Burning Man festival participants have come to expect art that impresses, outdoes previous projects, and pushes the limits of scale, engineering, and visual spectacle. But at the 2010 festival, one work stood out among the rest. Both visually breathtaking and a feat of construction, Marco Cochrane’s Bliss Dance necessitates public exposure. A work of this caliber deserves to be shared with our larger community.
Bliss Dance by Marco Cochrane
The Great Lawn, near 9th and Avenue of the Palms
Treasure Island, San Francisco, CA 94130
Click here for more detailed directions.
April 19, 2011 – May 18, 2015
Steel and L.E.D. lighting
40’H x 20’W x 15’D
The sculpture’s lighting effects turned on at 8:30 P.M. and turn off at 1:00 A.M., every night.
Burning Man Arts is thrilled to have collaborated with Marco Cochrane and his crew in showcasing this work publicly for over 4 years.
Without the support of our community we could not have entertained the ambition of bringing cherished works such as Bliss Dance into public view. Thank you for believing in us! However, we have not yet met our fundraising goal for this project. Help us sustain the growth and exposure of our artists, and make a donation to support our Civic Arts Program today!
“The Black Rock Arts Foundation is proud to help inaugurate another location for public art in the Bay Area by bringing Marco Cochrane and his teams’ Bliss Dance to Treasure Island. This project is a bull’s eye for us as it allows us to help support and highlight a local artist, collaborate with Treasure Island Development Authority in their efforts to incorporate art, and provide an opportunity for folks who were not able to see this amazing piece at the Burning Man event to interact with it in a whole new setting. Bliss Dance takes a classical art form to a whole new level in terms of scale, technology and beauty – and with the amazing San Francisco skyline as its backdrop, it’s sure to inspire all who see it.”
Tomas McCabe
About the Project
The sculpture, of a dancing woman, stands 40 feet tall, weighs 7000 pounds and is ingeniously constructed of triangulated geodesic struts. By day, the dancer’s ‘skin’, made of stainless steal mesh, shimmers in the sun. By night, it alights brilliantly with a complex array of 1000 slowly changing l.e.d. colored lights. Viewers may interact with and manipulate the lighting effects with an iphone application. The dancer’s delicate, graceful form precariously balances on one foot, adding to the astonishing impression of imminent movement and lifelike presence.
Thanks to David Yu for his stunning photographs of Bliss Dance on Treasure Island!
About the Artist
In 1962, Marco Cochrane was born to American artists in Venice, Italy, and raised in California in the midst of the political and cultural movement. As a result, Marco learned respect for oneness, balance, the sacred, and the imperative to make the world a better place. In particular, he identified with the female struggle with oppression, and he saw feminine energy and power as critical to the world’s balance. Supporting this change quickly became Marco’s life’s mission, although, it never occurred to him that art would be the vehicle. On a dare, he explored sculpting people and found a talent he was unaware of…the ability to re-create a person’s essence in figurative form. When Marco started sculpting, he realized he was pursuing the mission he’d set out to do…to empower women.