Share the Wealth
Wednesday, February 2, 2005 at 11:02pm 3 comments (last by Clever Monkey)
Leaving the house this morning, I saw an unexpected face looking up at me from the cover of the newspaper. I had to stop then and there to read the article.
David Best has been building an art installation in San Rafael, a smaller scale version of the temples he builds each year at Burning Man as a gift to the community.
Sadly, some in San Rafael think this is a bad thing. The fear is the structure, called the Chapel of the Day Laborer, will bring an element of Burning Man to their town. I don't think you can argue with that, but what is the element of Burning Man they think it will bring? From the article...
"We don't have a car to go to church," the young mother said. "We need a place to pray." That is exactly what Best was hoping for and why he picked a place that would have an impact on the community. "This is where people come to buy groceries and make phone calls. It's a hub, and a place where someone can go and sit and cry about not being with family," Best said.
Exactly the kind of Burning Man craziness that should be kept out in the desert, don't you think?
3 Comments
Jamison Thursday, February 3, 2005 at 3:04pm
Well, this wasn't a permanent structure, it's a temporary sculpture built as part of this art fair, nothing permanent.
The design looks very similar to most of his previous temples. The structure likely two by fours then covered with the intricately cut pieces to form the "skin" of the Chapel. The cover material is the leftover bits from those dinosaur skeleton kits (I had a stegosaurus when I was a kid) which was donated by the manufacturer. The material is some kind of very light plywood.
Clever Monkey Friday, February 4, 2005 at 11:06am
I'd have to side with the property owner on this one. Here in the real world, accidents happen and people get sued. A plywood structure filled with candles, right up against a building - not good. The building tenant was terribly irresponsible in not talking to the building owner, and David Best is the unfortunate victim of her carelessness.
All of the platitudes about it being art, or being for the poor or disadvantaged, don't change that. Building something here in default world requires permits and insurance, and sometimes that means art doesn't get made.
In an authoritarian society, we could simply decree that art trumps insurance. Because we live under the rule of law, we have to accept that we're going to have disagreements and restrictions and lawyers. Personally, I'll take lawyers over anarchy or thugs. Burning Man's combination of authority (you forfiet rights by buying a ticket) and anarchy is great for a week with like-minded folks, but it's no way to run a big, complex civilization.
mattymatt Thursday, February 3, 2005 at 1:59pm
sounds like an insurance thing - like, the insurance co didn't think it was a safe long-term building. i wonder how they were making it? it would be cool if we could find out more about the construction.