10,000 Year Warning

Hands Off: A 10,000-Year Warning

            The basis of our design is highly emotional. We picked symbols and themes that we knew for certain would translate 10,000 years from today: the human hand, red fire, and the feelings of pain and despair. At the focal point of our design is a large, roughly 70-foot titanium arm with its hand engorged in sculptural flame (not real flames). The arm is covered in burns and welts and distorted by intense, burning pain. Around the arm is a tall, circular, black titanium wall, which contains the toxic site and the colossal arm. More sculptural arms appear to be climbing over the wall, as if they are desperately struggling to escape. Around the outside of the impenetrable barrier, more titanium arms will be placed as if they are crawling away from the toxic burial site, warning people of any time period that the site they appear to be escaping should not be disturbed. Each arm, including the large, central one, is attached to the ground by a thick metal bar which connects it deep underground to the buried toxic waste. This way, if anyone tries to dig underneath the arms, the metal bar will serve as an indicator of where the arms are trying to “escape” from, once again warning that the place the arms extend from is not a place you want to go.

Bauhaus Organization Principles:

• Focal point

• Dominance

• Containment

• Distortion

• Orientation