BM Trojan Horse 2011

New Black Rock Horse Trailer!

trojan — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 22:18:14 +0000

Check it out:

Black Rock Horse
Planning screenings in LA and SF Bay – announcement soon!

Thank You!

trojan — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:22:43 +0000

Looking back over 2011, it goes without saying that it was a long road to the desert and an even longer road home. Now, more than six months after our majestic beast burnt to the ground, trying to genuinely express our gratitude to all those who made the Trojan Horse possible is like trying to say thanks to the night’s sky. Such an immense project required the skillful input of innumerable individuals, which added up to thousands of small and grand gestures without which the Horse would not have come to life.

To all who contributed in their own unique ways:

For imagining the impossible; for your architectural genius and engineering know-how; for organizing each detail and your endless coordinating; for processing payment after payment and issuing tax receipts; for pounding nails and soldering steel; for tirelessly building us a village and palace to call home; for your brawn and your steel; for your steady hands and keen eyes; for your fire and arrows; for warmly weathering cold nights and keeping the crowds calm; for having the courage to inquire about each visitor’s rite of passage and the heart to listen; for scraping up pounds of metal and sorting through bags of trash; for honoring our playful process of creative destruction:

We are eternally grateful to you all for being a part of this dream. Together, we were able to ignite the awe and imagination of countless people.

While it would be impossible to acknowledge individually everyone to whom we owe great thanks, we must recognize the following cast of characters:

Our GENEROUS DONORS
For showing, in the most convincing way, that you believed in us and saw the value of our creative efforts – Thank you, Gracias, Ihe edn, Merci, 唔該, Tak, Rav todot, Makasih ya, Dōmo, Dzięki, Yusulpayki, Ngiyabonga!!

Our PHENOMENAL TEAM of BUILDERS
NIMBY- Barry, Chris, Claire, Cris, Daniel, Dale, Darin, Daryll, Dave, Diana, Douglas, Elan, Eric, Evan, Fox, Gerber, Heidi, Jason, Jake, Javier, Jill, Jojo, Jon, Josh, K.C., Kathy, Kenny, Kris, Michael, Mike, Patrick, Pete, Phil, Pikey, Prue, Rachael, Randall, Sharon, Snook, Spreee (Melissa), Spyder, Sophie, Stephen, Taylor, Toby, Todd, Tom, Trev, Wendy, Yoav
Reno- Bill, Lee, Phil, David
Playa- Jake, Gerber, Scooz, Toby, Tom, and all the others who came to lend a hand
You gave our beast form with astonishing talent, efficiency, and endurance. First apart, then together, you built our dreams from the ground to 52 stunning feet high. Sometimes there just aren’t words.

(…and to Joel, for following his heart and taking a stand)

NIMBY
For providing us a happy home in Oakland where our baby could safely grow.

The ARTERY
Bettie June and her extraordinary league of worker bees – you know who you are
For your grace, guidance, and generosity on and off the Playa, we are ever grateful.

The DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
Chaos, Panther, and the entire team of expert operators
Set on one of the most climatically extreme and organizationally stressful backdrops, your team took professionalism and competence to a new level. Without your help, the Horse quite literally would not have been built or burnt. Providentially we didn’t need the giant Hyster to push it, but sure are indebted for your assistance when our baby got spooked and took off at a canter!

BLACK ROCK FX
Jack, Dave, Carson, Dan, Germ, and those who cannot be named
For blowing our faux fur boots off and leaving us all speechless. ‘Nough said.

Last and certainly not least,

DOUGLAS BEVANS
For bringing us your creative vision and your sometimes dark and often playful spirit. Because of you, the legend of the Trojan Horse was enlivened in us all, and, as a result, disparate networks of strangers were suddenly forged into a loving family.

Sale: LEDs, PSU, wire

trojan — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 01:20:28 +0000

Hello all,

the Trojan Horse crew is still struggling to pay last year’s bills and you would help us out a lot if you would take some of these leftovers off our hands:

UPDATE: 1x AC/DC 600W Power Supply

Mean Well PSP-600-12, 12 Volt 50A 600W (Datasheet)

One of them can reasonably power 450Watt (about 90m/300ft of our LED strips). They are a bit dusty, but else in good condition. A switch has been added to the terminals.

selling price: $75,- / item
(original price: $150)
UPDATE ~60m (~200ft) red LED strip

12 VDC, 60 LEDs/meter, 4.8 Watt/meter power consumption, 120° viewing angle, 110 luminous flux

These strips lit up the Trojan Horse last year. They are dusty of course, are partially cut into smaller pieces and might have seen better times. But it’s a good deal! They comes in 5 to 10 meter spools. If you wire more than 10meters in series, you lose brightness. The total length is an estimation, as we put the strips back onto their original spools, but didn’t always roll up the same amount.

selling price: $1.5,- / meter
(original price: $4/meter)
~1500ft Gray 16/2 Speaker Wire

original product at Home Depot

Usually used for audio, it was perfect for powering our LEDs, because the 16AWG diameter allowed for high current to pass. The wire is on several spools, cut into segments between 15 to 50 feet long. It is in rather messy condition, but still usable.

selling price: $100,- for all of it
(original price = $300, at $100 for 500ft. spool)

All the items are currently in San Francisco. We have plans on carting them to Nimby, so everyone can easily come check them out there. We’d prefer to sell everything off to one buyer, but we are open to discussion. If you are interested in buying one or all of above listed items, please send us an email to info@trojanhorse2011.com – thanks!

Black Rock Horse

trojan — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:47:25 +0000

Todd Darling’s film “Black Rock Horse” is in the final stages of production!

A team of artists at Burning Man ask volunteers to pull a 50 foot high Trojan Horse across a dry lake bed. The procession becomes a stampede when 600 “Greek Slaves” revolt. Black Rock Horse reveals the inner workings of a complex art project and the epic struggle to create.

We are very proud to announce that Todd’s film has been accepted to the 2012 Big Sky Film Festival in Missoula, Montana, and will be featured in the category “Art Is – New Films about Art & Artists”, screening Thursday, February 23.

The film still needs funds to finish. Specifically: graphics, After Effects, the cost of mix, color correction and Blue Ray authoring need to be covered. We have a good start on these funds, but we’re still in need of a bit more. Big Thanks in advance for your generosity. Please follow this link to Pay Pal.

Black Rock Horse on Facebook

In The Dust

trojan — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:35:59 +0000

Check out this beautiful short film featuring our girl the horse, among other beautiful occurrences in the 2011 desert by our friend Jason Mongue.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“My Medallion” by Dan Fox

dan — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 03:28:24 +0000

Editor’s Note: The Trojan Horse Project was blessed with serendipity from beginning to end. Things just seemed to happen when they were needed. Dan Fox, our Construction Coordinator, gives you a taste of his wondrous experiences with the horse and the pleasant surprises she provided.

My favorite Burning Man swag is a necklace, or at least something that can be affixed to an existing necklace. Before the week of the Burn, Douglas and Alaya presented the builders of the Horse a very special medallion, which I immediately prized and wore proudly. While we builders may have begun construction feeling like stagehands building a short-lived set, what we came to find inside that wooden horse was a community of friends that will endure. We achieved utter satisfaction working with other dedicated men and women who pulled together to build something quite larger than the individual parts. I found myself living a wonderful dream, surrounded by wonderful souls who admired each other, appreciated our accomplishments, and found the joy within ourselves. To me, the medallion embodied that spirit.

On the night of the burn, it was my task to cut openings in the horse so the fireworks could shoot outward in great blistering fans. I climbed into the belly of the beast as night fell, armed with a chainsaw and carrying a ladder. Filled with boxes of fireworks, skyrockets, three cords of firewood, and numerous liquid accelerants, the interior of the horse became a treacherous obstacle course, especially in the waning light. I set the ladder where it almost fit, and began to cut six of the largest upper triangles out of the horse.

As I reached up to start the final cut, I heard my medallion hit the ladder, the deck, and finally somewhere below. I began to cry as I sawed away, suddenly saddened but at the same time thrilled and humbled by my experience with the horse and the thoughts it engendered. Inside my head, a voice seemed to ask if I needed help. I replied aloud, “I am 51, balanced on a ladder, chain sawing out plywood panels, 35 feet above the playa, inside a wooden horse loaded with explosives.” The voice said, “And you love every minute of it.” And I did. Every minute. I finished my last task and cleared out of the horse, leaving my lost medallion in the darkness.

Dan's blackened, slightly deformed Horse Medallion

The fire from the burn was intense, and it burned in a sustained fury that had the front ranks of the crowd trying to shield themselves from the searing heat. I wondered what the melting temperature of the medallion was. The following day, when I returned to the burn site, even the mighty steel axles had deformed into broad smiles from the heat. I raked the coals, the nails, and the charcoal of the pyre. I imagined the medallion would be a melted slug, but I hoped against hope that I would find even this memento. The next day, only small remnants of the eight-foot tall wheels were left smoldering . Everything else wooden had been consumed. Again, I searched the ashes but found nothing resembling a medallion there or in the piles of bolts and nails. I resigned myself to having lost my precious medal. The very next day, while I was in camp, Ariel, Troy Camp’s “mayor,” walked up to me and said, “Douglas found your medallion as he was making one last sweep of the ashes.” She handed me a blackened, slightly deformed medal and I laughed maniacally at heaven, reunited with a hunk of simulated brass that I will treasure forever.

The view from above

trojan — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:52:26 +0000

A great shot showing the assembly of Greeks, Trojans, Slaves, Gods, Goddesses and Burners, shortly before the second pull. And mind, that you only see the last third of our rows and rows of slaves. The image is a screenshot from the raw videos Gary Wilson (MindfulLight.com) took. They’ll be included in the documentary our director Todd is working on.

Call for Photos/Videos of the Horse

trojan — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 03:51:18 +0000

In the moment of action we all had our hands full – pulling ropes, waving flags, securing a safety perimeter – and were not able to do as much documentation of the Horse’s Procession and Burn as we would have liked. But we are sure many of you out there did! And we’d love for you to share these photos and videos with us! We are especially looking for high-resolution high-quality footage – stills which we can use for printing a photo-book and video content that our film director Todd Darling can include in the documentary he’s currently preparing.

There are several ways you can share your footage with us

Photo: Upload your photos in their highest resolution onto Flickr and add them to our Trojan Horse 2011 Group Pool. Or send us links to your online photo albums located on Flickr, Picasa, etc.

Video: Upload your videos in their highest resolution to Vimeo, and choose the option “Allow other people to download the source video” in the privacy settings. (You can also password protect the video and give only us access).

Photo/Video: Make a zip-file of your photos/videos and send it to info@trojanhorse2011.com with one of these file-sharing services:

http://www.yousendit.com – maximum filesize of 50MB with free account. PREFERRED
https://www.dropbox.com – put the file into your public folder and send us the link

Large Files: If you have larger filesizes to share, please send an email to info@trojanhorse2011.com and we’ll get back to you with login-data for a yousendit pro-account that will enable you to upload up-to 2GB files.

Tape: If you shot tape, we’ll clone your tape, or will happily accept a dub. Please send a message to info@trojanhorse2011.com and mailing instructions will be sent to you. We’ll also reimburse any mailing costs.

+ Credits: Please let us know how you’d like to be named in the photo/video credits.

564 Slaves pulling the Horse!

trojan — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 23:24:31 +0000

To set the record straight on the total number of pullers: From the video of the first pull, we counted 94 individual pullers on the first line. Assuming the other 5 lines had the same density of slaves – which we believe they did – a more accurate count of our total number of slaves would come in at around 564! – not 300. Wooooo wee, crazy times!

[photo credit: citizenfitz.com]

Count the Slaves:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Rendering and Reality

trojan — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 01:53:46 +0000

And if you – just as us – can’t get enough of the Trojan Horse, get your fix on our Facebook page, our Flickr image pool or this Youtube Playlist: