Friday, September 18th, 2009
^3 (part I)
I would like to tell a story about the singular most exiting collaborative art project I have ever been a part of. It is quite humbling, prepare to be humbled, humbled to the floor. Aaaaaand you might want to brew a cuppa for this one too… it could take a while…
Are we sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin.
The cube is bigger than I. (and there’s no I in FUCK YOU! – sorry, SORRY! I saw that written on some T-shirt last week and it made me
snigger). OK no more profanities, let’s try again; the cube is bigger than I. About 35ft if we’re talking facts and figures, and about 70-odd (yes very odd) people involved in the creation of the beast. The brainchild of a few Seattle-based tech-brained nutbars in early Spring 09, who decided it would be a GREAT idea to build a giant illuminated working rubix cube to take to the Burning Man Arts festival in September.
Let us skip ahead shall we for no reason at all…
It is night time, the heat and sweat of the day has mostly dissipated into clear cool blackness. Dusty clothes and dustier brains from working all day in the sun erecting structures and domes and tents and all manner of necessary provisions for survival… A slither of moon and the harsh white work lights illuminate a spot of barren Earth, around which we are gathered. Someone has put a flag there. Ha! A flag! Yes, THIS IS OUR LAND to do with as we please, and oh boy it pleases us to build a giant glowing cube.
“Is this really a good idea?”
The rattling roller door of the truck abuses the quiet of the night as it opens, we form a bucket line and the unloading begins…
A time lapse camera captures the build progress:
20 people, unload boxes, scaffolding, joints, huge sheets of card, tools, weird plastic contraptions, quick break for water, and the first
shift starts, work through the night, scaffolding joints, must align everything, is that 5ft long yet?, it has a spine! cube shape layer by layer by layer, morning arrives, bam! it’s a cube! 3×3x3, ALREADY!? Cross bracing, Water break, right! Fabric panels, too hot, NO work during the day, beautiful sunset, fabric panels, next shift new workers, quick water break, more fabric, sun is up, must keep going, obsessive work into the heat, don’t stop! the panels are up! OMG you can see it from the campsite! Ahhhhhhh!!!!! And inside, hang lumieres, water? Reflector panels, zipties, circuit boards, do we sleep now? Sun up sun down, climbing, suspending, tying knots, connecting circuits, drink water, eat sleep? Test the software, more reflectors, more lumieres, Oh Christ this thing is going to work? 
Water break, back breaking, sleeping on scaffolding, how to we attach the frikkin door?!?!? Problems, stress, tired dusty brains to overcome them/// drnkmore water… it is nighttime, the cube is on AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT FRIKKIN WORKS!! IT’S ALIIIIIIVEE!!!!! Listen to the sound effects! OMG!!!!! 30 people now, camp-wide cheering, looks of terror, disbelief…
“What? We’ve got to balance this giant cube on THAT!??”
Ah yes, the toothpick. So, the cube is built. It works. How many months and man hours of planning, engineering, prototyping and preparing? Well over 5000 and that was only before we got onsite.
(These people care about this project, it is a conglomeration and cooperation of so many people working at the peak and beyond their skill-level and knowledge, it has already pushed people to extremes)
…and now we are standing in front of it, sleep-deprived, halfmad (only half?) from the dust and sun and desert craziness – not to mention the growth of a festival city all around us!
So here we are. The day the festival officially starts. The cube still sits on the ground. We encircle it, our monstrous 
baby, shackled with guy ropes that look the thickness of nylon thread against it. It is sitting next to a small vertical pole, about 7ft high and 6inches thick. The mechanics, the equations, and the logic all say it will hold the weight. The engineers say it wont topple and crash and destroy itself and others in up to 80mph winds, which could happen during the week. But they’re looking pretty nervous, and it just looks so very very unlikely.
The crane arrives, and begins to lift the weight of the cube up on its axis. Two and a half tonnes. The thing is huge and as we see it start to move, each one of us lets out an involuntary cry of ?? fear?delight?apprehension? yeah all of that and more!
And there it goes! Balanced atop a veritable toothpick!
“Er guys? Is this really a good idea??!”
A gung-ho crane operator releases the cube weight just a bit to fast… oh shiiiii….!! The spindle joint is bending! This could all come apart in front of our eyes in a matter of seconds…. Please get this right guys!… what? It’s lifted again?! Right second chance, nice and easy… we guy down the lines, heavy-weight trucker straps, tighten everything we have (including our bumholes!) And slowly step away…
Yes mate.
Yes.
Just… yes.
Thing of beauty. I could cry. I wont. But my heart is in my throat, and my stomach and I think has possibly left to orbit some other planet, well hey, I don’t think we’re even on Earth anymore anyway – would you look at this place?!!!