Here are the text portions of our submission to Burning Man

Web Listing

Ku De Ta is built on the shifting desert sands between hope and fear. Revolution takes many forms. And this one, this is ours. It’s our time to rise up, impact our community, to make our stand. We’re a fortified rebel compound comprised of refugees from Opulent Temple, Space Cowboys, Disorient, Flaming Lotus Girls, Burners Without Borders/Camp Katrina, and Gigsville. And we’re coming at ya, loud, proud, unafraid. Are you ready? Better yet, are you worthy? Are you!?!?
Approach our gates and find out. Maybe – just maybe – you’ll join the rebellion and reap the rewards: ambrosia and honey, manna from the heavens, all rolling together as one. That is, IF you are allowed to enter. Do you have what it takes? Can you see with the right kind of eyes and glimpse the new dawn, just beyond the horizon? Does glory await you? Are you one of us?
Because we see what’s going down and we’re ready. Without eternal vigilance, it can happen here. Power to the freaky people!


Physical

Ku De Ta presents a fearsome face to Black Rock City, yet with hopeful clues that something more warm and inviting lies within. Visitors see a two-story wall made of scaffolding covered with ag netting that has been custom spray painted by a pair of talented San Francisco street artists. Revolutionaries manning the wall interact with visitors and sometimes blast them with water cannons. Two flames at the top corners of the walls occasionally erupt in massive fireballs. Two openings in the front wall appear to be the only way in (the rest of this rebel compound is enclosed by cars, RVs, a truck, walls of canvas, and other barriers to entry). One portal is adorned with signs of hope, the other with indicators of fear. Choose one and be put through differing obstacle courses before finding yourself in the most warm and comfortable of all possible chill areas. The shaded outdoor area has couches, gym mats, tons of pillows and cushions, an elevated queen-sized bed, a mister, and bumpin’ beats laid down by our resident DJ Smoove and others (note: we don’t aim to be a sound camp and plan to keep the tunes mellow using Ipods rather than decks). Our indoor chill area is made from a 20-feet geodesic dome, connected to the “VIP room”: an 8-feet dome.
The basic idea of Ku De Ta is a revolutionary façade and cuddle puddle core. We plan to be the ultimate gathering place and chill spot for our extended friends and family in other big camps we’ve been involved with, as well as the new friends we intend to make out there. We’re all Burning Man veterans and as you can see from our design, we’ve been smart about where we place our common areas, residential areas, and infrastructure (generators boxed to reduce sound and placed behind our truck, kitchen inside the truck, shower and evaporation pond in a rear area with no traffic). Our flame effects – which will mostly be lit at night -- will be engineered by two people who have done similar work with both the Flaming Lotus Girls and Opulent Temple. It will consist of propane tanks safely stored in garbage cans of water, with lines running through emergency shutoff values through accumulation chambers on the scaffolding and up to the flame. And finally, we will have an aggressive cleanup plan. Our impact on the playa should be minimal, but we’ll initiate our cleanup on Sunday the 3rd and require all camp members to stay until it’s done.



Interactivity

Ku De Ta is built on the shifting desert sands between hope and fear. And we intend to play and experiment with that notion as the week goes on. Our front scaffolding with be a gathering place for costumed camp members (we’ll have military style jumpsuits with our Ku De Ta logo and other revolutionary themed costumes) – but off limits to outsiders – and we’ll interact with visitors in ways that are alternately gruff and challenging, warm and inviting, or Sphinx-like, with riddles and clues that encourage visitors to try one entrance or the other. The two sides of our wall will be graphically different, one representing hope and the other fear, and we also might turn these two sides against one another into warring factions trying to draw people to their sides (ie, to use their door). We’re excited about our concept and want it to be a work in progress.
Once people choose an entrance, then they’ll engage with the most interactive portion of the project: the maze. Using wood, canvas tarps, art pieces, and a variety of recreational equipment, we’ll run them through a gauntlet that has shifting outcomes that we intend to change up at various times using a moveable wall, so that the same entrance doesn’t yield the same outcome each time. There will be three basic passages, one of which turns out to be an exit. I could tell you more about all this, but I’ve not received proper authorization to do so. Sorry.
As far as our “past history, philosophy, personal interactivity with the community,” we all have deep ties in the Burning Man world and our camp will reflect our ongoing commitment to enhancing the Burning Man project. A few examples: Scribe has written extensively about the event for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, including deep immersion projects with the Flaming Lotus Girls and Camp Katrina in Mississippi. His partner, Rosie, is a Black Rock Arts Foundation board member, last year’s Opulent Temple treasurer, and a current candidate for San Francisco supervisor. Smoove is one of the most popular DJs in the Bay Area (who regularly supports BM events and absolutely rocked the recent Precompression party) and a founding member of the Space Cowboys, helping build their famed Unimog. Scott B Free is a longtime Gigsville resident, former member of the BM Web Team, and always a creative contributor to the event’s art and vibe. Mouk has been a key member of Disorient and is an amazingly resourceful burner. Santosh has attended Burning Man every year since 1995, when he and his CCC compatriots brought the first large scale sound system to the playa. And the rest of our group are just as creative, engaging, and committed to making this a fun and interactive camp.


Fire Plan

Concept – KuDeTa’s fire are structure will consist of two ambient flames atop two 15 foot towers, one representing HOPE and the other FEAR. They will be propane fueled and burning an ambient flame with the ability to blast skyward via electrically powered solenoid switches (one for HOPE and one for FEAR).
Structure – There will be on single 25 gallon propane tank that will fuel these. It will be on the ground, contained in a large trash can full of water. The main control will be via the hand screw valve on the tank itself. In addition, there will be a safety cutoff valve in the line close to the tank in the case that the tank valve should become inoperable. A single line will go up through the scaffolding to a T, where it will become two lines, one for each blaster. This initial line to the T will be about 15’-18’ long. The lines at the split will be about 15’ long to the respective structures. The split will be in the form of an h-shaped manifold, sending two lines toward each structure. One line will lead to the structure and have a regulator/cutoff valve to regulate flow to the ambient flame and to be able to cutoff fuel from the top of the scaffolding. The ambient flame will consist of pipe that will stand up and at the ends have bleed holes in it where the ambient flame will burn. This will be wrapped in steel wool to help burn consistency and continuity. The second line will lead to a 5 gallon accumulator tank. A solenoid switch will be attached to the top of the tank. This switch will be electronically controlled from doorbell style switches from below. These switches will be connected to a master power strip that will reside 10’20’ from the scaffolding on the ground. The solenoids will remain as closed valves that will allow gas to accumulate and upon triggering of the switch, the pressurized gas will be released through the exit side of the switch, facing skyward. At the exit point of the valve there will be larger diameter pipe that will rise vertically to the same height as the ambient flame where a wide-mouth dispersion pipe end will allow the pressurized gas to escape and be ignited by the ambient flame vertically into the sky. The ambient flame height will be about 6 inches high and the blast flame will reach about 6 feet high and 2 feet in diameter for no more than 2 seconds. This is the same for the other structure and the structures will be approximately 30’ apart.
Safety – One person, Eric Dash (DASH), will be the primary contact and responsible for the building of the structure and coordinating fire safety. The fuel tank will be isolated on the ground in a large trashcan full of water. This will be at least 20’-25’ from each flame. There will be an inline emergency cutoff valve near the tank in the case that the tank valve should become inoperable. At ground level, there will be a large chemical fire extinguisher that will be prominently hung at eye level on the scaffolding near the tank. There will be similar cutoff valves near the accumulators at the top to allow control/cutoff from the top of the scaffolding. The electrical supply will have plugs at the solenoid level to be able to be unplugged and will also be able to be cutoff from the power strip on the ground, a short distance from the scaffolding. There will be chemical fire extinguishers at the top of the scaffolding to be able to address fire issues from atop the scaffolding. There will be no flags, banners or material within any proximity of the flame. And the flames will only be directed straight up towards the sky. Care will be taken to ensure that the flames are not within range of any vehicles or the road or paths where people can pass. The structures will be secured with metal bailing wire or hose clamps where applicable to avoid dislodging and misdirection of the flame. The structure will not be operated in any wind conditions that will make the flame disperse beyond its prescribed range. The structure will only be ignited by DASH and will only be operated in his presence with the assistance of one other person. The only full tank on the premises at any one time will be actively operating tank in the water barrel. All new fuel sources will be stored with an active fire camp elsewhere on the playa (most likely with the Flaming Lotus Girls). The entire structure will be assembled with plumbers tape at all joints and will thoroughly leak tested and operated prior to its arrival at the playa. It is expected that official from BRC will inspect the system and safety precautions thoroughly before issuance of the laminate.