Saturday, June 21, 2008

Mutant Vehicle Application 2008 for Burning Man






So this is it. This is the year to manifest.
UPDATE: We forgot to include the headlight which will sit at dashboard level in our mutant vehicle application. The wiring is already there- we just have to get the lamp. Sorry about this.
WE also may have a 200 watt solar panel to be our charger back at camp. Yahoo!!!!
Every year, I have been full of angst. As a middle school teacher, I agonize over whether I can really, with integrity, take the first week of school off to participate in Burning Man. My husband Bodinho (Zachary) has no such qualms, since he owns his own business and can rearrange things. This means that often I don't commit until too late. Not this time. This time, I have found peace with my need to connect deeply and ecstatically to a community effort that feeds me for an entire year. The process of creation and preparation for Burning Man is truly as fun as actually being there, but this is a year where we would like to have a new experience that gives us more opportunity to interact with strangers, and to see the playa from a new orbit. Our intentions are clear. We are part of the Dreamtime Circus fire conclave, and this time, we embark on a project together that we have never done before- a mutant vehicle. The Sweet Dream Machine.

We have several intentions with this vehicle. First of all, it is based off a lowly electric golf cart, but this gives us the potential to power it with solar panels back at our base camp. When this project is completed, we will hopefully have a back up power system in case of the apocalypse. With a friend in the solar industry and a electric inventor/musician at our side, the dream is within reach.

The mutant vehicle is a giant crescent moon with clouds, that will mainly be driven at night. We still love our bikes for getting around. The moon ride will have many components:
1. It will have a small sound system that will play lullabies and songs about moons and dreams. We did not put this on the application because it is so small that it is really a small karaoke machine, not a sound system.
2. In the cart, passengers will be asked to pull a magic number of words from one of the two dream bags: nightmares and good dreams. These bags will be handsewn. From the words, they select, they will be asked to spin us a dream or nightmare. This will give us a chance to share with people and have conversations about dreams.
3. Passengers will be driven around, or safely returned to their sleeping bags, if they so choose.
4. Children will encouraged to ride, since many of our playa crew have kids. Children books will be stashed in the cart. It will be a cozy, mellow space for all.
5. My husband and I are creating this vehicle together, and have also been trying to conceive a child. It is no coincidence that we have chosen a new moon, often associated with fertility and yin energy.
6. The cart will be an unofficial mascot of the Dreamtime circus.

The interior of the cart will designed with a nod towards art nouveau and steampunk aesthetic. A magical dashboard with a REM detector and dream monitor will guide us on our journey. The steering wheel will be mapped with the zodiac.

Since I have the summer off, this has become our full time obsession along with costume designs to accompany it: teddy bear costumes, stocking caps for ourselves and passengers, pyjamas, and our more formal top hat and flowing gown attire.

The lighting will be a mixture of thicker EL wire, LED lights, x-mas and regular lamps powered by a 12 volt battery that will be installed either beneath the passenger seat or in a battery box beneath the front dashboard.

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