The Ribcage
Jenne Giles and Philip Bonham

Jenne Giles and Philip Bonham, The Ribcage, 2000.
(© Jenne Giles. Photo: Steven Raspa.)


The Ribcage is an evocation of childhood. It stood 17 ft high and blends the complimentary physical structures of a ribcage and birdcage. Like both, a pendulum swings in its core: the swing inside of a birdcage, the heart of a ribcage. This was intended as a project for the heart. Though not literal, its secret was that the participant, as s/he swings in the chest, literally IS the heart of Burning Man, the force that makes the living body of the event go. Therefore, context was extremely important to the conceptual force of the whole.

Since Burning Man is about interactive art (which, in combination with the harsh environment, breaks the piece down at an exponential pace compared to a more controlled setting), we chose a difficult task: to construct a jungle gym for 26,400 people to climb on continuously over the course of the week. We wished to provide an experience in which participants could climb entirely over and around the piece; in which they could walk through the belly region (under the sternum) and out through the spine; in which they could climb up the ribs to sit in the swing, suspended high above the ground; in which they could feel small, incorporated into the body of the ribcage (a person is about 1/3 the size of the piece). The swinging motion simulated the beating of the heart with a slow palpitation and a breeze.

We hoped that in doing this the participant would feel transformed into the heart. The piece had a darker side too. Instead of the exuberant, unrestricted swing of playground swings that we were all familiar with as children, the swing of the ribcage was restricted by the size of the chest cavity. This caused the sense of incorporation within the body, a feeling of restriction as an embodied being. Looking out of the ribs/sternum, it also conveyed hope, as the bird swinging and singing in his cage is a powerful symbol of eternal hope, despite limitations.

The Ribcage was also an autobiographic metaphor, growing, as it did, at the heart of our romance. It expressed the sense of nesting that we were building at the time. Conversely, it also became a metaphor for the cage of love from which we both needed escape. It is rich, in retrospect, with the human drama played through its construction. However, that was my experience, as the artist, of the piece's birth and growth, and of the life it took on before my eyes, and not the carefree jungle gym that most participants experienced.

The Ribcage is in process of being reconstructed on private property with a sweeping hill before it, so that when one is swinging, s/he will feel that sense of suspension and flight. A garden will be planted around it and the structure itself will become a grape arbor, bearing fruit eventually from its bones.


Jenne Giles
710 Innes Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94124
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       | Burning Man |
				       
				   | gallery entrance |

		            | past exhibitions |

				            | Leonardo On-Line |