you think it will. So for these big art projects from small teams without enough money or people, they should be posting their fundraisers for 2017 art before the 2016 event. I guess it sort of turned out that way for the 747 regardless.

[cranberries]

I think you may have seen the tipping point of the major "wow!" large art projects. The 747 was as expected; a lot of hype, but not much else. I swear I thought it looked like the Space Shuttle when I first saw it. Felt bad for the Catacombs team as they tried their hardest to finish, but it was just too much. Almost all the mega projects were late getting done, if they got done at all, including the Man, which never worked. The folks who had booths in the Plaza must have been pulling out their hair as they were delayed far beyond the normal start date. And based on a sampling of a couple of projects fundraising sites, there are major shortfalls on funding that someone is going to have to make up. So my guess is that you might see less of the big art and more modest projects on the playa next year.

The lighthouses were beautiful, and done very close to on time, and received a major portion of funding through Kickstarter (disclosure: I contributed). If this is considered a modest project then I'm OK with that .

[fresh]

Who cares about junk-yard cut-outs when you can stick your head up a goats ass.

YES The Goat Truth. Got my writing chops going at some point back in the day,,,

http://journal.burningman.org/2002/08/b ... oat-truth/

[maladroit]

The lighthouses were beautiful, and done very close to on time, and received a major portion of funding through Kickstarter (disclosure: I contributed). If this is considered a modest project then I'm OK with that .

It's true the lighthouses were amazing and a true success story. However, it's surprising when a Kickstarter project succeeds...and unsurprising when it fails to live up to the concept. Exceptions do not invalidate the rule.

[Dr Helix]

I think you may have seen the tipping point of the major "wow!" large art projects. The 747 was as expected; a lot of hype, but not much else. I swear I thought it looked like the Space Shuttle when I first saw it. Felt bad for the Catacombs team as they tried their hardest to finish, but it was just too much. Almost all the mega projects were late getting done, if they got done at all, including the Man, which never worked. The folks who had booths in the Plaza must have been pulling out their hair as they were delayed far beyond the normal start date. And based on a sampling of a couple of projects fundraising sites, there are major shortfalls on funding that someone is going to have to make up. So my guess is that you might see less of the big art and more modest projects on the playa next year.

The lighthouses were beautiful, and done very close to on time, and received a major portion of funding through Kickstarter (disclosure: I contributed). If this is considered a modest project then I'm OK with that .

Actually that should have been noted. The Lighthouses were done and were my favorite big art piece! A big WELL DONE is in order!

[mudpuppy000]

Other than being still roped off on tuesday night (or whenever it was when I was out there) the lighthouses were really cool. Never made it back to check them out on the inside.

[Captain Goddammit]

I never went in the lighthouses because I wasn't willing to stand in a long line for it.
That might be the Disney-est thing that's happening to Burning Man: long lines for the cool stuff.

[AlakaLazlo]

Who cares about junk-yard cut-outs when you can stick your head up a goats ass.

Goat Rodeo! I never got a pic of that back in 2000 (2001?) Have tried to describe this to my wife for years. Thanks for posting the pic!!!

[Raoul]

That sucks, I think I must've seen the catacombs shortly after it opened so it was in relatively good shape, even though you could tell it wasn't completely done.

Having spent a few volunteer hours working on the Catacombs while out in SF on business, I was really pulling for them to be a huge success. I'm sure there were any number of factors that contributed to it not being completed, I've got to think that that trying to place huge, flat pieces of siding upright in high winds must've contributed to their woes. The earlier than usual burn didn't help either. But, I have to give them credit for eventually throwing in the towel and opening it up, unfinished so that folks could climb on it and go inside before what was actually quite a beautiful burn at Friday sunrise.

I was really excited to see the space whale, but in reality it just looked like a giant lump of dusty steel to me, not some beautiful piece of stained glass.

The photos of I've seen of the space whale since returning home are way more impressive than any of the first-hand views of it that I had. For a piece that large and that hyped, I expected it to be a landmark at 6:00 from at least as far out as between the Man and the Temple. But, after dark fell, it was barely noticeable even from the Man among all the art cars and other city lights. Maybe it was the hype; maybe it was because it was in front of Center Camp, but as much as I wanted to be wowed by it, I just wasn't. It was actually quite beautiful up close and may have been far more impressive if installed somewhere in the open playa near the octopus and the dolphins or somewhere like that, so maybe it was a victim of its prime placement.

[kittyrodriguez]

I saw the Catacombs both at night and during the day before the burn. I thought it was beautiful, and if things were missing or destroyed, I didn't notice. It was especially poignant at night, with all the candles lit up on the walls. I think they did a fabulous job. I did not contribute to their crowdfunding, and I did not see their conceptual art. Maybe that was why it was a nice surprise. Also, it burned beautifully. It was built to burn, and it was great. 2014s Embrace was a beautiful piece of art, but was not built with a burn in mind. It was a long and ungainly burn. The Catacombs was spectacular as a burn goes. Quick, precise, and very attractive. I'd personally say that this project was a resounding success, even if it wasn't completed on time. This year was "late man." It happens. If everything is late, then isn't it really on schedule?

[mudpuppy000]

I was really excited to see the space whale, but in reality it just looked like a giant lump of dusty steel to me, not some beautiful piece of stained glass.

The photos of I've seen of the space whale since returning home are way more impressive than any of the first-hand views of it that I had. For a piece that large and that hyped, I expected it to be a landmark at 6:00 from at least as far out as between the Man and the Temple. But, after dark fell, it was barely noticeable even from the Man among all the art cars and other city lights. Maybe it was the hype; maybe it was because it was in front of Center Camp, but as much as I wanted to be wowed by it, I just wasn't. It was actually quite beautiful up close and may have been far more impressive if installed somewhere in the open playa near the octopus and the dolphins or somewhere like that, so maybe it was a victim of its prime placement.

I think it would have looked a lot better out in deep playa. The best photos I've seen cropped out all the center camp mess so it really looked like you were swimming underwater with them in a sea of dust. I also wonder if it would have been better to skin them in a wire mesh like bliss dance vs trying to do the stained glass thing. Or cover it with something like that LED net out in deep playa.

[Dr Helix]

I never went in the lighthouses because I wasn't willing to stand in a long line for it.
That might be the Disney-est thing that's happening to Burning Man: long lines for the cool stuff.

What? You should have boated right up to it and claimed to be doing a Coast Guard Lighthouse inspection.