08/14/2025
is one of the most ambitious art projects I've been on crew for. You know the old saying "shoot for the moon; even if you miss, you'll land among the stars"? It turns out it's absolutely true that aiming high lifts the average of all possible outcomes while simultaneously inspiring every person in your life (and even new folks you haven't met before) to assist you with your monumental task. I've always sought to spend as much time as I can with people who are unreasonably high agency and batsh*t insane ambitious; is definitively a member of this rare category and I'm proud to call him a friend.
As a treat, here's a little anecdote about how ruthless he is in bending reality to his will:
On the third day of our recent test build, while furiously soldering and crimping slip ring wires, and I look up to see a confused looking guy walk into our warehouse. "Is, uhh, this a burning man project?" "Yes, it's a gyroscopic kinetic sculpture..." We give him the spiel. Five minutes later, he walks out.
An hour later, we all realize that the mystery guy was supposed to be *our forklift operator*. With him long gone, there was nobody among us who knew how to operate one. Ben, despite being a PhD physicist, was not exactly seasoned in swinging around heavy machinery. But he wasn't going to let that stop our test build. When the time came, he stepped into the operator cab, carefully nudged the joystick inch by inch as we eased the legs into place, foot by foot - and Event Horizon rose into the sky. 🌌
