Fairy Shrimpy Camp at Black Rock City 2024

 Fairy Shrimpy Camp made it to the City!

To see some images and videos of the wonderful week please click the photos below:

The fairy shrimp makers:

The fairy shrimp they made!

(After the fairy shrimp were decorated they were folded and riveted and strung up to fly)

Fairy Shrimpy Camp - Coming to Burning Man 2024!

"Fairy Shrimpy Camp" exists as an effort to expand the habitat of the playa fairy shrimp that have "lived" during the two installations of the artwork, "Of a Temporary Nature."

Come to “Fairy Shrimpy Camp” in Black Rock City - Monday through Thursday afternoons (1-4pm) to personalize a fairy shrimp of your own and maybe learn something new about these critters and their friends!.

We are going to create baby fairy shrimp out of the larger sculptures and give them to folks (to decorate with ink) and put on their bikes, hats, ears - wherever they can "swim" in the air.

Although I camped with the Lamplighters in previous years, we camped as "Shrimpy Camp" in 2023, an art support camp for "Of a Temporary Nature, 2.0". We decided to create a small theme camp to return to the playa once again to allow the fairy shrimp to "release their offspring".

This is what Shrimpy Camp looked like in 2023, and we anticipate Fairy Shrimpy Camp to look fancier!

Please click here - then scroll down- to open the post with a message from the fairy shrimp.

Please click here to view the video.

It is from the 2017 installation, but the message is the same for 2023 and beyond.

Some images in other posts may also link to this video.

Their Post-Playa Home

 The fairy shrimp were planted atop two hills overlooking the Central Basin of Middle Tennessee. 

They can see for miles and miles from their new position, and hopefully can be seen from far away as well!

The newly hatched brood at Black Rock City 2023

 

We (Priscilla and Lola, my former art student) took the fairy shrimp to Black Rock City and they danced to their hearts' content.

Yes, it rained, but we and most others were well prepared and fine and dandy, only impacted by beginning our journey home two days later than planned. 

And, the Man and Temple aged two days more than usual before being released.

We didn't see any live Triops or drowned celebrities, comedians, djs, or 1%ers. We did see some mired vehicles whose owners chose to ignore the recommendations to simply wait for the playa to dry. 

I did not photograph that much because you can find everything Burning Man all over the internet nowadays. 

One of my favorite works is "Tip of the Iceberg" but there were many, many great works!

See "Elder Man" pics here.

Time to go.

On my calendar I have made a note that this is "Hell time", based on an annual circumstance of stressful events that seem to happen about this time of year. Although I'm referring to personal things it seems Hell has expanded to a global significance this year. Fires, hurricanes, wars, floods, excessive heat... But honestly it's not just this time of year. Hell is happening all the time somewhere.

But life is happening too.

Today we celebrated my mom's birthday even though it's not until Sunday. She thought it was yesterday. She's been bedridden for about two months and I'm leaving in the morning for three weeks and taking a piece to Burning Man. 

I guess it takes a lot of hedonistic and egotistical sludge to try to justify such an action. But I don't try to justify it. I can't. I just know I have to do it.

The piece is about celebrating our temporary existence, in spite of all the brutal and harsh and unlivable environments we are subjected to.

I know that celebration may be manifest by the simple act of caring for my Mom or planting a seed in the soil instead of planting giant fairy shrimp on the barren Playa, but I am driven to do it.

And tomorrow we drive to it.

Love you Mom. See you when I return. 

Hang in there.

(It turns out that mom passed away on Sept. 2, 2023. The day the Man would have burned if it had not rained.)

 

"Mass" fairy shrimp production begins!

 

"Mass production" is underway, especially now that the weather has shifted into at least of week of rainy days.

Fairy shrimp are now created by batch processing (cutting, sewing, rodding...) instead of individually.

1. Cutting:

2. "Eyelash" filling:

3. Sewing (While Mom looks on and wonders how I keep from sewing my fingers together)

4. Gluing on the googly eyes!

5. Cutting the individual phyllopods.

6. Assembling the light and spin mechanisms.

7. And now we have a pile of fairy shrimp that won't fit in the van!

Fairy Shrimp on Parade!

 Some surviving members of the 2017 brood danced in the 2023 "Bell Buckle RC Moonpie Parade".

Since the community event was celebrating somewhat esoteric commodities (RC Colas and Moon Pies) there was not an emphasis on Burning Man, just FUN and Fairy Shrimp!

The 2.0 prototype

 

The design modifications are incorporated into the prototype for the 2.0 version.

There is some sacrifice of biologically oriented detail to reduce the amount of material waste and add a little personality to them.

The 2017 batch was concerned about the directions we humans were choosing to take, 

but these younger critters just want to have fun!

This one danced into a line of severe thunderstorms (and survived!)

and now gets to relax in a gentle breeze:

Field Testing

 A strong thunderstorm answers the question of whether or not this new design will more likely than not be able to withstand a week or so of playa weather.

OATN 1.5 - Experimental prototype

 This fellow is from the 2017 fairy shrimp family. He is the test subject for rigging and structural experimentation (and hopefully improvement) before construction of the new versions commences.

Progress is summarized here, and more than anyone really needs (except for me with my fading memory) is dumped here.

Construction begins

Construction has begun on the new "school" of fairy shrimp.

A loose documentation of the progress may be found by clicking 

here.

A Hearty Thanks to the Black Rock City Honoraria Committee!

 

We are sighing and smiling with appreciation for the Honorarium that allows us to bring our floating versions of playa fairy shrimp back to the City!

Man, this is all too wonderful!

Of a Temporary Nature 2.0

 Resurrected, recreated and revised for Burning Man 2023.

It will be very similar to the "Of a Temporary Nature" installation at Black Rock City in 2017, but will exhibit a diversity of colors and be more substantially constructed. 

Of a Temporary Nature - Black Rock City - 2017

The image links to the video

Photos are provided here.

Done.

Finally...

There will be 26 of these guys flying on the playa. 

In a steady breeze they will fill and float, 

and dance at night in glowing colors.

(click the image to see it in motion - go here for more images)

Fecundity...well, somewhat...

Although the original intent was to construct a frame that would present a full figure sans wind, the forms resisted that relative complexity, eventually shedding excess skeletal rods in favor of a looser sac.

Now the pile awaits, wondering if there will be time to add some whistles and bells (actually, eggsacs and phyllopod lobes) after the hanging armatures are complete.

Evolutionarily...

Every one of these guys has some mutation that was intended to benefit its function, but I'm still working toward some kind of productive punctuated equilibrium.

Traits appear and disappear and may reappear in a different spot but the beneficial ones will hopefully prevail.

Real fairy shrimp in motion

Simpler, still...

The more I try to impose a rigid structure, the more resistance I create. Now it seems the forms will be simpler still, and depend much more upon the flowing wind than rigid spine.

More images along the way.