So This Gigantic Rock Comes to Town…

Details: By Greggory Moore; | Monday, 05 March 2012 23:50

Workers from Hanjin Shipping begin transporting part of artist Michael Heizer's massive artwork setup for LACMA. Photo courtesy of LACMA.

11:30am | Sounds like a joke. And maybe it is. Because really, is there anything especially interesting about seeing a 340-ton rock in a world that's full of them?

You'll be seeing some news coverage of the rock as it rolls through Long Beach -- like it's going to do something, right? It's a rock! Unless it escapes its moorage (or whatever you call a rock's being secured to a 200-foot-long truck) and goes on a crushing rampage, is this really news?

In case you haven't heard about the Riverside boulder that Time magazine is calling "probably the most popular piece of granite on the planet" (kudos on the rhyme -- but "probably"? It's got competition?!), it may be the biggest human movement of a single stone since the construction of the Egyptian pyramids. The rock is taking a 22-city tour (that makes me giggle: the rock is on tour, tee-hee) on its way to L.A., where it will star as the mass in Levitated Mass, a new exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

You can follow the rock on Twitter (tee-hee) as it makes its journey, which includes a stop on Atlantic Avenue at 36th Street, where it will party. That's right: it's going to party like a star rock, as the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association will yet again capitalize on an opportunity for fun, with festivities planned from noon 'til 7 p.m. Included among much silliness will be live "rock" music (and jazz, for whatever reason), free scoops of rocky road ice cream courtesy of Baskin-Robbins, DJs spinning only tunes with "rock" in the title (get ready to hear "Rock of Ages" a few dozen times), "a band of Swiss Alpine Mountain climbers running around in awe-filled reverence of the rock," and the biggest pair of scissors and sheet of paper you've ever seen.

Yes, you can see rocks like this in their natural habitats (and without their being covered up in form-fitting traveling bags).. But maybe the chief point of interest here is that many of us never will. In our urban existence we are forever falling increasingly out of touch with "the natural world" -- and so for many, particularly those whose background and socioeconomic status minimizes the likelihood that we're ever going to get out to the wilderness, this is a novel chance. If Mohammad will not go to the mountain, it is said, the mountain must come to Mohammad.

And maybe he'll have fun when it does.

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Archived Comments (19)

John B. Greet

I have to agree with you, Greggory. While it might have been a lot more interesting had the museum chosen to move the boulder using tens of thousands of people, rolling it along for a couple of months on sawn tree trunks, one or two people driving a truck with a heavy load seems considerably less of an accomplishment.

Still, many folks seem very easily amused and distracted these days and if some can watch hour after hour of shows like "swamp people" on television, I suppose we must forgive them for their fascination with a big rock on a truck.

Sander

Haiku #36918

I was a rocker.
Then, erosion transformed me.
Now I'm a Sander.

DebbieDowner

Greggory. Seriously. Stop. Just... stop. You're like the lesbian offspring of Debbie Downer and Negative Nancy thrown in with a bit of Bitter Betty and Sour Sally.

Swampy Pete

It's a "rock star". Get it?

Bet you feel foolish talking so much about a "rock star." Get it?

Art Rocks

Was this piece really written by the same guy who wrote an article in which he asked if Long
Beach needed a Banksy?

True, the rock itself seems to lack, in my opinion, an abundance of aesthetic qualities, but let's keep in mind it is only part of an installation. To see it "levitated" will comprise the work of art the artist envisioned.

As for the news coverage for this non-event, let's not kid ourselves, there will be many watching the coverage in the hopes that it does break free from its moorage and goes on a crushing rampage. Much like NASCAR viewers.

Greggory

@DebbieDowner: I know some people expressing dislike for what I write comes with the territory, but really, you don't think you ought to have read the whole piece (in this case, like 400 words) before throwing in your two cents?

Granite Whimsey

It is no small feat to move a rock this size. I agree with "Art Rocks" that the final installation at LACMA is where you can judge the merits of the boulder as part of an art piece. How fun that we get to see it in LB! This is the Olympic Torch Race of the LA art world...though at a considerably slower pace than the 1984 event! It is at South St. and Palo Verde today.

Honkeydog

Greggory, I don't care what the others say, you rock! Nice article. except, its stopping here in Bixby Knolls? today? could you have given us rock fans a little more detail?

JoeW

If you're keen on moving big rocks, tomorrow's (Wed. 7 March)LB Group of Sierra Club regular meeting has just the program. A CSULB archeological researcher will describe his recent findings (allegedly debunking some received wisdom) on 'Mysteries of Easter Island'. Public welcome, 7:30 pm Enviro Services Bureau 2929 Willow.

Pigeon

Greggory--This is costing between $5 & 10 Million Dollars. So--if you think this is so cool please quit complaining about your numerous whines until you have racked up $10 MM. This should give us a break for at least a year.

imustbestupid

I really must be stupid because I actually think this is interesting. It appears that it's quite a feat to transport the massive rock so I could only imagine how complicated the process will be to suspended in an installation piece.

imustbestupidagain

greggory. I don't know how this works but here it goes anyway. I often read many articles on this site and I find that any of them that have to do with Suja Lowenthal contain numerous comments by readers on their dislike with her public service. has anyone at LB Post consider writing an article on Suja's popularity or involvement in the city?; Like articles written on Laura Richardson, somehow the rock that does nothing made me think of Suja. Thanks

Too Cool for the Rock

The rock is awesome; maybe the writer is jaded. The possibilities for thinking anew about a rock are endless; Mr Moore's writing about the rock is claustrophobic.
No matter, the rock will live on.

BK Nan

Drove by it on the way to work this morning. Despite the shrink-wrap disguise, there were already several gawkers and photographistas.

It's official, Bixby Knolls Rocks!

Just come to the party, Greggory, and save a dance for me. Or we can play rock, paper, scissors.

EricGray

It's a smart blitz to get people up to Bixby Knolls!

STOP SPENDING

It is amusing, interesting, intriguing and quite a feat. However, in this economic climate it is ridiculous.

Resident

I am enjoying this whole event as Quite an engineering feet That alone makes it news worthy to me. I wish I could get a closer look at the entire rig.

F\'up

How f'ing stooooopid! Who is paying for this waste? I run in the local mountains a lot were there are as many rocks as you can imagine, now if a big one is on a truck or at a museum, its art? I work in construction, I can't fathom paying a massive transportation expense just to look at a rock. I grew up around artists, I get the idea that anything can be art, but "art" doesn't justify massive waste. I also know from experience that a lot of artists are flaky idiots that can't do rational so they do art, but apparently a lot of spectators are idiots too. Soooo much fuel, at such high prices, while the economy falters and the globe warms....art? Art for the gross polluters, for the resource gluttons, the extravagant consumers, the myopic lemmings.

TaxPayer

This is typical of the "art community". Waste money on garbage you call art and only "Cool" people invited. Ever read, "The Emperor's New Clothes"? As far as being funded by donations, that is a lie!! All those donations are "TAX DEDUCTIONS". Also, I wonder if anyone's relatives were given the different jobs to do the moving, planning, party planning, etc...get the picture...tax dollars directed into the hands of a few people for the purpose of this "artistic work". What a joke!!

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