Simnuke
I went to Simnuke (simnuke.org) this weekend. Yup, I worked at the Fire Arts Festival running the premiere of Dance Dance Immolation — which we only got working at 10:00 PM or so — then left for the secret Nevada location at 11:30, more than an hour behind schedule. It’s amazing how fast you can drive on good roads, and we got to the site in less than five hours.
Simnuke was, without a doubt, the biggest fireball I will ever witness. What it means beyond that is unclear. The event was intended to commemorate the Trinity test, to honour those killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and to encourage reflection on how atomic weapons have altered human civilization. But as with all art, there is the possibility of a difference in interpretation between artist and audience. I know that people were moved: as one friend of mine noted, there were “a lot of wet eyes” after the event. Yet the experience was also strangely empty for some.
Which does not diminish the admiration I have for the team. I admire them for their perseverance. I admire them for their vision. I admire them for their sheer technical ability: this was, truly, a virtuoso performance. And I admire them for their balls, because the whole thing was of course blatantly illegal. Some part of me wishes I had been involved in the project, and it is something I would have stayed up nights for (which is a funny thought, because I was in fact staying up nights on DDI even as the Simnuke team was madly putting the last finishing touches on the hardware and loading their truck.)
I am confused, but impressed by the ambiguous beauty of the thing they created.
