2013 Art Installations

”(In)Visible” is a juncture of finite forms and light. Its sleek, iridescent cuboid forms rise 16.5’ high, a pillar of prisms, balanced point to point.

Iridescence: a visible metaphor for the invisible shimmer of spirit and flash of creative insight. Iridescent color is not directly found in pigment of an object’s surfaces, but as a result of its combined reflections…eluding our grasp and resisting containment, like our own embodied spirit.

Circling this tower of spectral mirror and steel, colors morph and surfaces shift between translucent and reflective. The experience of catching a flash of brilliant color is direct, unfiltered by mind or concept, like the childhood thrill of glimpsing the rainbow, or the excitation felt in a flash of insight. Shifting heads and bodies to chase the unpredictable flashes of color, evoking the rainbow to rise from the surfaces … we find ourselves in a dance with the spectrum.

A portal from the interminable indefinate Now to your real future, the space between the Now and the Temple as a metaphor for death.

Portal installations have been on the Playa since 2004. For 2013 several of them will return and be clustered together in the deep Playa at 11:11, including the 11:11 Diamond Portal Outline, 12:21 Turquoise Portal, 1:11 Sapphire Portal Center and possibly the 12:12 Emerald Portal and 2:22 Amethyst Portal, if enough funds are generated and people involved. The Portals are evolutionary interfaces that can reawaken our sacred connection to the mystery of life by aligning participant’s multi-dimensional vibrational energy body to the evolution of the Earth’s energy body through the use of sacred geometry, color and sound. They are activated by the vibrations of the Quasar Wave Transducer housed within them: a low frequency non linear dynamic feedback device that sounds like a big cat purring. They have been installed at many festivals throughout the world besides Burning Man.

Humans have launched about 24,000 man made objects into orbit, many of them still out there, sometimes falling into orbit, sometimes colliding with other objects creating a cascading effect of refuse which is known as ablation cascade. As the trash orbits earth, we imagine our planet growing rings like Saturn, gradually filling out further into space. This reminds us of a more optimistic and bygone astronomical tool, the spherical astrolabe or armillary sphere. Since Hellenistic times, astrolabes were used to show the location of celestial bodies around the earth. Rings commonly represented the equator, the ecliptic, meridians and parallel. Our astrolabe we will use recycled and found objects to curate each orbiting ring into a sphere of beautiful refuse. Our goal is to create an interactive astrolabe that’s pleasing to the eye, ear and touch. You are invited to explore the lights, colors and sounds generated by your space discovery.

an advice booth

Air Your Dirty Laundry

A glowing, sculpture homage to Ernst Haeckel's admiration of both art and science.

A nod to the joyful embrace of modern techniques and classic forms.

An acknowledgement of the beauty of life itself – from the microscopic depths to the vast, twinkling expanses… and the similarities therein that we all share.

A handful of massive wooden sculptures, depict monuments from history and one from today, sculptures with faces eternally gazing at the skies. They watch for the return of humanity’s mother race: The Annunaki…

those interstellar beings visited earth thousands of years ago, establishing colonies all over the globe. They genetically modified our dna, Taught us to build pyramids and megalithic structures, agriculture, astronomy, mathematics before returning to the skies, leaving behind an indelible mark on humanity…The Annunaki.

Pieces in this collection will be hollowed by fire inside–Solid wooden sculptures burning from the INSIDE OUT! Fire art in reverse comes to Black Rock City… Each fire gets dowsed at the perfect time and later stabilized with special resins; all to create lasting, weatherable “playa artifacts” to go beyond the famous festival…

AnTi eM: Small ATM sized box on the Playa. Prayers go out to the great goddess AnTi eM who occasionally grants favors or the ever-dreaded, “Insufficient Funds.”

Art Car Bus Stops are multiple gathering areas which replicate the municipal feeling of a major city’s metro bus stop, but with a unique and artistic flair. It’s a place where people can connect, discover, interact, rest in the shade, and maybe even catch a ride into the unknown. Their philosophy is to ‘hurry up and wait’, as there is no schedule, emphasizing that waiting can be fun. An oasis on the deep playa, they are sure to be appreciated by many.

Strands of helium filled balloons rise up into the sky.

Art is interactive. Please do!

Born out of frustration in attempts to find the portapotties at night, the Bathroom Beacons Project helps light your way to bowel and balder utopia. The Toilet Bowl is of the projects installations and has a sign is illuminated high above the portapotties to indicate the presence of restrooms nearby. Upon arrival at The Toilet Bowl bathroom seekers are pleasantly surprised to find a two lane regulation size bowling alley equipped with a shoe rental counter and classic alley seats.

The Toilet Bowl was inspired by classic American bowling alleys from the 1940s. The Toilet Bowl sign is a replica of The Wagon Wheel Bowling Alley sign in Oxnard, CA. Similar to classic alleys in the 1940s, there is an overlay ball return and manual pin re-racking. However, unlike the classic bowling alleys the lanes are trimmed in lights and the consoles run The Big Lebowski on repeat all night.

Part of the 2013 Bathroom Beacons Project, Twisted Bristles is a 15′ toilet bowl brush with illuminated bristles that will light your way to bowel and bladder utopia.

Do you have what it takes to summon Jon Fromm? Can you drive stick shift, double clutch? Can you decode ENIGMA messages? Beat Frequency Muffin is a large scale multi user musical instrument. Some instruments may be vaguely familiar, others not. The pacific theater operations command welcomes you to explore, create, and listen. Officer status not required.

What was that?!A mysterious image lingers in your eye. Where did it come from? Will you ever see it again?BigPOV is a saccadic persistence-of-vision display. Using a single 5-meter column of LEDs, it displays full-color images by exploiting your retina’s slow update speed. Images submitted by participants are displayed as ephemeral flashes.To successfully view images, the observer must not stare at the source. Only by looking away—letting go—is the true picture revealed.

A moment to be still and present with the sacred space that holds the city we love., kowing we will never be the same again.

Bunk Bed Livin’

The art is sculptured flames coming out of a vintage aluminum suit case The suitcase is elevated 3ft off the playa on tree branches.
Fire changed everything for humans and worshiped at Burning Man every year.

The burner sees two larger than life pinball machines back to back. The burner stands under the clear play field and views the games as they happen above. Two burners pull on rope to use the flippers sending light up cargo balls flying up the play field. If the burner hits target ramps the cargo balls enter the opponents play field. The burner climbs a ladder into the center of the two machine and keeps an eye on both sides of the action. The burner who delivers more cargo down the opponents pinball drain gets named the reincarnation of John Frum.

Cargo Song is a siren to the Cargo Gods. It is an 18′ aeolian harp,
played by the wind, a commodity we can count on. Cargo Song’s unworldly
sounds will surely bring ‘aliens’ to our playa.

The harp has the general shape of a giant harp (18 feet high), as the
burner approaches. At night, the general outline will look similar using
an el-wire outline. The nighttime experience will be enhanced by the
additional effect of a multi-point laser, placed on the top of the harp.

Some day, the Great Ones will visit us again. To aid their search, this reliably erratic flaming tetherball swoops and spirals through the Black Rock night: tick…tick… keeping exact playa time, more or less.

Most humans accumulate belongings, and at their death these things become objects their loved ones deal with. What are we in relation to these things? Are we not weighted-down, even crushed by them? This piece is made-up of a chosen amount of legally-burnable-objects left-over after the artist's father's death the 24th of August, 2012. To celebrate this one-year anniversary, Catherine Keyes-Guichard has assembled some things representing the "essence" of his existence. Christian Guichard has taken photographic portraits over the ages of Charles Keyes and rendered an artistic interpretation of his father-in-law, and Gabrielle Guichard wrote texts about her grandfather. Traces remaining after burning will include four photos taken of several stages of this creation, which is not only an accumulation, but a repercussion of the accumulation.

Photo 1: Upstanding
Photo 2: Sagging
Photo 3: Barely Standing

This "light" version (piece without the unburnable) is the 4th, and final image: transformation.

The builders of this space are said to await the return of John Frum himself, and beckon him with this humble shrine; a memorial to the man who changed them all so deeply, then left so suddenly. This place is said to provide a safe place in a small, wooden control tower for wayward souls to rest and recover. A brilliant light beacon atop this tower works tirelessly to act as a guide for those both on the ground and in the air. The builders have provided both the necessary runway space and landing lights to help their great deity navigate his way home. They monitor the positions and transmissions of all the aircraft above, hoping to pull from them Mr. Frum’s unmistakable voice. The builders believe this year’s winds may carry him home, and they have prepared their celebration in due course.

The Cosmic Carousel is a brushed aluminum sculptural form that appears to be levitating just above the surface of its location. A visual gift of form and balance. Wile reflecting the suns rays during the day, lighting effects incorporated into the work provide a very different appearance at night. The centrally located wheel atop the Cosmic Carousel provides visitors the ability to rotate the entire form 360 degrees. The harder you pull, the faster the it spins, sending all aboard on a voyage through the creative dimensions of the mind and faculty of the combined human spirit. When upon the Cosmic Carousel you are neither here nor there, you are simply are. The Cosmic Carousel is the concept of Michael Walsh, supported by the staff of:Chrissy Kaufman, Joshua Knoblick, Elliot Shields, Jeremy Groznik, Kevin Carter, and Julia Drazic among others.

On the playa, we're all visitors from distant lands. Participants can frame themselves with a tentacle embrace.

Crossroads. Life and Death convergence on our spiritual journey. A 6×4 foot metal and mosaic cross structure depicting Life on one side and Death on the other. We can find ourselves on one or both of these celebrated roads at any given moment.

Danceservatory (Noun: A place where one shakes booty, while observing the greatness of booty shaking soundscapes near by)
Holding a stationary orbit around the Playa’s hottest dance spots. The Crossroads Galactic Danceservatory is the spot when you need to be just off planet dance, but don’t want to stray far from the action. It’s easy to see; 3 towers, standing 12 feet tall with 300 ft of RGB LEDs; reacting to Black Rock’s awesome all night, pumping sound. Crossroads Crew are around at times (They have similar LED get ups, usually seen powering up around dusk and a little while after) as well as hot shot; guitar ripping, space pilots; battling it out with their gleaming axes in the name of galactic infamy!

The Crypto Lotus uses light, color, and sound to attract it’s primary pollinator. The blossom itself, as well as it’s lily pads, flash with mysterious, inviting patterns that evoke music, math, and logic.

Ever wonder how the products you see on store shelves get there? This tiny skylight peers down into a remote distribution hub located hundreds of feet below the playa surface. Listen for the sounds of the supply chain struggling to feed our ever-increasing consumerism.

The Desert Eye slows down the tempo of image consumption we’ve grown accustomed to through today’s high-tech, high-speed digitizations by capturing the Playa through two elemental, low-tech means of image production: the mirror and the camera obscura. Both fundamentally material and ephemeral, these technologies are ‘slow’ insofar as they require the physical presence of the viewer in order to exist: there is no reproduction to be had. By capturing the playa through a means that demands the whole bodily presence of the participant, the Desert Eye celebrates the singularity of the moment that can’t be seen again, situating the participant within the playa in novel and surprising ways.

The Diodome is an interactive light installation for Burning Man 2013. 300+ individually controlled LEDs and a beautiful cover over an 18ft geodesic dome which participants can interact with. A space of colored light that envelopes and surrounds you and your friends. When left alone the dome will gradually change patterns and pulsate in various ways trying to draw people in from across the Playa.

A cube looms on the horizon. On the outside appear to be eggs whose yolks are unfocused eyes. Is this a piece of forgotten cargo from the past, or the unfocused self of the present? By shedding our busy, unfocused minds, we can climb inside and see again our true paths with clarity. Not only does Do You See? give us a new sense of self, it also provides a fresh perspective on the open playa. Do You See?

Spanish lady come to me, she lays on me this rose.
It rainbow spirals round and round,
It trembles and explodes, It leaves a smoking crater of my mind….

A large balloon cloud floats 25 feet high up in the air. A rope ladder goes all the way up and dissapears into the cloud. It connects the earth with the sky. White weightless figures are climbing the ladder. Dreams can only be reached when all personal ballast is left behind, all fears are conquered.

The DreamBox is a solar powered video booth that allows you to record a statement of your life-long dream to share with the world.

Remember your bizarre, arousing, and fantastical dreams? Ever wish you could induce this erotic and tranquil state, exploring the edges of your very mind?

If you please, come relax inside the DreamCycle- a sacred space created for mind exploration and ultimate relaxation. The bicycle-operated dream machine is big enough for you and a friend to sit inside during the sunlit hours, or for you and all your friends to view from the outside at night.
Look for a tall steel cylinder with a beautiful pattern cut-out and an attached mutated bicycle.

And when you arrive, may you feel the hot sun flicker against your naked, clothed, and painted bodies while you push the very boundaries of your dreams- and of yourselves.

Dust Circles….

Ornamental and intentional art piece created for Sungazing and relaxation that includes hanging cyanotype art flags and rhythmic Brainwave Entrainment, streaming through headphones, to enhance sensory stimulation and increase mental clarity.
Ecliptic is designed to augment both the rising and setting sun.

Ecliptic enhances personal well-being and is a beautiful resting place in deep playa. At night, with its adequate illumination, it will serve as a destination point for quiet contemplation.

The sun is the creator of life in our solar system. In the fast changing paradigm of this new age, sun gazing is a very grounding and spiritually enriching experience. Practicing safe sungazing will promote radiant health of one’s body, mind, and spirit, while increasing their connection to the whole of the universe. The safe hours are anytime within a 1-hour window after sunrise or before sunset.

Come frolic in the waves of El Oceano and let your imagination take you deep under water. Crawl, swim, jump and play in our interactive world. Then relax on La Playa with a cocktail while watching the sunset over El Oceano’s many shades of blue. As the city and water turn from day into night.

Like its mathematic underpinnings, Ellipse doesn't say anything. It simply is. Mundane but magical. Spartan but opulent. It's materials are extremely simple, common as dirt.

Elsewhere the mobile art 18" f5.5 Telescope project. A waning moon will provide great views, and Jupiter rises at 2am. Among other celestial delights, we will view Galaxies M17 in Sagittarius, M13 in Hercules and M57 in Virgo and Pleiades.

Emergent Chassis is a futuristic archeological site that describes an imagined narrative of profound social and spiritual transformation. It immerses participants in a landscape and soundscape that transposes them into an alternative time/space history. The structure evokes the sense of a grave yard and a forgotten relic. The chance encounter with an overgrown artifact of an antiquated society is an opportunity to reflect on the mortality of individuals and societies. It is a post-apocalyptic time capsule, a mind-fuck, and a sanctuary. Is is a spiritual, political, ecological and technical experience in which participants can reflect on their hopes and dreams for the future of humanity.

ENVISION: The Life Cube provides an engaging and interactive place on the Playa for shared expression of ambitions, dreams, goals and wishes through its inspirational design. Its artistic mission seeks to access and enhance the values and beliefs important to individuals: who they are and what they want to be and become. There is a massive and joyous celebration at the week’s end when the Cube burns, committing and combining its thousands of life-messages to the flames in a cathartic and fulfilling ritual.

How do we define identity? Personality? Attraction?

We classify people we meet on a small set of fairly universal parameters: age, gender, occupation, religion, etc. Yet true connections come from a deeper almost subliminal level, often obscured by value judgements based on the above mentioned parameters.

This art inverts the process of discovery of 'strangers' by removing all external references and indicators and only showing larger than life close-up images of eyes of a wide diversity of people.

Each group of eyes is multi-faceted and backlit, confronting participants with multiple giant staring eyes in every direction, day and night.

The Flaming Pachinko Machine is a 35 foot wall of cascading fire balls. As the balls fall, they are knocked to the left or right by the pegs that hold the wall together. The random patterns create mesmerizing spectacle that only chaos can achieve.

The alien child of an octopus, jellyfish, and electric eel – the Floating Tentacle Monster – celebrates the human inventions of pasta, god, and the internet through a sacred hobermonkey wormhole altarspace that invites you to be touched with its cycle of ingestion, fornication, and ejaculation.

Come, sillyballs, touch.

In general, freight is being transported because it is making money, not because it is making sense.
While the international trade and cash flow smoothly across most borders, the people don’t enjoy the same freedom. Import and export regulations may allow to a large extent for the globalization of goods and capital, but the globalization of people is rather obstructed by strict immigration laws. Thus some see no other way than to become cargo themselves to be transported in freighters and planes. These dangerous attempts to cross borders cost thousands of people their lives every year.
These issues are visualized from unusual perspectives in a projection by the two artists Linn Marx and Kolja Lehmann-Muriithi. Pictures by photographer Linn Marx contrasting containers, people and nature, are underscored by music written for this very purpose and spoken words.
After each presentation the audience is invited to proactively contribute to the installation.

This art piece is a large scale wind vane built in the style of Cargo Cult planes with the exception that the majority of materials are surplus from life in the modern world. The plane is covered in old cds and other shiny items. The Cargo Cult theme is a good one for me because I don’t think there is a big difference in what Cargo Cult participants hope for and what most of us spend our energies trying to obtain.

Fuckforforest is a performance art and activist group, focusing on expressing ideas and dreams around subjects like – connection and disconnection to nature, love, sexuality, control and unconditional freedom. We usually do a mix of installation and performance art. We focus our work usually on what we experience through our experiment with sexuality and body art as an expression In this world of borders and shadows, we learn to love.

A 60 foot envelope of colorful fabric, inflated and moved about by the wind, provides shade and visual stimulus.

A peaceful and interactive garden of gongs and bells provides a space in which passersby are free to explore, meditate, and create contemplative cacophony. A magical, musical, playable space awaits discovery in the deep playa.

Stark metal frames announce an inviting and calm oasis in the daylight. As the sun fades the lights of the garden accent her metallic edges with a softening glow.

The artifacts which compose the garden are created from discarded and remnant materials. Unwanted bathtubs, water heaters, and eclectic scrap have been deconstructed, transformed, and given a new life. Refuse is reborn as objects of visual and auditory delight; perhaps a participant will find something similarly transformative in the space as well.

The Garden of the Playans stands as a stark reminder of a great people brought to ruins by the cargo cult. As the Playans became enamored with objects of the material world, their religion also began to change. While it once existed in search of peace, happiness, and connection with the natural world, it was warped into idolatry of consumption and waste as the peoples longed for another delivery of cargo. Sensibility was lost, the cargo was never enough, and the Playans vanished into dust. Preserved in the sands of time, this garden stands as a relic to remind us of their fall.

The idea is to create an effect of nature that vastly belies it’s desert landscape. A green beacon in a stark, pale environment. A place that supports reflection, provides refuge, encourages community building and sponsors interaction.

Wooden gears and chain driven by a hand crank rotate painted mechanisms and gearheads. Lit by blacklights at night.

Why am I here? -Smiley

Geodesic! is an interactive multisensory experience. Its sheer skin comes to life with fractals and geometric projections that invite you to interact, reflect, and transform while being bathed by light, sound, smell, and more. Geodesic! provides the space. Together, you create the experience.

A pod deposited millennia ago by a superior intelligence has cracked open. the conditions were ripe and an emergence occurred…a living entity is exposed to humankind. Will this germ infiltrate our DNA? Will our infiltrated perception be warped or wired?

Sisyphus was a daring and clever mortal who often outwitted the gods. He lied, stole, and murdered for fun and profit. Zeus, affronted by this insolence, sentenced him to an absurd fate: Sisyphus must forever push a boulder up a mountain only to have it roll back down.

GLORY ROAD: The Sisyphus sphere explores questions of futility, and self-realization. His overreaching exacts a terrible price, but one which Sisyphus willingly pays. Zeus’s complex punishment, allows him to be a superstar.

This work opens the participant-viewer’s mind to the duality of punishment and the emotional reward found in personal struggle. Claiming one’s destiny in all things.

Although individuals may roll the ball, a group will have an easier time, inviting questions about the punishment levied by Zeus of separating a man from his community.

The sphere can be played like an instrument rewarding time invested with increasing control of its output.

Goddesscraft –
Solar Culture
Tucson, Arizona
Goddesscraft is a interdimensional portal, activated by the power of the elements, spinning with the wind, and shooting crystal prism rainbows across the surface of the playa.
In the center of the craft will be a mystical traveler to help you raise your frequency to a higher octave, connecting you with Goddess energy and transporting you beyond time and space.

Spiralling crop circles engraved in the playa guide Black Rock City explorers to a surprising discovery. They suddenly come upon a lifesize copper Cleu occupying the central space of a colorful geodesic dome covered with symbols and formulas. The Cleu seems to be a shiny object of mystery and possibly worship, but the box it sits upon reveals the origins of the Cleu in the words of mystics and scientists. Meme-like, the Cleu appears suddenly and forms its own cargo cult. Followers practice the human rites of music, art, dance, drum, song, story, and circle. They lure others into their camps by gifting Cleus and then brainwashing the clueless and clue'd in alike. The keepers of the Cleu invite all explorers of Consciousness, Life, Earth, and the Universe to take a card from the box and follow a unique clue to a startling new revelation: The gods must be Cleu!

“Hand in the Mirror” gives you and a group of your friends a large scale way to express yourself by manipulating the fingers of a large 14 foot hand made of recycled medicine cabinets. The mirrors have images of well know individuals that have succumb to their exceptional environments. The hand is opened palmed towards the sky receiving and transmitting the message created by the participants and the residue of the individuals on the mirrors. Start with the “Hand in the Mirror”.

How Crate Thou Art!

Two stacked wooden cargo crate boxes filled with fun house experiences. Search for your self identity. Can it be found in a box?

In ______We Trust is a classic obelisk that not only symbolizes the channeling of mysterious powers, but actually utilizes them in ways that could only be described as magic. By levitating modern human idols weightlessly, the piece creates an experience that blurs the lines between truth, magic, religion, technology, and the human mind.

Inspired by Claes Oldenburg’s Batcolumn (1977) and Rosanna Scimeca’s Cleavage In Space (2003), The Internet is an effigy to the internet access point left behind. The original artifact is encased in a pedestal vitrine. An effigy of it lies nearby, larger than life, in hopes of transcending the limits of the now defunct original. Green lights sometimes flicker from inside. Pews are set up to allow for peaceful contemplation.

Invasion… Pond, Frog, Plop is an art installation depicting small, Earth-bound frogs worshiping a much larger and obviously more advanced frog arriving on a flying saucer. The art is designed also to be interactive (through lights and sounds) with the viewing audience.

Inspired by Daneil Quinn’s work titled “Ishmael”, the art piece is a door into Ishamael’s office that invites reflection on Ishmeal’s question “With Man Gone, Will there be Hope for Gorilla?”

Amazingly, very little playa art plays with the wind. Most of the art just resists it. By contrast, the Joyism Tree a "mobile" with elements you can play with and which turns unpredictably in the wind.

Ka-thump!

Kai Pod is series of sculptures aimed at raising awareness of ocean health and environmental perils facing human kind . Kai-Pod represents a Orca family in the sea. Through its physical appearance, the materials it is made from, and the collaborative effort of creating this installation, Kai Pod sends the message that all life depends on the ocean, the health of the ocean is under threat, but by coming together to raise awareness and make better decisions we can make a difference.

Tribannas 12 feet high, will be arranged in a triangle, connected by beams at the top. These are composed of salvaged and recycled wood. They will be placed 35 feet from the inner Orca pod sculpture, burn barrels in between Tribannas to form circle and will help form the art area perimeter , they will be central to interactive light and sound elements of the Kai Pod project

The Kosmos Star-Gawker Way-Station is a place to rest your weary feet and look heavenward. Or perhaps take respite from the sun.

Laz-R-Sketch is a mobile deployment of user-controlled laser projections which brings the familiar etch-a-sketch(tm) interface into the 21st century. By pairing everyone's favorite knob-twisting activity with high powered ex-military technologies, Laz–R-Sketch will burn its way right into your heart.

Le Petite Piege means “The Little Trap”. This is a gigantic spider web 20 feet in diameter constructed of vinyl-coated steel cable with custom-machined aluminum nodes joining the cables into its distinctive shape. Originally built for and installed at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival in 2012 it was used as a vertical performance stage for aerialists and suspension/bondage performance. At Burning Man similar performances will be held based on performer interest, as well as offering a structure that is very appealing to climb.

A spider web offers an unmistakable profile, and given the incredible acuity of the human eye it will be visible from a great distance. Structurally, the web is stronger than any number of people could damage by climbing it.

The Lighthouse is placed about halfway between the temple and the fence, serving as a landmark by day and a beacon by night to both bring people out to and lead people back in from deep playa. Regardless of whether you are heading out or returning inward, the Lighthouse serves additionally as a shelter from both sun and cold, to keep you either cool or warm, as you continue on your present adventure if you need a break from your journey or aren’t ready to head home.

MajorGroove/MinorGroove: The sacred geometry to the dodecahedron, expressed through the double helix. An interactive rotating DNA double helix constructed from dodecahedrons, lit from the inside by 1600 LEDs.

Meow Town is a place where burners can act like cats! There are people-sized cat toys to bat around, a cozy cat cave to curl up in and lasers to chase at night. It’s meant to be a good place to escape to if you’ve come down with toxoplasmosis or are missing your feline friend(s) back home >^..^<

The Mondo Spider is a collaborative contemporary art project that challenges the dominant perception of locomotion, energy and power through the process of creating and exhibiting a 1,500lb 8-legged electro-mechanical walking vehicle. Built as an honorarium project in 2006, in 2010 the Mondo Spider was converted to a lithium battery power source and can be charged off solar power.

Never Say Anything

The Nuclear Sunrise is a post-apocalyptic watering hole for ne’er-do-wells and cockaroaches located on the extreme eastern edge of the galaxy. Come for the sunrise, stay for the radioactive shenanigans.

Fink, Inc., a division of VeriLargeCorp, offers the Resilience, Recovery and Family Resource Center and the Playa Security Nexus. With assured environments and productized opportunities, we deliver on actionable, value-added cultural changes. Our goal posts haven’t moved—they’ve evolved. Mindshared, asymmetrical information politics allows us to keep need-to-know information out of the public domain and into an arena of leveraged context for complete, resonate and impactful encapsulation. Our stakeholders transition a decentralized say/do ratio of phased feedback with breakout yield enhancement. Fink, Inc.’s next-level, multi-source openness is with you… every step of the way!

http://www.abramsantacruz.com/the-peace-wall

A Canada goose lands on Playa, pulling back her wings just as her feet hit the dust. Penny is a metaphor of co-artist Lisa Ferguson who left her home in Canada to join her love in the USA. Penny’s wings are layered in Canadian pennies that will reflect the copper day and night. 2013 is also the last year the Canadian penny will be minted.

Pentangle is a celebration of geometry, color, and the work of hands. The small icosahedral dome is adorned with a filigree of over 100 hand-crocheted triangles in a riot of colors. These create wonderful patterns of positive and negative space, projected in a web of shadows. The large pentangle will only be revealed by entering and looking straight up. The top of the dome opens to form a large five-pointed star, a potent spiritual symbol for millennia.

Phone Home is a sculptural statement about the nostalgia of outdated technology and the omnipresent need for humans to communicate, no matter the era. The piece is interactive, asking for people to pick up and play with rotary dials and wall phones. My goal is to remind viewers of the joy of these phones, and the object-ness of their faded plastic presence that was once a staple to every American home, as well as to push the agenda that no matter what time period, communication is what makes us human. The sculpture will be a throbbing mass, a precious pyramid as well as a discarded jumble of outdated telephones. Picking up a phone will tune the viewer into one specific story, one specific world, while standing at the periphery will give off a charge of hundreds of noises humming together in what can only be described as humanity.

The Plastic Planet ll, is traveling art piece to bring awareness to the Plastic Pollution issue's in our oceans and food chain. Interactive Art, where people can peddle a stationary bicycle to make the world go round. Standing 11' tall, it is illuminated at night with El wire outlining the Ice caps in white, continents in green and the oceans in blue, it has a great night time appeal.

Alive! Real! A mobile musical calliope that you play with corndogs! This contraption will bemuse and amaze, providing endless and copious amounts of musical and mechanical delight. Mustard included.

Project Flashlight

Psychedelic Jump Rope

The Puha Pool draws upon ancient knowledge of the power of sacred places and sacred pools to bring forth positive energies and a truer understanding of ourselves and our place in infinity.

Sacred pools have been a part of the human experience since we first began to question the purpose of life, death and truth. We have always known them, respected them, and cared for them. They reflect the mysteries of time, space and spirit and connect us to higher energies and powers. Sacred pools can cleanse and heal, and move the mind, the body and the spirit to higher realms of consciousness, health and enlightenment. Sacred pools are also two-way streets; as they give their energies and wisdom to us, so we give our energies and wisdom to them… to strengthen and expand their powers for use by all who approach with an open heart and mind.

The Pyramid of Boom is an amalgamation of different pyramids styles, a venerating object dedicated to a love and praise of sound. A simulated speaker stack emerging from the earth. With interactive sound elements that can be manipulated by participants.

Pyramid Pirouette is comprised of groupings of stainless steel kinetic sculptures ranging in height from 8-feet to 30-feet high. The central piece of each grouping is a faceted diamond shape soaring above globe elements. These magical and mesmerizing sculptures are primarily visual although they are interactive in that one can wander amongst the revolving sculptures, viewing from all angles. The reflective surface disburses light, as the facets scatter it in all directions both day and night. One will catch glimpses of something twinkling in the distance during the day and at night an undulating projection on the playa will emerge.

Quick Fix is a metaphor for our society’s relationship with oil. Built out of 55 gallon drums and steel, it towers above a oil-addicted SUV injecting the engine. Over the course of the burn week, the plunger will empty the syringe, and thus the amount of oil estimated to be used during the event.

Reality TV

A space for two people (maybe one) to have a conversation – whoever happens to be there – and wants to participate.
As part of the installation, the participant is asked to go with the intent of remembering the meeting they have with the other person. The other person, is someone who is going with the same intent.
The thoughts we have in mind for this piece, and the ones you may want to take with you, are these:
Is something meaningful created, simply because you are going with the intent of remembering the other person – carrying the other person, your experience, through time?
Is something meaningful created, because the person you meet intends to remember you?
Remembering is a way to be attentive to what is happening in the present with another person. The conversation you have, is as unknown, as it is open ended.

The Retrotelechronoscope is a time-shifting telescope, looking back on Burning Man 2011.

We are “Revitalize.” Our goal is to bring the collective conciseness of Burning Man to the outside world. We looked at one of the BM Principles, "Leave No Trace" " and are using it to educate kids across the country on the importance of recycling plastic by recycling their TOOTHBRUSH.

The Toothbrush is an everyday item that many of us forget is often made from plastic. We are asking schools to participate in collecting old used toothbrushes to help us build a communal art project.

The toothbrush sculpture is a large globe, illustrating plastic is the plaque of the earth. It will look like a colorful large sphere, that once discovered upon the viewer will be shocked to realize it is made from toothbrushes.
Lets use our collective power in putting plastic in its proper place through recycling.

You can’t spell culture without cult. And pre-christian cults are what Sacred Grove is all about. From roots to shoots this circle of milled redwoods puts the holy back in holistic. And at the heart of the 26.5 ft ring rests a ruin stone, glorifying the very spirit of burning man. At night the whole structure lights up with the help of lanterns. During the day, the form resembles that of a flora stone hinge. At the end of the day, Sacred Grove is about the mighty stoic nature of woods as sacred space.

A Sign of PURPOSE. A 4×5 rusted metal sign that invites people to look inward and outward. As you journey across the Playa you will be confronted with the sign of PURPOSE. How may signs of your PURPOSE have you walked past or not looked deeper into the meaning. Take time to reflect on your PURPOSE and amazing journey!!!!

The Singing Flowers will take one to a psychedelic dimension in which individuals will be able to create a rhythmic dreamland. Each flower is beautifully created out of recyclable aluminum cans and found material in which metal pieces intertwines up the stem of the flowers to produce a glowing flower. From afar, the flowers will be lit up in majestic colors and engage individuals to approach the flowers. The fascination draws all ages and genders into a child-like jovial state full of curiosity. The angelic flowers have LED lights that fade and transcend in correlation to the human breathe at the adult average of 12-18 breaths per a minute. The visual of the LED lights fascinates spectators into a hypnotic state due to the parallel unison within the lights and oneself.

Fire is fundamental to the human experience. This mobile interactive fire piece seeks to enhance that experience.

An interactive sound installation based on motion recognition. Participants motions are tracked and turned into sounds and lights.

“Spines” consists of two book-cabinets styled after the shape of a lumbar vertebra bone, and will contain hand-bound books of gifted literary art . The poetic and graphic content is repurposed from found and abandoned materials such as email tag-line quotes, Larry Harvey’s lectures, burning blog posts, scholarly articles about “cargo cults”, essays about remix culture, personal statements for my regional’s board elections, DJ setlists, snarky comments on eplaya, and other internet detritus. Poems are built from these materials using computer “dissociator” algorithms and then re-sanctified. Each book will have a unique title on its spine. A glowing snake will be twined around the base of the cabinets, hinting at a kundalini metaphor. Books from other literary art projects (e.g. the "Get Lit!" collective) will also be available.

The structures of cargo cults hope to summon new objects and technology. What happens when we are overwhelmed by the physical trappings of modern life that previously we begged for? Will we start building monuments to forests, flora, and fauna, and hope to conjure a return to simplicity?

STAGnation is an imagining of the new cult that prizes nature over technology. 3 life-size deer stand together on the playa, facing outwards from a small open space. Constructed of slightly ramshackle wood pieces, the forms of the deer are not perfect, but they are earnest; a visual prayer to some kind of new forest god.

The art installation will have the look of a pagoda. As you approach it you will see a simple 5 sided hut made of steel. It stands 12′ at the peak of its roof and is about 12′ wide. What you will notice first is that the walls are made of large suspended steel chimes. They will range in size from 3″ to 12″ in diameter an up to 5′ long. With a simple breeze the pagoda will come to life as an enormous wind chime . As you enter into this amazing pagoda of tones you can take a seat in the epicenter of sound. There is a tin shed roof to shade you from the sun and a round bench in the middle for you to sit and enjoy.

Status Update is a spiral of vintage lights and speakers. Participants can record messages using an antique phone, and add to an evolving sound collage throughout the week.

SunScream is meant to protect your body both externally and from within. Station 1 allows you to lather up with some complimentary SPF 45 to protect your exterior from the suns harmful rays. Station 2 allows you to step behind a curtain and scream at the top of your lungs, releasing all the harmful rays emanating from within. You will leave SunScream a much healthier person.

Flash Kaboom Fizzle Giggle…Flash Kaboom Fizzle Giggle, What is that you ask? As you watch your friends shriek with glee and glow like they are watching an astronomical event, fire sears their image into the camera forever. The Supernova is a portable fire strobe effect system controlled by any connected camera. It will be on the Playa in full effect helping capture some of the amazing creations brought into our Universe. SuperNovaPhota.com will have galleries of images (password protected) for anyone who enters the SuperNovaPhota.

Suspended Animation is my concept for a play zone consisting of an array of three giant hammocks made of heavy duty recycled fishnet . Three hammock structures would be suspended from three free standing timber cradles, anchored at each end to the playa.

The hammocks can be in a star or triangle configuration. All components and fittings are designed to withstand 5,000 lb. of stress. I plan to incorporate various interactive gadgets and inflatable toys with audio and visual triggers such as bubble machines, horns, and oversize erotic toys,
The completed fun zone will be a creative place to climb, play, snooze, snuggle, canoodle and make or meet friends. This art project invites people to play with it. As adults we lose our sense of play, the random fun and make believe that children experience with creative and interactive toys.

Travel East on the hero’s path to ponder the monolithic Temple of Kukulkan.
This nine-tiered Mayan style pyramid utilizes the sacred interplay of 20 and 13, as a testament to the tzolkin calendric cycle. Utilizing this 20/13 ratio in our year of 2013 honors a special synchronicity and creates its own harmonic convergence for this year’s Burning Man.
Dedicated to a legendary Mayan deity, also referred to in central Mexico as Quetzalcoatl, this ruler left his capital city, heading east and promising to return. Kukulkan is not understood as a historical person, but rather as a mythical bringer of healing, whose beneficial power is only effective after his death and from a distance. Kukulkan, or Quetzalcoatl, is the plumed serpent of prophecy who appears to restore benevolent enlightenment.
Temple of Kukulkan will complete its life cycle on Friday night, when it will burn in volcanic fashion.

Templum Caelestis Oculus is both a sculpture and a ceremony space. An elegant and organic design, made from metals and industrial materials, the space mirrors the human state … a fusion of nature, industry, and spirituality.

Each figure captures familiar concepts, forged into unusual combinations, with the goal of inspiring the creative mind, feeding the divinity within us, and reflecting the beautiful, but also vast and alien, universe.

Inspired by the four elements, angels, demons, the cosmic dancer, insects, omnipotent watcher, and more, the Templum Caelestis Oculus invites the visitor to gaze within, day dream, meditate, or as a space to form a sacred bond between two people.

At night, the temple responds to ceremonial presence, as it becomes a glowing, animated beacon and broadcasts this union between souls to any and all who should be looking down upon our planet, be it satellite, deities, or alien.

It’s been a long journey from the beginning to the end, but it’s finally time to go…The cargo is bagged, loaded and heading out. Everything is taken, nothing left behind. Deep playa travelers can encounter shopping carts of brains, an occult left for the personal seeker. Are the brains leaving the territory of Burning Man? For destinations unknown? Brain journals will be provided for reflective thoughts and ramblings of the mind/s…

This year on view at Black Rock City’s Pavilion is the genuine one of a kind Throne of Visions. The Throne of Visions is a trans-dimensional device that allows the user to view sights in the etheric realm. Built by our specialty occult technicians who combine the right amount of A with B. It allows the user to witness the sights of an adept magician. The world of Paracelsus will be on display as Sylphs, Salamanders, Gnomes and Undines flirt and dance before the viewer’s eyes. By taking a seat on The Throne of Visions and glimpsing through the viewing apparatus one travels the newest frontier. Bringing the magic of occult science to life through analog augmented reality, The Throne of Visions is a call to the explorer, voyager, inventor and pioneer in all of us.

THE TIME MACHINE U.F.O.

"Today, we know that time travel need not be confined to myths, science fiction, or even speculation by theoretical physicists. Time travel is possible."- Clifford Pickover

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”- Henry Miller

Have you ever dreamed of traveling through time and space in a real Time Machine? We have!

With your participation, we can manifest this dream together with the creation of the TIME MACHINE U.F.O. (Unusual Fantastic Object)

The Time Machine U.F.O. is an interactive, participant-based art project which utilizes cutting edge sound technology to facilitate a journey beyond time & space.

Wearing headphones and listening to an audio journey layered with binaural beats which balance and synchronize brainwaves, the TMUFO is a vessel in which participants can lay down and relax the physical body and travel to various dimensions within the consciousness.

he Transfrumstantiator is a 6ft obelisk, altar, prayer bell and transmission tower all wrapped in one. Participants are invited to ring the bell to announce to the enigmatic John Frum that they have an offering of a fear, resentment, a bit of dishonesty, or a part of self that they wish to submit to the Transfrumstantiator via a slot or handprint alignment. A mysterious unknown trans-formative radio technology link will instantly “transalter” the offering into compassion, peace, harmony, and joy. Half of the tower will be offered into the man burn and the half into the temple burn. The Transfrumstantiator facilitates the letting go and release of the negative and celebrates the positive. The idea is then taken full circle in the burn of the man and temple.

An enormous wood-paneled television set, which plummeted out of the sky from an unknown place, settles into the dust of the playa. In its wake, 7-foot high luminous tubes create an extensive tunnel of light. The Transport-o-scope is a glimmering vortex, a passageway that begs adventurers to ride or walk through the screen as they question the possibilities of imagination and intellect found behind it.

Tribes That May Be is a two-fold project. It features an impactful visual piece in the form of an oversized ‘flight recorder’ box painted in dazzle camouflage (a WWI era camo for ships that’s making a comeback as a way to defeat facial recognition software) and an interactive, ethereal piece accessible via mobile device that challenges the participant to consider Burning Man in a different light via an exploration of its history and a possible future. The flight recorder acts as a landmark to tie the two pieces, the real and the imaginary, together.

Trillium is a 16 foot tall interactive kinetic sculpture that celebrates the beauty in structure and mechanisms. A manually powered mechanism lifts large balls up to the top where they roll by gravity down metal tracks to be collected and lifted again. The tracks form an overhead canopy like the blossom of an Amazonian, mechanical version of its namesake plant. The base is outlined with LEDs at night. The rolling balls have LED embedded in them, and in the dark they will roll about like giant fireflies.

The Turbinophone is an interactive musical instrument, playable by participants, which is made from most of an old jet engine.

The Turbinophone suggests that an instrument of military technology, mysteriously transported to Black Rock City, can be repurposed into an instrument of musical technology, turning those who interact with it, into believers of the mystical musical power it possesses.

The Turbinophone will grant each participant the power to speak the language of music, even if they have never played music before.

A walk through bamboo flowers to discover a human sundial.

From the Playa can be seen a wide spread of flags encompassing a small building structure. The flags show a variety of symbols and form the pattern of an Analemma, a figure-8 formed by the sun. The flags surround a small Sanctuary.

A heavy door beacons entrance to the Sanctuary of Veritas. Upon opening the door, a space of wonder meets the eye, curious artwork on the walls, an alter under a circular rear window, a sculpture upon the alter. The structure is made of wood, the windows hand-cast in thick panes totaling near 1000 pounds of glass. The inner space is quiet and contemplative. Here, surrounded by sound and play of light and art in oil paint and pattern painted and symbols rendered and sculpture displayed, inside this Sanctuary, the Burner begins to fully take in the questions spurred by Veritas.

Video Bleep is a fully immersive, 5.1 surround sound, 360 degree video experience. Enjoyable from both outside the 30ft dome and, more appropriately, from the inside where viewers will have their frames of reference, suspense of disbelief, reactions and equilibrium played with.
Depending on the night, participants can come chill and lounge; dance and party; sit back and watch a widescreen, 5.1 movie; or manipulate the video via joysticks, webcams, microphones, and other control surfaces, as well as play games against other participants on the walls of the dome.

Video Synth is an interactive theatre of self projection. The piece has three main elements, two of which are interactive. On one end of the installation is an automated video booth that elicits a series of 15 responses over 90 seconds from participants. When finished recording, the video is copied to a mixing station where participants can easily select their videos and play them back while synthesizing the sound, video, and background art in real time, via a very simplified custom controller that consists of multiple illuminated push buttons and slide potentiometers. The videos are constantly projected throughout the night onto a large dual projection screen, and comfortable lounge space is provided for people to relax and enjoy the moving portraits of their fellow playa citizens.

The Voice of the Man allows the user to rest and listen to the Voice of the Man radio station through the use of a beauty salon chair.

A venue of vultures alight around a vivid vortex. An exotic clairvoyant cultivates curiosity. Crystals quiver with clarity and concentration. Birds of prey bemuse birds of paradise.

Wall of mirrors

Which Warrior are you? Find out for yourself at The Warrior Pyramid Of Peace .

The Warrior Pyramid Of Peace is a installation to celebrate life, inspired by real people from the dusty playa of Burning Man 2012.

The Pyramid will act as a meditation pyramid for people to come to, go inside and take in all sorts of energy while relaxing on a meditation mat in the shade. Taking in this colourful installation will hopefully make you walk away with a smile on your face and in your heart.

At night the pyramid will be lighten up in the brightest colours, shining as a rainbow Warrior in the desert night as a testament to all of us Warriors out there, coming together to enjoy the sunset.

If your looking for something but cant quite find it, put your finger on it, or in it, then come find the dojo. “A place of the way” is the literal meaning of DOJO, which can be anywhere, nowhere, and everywhere, as long as you respect, and appreciate your DOJO. If you can’t find the Dojo on the open Playa then come to camp “Where is the dojo” to find the dojo and possible find what you were trying to put your finger on.

Whirld – The second kinetic piece from Jeff Howe and Ruby Bettencourt; Whirld is derived from symbols that represented the cycles of life in a variety of ancient and contemporary cultures, this steel 8' diameter sculpture represents a Burners Whirld View. While at rest the piece will radiate a glow from the solar powered internal LED lighting but the adventurous Burners will want to step up and help give that world a whirl by turning the handle. In motion, shadows from the from sun will dance on the surface of the Playa, and by night the lights inside the spinning plasma cut steel vortex will mesmerize nearby pARTicipants.

The Whispering Bottles are floating among recycled and found materials in a 50 x 30 foot space in the deep playa where the clinking of the bottles reminds us of the archaic form of communication of a message in a bottle. It is a place where messages of love, hope, and desire are exchanged. It highlights basic ways of using our “unusables” to connect and be reminded of our interconnectivity.

DOTA’s Wind Labyrinth Elements: Earth, Wind and Sky is a place where wind defines experience. Four interconnected circles of floating banners create a labyrinth to explore with all the senses. Banners of Wind, Fire and Earth surround each visitor with color and sound created by wind and heart, leading one into the center where stillness and awareness are rewarded with the subtle wounds of the Aeolian Harp. Created by the Department of Tethered Aviation’s master kite makers, our Wind Labyrinth will help each visitor experience an oasis of calm and wonder in the midst of Black Rock City.

Wind Sock eel mascot for Burning Sky Camp! Skydivers often land nearby.

Wings and a Prayer is a blend of sacred themes and our desire to translate the natural powers of wind and sun into motion and light. The base houses a prayer wheel and zoetrope covered with iconic imagery that will send prayers of harmony into the cosmos. Stainless steel wings and a mirrored lotus flower mounted above the base will capture playa winds to spin the prayer wheel and create a flashing beacon in the mid-day sun.

The Wishing Heart is a Galactic Heart Activation Portal in the form of a magic wishing well.

Wolkenskuckucksheim is a German vocabulary describing an imaginary place where one lives in one’s one world, above the clouds, far away from reality. An imaginary place of meditation as well as obscurity and speculation.It is visualized by a tiny hut on top of a squre pyramid. in front a degressive staircase leads to the top interupted – close to the top – an installation of clouds enhancing the illusionof endless stairs into the clouds, inaccessible for common people. thr pyramid will be surrounded by found objects like pieces of washed up cargo as a source of lore and myth.Viisitors are invited to make up stories about the objects as to their origin/meaniing/purpose. Stories can be posted and read inside the pyramid which will be accessible through a backdoor.

The Wovokan Temple is a collection of icons and artifacts from an extinct religious gathering called Burning Man. Remnants and evidence of this annual event were found in the ruins of a town called Gerlach. Not much was left after years of damage by the harsh elements in the Black Rock Desert. From these scraps the Core Principles were discovered and enough documents to provide guidelines for the birth of the Wovokan Fire Keepers. Each year we burn the Sacred Fire in ways we have learned from the teachings of the First Burners.

The Temple is a replica of the source of Burner Power and he is called the Man. He is disguised before the fire is lit. Other artifacts will follow him into the fire. One will be the Sacred Pig (wooden pig in a commercial size pen) and the other will be the Love Shack (a teardrop trailer).

X Marks the Spot

Zion Drum Circle to refocus humankind

Zipperburn! A magical unicorn careens across a zip line of re-purposed industrial and military components.