ADG Perspective

May-June 2018

Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/974985

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1 0 P E R S P E C T I V E | M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 8 N E W S HeadSpace Mutant Vehicle B Y S A M O G D E N , A R T D I R E C T O R A N D S E T D E S I G N E R In 2015, I visited Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert for the first time. Having grown up drawing and building, I immediately fell in love with the wealth of inspiration from the variety of larger- than-life art installations and performances out in the dusty desert. Having only just arrived at an event thirty years in the making, I couldn't ignore the feeling that I had a LOT of catching up to do!! After returning to the default world, I relocated to Phoenix, AZ, to figure out how I could leave my mark on Black Rock City. After countless late-night talks with friends in Phoenix, we set to work resurrecting the RV chassis that would become HeadSpace, a 45-foot long, 20-foot tall mutant vehicle party machine. We spent the rest of the year fundraising on Kickstarter and designing concepts. By the beginning of 2016, we had a clear direction for the design, a series of light-up slices attached to the front of the vehicle that, when viewed from the right angle, form a giant face. One of the challenges of designing HeadSpace was creating a structure that could disassemble and transport easily. The walls of the top level fold down, the face fins detach from the front of the vehicle and the whole rig is driven onto a trailer for transport. Designing in 3D, I modeled the vehicle in SketchUp, and then used the model to generate the material estimates; CNC cut files, construction documents and concept renderings. Over the next eight months, teaming up with friends and businesses around Phoenix, HeadSpace was constructed. An RV suspension was modified to hold the 1,000-pound face plus 40-50 riders. The construciton team then fabricated the first and second floor steel platforms from scratch, CNC routed the giant face slices, wired and programmed thousands of LED lights, cut and stitched custom cushions, attached mirrors, graphics, decorations and of course, added a killer sound system! After the first voyage of HeadSpace to Burning Man 2016, I came home with a head full of fond memories and a long list of improvements for the next year. HeadSpace is a project that will continue to evolve year after year. In the future, I plan to stay curious and explore installation art, interactive art and other types of design outside of the film and television sphere in order to bring a broader vision to my work. A. SKETCHUP MODEL RENDERED WITH RENDER[IN] BY SAM OGDEN. B. THE TEN PRINCIPLES OF BURNING MAN WERE CUT INTO THE STAIR RISERS AND BACKLIT WITH COLORED LED'S. C. THE "HEAD" OF HEADSPACE WAS 1/2" PLYWOOD CNC ROUTED. D. PHOTO OF HEADSPACE ON THE PLAYA AT BURNING MAN. A B C D

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