SimNuke: Simulated Nuclear Explosion
The SimNuke Project is an amazingly audacious, insane and mindful endeavor by a group of hardened Bay Area and Burning Man metal and fire artists to portray the closest thing to a nuclear event that most anyone could experience. And it will be unleashed exactly 60 years to the second after the world’s first nuclear detonation July 16, 2005 - code named Trinity.
Using a fleet of circled-up industrial fans designed to spray massive amounts of water on indoor fires, they will push tens of gallons of biodiesel (created from recycled vegetable and fry oil) into the fan-forced cyclonic environment to make what could be the largest purposeful flame every created. Preliminary tests one and two with a small subset of the fans have been astounding.
In this 1Mb image you can see the truck and human barely visible in the thumbnail above.
What is mindful about this project is that it will serve as both a reminder and reclamation. As they say, “We strive to reclaim some of the destructive energy generated by the nuclear age, using it instead to promote awareness and peace. By taking matters into our own artistic hands, we own some of the light that has cast a shadow over our lives.”
Furthermore their plans span well beyond a forsaken desert explosion. There will be a 3 week art show at the Rx Gallery in San Francisco to “delve into the implications of atomic weapons that have pervaded our lives for the last 60 years.” The group will be returning life to the earth by planting a memorial grove of 60 redwood trees to commemorate the event and buying “Green Tags” from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, which support the development of clean renewable energy.
Like any good ephemera project of the Burning Man ethos, the project is neither sponsored or backed in any proper way. Yet knowing the people behind it, the SimNuke will most certainly be completed, whether day-jobs are maintained or rent is paid. They have a needs page that can accept tax-free donations and list material items they are hoping will be donated.
