Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Takedown


Demolition Day(s)



 
Takedown in Progress




Towards the End




Dead Soldiers




Cute Airstream Included for Trailer Value




Loading the Trucks




Recovered Reinforcing Bar




Lifting and Carrying Back


Bodil Looking Happy Enough...




Loading the Pickups




Finagling a Tough Spot




How many Per Truck?




Trying to Break the Solar Apart




The Original Holy Shot...




Fearless Leader and Still Trying to Disassemble the Solar




Unstably Loaded Trucks




Larnie's Solar Roofs




Old-Fashioned Solar Machines




Unloading Unstable Trucks




Over the Compost




Slightly Stabler Transportation




Unloading More Outfall Units




At Your Service!




Finding Scrap Sod




Backfilling with Scrap Sod




Backfilling with Increasingly Rare Scrap Sod




A Delicate Touch...




Just the Right Place...




Yet Another Handsome Benicia Dog




Backfilled Space Where the Project Was
photo credit Larnie




The New Stonehenge (Sans Stone)
photo credit Larnie



All that goes up must eventually come down. Mark's demonstration project, having been viewed by countless Benicia residents and even more inquisitive dogs, finally came down this month. Your correspondent stood around taking pictures for this blog and offering the occasional helpful comment. 

We took the wooded pieces to Larnie and Bodil's house, where they are now stored in state as glorified scrap. Knowing Larnie, it will eventually be good for something. Mark painstakingly removed the sod from the top of the project, and reinstalled it on the ground where the shadow of the - um - structure had killed the existing grass. The result, as you can see above, is the mysterious crop circle footprint where the project was - at least until the next mowing.

Your correspondent can assure you that  no ancient astronauts were involved in this project (unless Mark isn't telling us something). No probes were involved. Solar recycling of wastewater was firmly demonstrated. No dogs were harmed in this project. Quite the opposite in fact. Dogs and humans of Benicia both demonstrated a healthy curiosity...

-Mark Van Norman-


Monday, March 2, 2015

Hats 'n Dogs

A Beautiful day with a well-attended talk and walk marked the introduction of the work to the community. Dogs (well-managed, mind you)  abounded, and everyone save your correspondent seemed too wear appropriate ultraviolet protection. A variety of cookies were displayed, to your correspondent's delight. Mark gave an excellent talk on the purpose of the work, both environmentally and artistically, and then answered a barrage of questions. At one point, as you will see, a small scale figure was introduced to show what a full-scale natural water-treatment device might look like in practice.

After the talk, Mark led a walk through the wetlands that separate the green from the Carquinez Strait - the very wetlands we are trying tho protect with "devices" like the  one Mark has created. Your correspondent has a bad leg, so all you will see here are pictures of people departing and shortly arriving from the walk - we have a small wetland, after all.

Your correspondent is happy and somewhat bewildered by the fact that this sensitive wetland is one of the dismayingly few places in Benicia where doge are allowed off leash.  My vote - more places for dogs off-leash, fewer of these places to be in environmentally sensitive areas like our wetlands - Not that I don't take advantage of the allowance with our own dogs occasionally.

All in all, a lovely display of the extraordinary visibility of Mr. Brest van Kempen's works in practice - environmental art of the best kind - attention-grabbing for the passerby and informative once the attention has been grabbed. I can only recommend that Arts Benicia station a docent with the work to explain it and engage the passersby. I think that with docents, we could both better explain Mark's work to the passerby and use Mark's work as a tool to enroll people in Arts Benicia.



People gather well ahead of time




Piece full of water




Onlookers (notice photographer)




Informal explanation with solar tower




Notice the grasses already growing




Other photographers #1




Mark describes purpose




Small person #1




Larnie and Bodil #1




Mark explains #2




I still can't believe the beauty of this town




The solar tower #2




Other photographers #2




Mark Explains #3




Small people #2




Handsome dog #1




Photographer with awkward camera #1




Handsome dog #2




Big hat #1




Larnie introduces Mark to crowd




Handsome dog #3




Mark holds forth to crowd




Official placement of small figure to give scale  for full-scale project




crowd and Mt Diablo in distance




Larnie with exotic video camera




Crowd looks on to Mark's description of project




Large and small figures




Explaining the project




Small figure is Dutch - how appropriate!





Da mayor describes how this work fits in to what the town is doing




Crowd leaves for tour of wetland




Handsome dogs #4 and #5




Crowd disappears on tour