109.7 degrees Fahrenheit. And that was inside. Ouch. Welcome to New Delhi.
Despite the extraordinary conditions, our team lifted the last piece of glass up and into the air late in the afternoon today. So, hats off.
Here are some pictures of what they hath wrought over the past two weeks. Two boom lifts, three scissor lifts, lots of scaffolding, over 40,000 custom glass tubes, and miles and miles of stainless steel aircraft cable. Oh yeah, and several walkie talkies.
These come in handy when one person is on the ground sighting the aesthetic lines of the sculpture and your partner is fifty feet down the length of the room and several stories up in the air. "Okay now lift it a little more... a little more. Stop. Okay, now to the left. Uh-huh. Yup. Great!" My voice was shot after the first day, so that's when we got the walkie talkies.
And after a week of long days where you sweat so much that you might as well be swimming you're so wet and you think that there is no way that all this work can happen, these devices provide a perceived measure of control and authority despite the exhaustion and a punch-list of items that appears to grow each night. Caught in this Sisyphean loop, barking out affirmatives - "Copy that. North five west twenty-three gets a pulley. Over." - gives a welcome sense of accomplishment. And it's fun too!
From here on in, they will lock down all the connections, do a once over, and then clean the artwork. We'll check in again soon.
Iris up front in the boom. Colie in the scissor at midfield. Josh way down there in the distance.
Josh and Ari discuss their next move.
In India, dust is everywhere. Iris and her trusty vacuum fight against incredible odds.
The pair of pieces referred to as the "knot" over the bar.
Detail photograph of one of the long runs of glass.
Josh and his ride. Below, Ari tells him what is what.
Ari and his beloved walkie talkie trying to set things straight.
Looking through a tangle of glass from a boom lift.
Photos: Sam Prest
