The story behind the sculpture/installation that I built for Burning Man appears below.
This page last updated 22 April 2002
Participation in the Burning Man festival means just that. Passive attendance for just observing is discouraged. So I had to figure out what I would bring to the festival. At some point I decided to build a catapult, as much of Burning Man involves active devices, especially those that burn, explode or do things not normally encountered in everyday society. After all a tenent of Burning Man is "radical self-expression."
As I researched catapults on the internet, I rapidly became aware of trebuchets, which are a combination of a catapult and a sling. These have been seen on TV in Northern Exposure tossing burning pianos, I was later to learn. My goal then became one of building a large trebuchet capable of tossing table top TVs to their well-deserved destruction. The destruction of TVs -- symbolic of detroying what is onerous and shallow about this medium -- became the statement I planned to make at Burning Man.
The building of my trebuchet did not begin in earnest until June just a few months before the late August schedule for Burning Man's week-long event. I soon came to the realization that to construct the trebuchet the way it should be, the way I wanted it, the cost would exceed $2,000. The only way that I could justify that level of expense was to make the trebuchet not only a functional item, but also an art piece. So, I pondered the matter for a few days, came up with a sculptural facade for the trebuchet and built a proof-of-concept model. I decided then to name the work "The Enigma of Time" which is consistent with the design and the theme of the 1999 Burning Man, i.e., The Wheel of Time. From that point on Enigma became the end and the trebuchet the means to that end.
By the time I left for my trip to Turkey in early August, the trebuchet itself was finished, that is assembled completely and partially tested. The thing was too huge to test in my backyard. As a matter of fact, I could barely construct it in my California back yard. Moreover, its unlikely that my neighbors would have appreciated me heaving TV sized objects around, even if I could have.
Unfortunately, at that point in time the sculpture work had barely begun. The Turkey trip put a major dent in the time available to do the sculpture part of Enigma. I actually came back from Turkey five days early and dedicated the time to working on Enigma. Despite this, I cut the last piece of wood for the Enigma facade only an hour before I left for Burning Man with a truck load of Enigma materials.
We (my son, me and some of his friends) arrived at the desert site of Burning Man at 4 PM on August 30th. The day was clear but cool with temperatures in the 60s. The wind was blowing hard. The dry lake bed desert was a swirling dust bowl. That night wind gusts of 75+ mph were recorded in the area.
Despite the late arrival and after unloading the materials for my son and his group's project, I headed out to set up my tent and begin re-assembling my trebuchet. Setting up a new tent I had never used before in strong gusting winds and all alone was a long, cold and frustrating experience. It set the tone for the week.
None-the-less, before dark I had the tent up and moved to the construction site to unload the truck and begin the trebuchet re-assembly. I worked until 11 PM by lantern light in a cold wind. That night the temperature got down to the high 30s. I had not expected the cold and had a miserable night. This only added to the fatigue that had been building from several weeks of long stressful hours of physical labor.
Tuesday morning I was up at 7 AM and out working on the trebuchet. Fatigue continued to eat at me as I slaved at the assembly which involved screwing in over fifty 8-inch long lag screws plus nearly as many other shorter ones. When I arrived the day before there were questions as to whether I intended to burn my installation. No, I said and believed. The thing had cost me over $3000 plus nearly $1000 to rent a truck to get it up there. Yet, as I worked and the effort sapped everything within me I increasingly knew that I would burn it, $4000 or not. With every screw I laboriously worked in, I knew I would relish seeing it go up in flames. Cold winds... hot sun... pain... fatigue... angst... screw... screw... screw... Yes, it will burn. Yes!!!
I finally finished assembling it that night and quit working around 9 PM.
Wednesday I was up early and out testing the trebuchet with some preliminary object throwing. I soon found out that it took me 45 minutes of hard effort to cock it. (The trebuchet had a 1500 pound counterweight that had to be elevated about 15 feet to fire it.) After four mediocre tests and at about noon, I decided that too many people were starting to hang around and I was satisfied that the trebuchet would work. At that point, I began to dedicate myself to putting on the sculptural facade. I had no idea of what I was in for at that point.
Imagine trying to apply paper mache and aluminum foil to a surface, many hard to reach, in the open desert with nearly constant winds gusting at 15-25 mph. And there was a lot of surface to cover. I soon began to realize that I was going to be pressed hard to get this thing done before they burned the Man on Saturday night, that being the culminating event of Burning Man. I worked until 10 PM Wednesday night.
Thursday morning I headed out from my camp to the trebuchet site nearly a mile away. As I made my way there I worried, as I had all night, about getting the sculpture finished so that I could fire the trebuchet. Most of the pressure stemmed from that fact that all day Tuesday and Wednesday people had come by and asked me what I was building. When I told them a trebuchet a la sculpture and after explaining what a trebuchet was, their first question was usually, "Are you going to throw fireballs?" With increasing mental grimaces I answered no. Then they would ask what I was going to throw and when. A lot of people asked how the trebuchet worked. A lot of people wanted to see the thing operate. What I wanted was to complete the sculpture.
So I arrived at the trebuchet site Thursday morning full of trepidation about the task and choices ahead of me. I immediately saw that something was amiss. A trashed TV lay several yards down range from the trebuchet. Clearly, someone had fired the trebuchet the night before after I had left. Upon examination, I saw that they had dinged up part of the foil facade I had applied the night before. Moreover, they had torn the sling making it unusable without major repairs.. This event became a blessing in disguise. Now I could concentrate on the sculpture and plead inability to fire the trebuchet because of the damage to it. This I did.
So, I worked and worked on the facade. Thursday and Friday night I worked until well after dark. Each morning I was up with first sun and out working. Each day I had to explain to people that I wouldn't likely be able to fire the trebuchet because I had to repair the sling, but before I could do that I had to complete the sculpture. No one understood. They all felt badly for me that I wouldn't be able to fire it. No one seem to understand my desire to complete the sculpture.
At 2:30 PM Saturday afternoon, I finished it. All alone, under extraordinarily difficult conditions I had completed a huge sculptural piece. For five days I had barely eaten, I hadn't washed or shaved, I had slept little and poorly due to the music that played all night. I had neither socialized nor looked around at all. I was a wreck... but it was done and it was as impressive as I had hoped!
So I was finally able to go to my tent, clean up, relax and look around Burning Man. Of course, first I had to get pictures of Enigma for my portfolio. I took nearly fifty pictures of it from various angles and at various times of the remaining daylight.
Nothing had changed my mind about burning Enigma. So at 10 PM Saturday night, not eight hours after I had finished it and less than an hour after the Man had burned, I gladly set Enigma aflame. It burned beautifully and furiously! I stayed with it until 3 AM watching its death and ensuring that nothing would be left the next morning but ashes and metal. Indeed, after a few hours of sleep I cleaned up six bags of ashes and two boxes of screws and miscellaneous metal fixtures.
I left the desert lake bed of Burning Man 1999 at 4:45 PM that Sunday afternoon. Along with over 10,000 others, I waited for over two hours in a line of cars to leave along the narrow, one lane, pot-holed dirt road. Dead-tired from days of work and only four hours of sleep the night before, I swore I would never, never do Burning Man again. I swore it over and over again.
Yet.. a few days later... I began to realize what a magnificent thing I had experienced. Through incredible will, effort and discomfort, I had personally created -- yes, given birth to -- something unique in time and space. It was an accomplishment few people could or would do. The memories of that achievement will live happily with me forever.
So, I now know that... I shall indeed do it again.
Return to Arktist's Home
Page
Return to Arktist's Art
Home Page