CONCEPT
A Puffin Boots Project
An inviting space where people gather and relax. In the center is a round table upon which stands a telescope.
Lines on the table suggest directions to point the telescope, bringing an art piece into view. This activates a soundscape and a poem is read aloud that relates to the art. Beautiful old books have space for new poems to be written.
The poem is designed to strongly resonate only once the participant voyages to the art.
The poem persists in memory and enhances the next waking dream.
EXAMPLE POEM
Collaboration with art: DREAM CAUSED BY THE FLIGHT OF A BEE SHORTLY BEFORE WAKING (AKA H.A.R.P.)
"Orpheus and the Bees"
The bees buzzing beauty for Orpheus
Slide across sonorous strings
To free the Snake-bitten Eurydice
But turning she tumbles again
Vega, bright crystal of starlight
An eagle with folded wings
For a second sweet muse you Levitate
The cold blade of morning is near
So hold out your tortoiseshell harp
A just waking moment of dreams
The bees have a lot yet to comtemplate
As do we.
LEAD ARTISTS
Infinite Art
PUFFIN BOOTS COLLECTIVE
Liam’s first burn was 2010. He loves creating experiences around art and science. He has run a science talk series and was part of the Experience Vending Machine honorarium project. He co-organizes the Stochastic Gallery artists collective and a science outreach project ScienceSketches.org.
Mikhail Haramati is the artistic director. She is an environmentalist and visual artist working in painting and textiles. Previous playa projects include Barbie Death camp's Barbie Dream, and the Flower Tower. She seeks to reveal moments of grace that otherwise remain unknown. She is also a woodworker, welder, and seamstress.
Enrique (Rico) Rojas is the electronic and optics engineer for the project. Rico is a physicist (Packard Fellow), a jazz musician, and poet.
Katie Amberg-Johnson is the coder for the project. Katie is a computational biologist and artist. She will also oversee poem curation and communication (she is currently working on a poetry compilation book). She won a Hawai'ian state poetry championship with her poem, “Me: a Bumblebee.”