340-ton rock is ready to roll

[Niji666 Profile]

A 340-ton boulder that has come to be known simply as "the rock" is being readied for an epic move from a Riverside-area quarry to a Los Angeles museum, requiring a specially built trailer and clearances from utilities and cities along the route.



On Aug. 5, the solid piece of granite will be loaded onto a 200-foot trailer with 200 wheels and hauled to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. At 21 feet in height and 680,000 pounds, the load is too tall and too heavy to go by freeway, so it will be driven on city streets at a rate of about 7 miles per day. The trip will take nine days.

In Los Angeles, the monolith will become the centerpiece of Levitated Mass, a new permanent exhibit by earth artist Michael Heizer. The boulder will be installed above a trench that descends 15 feet below ground, giving the illusion that it is floating.

"It's going to be quite the conversation piece," said Barbara Pflaumer, a museum spokeswoman, who anticipates a public celebration Aug. 14, the day the rock rolls down Wilshire Boulevard.

As for the owner and workers at the rock's current home, Stone Valley Materials Inc. in the Glen Avon area, they're happy to see it go. They inherited the boulder from the previous owners in January 2010.

"We moved in ... and that was a big condition: Whatever you do, don't hurt the rock. We said, 'What rock's that?' 'The big rock,' " co-owner Stephen Vander Hart said. "We've been working around it ever since then."

Heizer found the garage-size boulder in 2006, though details about his discovery are unclear. He reportedly bought it for $120,000 from the quarry's former owner, Paul J. Hubbs Construction, and storage has been $100 a month, Vander Hart said.

Hubbs' officials did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Heizer is known for his 1969-'70 work Double Negative, in which he had 240,000 tons of rock moved to create ramps at Mormon Mesa in remote southeast Nevada. Since 1972, the media-shy artist has been working on City, an installation near his home in Hiko, Nev., about 110 miles north of Las Vegas. Museum officials said it would not be possible to contact Heizer.

Levitated Mass is being compared to the cultural tradition of the Egyptian pyramids. And to think it started in a 1940s-era stone quarry off Pyrite Street, north of Highway 60.

"I kept asking (the museum director), 'Are you going to carve it? Are you going to shape it?' And he's like, 'No, it's perfect the way it is,' " Vander Hart said.

He recalled a conversation with the director, Michael Govan, who said, "Imagine 400 years from now, that civilization will come to see this piece of granite and just wonder, 'What's it doing here? Where did it come from? How did they move it with the existing technology?' He said every great civilization has moved a monolith like this as a form of expression," Vander Hart said.

The quarry's heavy-equipment operators have watched with interest the parade of media and museum officials who have visited the rock. Some of the museum officials have miniature replicas of it on their desks, he said.

X-rays were taken to make sure the granite is solid, Vander Hart said.

Museum officials are worried about a small crack across the top and will use a special glue to bind it. They plan to visit the quarry in a couple of weeks to try out the technology on some smaller rocks, he said.

In rock talk, this boulder was a mistake. Quarry workers prefer their materials much smaller, said Chris Gutierrez, a heavy-equipment operator.

The rock was blasted off the craggy stone face of a hillside as part of routine work to produce concrete aggregate and sand. It landed at the base of the hillside and has been moved three times by bulldozers, loaders and a gantry crane to keep it safe.

"It's been in the way every day," Gutierrez said.

But not for much longer.

Emmert International, a heavy-haul transportation company near Portland, Ore., is building the trailer and has gotten clearances from cities along the 60-mile route, where utility lines will have to be removed. In the past, Emmert has moved historic brick buildings, 300-ton oil refinery coke drums and a 413-ton electrical generator, according to news reports.

An Emmert spokesman did not return telephone messages about the project.

The move will cost $1.5 million, Vander Hart said. Museum officials declined to discuss money but emphasized that all costs are covered by private donations.

The exhibit is expected to open for view in mid-November.

the video and source >>>> http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_ ... 4e973.html

[Tankgirl Profile]

"Granite is an excellent stone to carry if you want to be able to see the big picture in life more clearly instead of getting bogged down in trivial details. Because the rock enhances the ability to be practical and disperses negativity, it helps overcome skepticism. It also aids in diplomacy and improves people's cooperation."

its called Levitated Mass the first thought is "duh its a huge mass of granite"
but remember people can be considered a mass-population.
i say they are doing this in preperation for the return of the sky gods,the way all this egyptian ritual stuff keeps going on from our space missions including the moon landing and recently they put a 26 foot tall Anubis statue at the Denver airport
for more reading:
http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=11178

[Stevestv65 Profile]

Rock `n roll