Nikolas Weinstein Studios

As some of you may well know by now, we here at the studio like toys. And toys that can be driven and articulated hold a near and dear place in our collective heart. When installing sprawling artworks that range greatly in elevation, boom lifts hit the sweet spot and are hard to surpass in efficiency. Perhaps we went a little overboard in Shanghai with all the scissor lifts and booms, but this little video is nonetheless testament to their utility:

Alas, we shan’t be having those in India as access and complex schedules have made it impossible. And so we are going way back in the playbook to unearth the tried and true method of scaffolding. And to be fair, you can sometimes get great mileage from very simple technologies. In fact, while recently onsite in Hong Kong for the Gehry project, we noticed wild outcroppings of bamboo scaffolding ten stories up. These little organic and primitive platforms were a wonderful contrast to the torqued and twisting polish of Gehry’s new helical tower.

Arlen has spent the last two weeks designing exact scaffolding platforms and turrets to follow the contours of the artwork and peek up through circular openings in the design. Without the flexibility of driveable and articulating booms to get our team up and through the meandering sculpture, the team will work on shaping the glass from these aerial work surfaces. When I saw the preparatory cad work, I couldn’t help but remark at the mash-up of low and high tech:

And don’t fear, we still are going to have one boom lift just in case!

As we prepare to ship off to India for an installation in New Delhi, the shop is in full swing. We’ll be sending ten of our trusty experts to work onsite for nearly a month sculpting the artwork in situ. As always, there is a lot to think about logistically from bringing several hundred small tools to gathering cables, crimps, computers, pulleys, and harnesses. Who would have ever that we would need to think twice about hairstyle.

Our project lead on this installation is Captain Arlen Abraham of the red mohawk:

Despite his conspicuous coiffure, Arlen tries to marshall attention during a meeting.

As you may recall, Arlen studied food science at Davis and opted to join our ranks rather than work in the laboratory at Sierra Nevada Brewery. He’s a delightfully odd bird and knows something about nearly everything. It is with a sense of gratitude and dread that one poses questions to Arlen. Invariably, you get a full-blown treatise on threading standards or chemicals used to preserve the chutney you are about to eat.

While somewhat au courant here in San Francisco’s Mission district, it occurred to us that perhaps Arlen’s coiffure might be considered differently on the other side of the world. And so with some hesitation Mike Hall, our shop manager, penned an email to our engineering consultants in London who forwarded the correspondence to their office in Mumbai:

From: michael
Sent: 24 February 2012 03:49
Subject: Indian Culture

Hi Richard,

I am putting together our itinerary for a visit to New Delhi. and have a question regarding Indian culture that I hope you can answer.

As you may infer,  we are a serious group of artists doing work for some very prominent architects and designers.  We would like to present ourselves in the most professional manner so we and our art are taken seriously.  Which brings me to my question: the project leader for this particular project has his hair dyed pink and cut in a mohawk.  Here in the States, as well as in London I am sure, it is almost considered de rigueur to have this appearance as an artist. However, we are not so sure about New Delhi / India.

Basically my question is –  should i ask him to dye his hair a normal color for the meetings and install?

Thank you for your time,

michael

Apparently, Michael’s email caused some measure of delight and chortling in the Mumbai engineering office:

From: Richard

Date: February 23, 2012 7:49:24 PM PST

To: michael hall

Subject: RE: Indian Culture

Michael – I must say that this is one of the most interesting questions we have faced. I guess a lot depends on who your client is and what circles they move in. If they are really ‘out there’ it might be accepted…

It must be said, however, that the majority of people here present themselves very conservatively, even those in ‘arty’ circles, particularly during the working day. Smart clothing and accessories are used to make the impression rather than anything too avant-garde.

I have asked a couple of local colleagues for their view and their reaction was that such appearance would be “shocking” – and not in keeping for a professional.

Sorry, but he might well need to tone things down – even in colourful India!

Best regards, Richard.

Mike and I gingerly presented the case for dear Arlen to decide. He considered the absurd correspondence and reckoned that it was best to die his hair back to black and comb down his plume. And off he went to India with Mike for a pre-installation site visit.

As fate would have it, they arrived in India during the springtime holiday of Holi during which copious amounts of vibrantly colored powder are thrown about with abandon as part of the celebration. These festivities were not restricted to social parties. It did not matter where you ventured – work, home, street – you were bound to get plastered with powder. Suffice it to say, we followed our instructions and toned things down and Arlen’s pink mohawk was gone. Instead, he ended up a peacock.

Arlen poses with the security guard at the construction site.

Mike keeps a straight face depite the unusual circumstances. Gotta love the construction helmet with fuchsia blush.

Sandeep, our client, poses with Arlen at a friend's Holi bash.

The photographs are just beginning to trickle in from our latest project, a sculpture that resides in the lobby of a new Frank Gehry project in Hong Kong. Sam and Ari winged their way over there for a precision ninja-style installation only to be undone by the niggling bits – the myriad unforeseen details that always intrude to upset an otherwise pleasant installation.

And so there were nights when our two intrepid envoys toiled beneath the Hong Kong moon while the denizens of this metropolis peacefully slept. Ten o’clock became midnight which bled into dawn. Of course, there are always tales of extraordinary circumstance and miraculous recoveries when our colleagues return from the front lines of the art world. We listened and were grateful that we were not stuck up on that highest hilltop looking out over the foreign harbor with only Red Bull to fix our courage until the sun came up.

Early on the first morning, the team arrives onsite with the building in the rear. Photo: Sam Prest

Ari begins work by installing the custom hardware for the suspension points. Photo: Sam Prest

The view from beneath after all four sculptural elements have been lifted into place. Photo: Sam Prest

Sam's tool belt with cable cutters and an indispensable can of Red Bull for long nights. Photo: Sam Prest