Raygun Gothic Rocket

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Ever feel like you were on candid camera? I did today when I was looking at the Raygun Gothic Rocket down on the Bay by the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. This futuristic piece of art (which you can actually go inside, although I'm not sure when and how) was made by a group of Bay Area artists who call themselves "Five Ton Crane." The lead artists on it were Sean Orlando, David Shulman, and Nathanial Taylor. It was originally made for the Burning Man festival.

So what is it? Great question. The blue information kiosk, shown in the fourth picture, says the following about it:

"The Raygun Gothic Rocketship mixes the curious and fantastical science of the imagination with the solid, everyday science familiar to builders, artists, mechanics and engineers. From the far-flung past of a future that never happened, coming to a planet near you..."

Got it? In case you didn't here is an equally vexing description from the Rocket's website:

"The Raygun Gothic Rocketship is a rococo retro-futurist future-rustic vernacular between yesterday’s tomorrow and the future that never was, a critical kitsch somewhere between The Moons of Mongo & Manga Nouveau."

Hmmm... Okay.

On the blue kiosk there is a floor plan of the ship which boasts that he provides "All the comforts of home," which includes a "Stimulating bio lab." Other aspects of the floor plan include an engine room and crew quarters. I'd share a close-up of the layout, but because of the sun's reflection, the pictures I took of it aren't very good.

Curious about Five Ton Crane? Here is a description from the kiosk:

"Five Ton Crane (5TC) came into being through a series of collaborative, community-based art projects, culminating in the Rocketship. It is a diverse group of artists, builders and inventors from the Bay Area. As the name implies: 5TC does the heavy lifting that the individual artist couldn't do on their own; pooling resources, interests and talent to create opportunities for Art. From giant projects like the Raygun Gothic Rocketship to individual projects as well as client-based work...there is no job too big or too small that Five Ton Crane can't lift."

We'll just ignore that little grammatical error in the third sentence.

Anybody have a brilliant idea for what category I should put this in? Let me know.

Care to know more about the Raygun Gothic Rocket? Visit this website: http://www.raygungothicrocket.com/
If you are interested in Five Ton Crane, go here: http://www.fivetoncrane.org/blog/