Ambient Armchair Encounter will NOT be at BM'05

Our BM Art Grant proposal was rejected, Max moved to the East Coast and is busy finishing his PhD, so the installation will not make it to the playa again this year. We may bring it back, much reworked, in the future.

Sasha Malchik is working on a different art installation for BM 2005: Trainspotting. Check it out on the playa!


Photo by Greg.
Sep. 10, 2004

== OLD NEWS ==

Read our 2005 Burning Man Art Grant Proposal for next year's installation!

We just submitted this proposal to the Burning Man organization, and are keeping our fingers crossed. The successful return of a modified and much improved installation depends on it, so wish us luck! Click here to read the proposal.

AAE music mixes are OFF this page, and are now available on Soulseek

We hope everyone who wanted to listen to the mixes has had a chance to download them. As promised, the files were online only temporarily. The bandwidth usage has been very high. They were removed mid-November; if we get another offer of ftp space from someone, we'll take it! :) Please write to us.

Soulseek is a file sharing application. AAE music is available from user kovrov in folder aae.
Be patient, downloads may be slow. For track listings, see the music page.

Ambient Armchair Encounter track listing and music now available

The entire 24 hours of music played by the Ambient Armchairs installation on the playa is listed and can be downloaded from this page. The music will be available for download for a limited period of time (at least one month.)
As a courtesy to friends providing us with free web hosting, please download the files only in the evenings, after business hours, or on weekends! You cannot stream the music; one-time downloads only. Thank you.
The sets are linked under "Set [1-13] - XX a.m.-XX p.m." headings.
We hope you enjoy it in the default world!

Thank you!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your kind support, gifts, and words of gratitude and appreciation. Thank you everyone who helped.
We are simply overwhelmed.

Progress Update

After two hours of sleep in the last 3 days, the beautifully, intricately decorated by six different friends chairs have finally played music together.
This project has grown enormously, and captivated us completely. There isn't even time to take and post pictures... Thank you everyone for helping, and wish us successful construction on the Playa!

FOUR chairs and umbrellas are being decorated by our friends this weekend (thank you Sveta Kh, Ami Lana, Lisa P, Polina Z!)
ALL speakers and 5/6 subwoofers are mounted. 4/6 chairs are wired.

Work remaining: Wire 2/6; attach 1/6 sub; drill glass and attach all laps (all hardware and 2/? lamps purchased); attach cushions to chairs; assemble and solder 6 bottom wiring/anchor (purchase angles); glue and attach umbrellas; purchase rope, 2nd battery, generator charging wire, rain-proof cash box, battery box, bike trailer, wire twists.

My living room for the last couple of weeks:

ALL six chairs, four umbrellas (thanks craigslist!), and three sets of speakers (thanks donors!) are already obtained.
All chairs are mounted on self-made swivel platforms!
I also bought one deep-cycle marine battery, and tested speakers successfully using it as a power source.

To make our project visually pleasing, simple, and comfortable, we decided to obtain six identical chairs. Ikea-brand "Poang" chairs are sold used online at affordable prices and can be easily painted in different colors. They will be mounted on TV swivels on self-made swivels, consisting of two pieces of plywood attached to the lazy susan ball bearings from Home Depot, secured to the playa.

Patio umbrellas with decorations/colors matching each chair will stand next to the swivels, secured to ground with strings against the wind. The chairs will have enough room to rotate without the strings impeding. Umbrellas will be folded and left in place every night.

Thank you for coming to the party!

Thank you for coming, we hope you enjoyed it, and we were very glad to see every one of you there!
Special thanks to DJs, VJs, and everyone who spent much of the weekend working at the place!
Everything went very smoothly, the owners of the place are happy, and some of the best complements we got were, "you guys should build a few more projects this year"; "do you have a schedule, when are you making the next party at this place?", and "I asked the cab driver where's a good party happening tonight, he brought us here" :)

Rest assured all your contributions above the cost of the party will go toward this official, on-the-playa project, which we hope hundreds of people will get to enjoy during Burning Man (here is the official website entry)!

Please come back to this website to check on our progress, offer some much-welcomed artistic help, etc. Thanks again!

Yes, you can participate!

Update: 15 Jul 2005 sashamalchik