Coal Bin: Starting the Performer Boulder

September 11th, 2013 · No Comments · 2013 In What Distant Sky

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Placing a performer, Rhode Island artist and aerialist Thea Ulrich, on a boulder 25′ in the air in an industrial coal bin is something to get right. This single boulder took us as long to make as the other 8 combined. Each component of the internal structure is comically overbuilt. My rule of thumb as a designer without an engineering degree is make it twice as strong as I think it should be. We have never had a performer get hurt and spend a lot of time and energy working to prevent it.

Actually, we’ve never had a crew member get hurt either (at least nothing a bandaid couldn’t fix). We start each fabrication day with the same question to everyone on our crew: how are you going to get hurt today? Although this gets crazy repetitive–it reminds each of us (and Megan and I who also answer the question daily too)–that the more relaxed we get with the tools we use everyday, the closer to forgetting that they can hurt us we get. I must not loose my fear of these tools.

 

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This is the I-beam we made and placed to hold one of the lines for the performer boulder. 2×6 top and bottom with a 2×10 middle: oh my heavy. Installed on the hottest day of summer during a heat storm. Thank you Alex Peacock.

Coal Bin: Finishing Boulders 4-8

September 11th, 2013 · No Comments · 2013 In What Distant Sky

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J.R. Uretsky can lay down triangles like nobodies business. Somewhere towards the middle of this I was dreading doing another triangle and then a peaceful bliss came over me and I have ended up really liking the process and welcome triangles in the future. They are so fabulously to-the-point: 3 measurements do not lie–a specific triangle has to be that specific triangle. There is peace in that.

 

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J.R. Uretsky and Megan

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Assistant J.R. Uretsky and second assistant Alex Peacock. There is a lot of both of these people in these boulders.

 

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J.R. Uretsky

 

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Alright, this is a little boulder that didn’t make it into the final film shoot. It has a basin for our performer  to wash her hands, following traditional Japanese etiquette before entering a tea house. I still like the idea, but there wasn’t enough space for it once we got all the boulders in the final film location.

Coal Bin: Boulder 3 of 9

September 10th, 2013 · No Comments · 2013 In What Distant Sky

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Our Assistant J.R. Uretsky with PA Christian Meade securing a triangle.

 

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The Triangle factory: (left to right) PA Ryan Hawk, Assistant J.R. Uretsky, PA Christian Meade and PA Greg Lookerse

 

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Coal Bin: Boulder 2 of 9

September 10th, 2013 · No Comments · 2013 In What Distant Sky

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Each triangle take a team of three people about 20-30 minutes. A team of five people can do a triangle in 15 minutes.

Coal Bin: Finished Boulder 1 of 9

September 10th, 2013 · No Comments · 2013 In What Distant Sky

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Coal Bin: Learning Boulder Making

September 10th, 2013 · No Comments · 2013 In What Distant Sky

 

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If you look carefully, you’ll notice the first triangles are much rougher than the later ones. There’s a lot of tricks we’re having to learn on the fly.

 

 

Coal Bin: Starting to Make Coal Boulders

September 10th, 2013 · No Comments · 2013 In What Distant Sky

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We start with a 2×4 frame that’s strong enough to suspend them.

Coal Bin: Getting Started at WaterFire

September 10th, 2013 · No Comments · 2013 In What Distant Sky

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February and freezing cold in the WaterFire Warehouse.

Our first task was to build this box. Every boulder that will be craned into the Coal Bin at MASS MoCA has to fit through this space. When building, I always prefer lining things up more than relying on numbers alone.

Coal Bin: Moving to WaterFire

September 10th, 2013 · No Comments · 2013 In What Distant Sky

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Barnaby Evans and WaterFire have invited us to be WaterFire Artist in Residence and build the Coal Bin Project [working title, of course] at WaterFire’s new giant warehouse. Furthermore, we’ll create a one night performance installation in this space on August 16, 2013.

With this new project space, WaterFire aims to support Providence artists and foster creative projects. We’re delighted to be working with them.

Coal Bin: Will Reeves

September 10th, 2013 · No Comments · 2013 In What Distant Sky

 

 

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A big part of our team, Will Reeves, who has been a lead performer in our project When We Didn’t Touch the Ground, and performer in The Shape of Our Best Intentions (that was fabricated and filmed in the Wurks project space [I can’t believe they don’t have a web site] that Will directs), and who is fabricating the 57′ vertical camera elevator we’ll need for this project (more on that later), thinks we should fabricate the boulders with sprayed concrete on a metal frame.

And he made this great model.

Only problem: Megan and I know  little about sprayed concrete and metal. These are both great materials, but there is a point where knowing your limits can make or break a project. Spreading yourselves too thin can seriously slow things down or worse: hit nasty technical quick sand. This model looked too good to not mention though. Cheers, Will.