Tribal Oasis & David Lightman

Earlier today, I became aware of some beautiful work being done by visionary artist and community builder David Lightman. It's difficult to describe the multi-faceted nature of everything he's doing, so here is some info from his website:

Dlight is an artist by accident, a revolutionary by intent. His art is strictly functional, springing from serious attempts to further what he terms the New Tribalism. He is dedicated to creating spaces, systems and structures designed to foster the development of a new breed of focused communities which act as artistic, economic and spiritual vortexes – cultural incubators for the 21st century.

His first architectural experiment was at Burning Man 1999. Two 30 ft reinforced mylar wings were attached to a metal ladder, creating a shade structure that kept people cool even in the peak of the searing desert heat. It resembled a bird attempting to take flight, with the wings alternately rising and falling. This structure was strong enough to withstand 60 mph winds surviving a week in this hostile environment. Although large enough to shelter 20 people comfortably, the whole structure weighed only about 30 pounds.

In February 2002 Dlight founded a project now called Tribal Oasis, (www.tribaloasis.org), a detailed plan for a self-sufficient eco-friendly arts village in the middle of Los Angeles. This pioneering project mobilized a large group of people to develop detailed architectural and financial plans to make this ambitious dream a reality. Dlight designed a community currency for this village called Ecos.

As a member of several communities that hold gatherings in harsh desert environments, Dlight has been fascinated with the idea of portable structures designed to be erected quickly and easily, yet providing a significant level of comfort, modularity and beauty. After learning about a new kind of structural mathematics called helical geometry, Dlight immediately realized that it might be the ultimate solution for the “movable city”. Although it was only a few weeks before Burning Man 2003, Dlight was able to create the first “Helix” in time. Later he erected a 23-panel Helix for the Solids show in December 2003.

Dlight studied physics and psychology at Cornell University. He was responsible for the computer graphics on the film “War Games”.

I really hope his group is successful in getting Tribal Oasis off the ground. There is no question that people are hungry for this type of community. I have hungred for it almost my entire adult life. The ideas are sound, and as always come back to economics. My thinking is if you can create a diverse and dynamic enough community it can become both economically and environmentally sustainable, whether it's in downtown LA like Tribal Oasis, or out in the country. If Dave and his group can make a go of this, it will become a prototype for other communities to emulate.

David's designs remind me a lot of of the stuff coming out of the late 60's in a book called, Arthropods by Jim Burns. I have an original signed and mint condition copy of this book. As revolutionary and radical as the ideas in this book were then, they are even more relevant and perhaps revolutionary today. I will definitely make a point of blogging about this book in the near future, and I will expand upon in it the growing archives section under Spaceship Earth.

Posted by paul at June 12, 2004 01:40 AM | TrackBack