I LOVE IT! What an artistic, engineering, political and cooperative achievement! This monument to the spirit of the people of the entire four county Los Angeles basin shows why you and California ARE the most creative, most sincerely capable and wonderful state and STATE OF MIND in all of AMERICA! I have SO much respect for your lives and hard work and can't wait to visit LACMA again and become part of, "Levitating Mass". Please video-document every phase (day and night) Sell DVD's
I just drove past the boulder and transport on south street in lakewood. Didn't know what it was until I came here. There were 'tons' of people looking at it and gathered around taking pictures.
super excited. the firm i work for, Inland Engineering Services, was one of many tasked to ensure for the movement of the project. Been postponed for many months and excited to finally see it move.
@debroq: I believe the boulder is wrapped in plastic to protect it from friction from the apparatus stabilizing it during transport, and from staining as it makes its way across Los Angeles.
I think the artist could have gone a different route and saved 10 million dollars by recreating the design of this boulder on site at LACMA with simulated materials and it's weight a fraction of what it is. Kinda silly all this trouble and the museum goer would have never known any different.
@lebroq according to a couple engineers I talked with last night, it's to contain the rock, and anything that could errode during transport, as well as keeping it safe from vandalism, like people wanting to take a chunk off for their "collection.
@wildone106 I wasn't discounting "pre-industrial natives" moving large stones. My peeve was that savvysearch said this was the "largest object ever moved since the time of the pyramids."It is not. IF it were being moved w/o modern machinery, w/o comp controlled hydraulic jacks, levelers, press.reg'd tires, independently controlled electric motors, and tons of steel and only with sheer manpower and simple tools such as used in constructing the great pyramids, then... you get my point. (i hope).
@savvysearch No it is not the largest object ever moved since the pyramids, Have you not seen the truck and rail transports of steam turbines? Oil derricks? Buildings? Yes it is big, yes it is heavy, but no it is not the largest.
10 million dollars to move rock what a wast of money , i fell sorry for the victims of Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami there homeless there luckly to get one meal a day but rather spend it on a rock the you, sorry. so sad so sad in did :(
