H.i.P.O. (Hazardus Interstellar Perfessional Operations)
April 17, 2019 11:38 AM Subscribe
H.i.P.O. (Hazardus Interstellar Perfessional Operations)
So, now that the NDA has been lifted, I can share the art installation I was working on that is at this year's Coachella. It's a rocket ship manned by hippos. Of course. I feel a little dumb posting this because it's not "my" project; I was just a cog in the machine. But my boyfriend was art director on this under the two lead artists so I watched this come together over several months, and I was part of the crew putting on the actual show last weekend. I'm still tired. I can't imagine how the leads are doing.
I tried explaining to my brother last night and wound up writing a novella, but here are a couple of articles that hopefully explain it better:
LA Times
Variety
PE
I was a stage manager, which means I worked a six hour shift each day making sure hippos were hydrated and safe and their masks weren’t slipping and the fog machine wasn’t breaking down. I also got to run a lot of the room prop gags from backstage (ping pong balls out of the ice machine, car wash blow-up guy through the boiler room pipe, etc.). There was a stage manager at each "room" at all times, five per each six-hour shift. There were four hippos per room, and they had three-hour shifts (it is ridiculously hot and uncomfortable in the costumes, even with full AC running in the rooms at all times). There was a cast and crew of about 100 backstage at any given moment, about 200 people total helping on this thing.
Since there was such a large crew, I'm also kind of wondering if there were any other MeFites hippoing last weekend!
It was my first time just working crew (I performed as a hippo in the 2013 Power Station and 2015 Corporate Headquarters installations, as well as the original one-room show in downtown LA), and I had a little regret that I didn't perform this year, but I was glad to help make things run smoothly. I can attest that this has been a lot of work for everyone involved and I’m glad it came together!
So, now that the NDA has been lifted, I can share the art installation I was working on that is at this year's Coachella. It's a rocket ship manned by hippos. Of course. I feel a little dumb posting this because it's not "my" project; I was just a cog in the machine. But my boyfriend was art director on this under the two lead artists so I watched this come together over several months, and I was part of the crew putting on the actual show last weekend. I'm still tired. I can't imagine how the leads are doing.
I tried explaining to my brother last night and wound up writing a novella, but here are a couple of articles that hopefully explain it better:
LA Times
Variety
PE
I was a stage manager, which means I worked a six hour shift each day making sure hippos were hydrated and safe and their masks weren’t slipping and the fog machine wasn’t breaking down. I also got to run a lot of the room prop gags from backstage (ping pong balls out of the ice machine, car wash blow-up guy through the boiler room pipe, etc.). There was a stage manager at each "room" at all times, five per each six-hour shift. There were four hippos per room, and they had three-hour shifts (it is ridiculously hot and uncomfortable in the costumes, even with full AC running in the rooms at all times). There was a cast and crew of about 100 backstage at any given moment, about 200 people total helping on this thing.
Since there was such a large crew, I'm also kind of wondering if there were any other MeFites hippoing last weekend!
It was my first time just working crew (I performed as a hippo in the 2013 Power Station and 2015 Corporate Headquarters installations, as well as the original one-room show in downtown LA), and I had a little regret that I didn't perform this year, but I was glad to help make things run smoothly. I can attest that this has been a lot of work for everyone involved and I’m glad it came together!
Role: stage manager
FWIW, I posted a link to this in the "space hipsters" facebook group and it was well appreciated.
posted by Sophont at 9:58 AM on April 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Sophont at 9:58 AM on April 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by sammyo at 10:05 AM on April 19, 2019