Art that Ignites
(repost from 2008 blog entry in ViewFinders)
My foray into the mysteriously fascinating world of fire kinetic sculpture performance art.
Like a hummingbird in flight backwards, this art form ignites audiences with a special sense of wonder from deep within.
With moving parts and fire in the night sky they are like harnesses of life’s ever-changing flames, ushering in the light and dark that we must all move through in life.
My first real experience with this art form was as an observer on the city streets in San Francisco circa early1990s. The underground group Survival Research Labs was demonstrating an enormous Tesla Coil and other odd fire and metal creations.
They performed at undisclosed locations throughout the city, and it was then and there that I first caught the bug of fire kinetic arts.
After multiple attendances at the Burning Man Arts Festival in the ‘90s, I became a very active participant: a member of an exclusively small entourage that escorted a 150-foot flame throwing modified v-8 engine vehicle to light the man ablaze. That year, as I recall, I also experienced laying on a very large bed of nails, perhaps 9 inch, delivered in a tiny red wagon - in this get-up.
Happy to report that I survived that experience unscathed.Photographer: Scott Kildall
Some years later, again on the Playa for Burning Man ‘06, I experienced the Flaming Lotus Girls installation “The Serpent Mother”. This mesmerizing steel mother of fiery artistry was created by a female-driven welding fire-art collective group of over 100 volunteers.
The Serpent Mother
(excerpted from Flaminglotus.com)
There has never been a sculpture like the Serpent Mother.
168' long sculpture of a skeletal serpent, coiled around her egg. Propane fire runs down her spine, with 41 "poofers," or flame-throwers, that erupt from the top of her vertebrae. Reaching 20 feet in the air, her head and jaws are hydraulically operated.
Video (Embed)
A highly kinetic, participant controlled installation. Fire effects are a major interactive, sculptural element of the piece. The audience helps to direct her movements, using controls that move the head and jaws and pushing buttons located on the ribs that set off flame effects, effectively making each show a unique event created by the participants.
The Serpent Mother challenges the traditional art perspective by creating an interactive experience which is the opposite of passive viewing. Unlike an unapproachable painting in a prestigious museum which invites only an intellectual admiration, the Serpent Mother invites viewers to physically engage in her art.
This talented group of artists’ works have been exhibited at events and festivals including Burning Man, Coachella and internationally in Toronto and Australia. FLG have a show April 9th at NASA Ames Research Center in conjunction with Yuri’s Night, April 9-10th.
Today, the Black Rock Arts Foundation supports the public display of large scale installations, such as Ecstasy, in urban settings through various grant programs.
The Black Rock Arts Foundation is proud to support the installation of Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito's sculpture Ecstasy at Patricia’s Green in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, Ca. This hopeful, figurative work will be on display, free to the public, from February 7, 2010 till June 18, 2010.
Esctasy is made from salvaged and recycled steel, this six ton, 30 foot tall work retains its’ environmental message. Through much of their work, artists Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito resolve to use reclaimed materials, exemplifying resourcefulness as part of the creative process and challenging our cultures consumerist tendencies. Found objects, structural steel scrap, and old machine and car parts comprise Exctasy’s body; the strands of her hair are retired lifting chains.
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