Page 122 - Hrobat Virloget, Katja, et al., eds. (2015). Stone narratives: heritage, mobility, performance. University of Primorska Press, Koper.
P. 122
stone narratives
Eventually the rock was loaded onto a custom-built, 90 m long transporter. It effec-
tively took seven years – a fairy tale number – from the appearance of the rock until it was
ready to be sent on its particular road trip.
»The rock is rolling«. The road trip from the Riverside Quarry
to Los Angeles (and one little transatlantic counterpart)
The media had a blast. Not only was the ‘rock rolling’, it was a ‘ new celebrity rock’, a true
’rock star, sleeping by day, moving by night’, to move the ‘boulder was bold’, the transport
was ‘rocking the crowd’. After its departure from the quarry in late February it took ten ni-
ghts (plus one night resting) to make the slow 169 km journey.
The local people who were aware of the rock for years the first evening waited pati-
ently on their folding chairs while the workers were given the last instructions and the lea-
ding people from the LACMA were hoping the journey will finally start. During the next
11 days, the small groups of people eventually turned into crowds of people, waiting for and
escorting the transport, throwing parties, celebrating, discussing, posing. Estimated twen-
ty thousand people or more participated in the procession.
The responses and the attitudes towards the rock transport were diverse. Some were
wrapped in conspiracy theories. Since the rock itself was wrapped in the white cover, some
people speculated that whatever was hidden under that wrap, it couldn’t possibly be just a
rock. Others compared the transport to the Close Encounters of the Third Kind mainly due
to the men in escort wearing dark glasses during the night. There were gestures intimate
and personal, like marriage proposal, or delight at the sight of the huge »kids wagons« pas-
sing by. For most people it was entertainment and a special event. »This is better than tele-
vision«, or »nothing ever happens on this street and now something huge just happened«,
were some of the comments. The scene could not be complete without the rock accidental-
ly stopping right in front of the church of Our Lady of the Rocks, thus presenting oppor-
tunity for some bible quotes. There were predictable negative responses, based primarily
on the fact that the transport cost was ten million dollars. Though the funds were private-
ly raised there was a resentment of such amount being spent on what was perceived a silly
thing in times of economic crisis. Yet the overall impression from the documentary mon-
tage is one of the community celebrations and spontaneous or organized parties. »I have
never seen so many people in the pyjamas,« commented one of the workers escorting the
transport. Some people were asking where Michael Heizer was during the spectacle; others
thought it mattered not since this was »their rock« now. The photographic poses in Atlas
style were established, grandparents taking pictures for their grandchildren to mark a »hi-
storical event«.
At the same time, simultaneously with the transport in California, on the other side
of the ocean, in Nantes, France, a young artist Régis Perray performed an homage to Heiz-
er by daily moving 340 grams of dust with a small dumper. He chose dust from the vault of
the Chartres Cathedral, »a place that is younger than Heizer’s rock, but older than the hi-
story of the United States.« (Perray, 2012). It was a transatlantic tribute with a sense of hu-
mour, which tried to illuminate the relationship between size and scale but also to point
out that there is a possible dialogue between Heizer’s »archeology of the future« embodi-
120
Eventually the rock was loaded onto a custom-built, 90 m long transporter. It effec-
tively took seven years – a fairy tale number – from the appearance of the rock until it was
ready to be sent on its particular road trip.
»The rock is rolling«. The road trip from the Riverside Quarry
to Los Angeles (and one little transatlantic counterpart)
The media had a blast. Not only was the ‘rock rolling’, it was a ‘ new celebrity rock’, a true
’rock star, sleeping by day, moving by night’, to move the ‘boulder was bold’, the transport
was ‘rocking the crowd’. After its departure from the quarry in late February it took ten ni-
ghts (plus one night resting) to make the slow 169 km journey.
The local people who were aware of the rock for years the first evening waited pati-
ently on their folding chairs while the workers were given the last instructions and the lea-
ding people from the LACMA were hoping the journey will finally start. During the next
11 days, the small groups of people eventually turned into crowds of people, waiting for and
escorting the transport, throwing parties, celebrating, discussing, posing. Estimated twen-
ty thousand people or more participated in the procession.
The responses and the attitudes towards the rock transport were diverse. Some were
wrapped in conspiracy theories. Since the rock itself was wrapped in the white cover, some
people speculated that whatever was hidden under that wrap, it couldn’t possibly be just a
rock. Others compared the transport to the Close Encounters of the Third Kind mainly due
to the men in escort wearing dark glasses during the night. There were gestures intimate
and personal, like marriage proposal, or delight at the sight of the huge »kids wagons« pas-
sing by. For most people it was entertainment and a special event. »This is better than tele-
vision«, or »nothing ever happens on this street and now something huge just happened«,
were some of the comments. The scene could not be complete without the rock accidental-
ly stopping right in front of the church of Our Lady of the Rocks, thus presenting oppor-
tunity for some bible quotes. There were predictable negative responses, based primarily
on the fact that the transport cost was ten million dollars. Though the funds were private-
ly raised there was a resentment of such amount being spent on what was perceived a silly
thing in times of economic crisis. Yet the overall impression from the documentary mon-
tage is one of the community celebrations and spontaneous or organized parties. »I have
never seen so many people in the pyjamas,« commented one of the workers escorting the
transport. Some people were asking where Michael Heizer was during the spectacle; others
thought it mattered not since this was »their rock« now. The photographic poses in Atlas
style were established, grandparents taking pictures for their grandchildren to mark a »hi-
storical event«.
At the same time, simultaneously with the transport in California, on the other side
of the ocean, in Nantes, France, a young artist Régis Perray performed an homage to Heiz-
er by daily moving 340 grams of dust with a small dumper. He chose dust from the vault of
the Chartres Cathedral, »a place that is younger than Heizer’s rock, but older than the hi-
story of the United States.« (Perray, 2012). It was a transatlantic tribute with a sense of hu-
mour, which tried to illuminate the relationship between size and scale but also to point
out that there is a possible dialogue between Heizer’s »archeology of the future« embodi-
120
