Hippie Pete's Tower of Babble - A very tall cocktail lounge  

It began as a basic platform to view the burn from where ever we were camping. It took all summer long to create as it took on a life of it's own. Pete never stopped and took the journey until it was done. the result was a beautiful, sound, storng yet delicate, elegant platform worthy of our presence. Well done.

Following our principles of using all assets we bring with us to the playa
and our philosophy of creating functional art, combined with the knowledge
of ourselves that we do not stray much from camp, and! our desire to see
more of the 'experience, the Tower of Babble was conceived...

Located in our Art Camp, utilizing 100% of the assets we bring with us as is our philosophy, we have turned our towing truck into an artistic viewing platform/cocktail lounge.

Using the truck we bring with us, we have created a platform 13' from the ground (5' from the rack). No, we will not be driving it up this way. Using the truck as the foundation allows us to eliminate guy lines.

There is around $600 worth of new steel which has taken (so far) around 120 hours to fabricate. We still need to figure the time and expense of painting all that steel.

The platform has been designed and welded for ease and speedy set up while still safe to stand on. The platform floor is 13' from the ground and has a railing for safety 3' from the platform.

Below the platform and above the rack of the truck has 4 fluorescent mesh panels with a fire design on them. In front of each of the panels is a welded flame. The bright fabric allows the metal to stand out.

Fixtures are attached to the floor of the platform holding 320 watts of black light to shine down on participants below. A mural is attached below the flames/panels to better utilize the black light - cost/time - $70.00/2 weekends.

 

It is constructed of square 1 1/4" tubing welded together using finesse rather than bulk. (Hippy Pete, the metal artist, is an aerospace engineer in the real world.)

The platform on top will have fluorescent acrylic on it and a 3' high railing for safety cinched down with turnbuckles. There will be a black light mounted on the viewing platform to turn our costumes into glowing lights.

There will be a fluorescent mural underneath also because we can. So artwork will cover the bottom to the top, camouflaging the truck on two sides. The back side of the truck faces our trailer and will not obviously be seen by the public, though they will be interested in seeing the inside of the 'cube' as they climb to the platform. The fixtures sticking out of the side will radiate black light strongly for 20' and will be across from TTok shade structure and Fireflower Centerpiece and will help to support their fluorescent qualities.

There will be 3 fixtures inside the 'cube' pointed upwards to illuminate
both the neon fabric and the UV acrylic.

Each of the four corners on top will hold marking lights and we will have
black light trained on the platform also so that we, in all of our
fluorescent finery will become moving art pieces ourselves.

The truck has stabilizers in front and rear for safety.

The truck has stabilizers on both ends for stability. Each of the four corners of the platform has light fixtures and the floor is made of fluorescent blue acrylic - cost - $1000.00. There will be, of course, a black light fixture for the participants on the platform as they will become a part of the artwork. Total UV Watts: 800

The complex floor support structure will use UV highlight to give visual depth at night. There is a ladder for ascending and descending the piece. The ladder will be put away when we are not there to supervise.We are Wrapping the metal rails with UV fabric scraps for interactivity (people love to take pieces for their costumes, bikes, cars, etc.) and design.