The ZIG

  As a child, I used to climb on pretty much everything. Trees, fences, large rocks, random sculpture - anything that made it appear that there might be just the slightest chance I could get my feet off of the ground, even if just to hang there & swing back & forth. Of course, my favorite things to climb on were the things that I wasn’t really supposed to – because most of the things that were usually the best to climb on were, of course, sculptures.

But the child grew, went on about life, and the climbing, well, it just wasn’t “appropriate” in most cases anymore – I wasn’t “acting my age”, even though at times I would see something, and while walking by it in my mind be figuring out the best way to get the highest, or swing from one part of it to the other…

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Looking at it standing still, it can easily be imagined set on a piece of granite in front of a building, bolted down, immobile. The lines on it are gorgeous – simple, subtle, minimal. It is, without question, a beautiful sculpture in and of itself. Truth be told, it would be a vast improvement on some of the “Art” that you do see in front of buildings, and if it were used that way, it would torment everyone wearing a suit that still had even the slightest bit of adventurous child in their heart.

Thankfully however, it is not. It is: The Zig...

Recently I received an email from my friends at Vau de Vire Society telling me about a workshop that they were hosting at a great event & practice space called ‘Cellspace’ in the Mission District of San Francisco. Eros Bian, a good friend of Vau de Vire’s and a principle performer with Cirque du Soleil, was heading into town to lead workshops on this thing called the ‘Zig’. This is from the email:

What is The Zig you ask?
Best known for its appearances with Cirque du Soleil and Philippe DeCoufle’s closing ceremony of the Alberville Olympic Games, The “Zig” remains an enigma. Made of aluminum and weighing in at 200 lbs, The “Zig” could be described as an interactive kinetic sculpture or, more playfully, an 11 foot tall ball of monkey-bars that rolls. The “Zig” can accommodate anywhere from one to six cooperating artists within its atmosphere and offers unlimited opportunity for new discovery.
Rolling in from Lyon France, the "Zig" makes it's debut in California beginning with a series of workshops introducing this new, unique apparatus to the United States.

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Truth be told, I wasn’t planning on taking the workshop at all –I just wanted to check this Zig thing out, & do a small piece on it for CultureFlux. Watching all the people having so much fun on it however -  climbing, spinning, rolling – it was something that I knew I would regret if I let the opportunity go by, and so I was back the next day to take the workshop.

I must admit, I was a bit nervous – it’s been a while since I’ve done any measurable amount of physical work, as ever since I began CultureFlux all I’ve been doing is sitting on my ass, so I spent a decent amount of time that night and the morning of the workshop stretching, and realizing that I was now officially as flexible as a slab of marble. Oh well, screw it – I’m getting on this thing.

As far as the Zig goes, it seems as if once you know how it moves, everything else comes relatively naturally. It’s simple – it zigs – taking the exact same path forward & back, all you need to do is know which bars are going to be where, & which ones to grab & step on in order to keep it moving, kind of like climbing horizontally, rolling, hanging... The main challenge I had was trying to figure out where the bars were going to be next, which foot & hand went where in order to keep the thing rolling. I usually ended up upside-down when I was supposed to be right-side up & vice versa, hanging on for dear life when the Zig stopped when I was upside down & having no friggin’ idea what to do next.  Embarrassingly, it seemed as if I was the only one who was having difficulties, but in my defense, everyone else had been there the day before as well. At least that’s what I’m telling myself. Thankfully Eros was incredibly patient and helpful…

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Check out the website, and if by chance you are fortunate enough to have the Zig come anywhere near where you are, by all and any means – take the workshop. You’ll be happy that you did.

~ kSea

ZigRolling Website (English)

ZigRolling  Myspace