Ein Hammer is an art installation proposed
for Burning Man 2010 in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.
This is where I document the progress of the piece. For
more about what it is all about, visit the
project home page.
2/1/2010: Ordinance away! I had to call Dave King on the
phone just so he could give me the "Ein Zwei Drei" as my finger
hovered over the "send" button of the grant proposal to Burning
Man headquarters. Him, Snowlover, Magic, Killbuck, Dave Cherry, and
Nila have all been instrumental in getting the idea on paper in
a way that is both clear on the concept and exciting to read.
Here is the final video to which the proposal also has a link:
Now, while I can, I'm going to take a break and do a little
winter camping to clear my head. Wish us luck on the
grant, and thank you for your support!
1/25/2010: Grant application review went well, with some good
advice that I'm certainly taking to heart. I'm jumping out
of my beer stein with excitement over Dave King's promise to
bring a huge amount propane and fire equipment to the project,
allowing us to show an extremely high artistic "value" to the
grant committee at Burning Man. To celebrate, I purchased
this conveyor belt on eBay:
Can't you just see it now, loaded with bulky wrenches and
hammers, descending to the workers underground! Bwahahaha!
I got it pretty cheap, but the freight shipping is going to be
pricey. Nothing's too good for Ze Wėrkers!
1/16/2010: Our portion of the Ein Hammer art grant proposal is
now with our professional grant writer for review. Dave's
finishing up the propane and fire section, Maciej is bustin' out
the flame animation. After I turn it in to Burning Man near the
end of the month, I plan to take a restful winter camping trip
by myself and clear my head. Here's a preliminary night
time image by our own Maciej ("Magic"):
1/1/2010: You know your computer is slogging when you have to
close your Pandora music just to get your 3D processing to speed
up! I'm skidding into the new year by finishing up the
look of project in the Sketchup program as I get ready to submit
the grant application to Burning Man. If you're submitting
an application yourself, be sure to use their new required form.
Click
here to see pretty pics like this:
12/22/2009: It was a gathering of geeks last night as the
magnificent seven of the Ein Hammer Tech Squad huddled around a
video conference to "hammer out" a few details. The
result? A gazillion creative ways to detect a sledgehammer
strike inside the old truck tire targets. It was decided
that the only way to confirm the best one is to have a Mythbusters-style slam-off in which accelerometer, peizo,
pneumatic, optical, and speaker cone sensors are all built into
it, then we get some beer and friends over here to beat the
living sh*t out of it to see which methods are fastest and the
most hammer-proof. Sound like fun? Here's an audio
demo of what the start-up and wind-down of the spinning
hammerhead may sound like:
Another big win for the project is the inclusion of Dave King on
the crew. Dave's experience with propane driven flame
effects is extensive, and his creative input for achieving
breathtaking fire like the Shiva Vista project is a real home run
for us. Having his name on our grant application means
we're not f***ing around. Our recent Fire Squad meeting
with him, Oz, Snowlover, Cowboy and OneEyeDick went really well
and the expertise around the room finally sold me on the idea of
using LIQUID PROPANE SHOOTERS IN THE HAMMERHEAD... YIKES!
Through a strange and wonderful coincidence involving our posts
on Burning Man's E-Playa chat board and a German research
technician's Google search, there may be some truth to
underground power on the playa after all. Check out the
conversation that started at about the middle of this page:
http://eplaya.burningman.com/viewtopic.php?t=32367&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=120
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Gute Nacht!
11/29/2009: Ahhhh! It feels so good to finally turn wrench
again on yet another art project. It's about the same time
of year I started work on Zsu Zsu and Fluffer so it feels right
going into December this way. This morning I was adding
more of the visual project elements into the Sketchup program
until I realized my entire day off would be spend in front of a
computer yet again. So I went into my garage, lit a cheap
cigar, put on Soma FM and changed this:
into this:
Nothing like a little LED manipulation. Those super-bright
Piranha arrays, donated by Blackberry, are now on their third
incarnation. Since I won't know if the project is getting
a grant from Burning Man until after January, it's important
that I occupy my time with tasks that either cost nothing or
could be implemented into an alternative art project that I can
afford to fund myself (and that ain't much!).
There are lots of element gurgling to the surface now that we've
divided the 40-member crew into teams including Electronics,
Fire and Propane, Metallurgy and Sewing Squad. I'll update
some more here as the "wėrkers unite"!
Slam The Hammer!
Art like The
Ein Hammer Project requires a bundle of bucks, marks, and euros to
pull it off in a way that delights worker brothers and sisters like
you. Please click on the Paypal donation link below and make a
contribution of any size. Together, we'll make history at
Burning Man 2010 whilst speaking in
outrageous German accents!
into this:
