XyloVan

Lucidity Festival was a much needed calm in the storm of our lives. Lately, it’s seemed like the plates we’re spinning are spinning us, and someone keeps adding more plates! At some point, your realize your life is living you, and you need to re-center, to find peace and solidity among solid souls with good intent.

So you came to the Lucidity Festival (again) , and you lose yourself in play and art and noise, and embrace old friends and make new ones and then you remember what it was you were up to before you got too busy to smile.

And then you smile.

We were so glad to bring the van out again and invite you all to play. Thank you all for the lovely sounds you made with us. We hope you found your peace, too. Maybe we’ll see you on the playa, if not sooner.

We built Seraphim, a 24-foot-high multi-ton wooden sculpture, in the desert last weekend near Joshua Tree, for BEquinox, the inaugural spring gathering of the Los Angeles Burning Man community.

Four artists adorned the flame vortex with angels representing the four largest cultures of modern L.A. – Latino, African, European and Asian – and participants wrote and painted their dreams, fears, desires and wishes onto salvaged pallet slats that we then screwed and nailed to the outsides of the vortex.

When the structure was almost complete, we secreted “The Human Spirit” – an angel sculpted in steel – inside and then finished walling her up. This weekend, we gathered for BEquinox – nearly 1,000 of us – and enjoyed each others’ art, music, libations and company.

Then we fueled the structure with gasoline, kerosene and lamp oil, lit road flares and put it to the torch.

Flames roared into the gentle desert night, warming and exciting us all, burning away the structure and revealing the surprise – the scorched, warped steel angel twisting inside the howling, wind-driven blaze.

Just a hunch – I think this is the start of a long and marvelous tradition for those around L.A. who burn brightest – in art and spirit as in life.

Huge hugs and thanks to everyone who welcomed me to the crew and made this the best, hardest, most rewarding thing I’ve ever helped build.

Bigger, lusher, deeper, louder – better.

The L.A. Burning Man Decompression Arts Festival grew in scope and beauty this year. We were really staggered and touched by all of you gorgeous people who came by to play and chat with us – and we wish we had met even more of you, but Decom beckoned, so we left XyloVan in your busy hands and went off to explore. Here are a few of our clumsy snaps (we were “experimenting” with motion blur and grain … okay, we really need to invest in a new camera) and some more thoughts.

From Steampunk Saloon‘s vibrant carnival and Dancetronauts‘ wild abandon to the fire artists on Flow Arts Stage and the art-car throwdown between Charlie the Unicorn and the Dirty Beetles – Decom delighted us in more ways than we can catalog.

We took the Saucer Squadron out on a few sorties and danced through the crowds, we noshed (banana and nutella crepes … oooooohhh mama). And we hung out under XyloVan’s rooftop canopy and listened to you all play – so many styles of drumming, plinking and symphonic syncopation that we basically emptied the adjective jar trying to find new ways to describe what you all bring to the van.

This year we were also fortunate to join the crew that built Seraphim, the first communal sculpture created by L.A. burners. We helped visitors write their hopes, dreams, fears prayers and grief onto flame-colored pallet slats that we then attached to the sculpture for later burning.

Hats off to Split, Widget, Michael, Igor and all the engineers, artists and hardcore just-keep-making-till-it’s-done volunteers who built that gorgeous work over the past month, set it up last week and then pulled it down and loaded it into a van for storage on Sunday. We can’t wait to see it meet its intended fate – a glorious bonfire – at a place still to be determined.

We scraped ourselves up Sunday morning (after going to sleep at 3:30 a.m.) to break down XyloVan and rejoin the Seraphim crew for a few hours – still marveling.

L.A. Decom went big this year – in the best fashion possible. Kudos to all of you. Stand by for a few videos.

Be warned – it’s LOUD. And that makes us happy.

We had an awesome time meeting you all and hearing you play!

We’ll have some photos and video up shortly. Meantime, come find us on Facebook!

XyloVan was thrilled and tickled to be invited to join hundreds of kids (and grownups indulging their inner children) at the Caine’s Arcade Cardboard Challenge DAY OF PLAY.

Kids in Boyle Heights (and at Cardboard Challenge events all over the world) built wild, amazing toys, games and masks out of cardboard, tape and a little paint. And they reminded a lot of grownups about something we often forget: Making things is a joy and an adventure.

We’ll have more photos up shortly – stay tuned. And if you’re not already familiar with the kid whose imagination sparked a worldwide movement of child empowerment – well, check out their Facebook page, watch the video below and consider donating to the Caine’s Arcade Scholarship Fund:

Caine’s Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.