The Nautilus submarine from Oakland North on Vimeo.

Deep in West Oakland, a collective of artists called Five Ton Crane (5TC) is hard at work tuning up their submarine. Although it doesn’t go underwater, there seems to be little else this lifesize vessel can’t do—it even defends its perimeters with a water spear gun and bumps tunes from its built-in iPad technology. It’s structured with all the romantic details of retro-futurism–that is, modeling art after old school design, and then amplifying it with futuristic technology. When the artists, who recently returned from Burning Man, need to take a break, they head inside the sub to a spot they’ve dubbed “the make-out room” and sip from a vintage bottle in the mini-bar.

“We aim to be, rather than to seem,” said Sean Orlando, one of the lead artists of the Nautilus, who says his favorite spot is in the captain’s chair. “It’s important for us, with these large projects, that they remain immersive and interactive, and that people can climb around in them, drive around in them.”

This is the third large-scale installation Five Ton Crane has made. In 2007 they constructed a Tree House, and in 2009 they built the Raygun Gothic Rocketship, which is currently on display along San Francisco’s Embarcadero waterfront. The group gets its funding from private donations, and the staff are volunteers, making their childhood dreams of tree houses, rockets, and submarines a reality.

“All the things that people see in print but actually can’t imagine—we flesh them out,” Five Ton Crane artist Jay Kravitz said. “We make big toys for adults to play with.”

Designed in 2007 as an art installation for the Burning Man festival in  Black Rock City, Nev., the home and 40-foot metal tree it sits in were  created almost entirely from recycled and reclaimed materials by 60 volunteers in Oakland, Calif. (Five Ton Crane Arts Group)

Created “to explore the relationship between our rapidly changing  natural world and the persistent human drive to connect with it and one  another,” the 15-by-12-foot home cost approximately $60,000 to construct  and contains a wood-burning stove to keep it warm, a telescope for  bird-watching, and a steam calliope for creating music. The surrounding  metal “tree” is equipped with LED lights in the branches (giving it a  post-apocalyptic firefly effect) as well as a steam generator for spooky  effects at night.

While the Tree House doesn’t have a kitchen or bathroom, it does have an  amazingly Jules Verne-ian interior complete with stained glass windows  and Tim Burton-esque furniture. Both the house and tree have taken up permanent residence at Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, Del.

Click HERE for the full article

The Steampunk Tree House, Delaware

I’m walking along the waterfront and the energy is powerful, fresh and uplifting.  The images and happenings flowing by me now feel like the whole world is lifting off in joyous flight. The Raygun Gothic Rocketship from the 2009 Burning Man festival has landed in a prime spot near Pier 14 – and looks ready for a new adventures.   Just as I take in the scene a beautiful, romantic couple ride up to me and ask me to take a picture of them on their bicycle in this expansive setting. They circle a couple of times and photos are made. It’s a lovely moment. Ben and Katya have been sailing for several days and Katya tells me that Ben is leaving town the next day. I can feel the love and happiness in this shared space. Its not just ordinary happiness, but a strong magic born of clear intentions and open hearts.

at the Tidal Plaza near Pier 14 at the foot of Mission Street

Regarding the Rocket: Thanks to the Black Rock Arts Foundation and the San Francisco Arts Commission for bringing the art of Burning Man back to the City where Burning Man was born. I first saw this piece perform in all it’s explosive glory in the vast space of the Black Rock Desert last year around this time, and am happy to see it again so close to home. The interior, (when accessible), and periodic performance and conceptual aspects, are all part of the experience. The creators of the Raygun Gothic Rocketship say this about their project: “The Raygun Gothic Rocketship is a roccoco retro-futurist future-rustic vernacular between yesterday’s tomorrow and the future that never was, a critical kitsch somewhere between The Moons of Mongo and Manga Nouveau”-  perfect for the energy of the day.

For more info go to www.raygungothicrocket.com/

Click on photos to see full view.

at Burning Man 2009, Black Rock City, Nevada

See the full post on the official SF Gov Site

San Francisco, CA—Mayor Gavin Newsom today joined the Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF) and the Port of San Francisco to celebrate the unveiling of Raygun Gothic Rocketship, a 40-foot-tall sculpture created by a team of Bay Area artists lead by Sean Orlando, Nathaniel Taylor, and David Shulman. The Rocketship, poised as if to board passengers for a typical run to a nearby stellar destination, will remain at the Pier 14 Tidal Plaza, at the base of Mission Street, on the Embarcadero for a 14-month temporary exhibition.

The 40-foot-tall artwork offers a retro-futuristic, highly-stylized vision of space travel circa 1930’s-1940’s science fiction and is the latest in a series of temporary public art exhibitions sponsored by BRAF to enliven and activate public spaces. The sculpture will be accompanied by a companion piece, the Rocket Stop designed by Alan Rorie, which tells the story of the Rocketship’s exploits, providing route, schedule and other information. The installation will be illuminated for nighttime viewing.

“We are very proud to have the work of local artists of this caliber represented along San Francisco’s iconic waterfront,” said Mayor Gavin Newsom. “Sean, Nathaniel, and David’s Raygun Gothic Rocketship is an important piece of our City’s strong temporary public art program that adds an important vibrancy and a vitality to our public spaces.”

“We at the Port are charged with creating opportunities for residents and visitors alike to connect with San Francisco’s spectacular waterfront,” said Port Executive Director Monique Moyer. “As the third in a series of large-scale sculptures to be installed temporarily at Pier 14, we are confident that this compelling piece will engage people and enhance their experience of the area. Pier 14 provides a fitting and fantastic backdrop for this whimsical work of art.”

To find out more about this project visit: www.blackrockarts.org/projects/raygun-gothic-rocket

Photograph by Steve Rhodes from flickr

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Back to the Future with Raygun Gothic Rocketship

Next door to the Amtrak train station on the San Francisco waterfront, a 40-foot retro rocket sculpture has been created by Five Ton Crane, a group of Burning Man associated artists for a year-long installation, and it’s stunningly playful.

The artists Sean Orlando, Nathaniel Taylor, and David Shulman (above), along with a crew of over 60 volunteers, originally created the sculpture for the 2009 Burning Man festival in Nevada’s Red Rock Desert.

In the desert, you could walk inside the rocket as if you really were going to take off, but insurance and permit considerations made that impossible along the San Francisco waterfront.

Accordingly, a kiosk was designed by Alan Rorie, displaying the daily intergalactic schedule for the Raygun Gothic Rocketship.

The retro rocket’s placement next to the Amtrak station is an unintended bit of irony since rail travel is experiencing a back to the future moment right now, although the United States is falling behind the rest of the world in that arena with each passing day.

Maybe that’s why the kiosk designer insisted that “Earth” was a “Local” stop.

I was taking a train on Friday morning, just before the rocketship’s official installation, and talked to a European tourist family who were going to Los Angeles via an Amtrak train to Bakersfield followed by a bus ride to downtown LA. When they asked me what they were getting into, I replied, “It’s very, very old-fashioned and slow. Pretend you’re in a Hollywood movie from the 1940s and you should have a good time.”

The European patriarch talked about how his family was on their way home from a trip to Shanghai. “Ten years ago China had no modern rail infrastructure. Now they have high-speed trains going at 270MPH everywhere. It’s amazing.”

Meanwhile, in California, it is taking forever to start building a modern railway system while the state chokes on its own exhaust. I wish the Rocket Gothic Raygun artists were in charge.

San Francisco, August 6, 2010 – The Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF) and the Port of San Francisco will celebrate the opening on August 6th at 3:00 PM at Pier 14, of an iconic, large-scale sculpture created by a team of Bay Area artists lead by Sean Orlando, Nathaniel Taylor, and David Shulman. This 40-foot-tall artwork, the Raygun Gothic Rocketship, offers a retro-futuristic, highly-stylized vision of space travel circa 1930’s-1940’s science fiction and is the latest in a series of temporary public art exhibitions sponsored by BRAF with the aim of enlivening and activating public spaces.

The Rocketship, poised as if to board passengers for a typical run to a nearby stellar destination, will remain at the Pier 14 Tidal Plaza, at the base of Mission Street, on San Francisco’s Embarcadero for a 14-month temporary exhibition. The sculpture will be accompanied by a companion piece, the Rocket Stop designed by Alan Rorie, which tells the story of the Rocketship’s exploits, providing route, schedule and other information. The installation will be illuminated for nighttime viewing.

According to Port of SF Executive Director, Monique Moyers, “We at the Port are charged with creating opportunities for residents and visitors alike to connect with San Francisco’s spectacular waterfront. As the third in a series of large-scale sculptures to be installed temporarily at Pier 14, we are confident that this compelling piece will engage people and enhance their experience of the area. Pier 14 provides a fitting and fantastic backdrop for this whimsical work of art.”

More than 70 artists and makers participated in the creation of the Raygun Gothic Rocketship under the auspices of Five Ton Crane, a collective of Bay Area artists and inventors (fivetoncrane.org). Lead artist Sean Orlando observed, “It’s remarkable what creative heights people can reach when they work together. The whole idea behind Five Ton Crane is that artists working in concert can accomplish so much more than any one person could working alone. The Raygun Gothic Rocketship project is a perfect example of that idea in action.”

KRON 4 Interview at Makers Faire 2010