Star of Shamash
A Jim-dandy! art project for Burning Man 2014, Caravansary!
| 2018 UPDATE: Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was unable to bring my art to the playa in 2014. This year I was able to get all of the LED lights working correctly and I will be able to bring it to the playa! I will set it up at camp Entheos at Esplanade & 3:45 so come and see it there. |
2014 was my 8th year attending Burning Man and I intended to participate by bringing art to the playa. [click here to go to my art installation participation questionnaire responses.] The theme for Burning Man 2014 was Caravansary. Back in the time and region of Mesopotamia, Shamash was the name of the Babylonian sun god. The symbol for this sun god was the Star of Shamash. Many caravans travelling along the Silk Road near the Babylonian region of Mesopotamia may have encountered the Star of Shamash. In honor of the 2014 Burning man theme, Caravansary, I am building an 8 foot diameter, 4 1/8 inch thick, wooden star structure. This Star of Shamash will be a night time beacon of colorful light attracting burners to this Babylonian sun god, Shamash, for night-time sun worshipping. I intend to light it up with RGB LED light modules, but only on the inside walls of the cut-out shapes and the outer rim, in a similar manner to the way the 2013 Idaho Core art project "Marvin" was lit up [click here for a video of Marvin]. To better reflect the LED light, I'll paint the inside walls with white paint. See the bottom of this page for my plan for the LED lights. I made a 3D model of my Star of Shamash in a virtual world creation software, Sim-on-a-Stick (a local version of Open Sim) and took snapshots of it to portray my idea in images shown below. I have decided NOT to burn it at the end of the event because I want everyone to be able to enjoy it at camp Entheos year after year! [click here to go to my construction progress page.]
