Introduction
It's a clear night on the open playa. A person, traveling alone, notices faint lights in the distance, and curiosity draws her closer. It's a circular perimeter fence for... she's uncertain. She finds the break in the fence and follows a small path to a central platform. There are lighted stairs; she climbs them. Now what? It seems to just be a simple black platform. The lighting changes from white to red. Yet still nothing. She explores the platform further, moves around it - then a flash of flame in the distance. And another. And yet another. She quickly learns what series of her own movements created the flame. She soon can control the hidden mechanisms, creating choreographed fire through motion; learns the secret of varying heights, and creates complex and beautiful patterns with the distant flames. She dances, and her dance is transformed into fire. It feels like sorcery to her: like creating something out of nothing.
2πr. Two concentric rings. The inner ring detects movement and translates it into fire exploding up from the playa surface on the outer ring. Presented without any visible theme, it is a blank slate for the user to perform upon. It seems to lend itself to thoughts of magic, though it could just as easily be seen as a tool for a performer, a conductor's orchestra, or any number of other interpretations. To be unveiled for Burning Man 2006, where we hope to find out just what people make of it.
Design Overview
2πr is highly interactive large-scale fire art. It is a central platform surrounded by a larger ring of inconspicuous flame effects - completely innocuous to onlookers - until a participant makes it come alive. It consists of two concentric rings: The inner ring is a 3ft tall octagonal platform 6ft in diameter. Around the edge of this platform are 16 infrared proximity sensors placed at regular intervals. Each sensor is linked to a corresponding flame effect in the outer ring, which is 50ft in diameter. When the IR sensor detects an object passing over the emitter lower than 3ft, a solenoid is triggered and a low flame is automatically produced in the corresponding flame effect, 25 feet away. And when the sensor detects an object passing over the emitter higher than 3ft, a second solenoid is triggered and high flame is produced from the same effect.
The mechanics of this will be hidden from both the participant and onlookers: The fuel tanks will be camouflaged in a wooden shelter. The fuel line to the accumulators will be buried. The accumulators will be hidden under the platform. The lines to the flame effects themselves will be buried, as well as the electronics and the solenoid assemblies near the tip of the flame effects. The only visible mechanism will be the copper tips of the flame effects rising about 6in from the playa floor, 25ft from the platform itself. We want participants to feel as though their movements are creating the fire, not the electronics nor the plumbing. And to onlookers, it will seem the same.
There will be as little signage as safely possible around 2πr. Participants will uncover for themselves what it is and how to control it. We wish to avoid directing or instructing so that each experience with 2πr differs, directly related to the participant's own level of curiosity and preferred style of motion while controlling the flame effects.
Schedule:
Research – Dec-01 to Jan-31 (complete)
Preliminary testing - Feb-01 to Mar-01 (complete)
Testing - Mar-01 to Mar-31
Fabrication - Apr-01 to Jul-31
Set-up - Aug-23 to Aug-26
Running 2πr - Aug-28 to Sep-02
Clean-up - Sep-03 to Sep-04
Post-Playa and Community
We intend 2πr to be a singular and memorable experience, debuting at Burning Man and continuing outside the event through regional burns. We plan to work with other fire art events (Dark Skies, Fire Arts Festival, etc) in order to share it with as many people as possible.
Documents
2πr Proposal - 15-Feb-2006 - 
Gallery
Concept
2πr Hi-Res CAD - 14-Feb-2006
2πr Hi-Res Illustrated Fuel Maps - 13-Feb-2006
Construction
Coming soon...
Deployment
Coming soon...