So, did that explosion break the world record, or not?
Did anybody else find it, while spectacular, a grotesque waste of resources?
Was it intended as you-are-implicated ironic critique?
Did it succeed in that goal, or, like Straship Troopers, did it partake of the very triumphalism it meant to undercut?
What do you think?
crude awakening fireball
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grahammcgrew
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I spoke with the guy who did the primary work on the rig himself. I almost felt sorry for him because he was a little bitter on Thursday night that he was about to destroy some of his life's work on one night. But at the same time, he understood the importance of it and gave me a nail from it to remember what it was all about.
Honestly, I think Crude Awakening did exactly what it intended to do. It blasted it's way into people's heads. Everyone in my camp was not only blown away by the visual stimulation of it, but also by the different messages that could be taken from it. The prevailing concept was how we almost worship those eye-sores that pump crude out of the ground. We are pretty much slaves to it.
But now I don't know if anyone else got the sudden creep feeling that I did when the blast occurred. When I saw the blast it suddenly made me think of Hiroshima and a nuclear detonation. I am starting to think that the real message was how our dependency on oil could lead to the next nuclear bomb being dropped as long as we have warlords willing to sacrifice everything they can for oil.
Honestly, I think Crude Awakening did exactly what it intended to do. It blasted it's way into people's heads. Everyone in my camp was not only blown away by the visual stimulation of it, but also by the different messages that could be taken from it. The prevailing concept was how we almost worship those eye-sores that pump crude out of the ground. We are pretty much slaves to it.
But now I don't know if anyone else got the sudden creep feeling that I did when the blast occurred. When I saw the blast it suddenly made me think of Hiroshima and a nuclear detonation. I am starting to think that the real message was how our dependency on oil could lead to the next nuclear bomb being dropped as long as we have warlords willing to sacrifice everything they can for oil.
It was insanely creepy and sublime to me as well. It really invoked the apocalyptic (reacurring) nightmares I get.gidget20 wrote:But now I don't know if anyone else got the sudden creep feeling that I did when the blast occurred. When I saw the blast it suddenly made me think of Hiroshima and a nuclear detonation. I am starting to think that the real message was how our dependency on oil could lead to the next nuclear bomb being dropped as long as we have warlords willing to sacrifice everything they can for oil.
Our truest life is in our dreams awake.
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Teo del Fuego
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I wonder if the artist who conceived of the Crude Awakening and the pyrotechnics could have even dreamed it would have turned out so incredible. The fact that the derrick was not lit, but left to top out of the smoke as a dim and errie giant was masterful, particularly at Burning Man where almost everyhting is lit up like a christmas tree.
The fireworks were the best I have ever seen anywehere anytime, and they told a narrative that was clearly based on America's intrusion into Iraq. The final fireball was an amazing coda to the majesty and brilliance of the preceeding pyrotechnics. Exactly as billed, it was a crude awakening to our petroleum-based century-long party that, face it, must end pretty soon, and in our life-time.
Art like that has ruined traditional art galleries for me. Ther best art in america, hands down, is on the playa.
The fireworks were the best I have ever seen anywehere anytime, and they told a narrative that was clearly based on America's intrusion into Iraq. The final fireball was an amazing coda to the majesty and brilliance of the preceeding pyrotechnics. Exactly as billed, it was a crude awakening to our petroleum-based century-long party that, face it, must end pretty soon, and in our life-time.
Art like that has ruined traditional art galleries for me. Ther best art in america, hands down, is on the playa.
Crude Awakening
I ended up watching the Crude Awakening performance from about 200 yards out, after roaming around in the interior crowd, and even trying a vantage point from the Sunrise Bar near the trash fence. After listening to all the buzz over previous days about the impending fireball, amplified by the expectations of the aborted plan for a Friday nite show, I was even more awed by the total spectacle of the thing, and I gotta hand it to the artists for what they gave to BRC.
From where I stood, the derrick loomed above the Playa and the crowds when the cheezy patriotic music wafted out from tinny loudspeakers like it was playing on an old 45. From a distance, the fireworks were wimpy, almost a parody of fireworks, kind of trying to squeeze and encase the overall scene into a too-small coccoon. The wild thing that I don't think the close up crowds could really appreciate was the thick black smoke that was released from seemingly everywhere, spreading horizontally and enveloping everything -- images of the miasma of the Kuwaiti oil field fires from the first Gulf war. As it spread across the Playa I thought it would totally obscure the whole deal. But no.
The base of the derrick caught fire, and the energy ramped up, cuz we all knew the Big Thing was comin sooon. The frenzy from the supplicants grew -- the close up crowds and the art carz and the party carz -- jittery silhouettes in the oily smoke, the orange glow of the tower an island above gloom. Not yet. Not yet. And then ... whooosh! The fireball erupted and climbed above everything, dwarfing the whole scene! Awesome! The fwooomp of the thing and the heat of it crunched into my chest, and I had a brief moment of panic that it would grow too big, and would do so much more than just give the front rows a bit of a sunburn. The shroom shape evoked all the terror and exhiliration of modern industrial violence. Then the fireball collapsed leaving its afterimages jumping across my vision and bouncing around inside my brain. I threw my voice into the howls of the City. AAAHHHOOOOOOO!!!!!
Oh, where wuz I? One last thing. The imagery and the scale of Crude Awakening may be the first art piece/performance that actually challenged the full scale of the Playa, except maybe for the City itself. What do you think?
KG
From where I stood, the derrick loomed above the Playa and the crowds when the cheezy patriotic music wafted out from tinny loudspeakers like it was playing on an old 45. From a distance, the fireworks were wimpy, almost a parody of fireworks, kind of trying to squeeze and encase the overall scene into a too-small coccoon. The wild thing that I don't think the close up crowds could really appreciate was the thick black smoke that was released from seemingly everywhere, spreading horizontally and enveloping everything -- images of the miasma of the Kuwaiti oil field fires from the first Gulf war. As it spread across the Playa I thought it would totally obscure the whole deal. But no.
The base of the derrick caught fire, and the energy ramped up, cuz we all knew the Big Thing was comin sooon. The frenzy from the supplicants grew -- the close up crowds and the art carz and the party carz -- jittery silhouettes in the oily smoke, the orange glow of the tower an island above gloom. Not yet. Not yet. And then ... whooosh! The fireball erupted and climbed above everything, dwarfing the whole scene! Awesome! The fwooomp of the thing and the heat of it crunched into my chest, and I had a brief moment of panic that it would grow too big, and would do so much more than just give the front rows a bit of a sunburn. The shroom shape evoked all the terror and exhiliration of modern industrial violence. Then the fireball collapsed leaving its afterimages jumping across my vision and bouncing around inside my brain. I threw my voice into the howls of the City. AAAHHHOOOOOOO!!!!!
Oh, where wuz I? One last thing. The imagery and the scale of Crude Awakening may be the first art piece/performance that actually challenged the full scale of the Playa, except maybe for the City itself. What do you think?
KG
Check out the cool TV Free Burning Man piece on the artists on CurrentTV.Teo del Fuego wrote:I wonder if the artist who conceived of the Crude Awakening and the pyrotechnics could have even dreamed it would have turned out so incredible.
http://www.current.tv/pods/tvfreeburningman/PD07009
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sbmotohead
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Re: crude awakening fireball
Want to see it again?grahammcgrew wrote:So, did that explosion break the world record, or not?
Did anybody else find it, while spectacular, a grotesque waste of resources?
Was it intended as you-are-implicated ironic critique?
Did it succeed in that goal, or, like Straship Troopers, did it partake of the very triumphalism it meant to undercut?
What do you think?
The rest of Crude Awakening's installation
Just a few folks were present for the brief time that the real culmination of this project was on the playa. A giant, live tree was being erected, which the figures were praying to in their transformed, post-oil-god state. It's unfortunate that factors and fates played into the removal of the tree before it was even up for a moment. I was involved with Crude in the early months, and early plans were for a gorgeous metal tree to rise up with the help of participants in place of the derrick. As is often the case with huge installations, some components end up unfinished or cut from the program. The metal tree was not to be, and the live tree was to stand instead. Maybe someone can do a cool photoshop collage that shows the project in its intended, final state, with the giant tree standing there on the playa. I can post a photo of the tree about to be erected on Sunday morning before some*one in pow*er stopped Dan and his crew. Kudos to Karen and Dan for an incredible conception and execution in the world's most difficult gallery.
Flow