2006

Art Car: Tabitha, Baby

Tabitha is a retired british military vehicle. She's been restored and extensively modified by Tikidom's Engineer, Marty, to sport two independently driven rear wheels and an array of oversized castor wheels along the front. Tabitha's costume in line for the 2006 theme is that greatest symbol of Future: Baby. The infant shell will be a mache sculpture assuming the shapes of dimpled large arms, legs, and one giant, bobbing head. Tabitha as "Baby" will crawl slowly across the playa carrying Tikis and other Burners in her main cabin (seats 3 plus driver) and upper deck (6 person limit). Limbs and head are built to rock gently with every start, stop, and turn of Tabitha - creating the sense that the giant baby is truly propelling itself through the dust, giggling and crying as she comes upon the works of Burners strewn across the desert.

Four videos of baby Tabitha courtesy of Eunice - with audio:

baby_driving.avi — Unfortunately arms and legs weren't operating at this time.
baby_night_lights.mov — Baby glows blue
baby_night_audio_test.mov — Tikis survey newly installed audio.
baby_balloon.avi — First baby in space?

Scheduled Discussions

Both of Tikidom's large academic spaces will host regular scheduled discussions regarding issues of sociological/ political/ metaphysical/ and paranormal interest. One such talk regards the phenomenon of multigenerational attendance at burning man, with attention to the ways this comes about (who invites who?) and the qualities this brings to the relationship.

Community Scaffolding

In 2006, Tikidom will continue its tradition of publicly accessible 2-story scaffolding, offering a largely unobstructed panoramic view of the surrounding city. A large tented parachute at the base of the scaffolding creates a community shade area.

Scaffolding lovingly provided by tireless tiki Brent with decoration by Cado.

Giant Gas Pump

Tikidom's own "Word Mechanic" returns this year with an enormous gas pump sculpture planned for placement along one of Tikidom's public borders. The pump will stand twice larger than life, and will remind passing Burners of the one certainty the Future holds: Petroleum. May it empower and enslave us forever. Until it runs out.

Frequent improvisational performance pieces will be staged around the giant pump with costuming including US Soldier fatigues and traditional Arab garb. These pieces sustain Tikidom's history of improvisational, interactive performance art including the Black Rock City Liquor Control raids and Travelling Screen Door Salesmen performances of 2005.

Tiki Community Burn Circle

Metal Artist Brent built this community fire sculpture: An 8 foot grinning tiki god head complete with rolling, flaming eyes and a hinged mouth to allow stoking the fire. The spectacle last year attracted passing Burners to step off the intersection and join us in the light and heat exploding off the grinning metal god. This year the head will gain a hat designed to better reflect heat to spectators. Tikidom respects BRC standards of fire safety, maintaining an wide empty circumference around the burn and keeping multiple fire extinguishers handy.

Fire Spinning, Drumming, and Music

Frequent fire spinning and drum circles are planned for 2006, with Cado heading fire spinning, Cody manning the sound system, and Steven bringing together the evening drum circles.

Hope. Dispair. Either way you're going to need a hat.

Will the future be bright and sunny or barren and toxic? Either way you're gonna need a hat. Elvis and m "head" up an interactive project for all burners with heads. This project, fashionably re-using objects that would otherwise be landfill, is a nod at protection from the elements as well as a hope for the future of our planet's health. Burners with heads that need protection can stop by the decorating dome at Tikidom.

Axis Mundi, In Illo Tempore: Community Reading Room

axis mundi: the axis point between heaven earth and hell
in illo tempore: the original time, the only real time

Burners invited to kick back in wing-back chairs on oriental rugs and peruse the selection of books, from reference to Sci Fi.

The Cube

By Steven and Kim.

Camp Layout

As we are a large group, and host to a number of large-scale community projects, Tikidom is careful to use space wisely. Resident architect Eunice reglarly takes on the top-down structural organization of our lot. Doing so ensures that cars are stowed away where they can be forgotten about, tents are positioned to promote community area, and public works such as our scaffolding, reading room, burn circle, and dome get all the space they require and no more. Tentative maps for the our two 2006 locations are linked here:

• Tikidom (pdf)
• Tikiburbs (pdf)

Camp Location

This year, due to a clerical error, Tikidom gets not one, but two official homes! Click image at right for likely placement.

Citizenship Guide

Due to the number of new citizens and activities taking place in 06, we provide a Citizenship Guide to answer all of the major questions you might have or should have had.