They've placed wee, one-of-a-kind doors everywhere from the Krog Street Tunnel to the Atlanta Beltline and the Center for Puppetry Arts. So it's only natural to wonder what's the next great big (little) idea coming from Tiny Doors ATL.
Well, wonder no more. On Sunday, the innovative public art project will have a float in the Atlanta Pride Parade.
Petite public art project looms large in Atlanta
A very -- what else? -- tiny float. Made with a grant from the Atlanta Pride Committee, the entire piece is 36 inches long. That’s “from truck bumper to float fringe,” says Karen Anderson, Tiny Doors ATL’s founding director and principal artist.
That means the float will not only be dwarfed by its own sign in the parade, which will highlight this weekend's 47th Annual Atlanta Pride Festival. The banner that Tiny Doors ATL's 10-person marching contingent will carry is nine feet long -- or, three times the size of the float.
It also may qualify as tiniest parade float going (literally). Key West, Fla., is actually home to the self-proclaimed "Smallest Parade in the Universe" (this year's third annual version takes place on Oct. 26). The floats in that parade are even smaller, at 18 inches long. But they travel on a "moving track' in front of a backdrop of Duval Street, according to the official entry rules.
Not so the Tiny Doors ATL float, which will traverse the actual parade route up Peachtree Street to Piedmont Park, pulled along by a Ford Bronco.
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A very -- what else? -- tiny replica 1970 Blue Ford Bronco. Its working trailer-hitch and axels were custom made with a 3D printer.
“People have made miniature floats before,” said Anderson, explaining that the Bronco and float will be operated by remote control. “But I don’t know if there has ever been (another) one drawn behind a tiny truck.”
Still, this is all about inclusion. Anderson, a queer woman who's long dreamed of marching in the parade with her own float, points out that by the very nature of their public placement, "Tiny Doors are always for everyone."
As if to underscore that point, the parade float boasts a spinning tiny door on top (operated by a separate battery pack).
The sparkling silver door is open, Tiny Doors ATL explained in a press release:
“To represent openness and acceptance.”
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