2015 Art Installations

All artworks in these listings will be presented by these artists on the open playa in Black Rock City. Honoraria Art H has been awarded a grant by Burning Man Project. Registered Art includes all other projects that have registered for placement on the open playa in BRC. You can learn more about the BRC Art program here.

2015 Black Rock City

Acavallo

by: Quill Hyde, Acavallo
from: Tonasket, WA
year: 2015

A strikingly geometrical stylized ship, fully real, with every detail functional and if not elegant, at least whimsical. The ship has weathered beautifully! The patina is incredible.

The clean lines of the rigging and the structures (the straight steel and catenary ropes) belie the thorough engineering, and all of the elements blend visually into a complete, balanced piece. It just breathes fun and style!

Akle' the Dragon

by: Swig Miller
from: Santa Monica, CA
year: 2015

Akle’ the Dragon will be watching over the Playa this year. She’s a majestic white dragon, almost 50′ in length with magnificent wings reaching up 20′ in the air. She’s sitting sitting like a lion or dog atop a large red boulder with her tail winding over two more. She’s made of smooth cool concrete to give a feeling of solidity and endurance.

Akle’ represents the guardian nature of dragons, that of spiritual beings watching over us. Akle’ was born as a tribute to the artist’s dog Elka who past away during the construction of this project.

arborealisforest

by: Noam Turgeman, arborealisArt
from: Berkeley, CA
year: 2015

Arborealis: A space for people to co-create
Inspired by nature and infused with technology. Arborealis, the magical forest, comes to life. A place to gather and harmonize, the forest responds to movement and reverberates with mystical melodies. Illuminated with ethereal projections at night, it shelters visitors during the day. A respite, a place that invites you to make connections and play.

Brobdingnag

by: InterArte
from: Berlin, Germany
year: 2015

Brobdingnag is one of the countries Gulliver visited during his travels. It is the land of the giants. We want to recreate the situation of traveling to a foreign place where one has to reconstruct his ideas and thoughts of what is reality, how are things and objects really and how they appear.
The chairs will be so tall, they can only be climbed with the help of someone else. So people will have to come together, and support each other getting up and down. The stage like situation invites burners to interact and play with the environment, slip into the role of a child or a lilliput and with their own body, experience a different concept of size. In the presence of the giant table and chairs, the viewer will feel physically diminished and will be returned to the experiences of childhood adventure.
The sensation of being thrown off balance by the striking discrepancies in the scale of this setting is an invitation for people to think about existing structures in the default world

Chaotick

from: Palo Alto, CA
year: 2015

To an Ignatz novelty clock with a tetherball-like escapement, the artist applied a familiar Burning Man transformation: “Really big, and on fire.”

DREAM

by: Jeff Schomberg and Laura Kimpton
from: Reno, NV
year: 2015

DREAM is a 12 foot tall steel sculpture that will be a gathering place and land mark for the citizens of black rock city.

El Diabla

by: Crimson Rose and Iron Monkeys
from: Seattle, WA
year: 2015

On the first Monday of the event, Crimson Rose extracts a flame from the sun to light a fire in El Diabla, a special cauldron located in Center Camp. For the flame to continue burning it must be stoked, disturbed and kept alive throughout the entire week. On Saturday evening, fire is transferred from El Diabla to the Luminferrous, and processed to the Great Circle and shared with the Fire Conclave before the Man is released in pyrotechnic delight.

Humanity as a Hole

by: Wholly Humans
from: San Francisco, CA
year: 2015

The Whole of Humanity is a library out in the open playa. It’s a quiet space to reflect, facing the vast space of the desert.

The library is stocked with second hand books, donated by other burners who found them meaningful and who want to inspire someone’s journey.

There are also themed empty notebooks. Citizens are invited to write in these and share their human experience.

Little House on the Playa

by: Moral Turgeman, RAISE THE MORAL
from: Los Angeles, CA
year: 2015

The Little House on the Playa is a cabin like structure covered in mirrors. It is a place to dive into different perspectives of ourselves and our surroundings. Look for the unconventional entry and discover binaural beat sound therapy, a suspended heart sculpture and a crystal lit shrine. Home is where the heart is. Access the home within you.

LunaCity Arcs

by: Humans Out Of Place
from: Vancouver, Canada
year: 2015

LunaCity is a 3 tiered arc of stairways and ladders to the moon. The sculpture culminates to an interactive moon chair sitting high in the clouds .

Madelena the Mer-Pony

by: Quill Hyde
from: Tonasket, WA
year: 2015

A mer-pony on land, and slightly uncomfortable about it – symbolizing the tension that comes from being caught between two worlds. Meant to inspire that certain feeling! A fish out of water, a horse in the sea.

Mangueira

by: Daniel Strickland, Brazilian Burners
year: 2015

Considering Burning Man’s 2015 theme “Carnival of Mirrors”, we decided to design a project to work with the idea of transparency, reflection and the energy exchange every participant can have with the piece.

The idea is to naturally bring different ways of interaction with the piece, considering that its structure swivels around the body and it consist of tunnels filled with water. When in motion, it gives us a sensorial illusion that messes up with our labyrinth making each experience personal and unique.

The objective of the installation is to face the unexpected, its about recreating itself through the presence of each interaction.

“Mangueira” challenges us through sensorial illusions where you don’t expect much when you see it, but everything changes when you experience it. Its and individual or collective journey, you are free to chose.

Metaheart

from: Marshall, NC
year: 2015

METAHEART: a mirror-clad, 3D form that rises 23′ from the desert floor. With its 3 arching support arms, the heart motif can be recognized from any direction. In the center (the heart of the heart), dwells a geometric jungle gym, that rotates under human power, while the 3-tier base supports the structure with minimal
impact to the Playa (no holes!). METAHEART is about discovery. Exploration reveals different aspects of the geometry, as the shape appears to change depending on
the viewpoint. Interaction brings the sculpture to life, as its sub-powered heartbeat keeps pace with its rotating centerpiece. At night there is more to discovered.Computer-driven LEDs pulsate to the beat, and 3 red lasers, each at a 33 degree angle atop the sculpture, sweep in synchronization. A next level of audio-reactive
light shows is unlocked only by the proximity of a sufficiently loud art car.

Reflecting Pool

by: Michael Emery
from: Santa Cruz, CA
year: 2015

Reflecting pools are an architectural and landscape device used to encourage contemplation. Usually a pool of water reflects an architectural form. This installation reflects the playa ground, the sky, and any passing phenomenon including the passing Black Rock City participant.This installation encourages contemplation.

Straightedge

by: Ardent Heavy Industries
from: San Francisco, CA
year: 2015

A 2.7 mile long straightedge that BRC citizens can use to see the curvature of the Earth. Made of synchronized flashing LEDs, it periodically animates at the speed of seismic waves, to show how fast earthquakes travel.

Super Pool

by: Jen Lewin
from: New York, NY
year: 2015

The Super Pool is an environment of giant, concentric circles created from interactive circular pads. By entering the pool, you enter a world where play and collaborative movement create swirling effects of light and color. Imagine a giant canvas where you can paint and splash light collaboratively.

This years The Super Pool will be part of the amazing Mayan Warrior camp. Come find us nightly, as part of the Mayan Warrior’s incredible interactive dance floor.

Sustainable Magic Flowers

by: Sustainable Magic
from: San Francisco, CA
year: 2015

The Sustainable Magic garden awaits and rewards those who come close and explore its flowers. A colorful fusion of the organic and electronic, the Magic Garden will brighten your day–but especially your night–and leave you with a smile and the joy of knowing magic still exists in the world today.

The FUNnel of Creation

by: Jeremy Evans, Reno Core Project
year: 2015

The FUNnel is a celebration of the creativity and dedication of artists from around the world that bring their art to the Playa. Artists and participants converge at Black Rock City and together they create the magic of Burning Man.

The base of the FUNnel is a 20’x 14’x 4’ semi-circular Mercator world map. Eight 24’ twisted steel spires extend from the map to support a map of Black Rock City suspended above the spires. After dark, flame effects and lighting are controlled by participants rocking on spring riders. When all spring riders are in motion, the light and flame effects reach their climax.

Touffe

by: jason predock
from: san francisco, CA
year: 2015

Touffe is a conceptual art piece integrating light based art and site specific integration. Imagine entering the artery at night and seeing what looks like a giant cluster of glowing fish eggs suspended in the darkness. As you come closer you see perched in the rafters above the heads of onlookers and passersby a cluster formed from 50+ individually controllable glowing spheres gently progressing through colorful shades. As the night progresses Touffe evolves into a participant in the festival, bursting with multi color patterns of light, flashing, pulsing . . . dancing to the beats of the music. The possibilities of combinations are limitless. . . a cluster of fish eggs tucked into the ceiling, a parasitic mass pulsing to the music.
When i design a site specific art piece i consider concepts like topography, climate, etc. Meaning “cluster” in French, Touffe can take on many forms depending on the geography, architecture, local flora, etc.

Tree of (Im)Permanence

by: Nick Geurts
from: Wheat Ridge, CO
year: 2015

Tree of (Im)Permanence is a 20ft tall interactive musical tree consisting of polished stainless steel pipes forming the tree trunk and limbs supporting 25 polished stainless steel tubular bell chimes which have deep resonating bell-like tones. The base of the tree is an 8ft diameter circle, plasma cut by hand to form the tree’s root system. At the base of the tree trunk sits a children’s toy piano which has 25 keys with the bell chimes tuned to the corresponding notes. The keyboard is midi controlled with wiring that goes through the trunk and limbs that powers a solenoid to strike the bell chime, as well as powers on an LED light rod parallel to the chime that fades as the chime sound fades. The toy piano has an led strip that illuminates the keys at night. The base is also backlit by leds which light up when the notes are played.