KATE RAUDENBUSH
EXPERIMENTS
PASSAGE HOME
BURNING MAN 2018
PASSAGE HOME WAS FUNDED & COMPLETED IN 2018
In resonance with the profound loss of Burning Man founder Larry Harvey in April, I feel compelled and inspired to create this sculpture to honor his extraordinary life.
What I loved so much about Larry was that despite his vast intellect, Burning Man was never about him, it was about the container of possibility that he shaped and held sacred. He was a brilliant conduit of energy , and he asked us to fill it with our creativity; and that, in turn, created a evolution of culture beyond all of our wildest imaginings. Passage Home is a symbolic conduit that is filled with symbols of what Larry created. Out in the desert there is nothing, but together we build a city, a culture, and unlock parts of ourselves we never new existed; all because of this instigator, Chief Philosophic Officer, mentor and friend.
Passage Home hopes to evoke a symbolic home-coming of Larry's spirit back to the Black Rock Desert. Five white pentagonal doorways recede in space to the horizon in alignment with the sunrise. The patterns filling each pentagon are the radial streets of Black Rock City, with a keyhole-shaped opening to walk through that changes with each doorway passed.
The sculptures are meant to be discovered far from the main city streets, in the quiet, contemplative open space of deep Playa. It will be softly illuminated at night with a halo ring of amber light. When approached at dawn, each of the doorways will lead the viewer towards the rising sun, and slowly, through subtly morphing keyhole openings framed by the map of our city, , bring us to the silhouette of Larry Harvey, wearing his signature Stetson hat, walking into the sunrise.
STRUCTURE
Each white doorway is made of pairs of 4” x 4" beam walls sandwiching a thick 1" MDF design. To anchor it, is a white steel bar frame to cradle it’s base, and attach to 2 wood horizontal posts on each corner of the doorway on the ground.. They extend perpendicular to the sculpture pointing to the next doorway in line, like train tracks. The two posts are made of 4"x4" x 10’ L wood beams and will be attached to the base of each pentagon doorway with hidden steel 1/4" plate brackets. There will be 10 trenches total dug 6” into the ground to hide the support posts. The sculpture should not be climbed.
Footprint: 8” H x 8” W x 120’ L . the 5 doorways are spaced approx. 20’ apart.
LIGHTING
The halo rings of amber light is created by 12volt amber LED strips embedded into the frame of each of the doorways, pointing to the designs. They will be powered by a small solar power array, 100 feet away.
TEAM
I am pairing up with Tomas Mc Cabe and other veteran Burners to create the sculpture in New York and on the Playa.
TIMING
As of July 8th we have less than 1 month to create this sculpture. This timing for funding and the build is urgent, as it would ship on August 5th.
THANK YOU
All funding help is welcomed with gratitude. A major angel investor to the artwork has the option to keep one of the 5 doorways, or optionally donate it to Burning Man HQ. Otherwise, the sculpture will be ritually burned on the Man base platform fire on Sunday.