I'm reading "He’s Trolling Your Trash, and Turning It Into Art/Thomas Dambo built a global following by turning Denmark’s scrap into giant, hidden forest creatures. Now, the art world is finally letting him inside" (NYT)(gift link, for the photographs and because I focused on the part of the text that's about the arson in Austin but there are other angles on Dambo).
Speaking of Burning Man — Dambo built a troll that was at a Burning Man festival — I've been wondering if the burning of the Austin troll was influenced by the tradition of burning a large wooden sculptural figure — not Dambo's troll — at Burning Man.
I bounced this theory off Grok, which noted that the burning at Burning Man is done according to a plan, presented as art, and drawing a crowd that experiences the fire as a ritual or celebration. The Austin troll burning happened without a ceremony or crowd or air of artiness. As far as we know. Unless it was some very elite and nihilist group of art lovers.
Grok, write a short short story in which the burning of the Austin troll WAS done by a small group of elite nihilists who absolutely believed in what they were doing as art.
Excerpt from the story: "The troll was too sincere. Eighteen feet of reclaimed wood and optimism, grinning like a simpleton at the joggers and children and civic-minded Austinites who posted heart emojis under her photos. Thomas Dambo had built her to remind people of recycling and wonder and other gentle lies. The Consortium found this unbearable. 'Sentiment is violence,' Elena whispered as they poured the accelerant...."
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Burned down doesn't sound right for a troll. It seems like it should be burned up.
What's up? What's going down?
For an out-of-the-way location, you could visit Germfask MI where there's a pretty impressive troll. I don't believe it was built by Dambo, but by others who did the work on-site.
I only read those Grok sentences you presented. They sound like they were written by a professional writer. Not inspired prose or anything, but definitely well written and professional. I don't know if the correct response to this slickness is awe or fear, but we're definitely in the presence of something new and powerful.
@ R C Belaire
I looked up the Germfask troll to see a pic. It says Dambo built that one too.
@ Bob Boyd : thanks for checking!
These trolls are absolutely amazing. They make me want to build one, but I'm sure it would be very difficult and time consuming with a tremendous amount of trial and error.
It's hard to imagine someone wanting to destroy such a wonderful creation.
What's up? What's going down?
Maybe they didn't intend to burn the troll, but things went sideways.
Emoticons, anthropogenic intelligence in disguise.
Wauwatosa, WI has one because it has to waste its tax dollars on such things. Taxes on my former starter home are now $7800.
The Dambo Troll in Wauwatosa, WI Firefly Grove Park is named “Mama Rosa”. She is picking the lampposts from the park’s trails and smelling them like flowers. Folks from lower taxed Ozaukee County can go to higher taxed Milwaukee County and see her for free. Thanks TosaGuy!
“Maybe they didn't intend to burn the troll, but things went sideways.“
In my younger years, I had a career as a troll. Loved the work, my coworkers, the pay package. But eventually ai burned out.
Guide to Dambo Trolls in the US.
https://rootedwanderings.com/thomas-dambo-trolls-in-us/
Grok says Dambo trolls cost from $50k to$500k each. There are over 40 in the US.
The Dambo Troll Works must be humming.
I could start small, maybe make a sprite out of popsicle sticks.
Maybe they could name each US troll with a real troll name, like for example, “Inga”, “lonejustice”, “IEE(TM)”, etc.
Whiskeybum, make sure you go to the tax-subsidized bakery for lunch. The place needed oak trim and marble countertops so they put their hand out. They also convinced the city council to convert a small adjacent city parking lot and build them a nice public pocket park that is their free outdoor dining area. It’s quite nice, well worth a $5k jump in property taxes on neighborhood houses.
You can park in the new parking lot across the street where they tore down a house and the property off the tax rolls.
All so leftists can have a croissant and look at a troll.
But don’t drive your worktruck to the city and park it on your own property, that is considered unsightly and has been banned. We dont want working people mucking up the view of the troll with their dodge rams with a ladder on it.
AI burned out and met the woman of his dreams? A fair exchange. Keep the home fires burning.
Now, the art world is finally letting him inside.
That's quite an admission of exclusionary behavior right there.
Troll is one of the few survivors of Old Norse that endured the ravages of modernity to be preserved in modern English and the Scandinavian languages. Still, our current definitions are far too limited and concrete compared to its use in Old Norse poetry. Visit Jackson Crawford's YouTube channel for some enlightening discussion on the subject of trolls.
There's a troll, very ugly, on the spice cabinet overlooking my kitchen. Its been there for forty years or so. There used to be a vulture on a crossbeam in the main room, but I think my sister took it. My father, a hardcore realist and ex-catholic, brought them from foreign parts to protect our family and home.
Clinton, Iowa just unveiled four of them this month. A nice day trip for you and Mead, Ann.
Rolling, trolling, stones.
The artist Christo, the one that would wrap big things with bright color material, was from Bulgaria.
Denmark, Dambo's country of origin, may not be geographically close to Bulgaria but they have very, very close ties.
Denmark's Dambo reminds me of Christo.
In this case, the wrapping came before the gift. In something resembling a James Web telescope new discovery, about the fundamental makeup of the universe.
I'm with William. The Grok excerpt is scary good.
It pulled in a couple of philosophical concepts that aren't especially common and used them for dramatic effect.
Plus it appears to recognize the futility of recycling, which is a big plus.
www.trollway.com Just west of Madison Wi is Mount Horeb, officially (look it up) the troll capital of the world. Take a tour and see the trolls.....and specialty shops and lots of restaurants in the quaint downtown,
Ah Filoli, such a wonderful garden Woodside estate, now a tourist attraction. My much better half loved strolling through there during springtime, circa late 90s-early 2Ks, getting ideas for our own, definitely much more middle class garden.
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