Preparing for year six at Burning Man.
The theme was “The Floating World” — ocean, nautical, aquatic. So I was building two theme projects.
First: the Trailmate, my three-wheeled bicycle contraption, was getting the stingray treatment. PVC pipe and cloth would become wings. Electroluminescent lights so it would glow purple at night. I had the vision clearly; the execution was going to happen partly out on the playa.
Second, and more ambitious: the surf-scooter.
That’s my gas-powered scooter, with a surfboard mounted on top. The concept: ride it across the playa as if surfing. Sit on the surfboard waiting for the (imaginary) waves. The art car as performance, as punchline, as completely sincere absurdity.
Still needed to finish it — attach some blue and silver fringe along the bottom, and reglass where I’d cut the hole for the handlebar. Both of those might wait until I was actually at the event. The desert is a fine workshop.
I’d be going in the surfboard, sitting in a classic waiting-for-a-wave posture, riding across the playa in a gas-powered vehicle with no actual ocean within 400 miles. The playa accommodates all of this without complaint.
Pictures were going to be posted when I got back.