the moongate has burned!

the moongate has burned. thanks to the generous permission of friends to rebuild the moongate on their property, we were able completely to reconstruct the sculpture using all the original materials. a few new additions were made by a local family who experienced a devastating death on 30th march and were unable to participate in the first iteration of moongate; it was a great pleasure to meet them and to be able to include them at this time.

the moongate proved reluctant to burn in the end. when we at last resorted to gasoline, we were surprised to discover that even the gasoline wouldn’t burn. once the fire started, it lasted less than two hours. the remaining ash from the site wouldn’t even fill a five gallon bucket; let us hope that, as a metaphor for the reduction of grief and loss in the ash, this will be healing for people who have participated in the project.

With the help of videographer willie britton, we are working on a short documentary film about the project. key west ultra light pilot e.p.dalton took us on a flyover of the site and the sculpture wednesday afternoon before the burn. we also have some lovely images of the fire (once it got going), a soundtrack of japanese gagaku and taiko that should create a properly solemn and mystical atmosphere, and a few interviews to round out the substance of the film. details will be announced here and on our twitter account; for twitter follow “jonathanschork”.

the images below were taken by willie britton and me before and during the burn. we hope you will enjoy them. thank you for all your continued interest and support.