NIMBY is having a funraiser on Saturday, October 16th! We’ll be there, running 2pir fresh from it’s journey back across the sea from Denmark. A number of other sights, sounds, and experiences will be there as well, including Extra Action Marching Band, CoRE, and the Boiler Bar. Also in attendance will be 4pyre², trying to one-up us with their 3 dimensional equations. I predict a friendly “flame war” between them and us.

The party starts at 9pm and the cover starts at $16 (if you can afford to donate more, please do!) More info can be found at the Facebook event page.

Saturday, October 16th
NIMBY
8410 Amelia Street (off 85th)
Oakland, CA

It’s been almost two months since Smukfest and still no update on the blog. Wondering why? It’s because everyone has been incredibly busy with Syzygryd, Burning Man, and the aftermath of the annual excursion. But for those wondering how 2pir and Smukfest went: It was awesome.

2pir ran so well raised 10 feet in the air that we’re looking into how to do this for every run. It really changes the dynamic of the piece and not only makes it easier to run but more fun for the participants as well. Just like our normal 2pir runs, we let anyone from the audience up on the stage to dance and play with the fire. What was a little bit different this run was that we had actually scheduled and rehearsed performances. We had a belly dancer as well as several break dancers who impressed the crowd before we opened it up to the general audience. We even managed to incorporate the Top Gun Theme. And of course the crew had way too much fun themselves, whether it was Mustache Night, suiting up in the Faraday suits, letting kids play with fire, freezing tanks, or digging around in Danish scrap yards.

Another difference from our normal runs was that we shared the spotlight with two other pieces. We alternated between 2pir, Omega Recoil and Boreus Hyemalis over the course of the night, blowing the Danes’ minds with Zap, Burn, and Crush. All in all it was a great run. And now 2pir is back in storage, waiting for the next run.

For a bunch of pictures and videos check out:
Ed’s Flickr Set
Tom’s Flickr Set

Getting ready to fly 2pir

We just got pictures of the 2pir build-out happening in Denmark for this year’s Smukfest. This run we’ll attempt something 2pir has never done before: make it fly. The fine Danes over in Skanderborg are putting together the platform that will raise all of 2pir (both flame effects and performers) 3 meters off the ground. So far it’s looking pretty awesome. Check out all the pics below:

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Omega Recoil: Denmark container load from oscar champagne on Vimeo.

After almost 6 months of rebuilding 2pir, testing, doing paperwork, and way too much time at NIMBY, 2pir is on it’s way to Denmark for Smukfest 2010! As you can see above, we spent the last Saturday afternoon stuffing everything into a shipping container for the journey across the ocean.

In the container with 2pir is Omega Recoil‘s Tesla Coil, and Therm‘s brand spanking new robot. Last year we put DDI on a boat. This year we’re putting 2pir in the air. The flame effects and the platform are going to be 3 meters in the air with festival goers milling about underneath them. We’re going to take the beach at Denmark and show the Danes more fire and electricity than they’ve seen in a long time.

There was quite a bit of photos and video taken of Dance Dance Immolation while we were in Denmark for Smukfest earlier this year.
Allan, the Skanderborg Festival Photographer, got some great shots of DDI during our run in Denmark at Smukfest. I highly recommend viewing the panorama shots on a wide screen monitor:

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There’s also pictures of DDI and Interpretive Arson’s Danish adventures from Ian:

As well as Ed:

The Denmark crew has arrived at Smukfest and we spent a jet-lagged day setting up Dance Dance Immolation on a raft. Yes, a raft! Ian setup his camera to take an awesome time-lapse video of the setup process:

DDI Smukfest Setup Timelapse from Interpretive Arson on Vimeo.

The break in the middle where everyone disappears is lunch (though you can see Nicole coming back to check on it while we’re all gone, because she’s like that). The blue tarps went on when it began to drizzle. The video ends just as Ian and Jonathan are walking the inspectors from the Danish Technological Institute through the system (with their 12 year old daughter!) They approved us, though they tell us they need to see our test run Tuesday night. Just to be sure, you understand.

And relatedly, Jonathan also has some interesting reflections on fire art over on his blog.