2019 Archive
"Hoʻo ua." To cause rain.
The word “Ho’o ua” comes from the name “to cause rain.” This human-scaled work simulates a soundscape of rain within an enclosed environment in the style of a raffle ticket drum. The center of the piece will be separated in a separate “cage” in which participant(s) will climb inside the cage and stay seated while at least one to three persons must crank the handle to the right to put the plastic balls within the drum in motion. Once in motion this will allow the participant on the throne to experience not only a rain on the roof, but a “rain through the roof” sensory experience.
"I Love You"
“I LOVE YOU” will be a large light installation.
Taking a look at this year’s theme, this neon sculpture can serve as a playful counterpart, with its engaging interactivity and constantly changing meaning, it provokes *Metamorphosis.
Using a subversive formula of colliding seemingly innocent images with meaningful messages, my subtle alterations to known designs irrevocably disrupt their meaning. This juxtaposition between the nostalgic and sinister has become a hallmark of my body of work—in presenting attractive images that viewers initially feel safe absorbing, I cleverly and strategically encourage them to examine their own critique of their feelings and emotions related to present day culture along with the principles of Black Rock City.
#Drelinquency
#Drelinquency is a play on the words Frequency and Delinquency
Frequencies are the building blocks of all we see and hear. Some frequencies can be dialled into by #Drelinquency’s radio scanner.
Delinquency has a negative connotation, but is that unacceptable? Is the act of listening in on transmissions not intended for someone an act of delinquency?
One can find #Drelinquency by listening out for the radio transmissions and by spotting the sound responsive LED lighting.
#Slonik
It’s a 75 ft fluorescent elephant which will be hard to miss on playa.
#Slonik is designed to draw attention to elephant mistreatment in Africa and Asia. We should not let the elephants go extinct. If you take one element away from the ecosystem it will affect all the other creatures including humans themselves!
Slonik — transliteration from Cyrillic — is the diminutive form of a Russian word that means elephant.
#TILT
Inspired by surreal photographs by French artist Philippe Ramette, TILT allows you to see the world differently. Not only participants who interact with TILT by stepping onto the balcony shift their perspective. Even observers are intuitively and playfully urged to act to make sense of contradictory visuals. What is real and what is fake? What does it take to change reality?
'O'
‘O’ is an interactive exploration of the cyclical rhythms of ritual and rebirth, and a physical demonstration of the power of intention and art to drive social change. A 10 meter tall Nepali prayer wheel stands in the center, flanked by a skeletal ouroboros, representing the ancient motif of the snake eating its tail in eternal revolutions of death and rebirth. By the circular rotation of the prayer wheel, participants can collectively create energy out of pure intention and perceive its effect on the world.
In both form and content of ‘O’, in the materials and techniques used, and every step of the piece’s existence, ‘O’ is an embodiment of cyclical sustainability. From every vantage point, the piece turns metaphor into tangible reality.
1up
1up pays homage to the 8bit world of 80s classic gaming and lets you step inside of your very own life sized video game. Will it be 1up or game over? There’s no cheat codes on this level.
A Place for Anything
In a Zen, strong messages and powerful physical art are not always necessary.
We create “Empty Field” into a place where all burners can freely express and interact with each other. It’s a truly free place without any subject where people’s personalities, sources and expressions blend together. There are many things that make people realize their origin. Because it’s an unthinkable “Empty” and a place where everything can change, the participants may be aware of a new aspect of themselves.
A Slice of Heaven
“A Slice of Heaven” transforms a familiar section of our local stellar neighborhood into a curious streetscape, shrinking 486 light-years of space down to 40 feet of walkable, lamp-lit passage. The collections of stars that we know as the Big and Little Dipper are uniquely visible in our tiny sliver of the universe – seen from any other perspective, they take on totally different shapes. By observing the stars from alternative positions, we are invited to think about our place in the universe and how the familiar night sky hides a depth we do not often contemplate.
About Time
About Time explores the ways in which humanity has kept time. The sculpture incorporates themes of time keeping elements throughout the ages. The piece asks what is time? How do the ways we keep time change our perceptions of reality? Is playa time the only real time? Primarily of wood construction, the sculpture will stand ~20 ft tall and consist of several interactive elements (such as a rotating hourglass) that invite visitors to engage with questions about time. A fully functional sundial by day will evoke thoughts of ancient time keeping. At night it will transform to a digital timepiece and be illuminated by thousands of LEDs. The sculpture will be burned in place as a testament to the fleeting nature of time.
Advice Booth
Advice Booth is visually familiar as it is derived from the garden variety “friendly advice” embedded within American culture (just ask Charlie Brown), which makes this piece approachable. Simple wood construction and small stature can disguise it in the dust, making it a fun find to those who spot it. It is a social platform that invites role playing and creativity, and can expose unseen vulnerabilities to participants awaiting their first “customer.”
Airfield for walking in the clouds
“Airfield for walking in the clouds” is a model of a fantasy airfield with ten dream-liners “Armchairs for walking in the clouds.”
The project is a large-scale interactive installation where people will be sitting and swinging in the “Armchairs for walking in the clouds” where they will be able to “break away” from the ground and be closer to their dreams. “Airfield for walking in the clouds” is a place where people can go on their own journey into the depths of their inner space.
Alternity
Reality is not a straight line. It is a branching tree of alternatives where everything that can happen does. At each point of uncertainty, two parallel universes diverge. Representing the diversity of possible futures, it traces how our experiences may pass through them as each consciousness traverses a unique path through this…
Alternity.
Andromeda Reimagined
In myth, Andromeda earned the god’s respect by her earthly deeds and was rewarded with celestial immortality as a constellation. We reimagine the Andromeda Myth, evolving it from a classic male hero focus to a strong feminine and collaborative paradigm.
This art piece brings Andromeda back to earth, and asks, should we aspire to immortality? Can our fleeting actions ultimately stack up to monumental outcomes?
The piece, built by first-time playa artists, consists of a 26 ft spire, with ornate star-patterned walls. It shines like a Moroccan lantern at night, and beckons viewers to rest in a plush interior, seek shade, duck a windstorm. It incubates change. People come to reflect on their course, and to feel inspired to set their sights higher.
Aphrodite's Shrine
From a distance, one sees a low-lit mound reminiscent of early fortified dwellings, but made beautiful with art evoking the sea. The hidden inner sanctum draws curious Burners towards a contemplative space.
Aphrodite’s Shrine is a sex positive space that invites participants to reflect on different aspects of love and how they relate to themselves and their sense of spirituality.
Apocalyptic Portal
The apocalyptic portal will permit movement back and forth between the non-apocalyptic world and the apocalyptic world to Black Rock Citizens.
Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx is a kinetic light sculpture, designed to bring people together. The Archaeopteryx (pronounced arc-kee-opt-er-ix) is the first bird known to evolve from the ancient dinosaur, marking an important leap in the story of evolution on earth. Rising from the dust, our sculpture invites you to touch, explore, and inhabit. Through collaboration, participants can mobilise her 16ft wingspan and activate beautiful illuminating light graphics. The Archaeopteryx is a physical and symbolic reminder that in order for humans to evolve, we must work together.
Art Car Bus Stops
Art car bus stops are a spontaneous autonomous municipal service. We are a community made open effort providing several artisnal benches.
“The Disco Stop” bench and shade with 20″ disco ball and mood lighting.
“Janus geometric stop” sit 5 across either side providing shade all day.
“The Time Machine Stop” a bench with a visible depository of items from past, present, & possible futures.
“The G Spot” nested Gs form a 3D G with vibration.
“The Light Gets Through” a single person. isolation stop contrasting darkness and hope.
“Mustaba/Mustaba” House of the dead shade and playa stone bench.
“Metamorphosis Wave” playa hexagons emerge and transform into shimmering shade.
“Hell Stop” in the deepest deep apocalyptic remains form this bench at the edge.
Art Car Show and Tell
This is a pop-up Mutant Vehicle show using 20 or more collaborating mutant vehicles a day. Have you ever wondered what it took to make your favorite Mutant Vehicle? How it got to the playa? What was the builder’s inspiration? What IS that thing? How can I build one? This is the chance for participants to ask those questions and more of the people that have done it and know what to do.
The show will move around the inner playa to various locations for 4 days over the course of the week. Locations can be near esplanade, the keyholes, major art pieces or camps. The intent is to add diversity to the city and reach different areas of the city by rotating the locations on each of the 4 days of the event the show will be held on.
As One
As One is an interactive flame installation in the form of a biofeedback-driven mindfulness game for two. When players’ heart rates synchronize – when their hearts beat as one – the flame effect goes off, pulsing their shared heartbeat into the sky in burning propane. Thus, the piece’s mission is to bring two people together, whether they’re out on a playa date, or new friends, or complete strangers from the crowd.
As You Wish
Reminiscent of an Arabian minaret in a mirage beckoning you to enter. Once inside, the swirling points of light create a mystical chamber for your wishes. The magical lamp turning with myriad points of light dancing across the desert. Inside, the light carries your wishes up to the stars.
Awakening
Human beings may eventually create machines that become exponentially more “intelligent” than ourselves. This will mark new thresholds for the human being and civilization. We will be reborn as we reach new technological panoramas. With the development of AI, we could emerge from the process very different from our former selves. When the machines we create influence and condition our human experience, they are also influencing us. Machines are helping us move towards fantastic scenarios through which we will be changed. Awakening is a tall steel automan at 14′ holding a humanoid infant.
Awful's Gas & Snack
Awful’s Gas & Snack: Your Gateway to the Big Wild! See one of the few remaining gasoline stations, painstakingly preserved since the mid-21st century. Travel back to a time when hardy men roamed the “open road” seeking fortune & freedom. Wilderness passes & provisions available. NO GAS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE, PLEASE DON’T ASK.
Back to the Future: Dystopia about the Space Dogs
The installation is composed of six sphere-shaped fire pits. Five spheres telling the spectacular cosmic legend are located around the magnificent fire pit flower.
The installation “Back to the Future: Dystopia about the Space Dogs” brings us back to the golden age of sci-fi when faith in the omnipotent human mind and spirit was boundless. The design of the art object uses the works of Soviet artists from science fiction novels. The heroes of their works – conquerors of outer space, extraterrestrial landscapes, as well as intelligent and faithful to mankind robots, comrades-in-arms.
Banana Chrysalis
Who says insect life doesn’t exist on playa? Inspired by this year’s Metamorphoses theme, banana butterflies are manifesting inside the Banana Chrysalis — a 12′, interactive banana sculpture with peels that spiral open as you turn the ship’s wheel. Inside, a paper and acrylic cocoon blazes with the heart of an environmentally aware, ever-evolving LED light show celebrating the playful, colorful journey of life.
BarterDog
You’re exploring the open playa finding Amazing works of Art, your nostrils catch a whiff of the comforting aroma, Sizzling Hot Dogs. You keep following your senses and suddenly it appears! A Shaded Bicycle powered Cart with a small BBQ full of Sizzling Hot Dogs, a group of Burners is around it enjoying the works of art they have created out of the Bun & Wiener canvas, piled with sauerkraut onions mustard ketchup and relish, how could this be? Some burners search for years and never encounter Hot Dog bliss, believing it only to be a myth. Others fulfill their hot dog destiny Burn after Burn. The hard part is finding BarterDog, the Cart never returns to the same spot out on the open playa. “Enjoy the Journey” )'(
Beauty is in the Eye of the Beeholder
Hey Honey, Pinky has been beezy making a large Honey Bee! Bee stands about six feet tall, is about ten feet long and holds a special eyeball in front of himself. Upon looking into the eye…. you will find much Beauty within yourself.
Bee Dance
Bee Dance is a whimsical and inviting art installation in the form of two gigantic Dancing Bees, their legs entwined and their heads touching in a bee kiss. It celebrates one of the most fascinating examples of communication in the natural world — when forager bees return from their exploratory flights and perform the Bee Dance for the other bees, carrying out specific routines in order to communicate the distance and direction of pollen, nectar and water from the hive.
Bee Dance is a strong climbable structure that Burners can clamber over and cling to, just as pollen clings to a bee. The Bees are bronze in colour, but on their dancing feet they wear gleaming copper ballet shoes with copper ribbons. The Bees are transformed into dancers.
Bee Divine Hive Temple
This project seeks to empower female identifying participants by creating themselves as a Divine archetype and designing a customized ritual of worship for that expression. Each night Priestesses utilizing tools of sacred theater, shamanism and hypnosis will guide them into a state of heightened embodiment. This alchemy will take place as an interactive ritual theater open for all citizens to engage with. It’s set in a hexagonal Temple to the Divine Feminine and the bee, with fabric and LED woven walls, interactive altars and artwork. Dusk and dawn oracles offer truths to all who sit before them. This is an experiment of the imagination to explore how deeply one can dare to believe and how our belief creates reality. Imagine and Bee Divine.
Bee or Not to Bee
This bee is big. Comparing a person to this sculpture yes, but so is the contribution the honey bee brings to the world’s food supply. Don’t be intimidated by its size. Get close. Draw your hands through its hair. Feel the limbs. Sit on its flower. You’re not vulnerable at all, but the bee species is.
BLACK ROCK ADVENTURES BUS STOP!
This not only looks like a bus stop, it is a BUS STOP! We will swing by and offer you a Playa Tour usually at 9am and 7pm daily, room and weather permitting! Tour times are posted in the BUS STOP! Our touring rig is accessible for the mobility challenged, and all else. It’s more than a STOP! It’s a way to GO!
We encourage riders and transportation to stop by as well and connect, whenever.
Black Rock City
This piece of art is small, under 100 pounds, 36 inches long, 21 inches high, and 16 inches deep. The base is a large concrete rock painted black. A painted plywood head band covers the widest part of the rock. There are flames painted on the lower part of the plywood band that blend into a cityscape. The top has an arrow at the highest point.
The piece will be pointing at City Center. There will be 6 solar lights around the piece for lighting.
Black Rock City Playa Wish Toll Booth
In the middle of nowhere, there’s always a gate to pass to get through yourself. The Black Rock Playa Wish Toll Booth allows participants, within the physical confine of a wooden working toll booth station with moveable toll booth arm, to enter voluntarily. But the same person may not exit because past this toll booth, everything will be different.
Dimes are not accepted.
Black Rock Observatory
Black Rock Observatory is a portal to the wonders of the cosmos and has been bringing the project to Burning Man since 2014, engaging thousands of participants with views of planets, galaxies and nebulae, sharing meteorites and giving talks on a multitude of scientific and artistic topics. Kids’ Night at the Observatory is a particular favorite, where future burners go to get their universe on. Dozens of kids hear about engaging topics and receive real meteorites.
Black Rock Superior Court
Black Rock Superior Court is the most trusted institution on the playa for handling disputes, marital issues, criminal citations, and frivolous judgement actions since 2018. It has come to be seen as a vital part of civic life on the playa by at least 200 people, maybe more. Bring your issues before our magistrate and we will settle that issue once and for all! PuppyBoy not doing the dishes?! Sue him, literally. JankySue being all janky? Bring her to court! Yes, we will adjudicate the living hell out of your dispute and send you all away worse for the wear.
Black Rock Superior Court; because justice ain’t fair, baby.
BORiNG Sign
During a week where sensory overload is par for the course and the most mundane hour on the playa is more interesting than most people’s other 358 days of the year, the BORiNG sign represents the irony implicit in the Burning Man event itself. It is a reminder to both not take ourselves too seriously and also to ALWAYS look around us — you never know what you may miss if you don’t. The hand-painted letters B-O-R-I-N-G are fabricated from reclaimed sheet metal and discarded retail sign parts, and lit by 300 ten-watt incandescent bulbs and securely attached to a welded base with wheels. BRC citizens interact with the piece by creating a moveable, groovable dance party with us as we roll the sign from art piece to art piece, burn to burn.
Bottled Up Genie
The project is an elaborate giant wooden bottle with a captive Genie perched inside on a tree. Genie is embedded in our consciousness as a creative, intelligent, mythological, guardian spirit. His role is to make dreams come true allowing something to happen that can’t be stopped. At the base of the genie’s feet is a giant Book of Wishes. Participants use this to write out their dreams. Its a place to acknowledge wishes as affirmations of how we imagine our best selves into being. Genie allows us to have no restrictions on our requests. Dreams are not just your own, they are connected with everyone else. It’s about nuances of communication. My hope is that participants will connect with Genie to affirm their best selves into being.
Bounce Back
This intriguing hand-built interactive kinetic sculpture uses pedals and cooperation to power an amalgamation of industrial equipment and playful objects to create the contained chaos of a musical, colorful, visual, physical, colorful spectacle as thousands of bouncy superballs are lifted on high by a hand built bucket elevator and dropped twenty feet to bounce & ping around like crazy inside their spacious see-through silo, just for the sheer joy of it! Surrounding Bouncy Ball Benches provide a cozy place to relax, watch and listen as the spectacle activates, settles and restarts in a testament to resilience and our ability to bounce back!
Brown Chakra Project
After years of asceticism, I became enlightened with the epiphytic discovery a chakra previously unknown. I have been revolutionizing peoples’ lives with my knowledge of the Brown Chakra. A flowing Brown Chakra is the wellspring from which all life manifests. My followers and I hope to smear the message across the globe. The Brown Chakra Project is sculpture celebrating cathartic release through metamorphosis and whimsy in the transitory. Join us in relieving yourselves with the sculpture’s immolation. More fire in B.M. 2019!
Burning Tits!
It’s Fast It’s Dangerous IT IS Burning Tits!
We give naughty prizes.
We start play after sunset (9pm ish) till nobody wants to play or day light happens!
Just don’t touch the carnies!!!
BYTE
B.Ÿ.T.E. (Burners for Ÿntelligent Technology Emancipation) consists of two monolithic, anthropomorphic microchips representing the very first sentient robots to be freed from slavery, Chip and Terra.
Chip and Terra were first set free to play on the dusty dance floor of deep playa at Black Rock City in 2018. Their virgin year home was one of exploration as they adapted to their newly found liberation.
This year, they hope to enter the imago stage of their evolution and return home to embrace the magical whimsy, radical self expression and symbiotic love as they emerge from their chrysalis and blossom into the colorful, loveable creatures they were always meant to embody. They hope to fully complete their Metamorphoses.
Carousel Zarya
Carousel Zarya is a rotating, interactive art installation and ride. It is hand-powered, and the energy transmitted by the human motor flows into the creativity and joy of the people spinning on the platform.
Zarya in Russian means the sunrise, and this name references the possibility of a post-apocalyptic utopia. The carousel looks hellish, but when it starts to move and emit light and sound, it becomes a celebration of creativity and the irrepressible ecstasy of life. If humanity itself can learn to produce light and love, it will be able to continue even after a societal collapse. That’s why the Carousel Zarya is hand-powered: the person himself becomes the main driver of movement, joy and life in general.
Cat-holic
A sanctuary for all cat worshippers. All feline denominations accepted here.
Catharsis
Catharsis is the highest state of mind and soul. In order to get to that state one needs to go through internal metamorphosis.
Cathenge
Cathenge is a Cat Temple. Nine tall, elegant, mystical, glowing cat statues representing the nine lives of cats arrayed in a circle and shooting lasers from their eyes in geometric array towards the central shrine of Pussiopolis, the sanctum of Holofelinity. Cathenge is an interactive light and sound sculpture that explores the harmonics of purring and emanates kitty kundalini. The central shrine of Pussiopolis with its three Sekhmet Lioness Goddess heads forms an interior sanctuary where people may commune with ‘Holofelinity’ the universal cat consciousness. Pussiopolis is surrounded by three mighty pillars with braziers of fire upon their capitals, and the shrine is surmounted by a dome containing the vast array of magical Catulets.
Centered
“Centered” is an interactive day and night sculpture serving as a gathering space for participants to discover, climb, bike through, and play with light. Centered is seven 7’2″ tall rings arranged in a line stretching over 60-feet long. Each ring represents one of the seven chakras, each of which represent different aspects of our life – the psychological, the physical, the energetic, and the spiritual. Each ring is painted and decorated with hidden words and meanings for the participant to discover. Centered will give the participant a unique opportunity to interact with this ancient Eastern tradition..
Chakra Cannon
A interactive installation revolving around a large-scale “Light Cannon” powered by the human voice. The light source is a custom designed 3000 watt LED spot light with a liquid cooled core. The cannon will generate a super bright beam of light that will blast upward into the sky when participants collaborate, making sounds into microphones to create a shared vibration. The installation encourages releasing one’s individual chakra energy and using the sculpture as a conduit to channel the group’s vibrations that will be visualized as a beam of light. This sculpture aims to communicate the true potential and beauty of our collective voice.
Chakra Khan
Chakra Khan is an 8 foot, sound healing meditation experience to connect you to your roots and your higher power.
Chapel of the Chimes
You happen upon this beautiful and curvaceous hand-cut building of wood and steel chimes. The love and care that went into each cut is visable. The Chapel of the Chimes awaits you.
The love poured into the structure makes it a perfect place to have a ceremony with loved ones. There is an arch inside and platform to stand. Share your vows, commitments, and devotion here.
You may also simply take shelter here from the hot sun and relax to the sound of the wind breezing through, giving the wind a different voice and experience. The chimes harmonize and sing you a song you’ve not yet heard.
Come and learn of the playa-adjacent origins of the structure! It has quite a story to share. Come early, it burns before the end of the event!
Chapel Perilous
Only two walls of the ruins of Chapel Perilous still stand, sunken heavily into the ground over time. From the Black Rock City, the chapel appears dark and mysterious, but from inside, four stained glass windows and a large rosette illuminate the piece. Custom light patterns and ambient sounds engage visitors to learn more about the eight circuits of consciousness and the trappings of Chapel Perilous — a state one enters when facing truth that disagrees with their notion of reality. Once you enter, will you ever leave Chapel Perilous?
Chroma Commons
In a temporary city in a constant state of metamorphosis, Chroma Commons creates a sense of place using ephemeral materials: Silk, color, and air. Beckoning from across the playa, a circle of banners dyed along the color wheel creates a kinetic silken environment and provides ever-changing views of the city from a dynamic interior.
In the center is the Prism, a triangular tower with a sound installation using noise-reducing technology to create a sanctuary of quiet. Benches provide places to gather, rest, and commune with other Burners.
At night, the spectrum of color expands. Images are rear-projected onto a band of acrylic panels at the top of the Prism, color-changing lighting bathes the banners, and ambient light glows around seating.
Chromata
Chromata is a 8 ft x 4 ft light-emitting artwork that has been described by some viewers as “an abstract painting that continuously repaints itself.” Chromata is an interactive, generative work that algorithmically creates a continuously-changing, mesmerizing field of light.
Sit and watch a while or use the interaction kiosk to change Chromata’s symmetry and colors to your liking, all without interrupting its constantly evolving organic tableau.
Chronomorphic
Chronomorphic is a representation of a Great Plains Indian burial platform. On it will lay a figure of a swaddled human body. An illuminated cityscape will emerge from the body’s chest. At night, the city will be illuminated from within and light will also shine through a Medicine Wheel fashioned into the body’s back and projected onto the playa beneath the piece.
The platform and uprights will be made to look like rough tree trunks and branches, with the juxtaposed modern city in glass and metal emerging from the body.
Chrysalis
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 8pm on Sunday, August 25 and at 10am on Friday, August 30.
This years theme speaks directly to the shared experience of our creative path as artists which was inspired deeply by burning man. Our show will speak to this experience and the metamorphosis of two women who step forth and claim their creative feminine power, transforming in to their most empowered, authentic selves.
Circle of Friends Project
Circle of Friends is a large-scale interactive sculpture that will ultimately include 6 humanoid figures at 20′ tall — arranged in a circle (arms connected) facing a middle fire pit where visitors can interact with each other, fire effects, and sculpture lighting (e.g. a heart-rate monitor that lights the glass hearts). In 2019, we will be doing 2 or 3 figures with no fire due to funding limitations. It is our plan moving forward to build more figures each year until the circle is complete!
Circus Fabulae
Circus Fabulae is a whimsical two story swing set with beautiful, custom designed mosaic roof and circular play space for performances of all kinds. At its a heart is a community space produced by a community of artists for the community to interact on. Circus Fabulae is at its core an interactive art piece that fosters participation from the community. First, it brings together a variety of artists to design the swings and mosaic ceiling, then it provides the residents of Black Rock a place to rest and play during the festival and finally, it is a performance space for all kinds of mediums (dance, theater, games, music, spoken word) that encourages one to push personal boundaries and deepen one’s connection to the community at large.
Clay in Hand - Make and Take
This is a mobile clay workshop and gallery on the playa. We can be found by our large bike flags and are in public gathering areas – plazas, the man, and/or center camp every afternoon. This is radical creativity – each artist can create what they please from a small amount of clay. Tutors will have impressions of leaves available if they want to follow the theme of metamorphosis and make a small cocoon or chrysalis. A small note or relic could be inserted inside the form.
Cloud Swing / Cloud Swing Storm
Cloud Swing consists of swings suspended from a glowing cloud. Through utilizing a ubiquitous symbol of childhood, the work remains accessible and unassuming. The swing itself generates feelings of nostalgia and simplicity.
While the swings remain unoccupied, the cloud above emanates a steady white glow of light, appearing to float within the darkness. The light shines downward highlighting the empty swing in an invitation for passersby to enjoy its delights. Once the swing is occupied the transformation and color begins to glow. Cloud Swing explores the transformative possibilities of imagination and innovation. Showcasing that no matter what pulls you back wonder, delight, and joy will inevitably push you forward.
Cocoonap
Cocoonap is a combination of two words: cocoon and nap. Installation-transformer, which smoothly changes its appearance and tells a small parable. This is a visualization of a metaphorical dream about the changing and cyclical nature of life, about what is its basis. Birth, flourishing, development, dissolution in eternity.
The 3×4 meter installation will be made of wood, vividly decorated with LED-stripes for a spectacular show during the night, and the surface of the cocoon itself will be covered with stencils that will project metaphorical illustrations onto the surface of the desert.
Colordance
Colordance is an interactive, collaborative installation piece that encourages participants to play with form and motion. It uses many colored lights pointed at a screen to create fascinating shadows of many colors. The shadows that participants cast amplify their movements in brilliant technicolor, creating entrancing patterns.
Cone Down
Cone Down is a whimsical acknowledgment of life’s little indignities. This fallen ice cream cone has a steel frame, with vacuum formed polycarbonate panels lit with LEDs. Cone down is climbable with a viewing deck on top. Inside of the ice cream scoop will be a padded ‘chill’ area which will be a delightful respite during the day. The LEDs will illuminate the scoop from the inside and out, so at night the ‘chill’ area will be a beautiful glowing room as you watch folks ascend and descend this tipped-over tasty treat. Ice cream to be served.
Connection Station
The connection station is a place to rest, swing, share, connect, and make new friends, especially if you are feeling “lonely in the crowd”. It is a modified porch swing with colorful graphics encouraging passersby to have a seat and make a new friend. It is hoped that it will encourage participants at BRC to make new friends and connections.
Connection to Birth
This art expresses the life force and mystery just before human birth.
For 5000 years it has been the motif of the Japanese-made flame-type earthenware. It expresses life that is connected with our ancestors.
The central mirror expresses the mystery of the birth of life as the body of God.
There are two sticks on the ground with a penis motif. They touch at night.
Connections
We will bring ten mannequins. Building on the foundation of the human form, each mannequin will be uniquely painted and designed and will represent the spectrum of human emotions.
As a whole, the art piece will represent the human experience. We live in a symbiotic relationship where we influence and affect change in one another. Through creativity, expression, and vulnerability, we are able to transform those around us, and they in turn transform us.
At night, the mannequins will also be illuminated. The illumination will breathe life and further animate these forms. To the observer, the mannequins will become representative of not only the burning man experience but also a transformative journey, fueled by our bonds.
CONTAINERISATION
CONTAINERISATION explores the concept of “containment” and the impact of unlawful detention of asylum seekers. By definition the act of containment means keeping something harmful under control or within limits. So why do we continue to incarcerate those that pose no threat and are most vulnerable. Our refugee crisis is at epidemic proportions and our solution is to corral innocent people into inhospitable refugee camps. “CONTAINERISATION” is a comment on this monumental crisis and highlights the plight of millions of people who are forcibly displaced world wide because of persecution, conflict, violence and human rights violations. Collectively we all need to do more!
Cosmo
Rising out of a tower of hand-bent deep rust patina steel flames is a contrasting stainless steel kinetic wind sculpture. The sculpture’s center steel tube supports the 6 axes on which the hand-hammered stainless steel wind-catching cups spin via straight and bent stainless steel tubing. Precisely balanced and using stainless steel ball bearings, the piece will react to gentlest of breezes yet withstand the most intense winds. At the very top sits the sun, made of a stainless steel sphere surrounded by rusted steel flames. This piece gives the illusion of the heat generated by upward-moving flames rising to activate the sculpture. The randomness of flame heat is reflected in the randomness of the sculpture’s movement.
Critonium Clock
This project examines the subject of time with a purpose to challenge our perception of the accuracy of clocks. Time, in this piece, is a paradox and an illusion as it combines the future and the past, simultaneously presenting a quantitative measuring system with a qualitative one.
The concept illustrates how motion and time change according to our perceptions. It represents the evolution of time management and our obsession with the passage of time. It suggests to the observer that all matter may shrink into a tiny dot again, which will end the concept of time as we know it. This sculpture is to discover ways to distort time, exaggerate perceptions or to embellish the estimation of time, all within the shifting sands of playa time.
Cryspurgery
The four tall DNA-looking spirals standing in a row are real life modifiers where your choices mean something. Moving parts represent infinite traits and finite choices for what traits can be included or must be left out.
Add, subtract, or remove to make life, as if promoting a biological metamorphosis of an “ideal ” being. Parts are labeled to reflect aspects of personality and vitality.
We need to make careful hard choices about how we use modern technology that alters life without adversely damaging life. This is our opportunity to challenge our ability to do the right thing.
Cube of Song
The Cube of Song is a large play-along xylophone. To play, four friends or strangers gather around the cube. On each side are 6 steel bars of different lengths — 24 bars total. One note at a time, LEDs cue a person to strike that note with a mallet. Together, a song is played – no musical experience needed!
In between songs, the Cube of Song is an LED edifice. Over 1500 individual LEDs dazzle onlookers and light up the neighborhood.
Cyclical Beauty
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10am on Tuesday, August 27, 2019.
A blend of solo and duo aerial and ground flow, this is a musical and visual story of cooperation and working alone, of meeting and separation. They meet and move, first on the ground, then in the air, first together, then alone, building in intensity and then sinking into clear, crystal dance, cycling thru different shades of experience, each with its own cyclical beauty.
Cyclical Stability
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10am on Wednesday, August 28, 2019.
The themes we want to show and explore with this project are the discomfort of change vs the triumph of having evolved.
Music and costume changes would tell the story of struggle, pain, delight, satisfaction through this growth and development. Its very easy to look back in hindsight and just champion the amazing results left after a transformation has occurred however the actual process of transforming is often a messy, uncomfortable, vulnerable process full of uncertainty and struggle. Our goal is to show the rawness of this process in both its pain and its glory.
Ultimately the whole cycle of life, from birth to death, is one never ending process of continual transformation. We symbolize this cyclical process in the show as performers move in a circular pattern from earth to sky and back again. Winding up in the same place they started again and also arriving somewhere completely new simultaneously.
Deep Playa Shrine #88
Deep Playa Shrine #88 tends to show up randomly; if you look for it too hard you may not find it.
ohmmmmmmmmm
Deep Tea
Deep Tea provides sanctuary and warmth for those who go deep. A shining tea kettle appears every night next to the trash fence, a treasure ready for those who wander the playa and their minds. Frozen seekers of beauty and connection find a moment of heat, tea and camaraderie in the comfort of this ethereal art.
Desert Bloom
A tall, delicate flower stands alone on the playa, ready to bloom and transform beyond the tightly closed bud. In the flower’s center, a woman emerges, arms stretched as she dances on the playa. This transformation represents the current women’s movement, morphing from what society sees as beautiful yet fragile into a figure standing tall, strong, and proud.
Desert WAVE
Desert Wave consists of some 650 points of light and sound frozen in time.
From afar, it resembles a breaking wave deep in the desert – a reminder of the playa’s origins. From within, it transforms into a highly immersive shared audiovisual experience.
Desertspaces
Shade by day, light by night.
Recycled 2x4s to make it right.
Dimensional Dreams
Dimensional Dreams is a set of four roughly 1ft cubed shadow boxes. Each shadow box is inspired by a different artist’s personal vision of relaxation and rejuvenation. Artists have submitted drawings or photographs that have been translated into a 3D landscape. The project is inspired by a collective feeling of fast-paced stressful life and the lack of time for mindfulness and sanctuary.
Dimensional Dreams is constructed of a wood frame with acrylic layers illuminated by colorful LEDs. Each layer is laser cut semi-translucent cast-acrylic and between each layer of acrylic an individual strip of neopixels would illuminate that layer.
Each box is affixed to conduit piping that is 48″ tall, which makes Dimensional Dreams ADA accessible.
Discard
Welcome to the Trash Fence.
What brings you to the edge? Are you feeling on edge? On what are you wasting your mental energy? Are you endlessly turning over events in your mind for answers which never fully materialize?
The vast, empty playa stretches out in front of you. To some, an unforgiving wasteland. To others, Eden.
Here you can ponder your relationship to your brain and its content. What is useful, what is waste?
That’s up to you to decide.
Diver UP
Diver UP is a 24-foot-tall metal sculpture whose form incorporates an old commercial diving helmet and a topless woman (feminine goddess) — Man Made in contrast to Mother Earth. Metamorphosis is in the air. This message is leading her to take off this controlled helmet by society, mankind and history. It opens us up to a new world of equality and the divine feminine goddess celebrating womenkind and mankind in unison — a beautiful new world that invites/allows/accepts/celebrates everyone for their individuality as part of the ONE. She will seem to be emerging from the playa floor starting from her torso like a mirage.
Divine Feminine Warrior Goddess - Reclaiming Your Crown
Divine Feminine Warrior Goddess – Reclaiming Your Crown (DFWG) represents 4 facets of a woman’s essence. DFWG consists of 4 female torso forms. Each is decorated uniquely to represent the artist’s vision of Divine, Feminine, Warrior and Goddess. The torsos act as “guards” to the Pyramid, which contains a raised Throne in the center. In keeping with the metamorphosis theme, it asks the viewer to sit on the Throne and reflect on how they have grown and evolved to empower and express these traits of DFWG within themselves. The Throne is facing westward in alignment with a view of the Man, the mountains and the setting sun. It is designed to help facilitate the participant to embrace her self-worth and reclaim her power as the Goddess she is.
Divine Moments in Bloom
The Art Collectif of Lotus Ranch brings a new installation to the playa this year, Divine Moments in Bloom. This interactive piece is created to focus on the NOW moment. We include a lotus theme to remind participants of being born into a world of struggles and opening up to or reaching spiritual enlightenment through blossoming.
Drag King Show Grrrl
Performance at 8pm on Sunday, August 25 and at 10pm on Friday, August 30, 2019.
Drag King Show Grrrl is a gender bending strip spectacle on aerial silks and corde lisse that examines and questions traditional gender notions!
I traditionally get cast as the sparkly show girl; tits, teeth and sparkles galore, but in recent years in my own personal performance work, I’ve been exploring the diametric opposite of this, performing as a Drag King (Bart Throb). I believe in deconstructing the gender binary, that gender expression should be fluid and it is exciting for me to explore the liberating contemporary metamorphosis of gender through cabaret and aerial.
In this piece, using costume, physical theatre, clowning, drag and aerial I will explore the extreme femme – the Showgirl, against the extreme masc – the Drag King. I’ll dress up and strip down as either character and the act concludes as I assimilate both archetypes.
DreamWEaver
Dream WEaver is Intended to display non-physical concepts in physical form. To show the invisible connection between our minds and our hands. To show that our hands can be the guide to bring our dreams into light. The dreamweaver is not one, but many beings working together to create something beyond what any single human can accomplish on their own.
E Pluribus Unum : Out of Many, One
E Pluribus Unum is a civic gift to the citizens of Black Rock City. It is a place to gather and be in community. Within the circular seating, ideas may percolate, laughter might ensue and relaxation can happen. It’s a place of possibility with you creating the magic.
Eda Begadix Floats
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10pm on Thursday, August 29, 2019.
My solo act is about Devastation, change and growth. This act is a metamorphosis. Music that pierces deep into the person watching.
Eden 2100
Abstract metal skeleton of a whale, as a monument of nature and biological species affected by the direct human exposure.
Eden2100 reveals an uncertain future for us, a time when we will have to accept the fact that “we have no other planet”. Reflecting all the “instability” of our knowledge of the future, this an attempt to remind people that the future depends on our actions now.
When creating a project, the aim is to draw people’s attention to the environmental imbalance, mostly created by human activities. Eden2100 is a guide to environmental issues. It reveals a global catastrophe, its symptoms.
Eden2100 is a therapy for our “ecotrauma” and a call to create a better future for humanity and our planet.
El Diabla
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. We encourage all those that encounter El Diabla to help keep this flame alive.
Electric Dandelions
The Electric Dandelions are 24 ft tall dandelion sculptures that double as fireworks at night. The dandelion bulbs come to life at night as the LED animations take hold and mesmerize you with their bright and intense light show. Sit down and enjoy the lights dance and see the beautifully geometrically designed metal and acrylic sculptures.
Electric Plantern
Electric Plantern has a large lantern, inspired by traditional paper lanterns, emerging from the playa as the flower of a hybrid organic-digital plant. The pyramid base of the plant resembles a circuit board trunk with digital roots into the playa and large leaves sprouting from the top. Wooden benches surround the Plantern to create a communal gathering space. Analog controls are interactive to create various colorful and dynamic light patterns on the flowering lantern. Electric Plantern offers participants a place of refuge to discover, dream, or meet.
Emergence - The Metamorphoses Portal
The Metamorphoses Portal is a 12 foot diameter metal ring with sound responsive LEDs on the inner circumference. Stepping through the portal represents crossing a symbolic threshold which represents something different for everyone. The threshold may represent a barrier the participant has in their life, something holding them back, or a vision of their future self they struggle to move into. One side of the portal represents your past life, and the other side of the portal represents your future life. The portal offers participants the opportunity to cross that threshold and emerge out the other side anew.
Emergent Consonance
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10am on Thursday, August 29, 2019.
Emergent Consonance is a piece that aims to demonstrate how once we manage to tear down the walls we build around ourselves, human beings really aren’t that different from one another. The process of transformation isn’t always beautiful, as our performers will find out.
Music for this piece by Cosmin Negreanu and Samart
Photo by Adriana Ävilav
ETZNAB, temple of mirrors
ETZNAB design core is about reflection as a ceremonial act. We invite the citizens to discover themselves in the natural surroundings of Black Rock City, to connect with the sky, the mountains, and everything the landscape has to offer. Visitors are welcome to use this sacred space on their own: meditating or intuitively executing any sacramental activity, becoming the shamans of their own personal rituals.
Eudæmonia
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 8pm on Sunday, August 25 and at 10am on Friday, August 30, 2019
Eudæmonia is a Greek word that can be interpreted as “human flourishing”. In this performance we depict a lighter side of the passing and the afterworld, as if they were part of a dream, as if whatever happens after –despite everyone’s fears– will be luminous and magical. Sometimes we are like the blindfolded, oblivious to our surroundings, but there are moments of clarity that allow us to transcend our consciousness. In this show, the innocence of our spirits will help us take off on a weightless flight above the desert….
eye of metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is our projection on us self. We provide a unique experience at night with the Eye of Metamorphosis: A body-projection art installation creating an individual metamorphosis to be projected on the moving or dancing body. Butterflies, which morph into watchful eyes reminding us that wishful ideals come with the cost of exposition; or flowers, which burn away from the inside, or fire that freezes to ice. A mirror at the bottom of the eye lets participants experience their own metamorphosis.
Fan Coral
The Fan Coral silently busies itself building its complex networked structure – patiently awaiting drifters-by to bring it to life with vibrant colors of flame.
Fascination
“Fascination” is defined by the OED as either the “casting of a spell; sorcery, enchantment,” or “the state of being under a spell.” Magic and optical illusions require interaction from spectators to exist. Fascination gives wanderers of the playa the opportunity to engage with it passively (by watching its magic effect from afar) or actively (by using their own muscles to power the illusion for others). Some may choose to try out both of these modes of engagement thereby switching between the roles of the magician (the illusion-maker or fascinator) and the spectator (the perceiver or the one fascinated).
Flaming Butt (formerly ButtVote)
Ashes to Ashes, aka Flaming Butt, is a large metal sculpture of a cigarette butt that serves as a recycling station for cigarette waste. The purpose of this work is to bring awareness to the harmful environmental effects of cigarette butts, our planet’s most littered item, and provide BRC citizens with creative solutions to leave no trace. The solid unchanging nature of the sculpture serves as a reminder of cigarette butts’ non-biodegradable nature.
Flaming Pachinko Machine
The Flaming Pachinko Machine returns! Imagine a Japanese pachinko (vertical pinball) machine blown up to Godzilla size, with 50 flaming softball-size steel balls cascading down 35 feet in a flaming cacophony society of burning comets. If you missed it in 2013, this is your last chance! Flaming Pachinko Machine’s ethos is to keep fire burning on playa, with an element of the random and unexpected which is a core joy of the Burn. The fiery comet trails bounce and clatter against the night sky in mesmerizing patterns you won’t soon forget. Anticipate music, performance, and a surprise or two during our Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday night performances.
Flamingo Roost
Flamingo Roost is your place to sit a spell and roost with a flamboyance of lawn flamingoes. It is a 16 foot tall vision of pinkness supported by a tripodal base. The central column is ringed by a bench which seat 6 and is adorned with flamingo art. There will be a carousel of flamingos that rotates overhead. The structure will be topped by a large translucent globe lit from within. This piece is intended to be a place to talk with other people, or enjoy the solitude, while being entertained with a kinetic pinkness.
Flow Nexus
The Flow Nexus is a place for burners to gather and get out of their heads and into their bodies. This multi-tiered exploration zone allows for participants to learn and flow using hundreds of publicly available fire and movement arts tools and balancing equipment. By day, the shade and the flooring provide respite from the sun for impromptu workshops, by night the play zones will be lit with the glow and fire of dancers of all skill levels and backgrounds. The goal is for ultimate accessibility and fun – anyone can play and try whatever way of moving strikes their fancy.
Flying Ramen Monster
Flying Ramen Monster (FRM) is a wind sculpture that swims in the air freely as the wind blows. It changes its shape, color and behaviors as it interacts with the environment. You are welcome to contemplate its surprising nature of this ever-changing life form that could be metaphorical and an eye sore at the same time.
FOMO Streamer
In our time of neverending supply and nonstop temptations, the term FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is getting used more and more frequently. Our FOMO Streamer will let you have a small tease of the FOMO people outside the playa are having. You will watch random videos from people that couldn’t participate at Burning Man, videos recorded just for you lucky bastards.
It will be funny, it will be sad, it will be unexpected.
Fragments, 2019
“Fragments” by French artist Marc Ippon de Ronda has been designed for Burning Man 2019. Where the artist turns an old Black Rock Desert legend into reality.
The installation plays with the illusion of appearances and our ever-changing perception of self and surroundings, a recurring theme in de Ronda’s work. During the day Burners see their reflections evolve inside the fragmented mirrors as they move through the sand winds and find shelter in its corners and covers. At sunrise and sunset the installation invites for meditation. Burners ascend and descend the central staircase experiencing a golden hue of warmth from the sun. At night, “Fragments” shifts again into abstract LED surfaces creating a magical apparition in the desert darkness.
Fraktel
Fraktel appears as if it was unearthed from the ground, a giant fossil, holding ancient wisdom inside. The meticulously woven branches give shape to a perfect fractal, Fibonacci Spiral. The entrance is cavernous, airy and bright, as light pours in between the loosely woven branches. Venturing deeper within you realize that the light seems to be dissipating. It’s more constricted and dense. The initial appearance is a bright white light at the end of the tunnel and an entrance into the heavenly light-filled center. In the center, the room is immersed in a brilliant white light. Upon exit, a side door opens to yet another layer, with an immensely expansive celestial wonderland surrounded by the cosmos.
Free Wifi
Burners tired of going to the Orgy dome and exchanging hand jobs for internet passwords or frustrated that Instagram photos won’t upload can finally find relief.
Burning Man has lacked reliable free WiFi for too long.
The Burning Man Free WiFi Oasis and Device Uncharging Station provides a reliable and relieving connection for Burners and their devices. Illuminated at night and visible during the day, the 12-foot beacon and bench seat serve as a helpful landmark when navigation apps stop working. Rainbow lights indicate that the signal is strong.
Playa Tech Repair is dedicated to re-connecting Burners with what matters most.
Frequency of Hue
Experience a life-sized interactive mood ring displayed across five vertical LED panels that change color with the touch of your palm. “Frequency of Hue” is a wondrous array of dazzling lights that titillates the visual senses when participants hold the hands of the sculpture. Upon arrival to the piece the panels have hands reaching out from both the near and far end, welcoming passersby to hold. Built into each panel are windows allowing one participant to see the other through the sculpture, both holding hands, their moods create a unique display on the panels with touch enhanced sensors. Participants ponder if we are all unique or if we can find someone who is experiencing something in a similar way?
From There to Here & Here to There
Reminiscent of a bygone era of interstate highways… From There to Here & Here to There, is a playa specific ever changing large road sign, crafted to resemble a farm stand type billboard. Closer examination reveals a large scale painting made up of ten painted panels. The paintings, encaustic mixed media, are layers of images, marks and paint creating an ever changing image of journeys, a map. This map will consider time and experiences as additional orienting tools. The images are both personal and universal and like memories you think you have neatly tucked away, they emerge and fade in the strangest ways.
FUCK YOUR PERM
All of you damn hippies cannot keep track of your god damn perms. You partied too damn hard last night and now the trash fence is full of your disgusting perms. These perms have feelings, needs, and names and you’ve just abandoned them without care. We’d like the trash fence to be perm free by end of week.
So hold onto your perms people, because if not, FUCK your burn, and FUCK YOUR PERM!
This sight to see brought to you by the power of imagination, absurdity, snark and sense of humor.
Fucking Useless
What sort of fucking wankers drag a fucking useless pile of shite out to the arse end of nowhere to take the piss out of some manky hippies and their muppet friends.
Why don’t you just sod off and find something else to play with?
Galactic Mutant Snug Den
The Galactic Mutant Snug Den (GMSD) will help foster curiosity in the citizens of Black Rock and allow them to come inside and seek shelter from the wind or the heat. Once inside you will experience soft squish on the floor and a beautiful design of hanging fabric. The perfect place to take a nap, or meet a new person and create a brand new out-of-this-world connection. This is a safe place for our community to come take a break and watch the playa go by. Outside look for the bright blue temple with an alien on the side and at night watch the top flash with light and the poles twist with rainbows.
The GMSD… the new snug place!
Galactica Metamorphica
A personal-size Black Hole! A swooping conical symmetric shape rises from the playa, its lower areas enswirled by a mesh-work of yellows, oranges, reds & black. The top is a dense black peak – the zone beyond the event horizon! By ducking in one side, then standing up, a participant’s head is inside the Black Hole! No escape!!
On closer look the structure is covered with what? Crochet! But made from what?! It’s Tarn! (T-shirts repurposed into a thick yarn.)
It highlights the recently-released first visual image of a Black Hole, elucidated largely by a female scientist. The shape represents the dramatic deformation of space-time by a Black Hole. Who knew T-shirts could metamorphose into a visualization of a cosmic singularity?!
Garden of Bright Children
‘The Garden of the Bright Children’ is a group of fire ceramic figures. They are children with oil candles burning inside. When one comes closer to admire them, the children give off light. When one turns to them to get some warmth in the night, the children raise their hands to him/her.
There are two ways to interact with the art. The first one implies that everyone can visit our ##Darkart camp to create his/her own child, widening the range of the figures every day. The second way is to interact on playa with the previously prepared children. One may wander across the garden of the children, examining them and warming his/her hands and touching them.
Through our art we would love to bring joy and warmth to people’s lives.
germination
The sculpture represents the metamorphosis of a plant’s germination, from a seed to a mature tree as a visual cultural reaction to the environment and humanity. Epitomizing the current Anthropocene time period relating to our culture as in which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. The project reflects this year’s theme “Metamorphoses” in a stylized biological and humanity theme. This metamorphosis will be represented in the exterior form of the tree sculpture juxtaposed by the internally images/art, the natural germination process and the representation of human influenced form, shape, image, texture and aesthetic.
Giant Harmonic Pendulum
Harmonic Pendulum of 12 RGB LED illuminated transparent bowling balls.
The installation will about 10′ tall.
A set of electromagnets releases the pendulums simultaneously. The starter person lights a fast burning cannon fuse that slithers through the dust of the playa, then runs up the frame and triggers an electronic release signal. Each pendulum will have a slightly different swinging period. They will all start together and then slowly deviate and exhibit sine-wave patterns of various shapes and eventually coming back into synchronization 3-4 minutes later. Each translucent ball is illuminated from the inside with color LEDs in various light patterns, as well as the entire structure will also have its own LED show.
Giant Pinball Machine
The Giant Pinball Machine stands sixteen feet long, six feet wide, and ten feet tall. Other than its size, the machine resembles its smaller cousin, but with some important differences. Rather than resting on legs, the sides extend all the way to the ground, creating a useful storage and service area underneath. The plywood skin is coated in hand painted graphics, reflecting an earlier era in pinball history with a steampunk flare. In keeping with the steampunk theme, the lights glow in green and yellow tones illuminating brass and copper components beneath a clear polycarbonate surface. Rolling between the bumpers and flippers, a three inch chrome ball puts points on the board where winners are born.
Grace Good Cirque
Performance will be at the Man Pavilion at 10pm on Thursday, August 29, 2019.
Hysteria Aerial Silks Act-
*Intention behind the act* Wildness, Feverish, Mania.. a roller coaster of emotions. This aerial act is intended to express the madness, thrill, and intimacy with the relationship we have with our art. The act starts off with dynamic movements that are intended to express *frenzy* or *madness*. Our minds can go crazy over wanting to show and express how we feel internal. It slows down to show off the intense desire for a relationship to express loneliness. The act ends with more dynamic movement expressing excitement, motivation and passion!
I’ll Take Care of You Act-
This act is a more personal routine. Intended to express the hurt, loss of trust, and loneliness of a loss.. and the journey of being true to yourself and building up your self empowerment. The act stars slow and sultry to express hurt and is intended to express confidence and self love by the end.
Grow
“Grow” is a Hindu-inspired deep-playa meditation platform intended to provide a peaceful space for burners to retune their energy, reflect on their playa experiences and observe the city. Made of stained wood, “Grow” features colorful Chakra symbols, a crown, gold accents and handmade chimes and lanterns.
Happy Birthday! (MEGA CAKE)
Mirroring the ephemeral nature of the customary birthday cake – a whimsical work of art made to be immediately consumed in celebration – the MEGA CAKE is made, shared with all of the citizens of Black Rock City, and then consumed by fire. On a city-wide scale, it stands as a joyful beacon to the metamorphoses we experience throughout our lifetimes. Interior stairs provide access to elevated decks where participants can take in a sweeping 365° view of the beautiful playa. A slide to the ground acts as a playful symbol of one’s birth anew. On a universal scale, the cake serves as a marker in time — a point to deliberately consider the significance of each being and celebrate a deeper understanding of self and community.
Head Maze
The Head Maze is a purposeful juxtapositions of two forms, a peaceful meditative reflection and our inevitable struggle with the nature of cognition; a monolithic mind caught in time between multiple selves. The head towers four stories over the playa floor, encased in mulberry paper and epoxy modeled after the work of Yoshio Ikezaki. The head rests in repose while its left hand claws at its mind fighting to reveal a crystalline stained glass structure akin to the “Space Whale” inside.
A series of hidden doors in the mouth, wrists and head open into a four story, 18 room maze. Each modular room creates a unique space dedicated to the nature of our minds, our struggles with being and the weird and fanciful process of dreaming.
Healer Heal Thyself
Performance at 10pm on Monday, August 26, 2019.
For the Burning Man 2019 Pavilion Performance, we are creating a series of dynamic aerial works, united by a shared story and theme of personal growth and transformation. These interconnected pieces explore and evoke the universal human experiences of bittersweet change, loss, conflict, and resolution. There are 5 performers, making up a series of acts, on a combination of aerial apparatus including silks, lyra (hoop), slings, rope and chains.
The piece explores themes of transformation in both positive and negative directions. We can change others for the better without seeing immediate change in ourselves. New perspective can make us leave or drive us to return. We take the lessons of a new location and new interactions and apply them back home, the same way we take the lessons and perspective of the desert back into the default world. We are transformed both by conflict and by cooperation.
Hot Hand Luke
Hot Hand Luke is an experimental experience in dangerous art. It is similar to traditional skeeball, except the BALLS ARE ON FIRE. Participants will have the opportunity to safely handle a flaming ball of fire and try to score points, with score kept on a flaming scoreboard. Fun for the whole family*!
*Only players over 18 are allowed to participate.
Human Harmony Gallery
Harmony Gallery is a 8ft structure exhibiting ‘bodypaintography’, ‘Ashes to Ashes; Dust to Dust’, ‘red hands’ & ‘Harmony Strand’ by Cynthia Fleischmann. The visual connections between humans, environments & cities are inspired by nature, animals & visions of peace. Red Hands tell stories of humanity, emphasizing the power humans have to create and spread love or destroy. The Gallery offers a unique art-photography experience along with a one-time art happening event called ‘Ashes to Ashes; Dust to Dust.’ On Thursday at 3pm the gallery serves as a meeting point for participants to unite naked, covered with dust and painted red hands forming a ‘human harmony strand’ for unity, harmony & respect towards each other, the environment, and animals.
Hybrot
Hybrot is a 7 ft luminous chrysalis containing an interactive hybrid-being trying to connect with with the outside world. It represents our evolutionary turning point, technological transformation and how we are connected with nature and the world around and beyond us. One hand reaches up to touch the wall of the chrysalis and when the viewer reciprocates and mirrors their hand on the outer wall each finger turns on lights to different parts of the body that reveal sculptural elements symbolizing our connection to the earth, life, death, connection to each other, and our intellectual evolution driven by technology.
I.L.Y.
A 27 foot forearm and hand, fabricated from engineered steel, recycled and repurposed scrap metal meant to engage participants in various visual, physical, and emotional ways. Housing an internal armature of chains, gears, sprockets, and springs, the involvement of participants allows the fingers and parts of the hand to bring the sculpture to its full realization.
The intention of ILY is to encourage communication, collaboration, and eagerness to work together.
Illumicone
Illumicone is light art driven by participation and interaction. A softly glowing presence draws participants inside where they encounter strange mechanical widgets. As they play with the widgets, patterns of light move in response, surrounding the participants with a dazzling color spectacle of their own creation.
Illumicone is 19 feet tall at its center and 38 feet across at its base. Cables descending from the top of the cone carry 4800 individually controlled LEDs. Inside the cone are interactive, mechanical “widgets.” Participants manipulate the widgets, causing patterns of light to dance across the LEDs. Some widgets drive colored lines and rings while others create sparkles or showers of color droplets.
IN CASE: A UKE
What if our public infrastructure was built to respond to the emotional needs and inner crises of its citizens? Distributed throughout the playa are a few highly visible red cabinets modeled and finished in the style of pre-war, cast-iron emergency call boxes that provide immediate ukulele access.
INFUNDIBLOOM
This immersive macro view upon a morphing bubble field makes you see through the eyes of a hallucinating bee colony. Its kinetic elements are activated by hooking up your bike and will enable you to make the bubble-like structures bloom and bounce.
Inner Compass>>>Tranzformation
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10pm on Monday, August 26, 2019.
After 17-years of participating in the Burning Man experience, $hredder is thrilled to have the opportunity to produce a live aerial art piece under the MAN! Burning man is a place that has cracked open society’s fears and limitations that hinder natural human magic. Here is where $hredder has learned about potential beyond belief, and how vital it is to follow passions in life, created by the heart and the powerful Inner Compass.
Now we present to you, $hredder and the Crystal Queer$, in a multi-media and multi-dimensional creation. Come witness a tranzformation like never before, with innovative ways of flying, feeling, expressing, honoring, celebrating, and morphing with Self Love and Acceptance.
We bring you:
Inner Compass>>> Tranzformation.”
Inner Core
Performances at the Man Pavilion at 10am on Tuesday, August 27 and at 10am on Friday, August 30, 2019.
The Orb is five intersecting steel rings that create this shape that is so often repeated in nature. We think this classic piece of our repertoire would be framed perfectly in the arches under the man. It transforms depending on the performers we choose to inhabit it. We will be referencing the first law of Thermodynamics – “Energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can be neither created nor destroyed.” As the orb rotates, it spins passively and then is reinvigorated by each layer of self that exits the shape. First the layer of family is shed, then romantic love and then self. Like peeling an onion, each layer is shed until the only thing left is the vibrating inner core – empty and universal.
Interdimensional Enchantment
This magical tree, illuminated by hundreds of lights, channels the etherial wonders of the world. Nested in a welcoming space on playa, Interdimensional Enchantment opens a portal into the world of fairytale, comfort, and peace.
Internal Exposure
Slithering vines of steel birth a human head from an abstract flower, whose petals can dance as people interact. A single light bulb hangs from inside emanating light from within the mind and distorting perception for those who decide to peer through her teleidoscope eyes. This sculpture represents the concept of a “planted seed” in the mind–germinating, and blossoming into a full fledged idea. It correlates with the blossoming of the self, into a full fledged “human.” We all started out as ideas, and then we are born and have ideas implanted into our minds, which create our perceptions. By weeding through these preconceived notions and creating our own ideas, we can (re)construct our whole selves, exposing who we actually are.
Island of Lost Buoys
On the playa is an Island, a wooden tree dominates the center made of recycled pallets, crates and drift wood. Leaves of sculpted plastic bottles rustle in the wind. Strung from a branch is a hammock made of fishing net attached to a ocean buoy marooned on the beach. Hanging from the branches are sea buoys and balls providing a place to write names or leave a message to those who will come after.
Hanging from branches are bamboo wind chimes that softly clatter in the breeze. It is an island, a refuge, a place of calm and childhood in the stormy seas of life. It appears out of the playa as a mirage, the fantasy playground of youth. Discarded materials transform into an oasis, as our adult lives transform back to childhood. Bangarang!
Jhana Kamma
Originally dubbed the “Octagon Lounge”, this piece pays homage to the buddhist Stupa, which is used for meditation and commemoration of important relics. The structure features a pyramid at its center with four lines stretching from the tip to the ground. Citizens of Black Rock City will be able to attach ribbons with intentions & wishes written on them to these lines, the intention of which will blow over the the city. On the Sunday these lines, with their accumulated ribbons, will be transported to the Temple as their final resting place, their karma burned and sent up into the aether.
JoyCat 2019
JoyCat 2019 is intended to be a vehicle for the metamorphosis of fear into joy for every individual who participates in her creation and interacts with her; whether in-person or via the internet. This playful and interactive kitten stands 21 feet tall and represents the untamed creature of joy within us all. She is also an homage to internet cats who have brought immeasurable joy to the masses since the dawn of the www.
JoyCat 2019 also represents lasting joy through the practice of detachment. With celebration and fanfare this kitty will burn to the ground, freeing us from the notion that joy comes from anything but within.
Kaleidescape
Kaleidescape will change your perspective! This is a set of kaleidoscopes that will allow direct viewing and imaging of the people and places of Burning Man, but seen in a warped and changed way. Kaleidescape will show true metamorphosis through personal and literal reflection.
Kaleidoscope Kandeo
Come play with Kaleidoscope Kandeo! A 20 foot tall rainbow casting kaleidoscope for you to spin and gaze upon!!!
Keys to the Universe
“Keys to The Universe” is an interactive installation that invites participants to experience the transformation of analog input from a scorched and decaying piano into whimsical digital output (LED lights). Every key on this piano has been mapped to generate specific light patterns that chase their way out of the piano and into the air. Visitors can control their experience through how they interact; the more progressions and cords that are played, the more complex the light patterns become.
KIUMAKO – sound shape structure
Reminding some of an ice cream cone or a lobster in a shell, KIUMAKO is halfway a straight geometrical structure from the outside, that metamorphoses at its highest point into a jungle of fabric tentacles, dancing to a seemingly unknown song.
The answer waits inside though, where everyone’s acoustic expression contributes to form a flow of sounds and melodies accompanied by an immersive shape-shifting panorama wall. The cone shell certainly has a life of its own, yet this life is also directly derived from the participants input inside, thus crossing the borders between sound and visual shape and the new field of algorithmic generated music and the most essential instrument of mankind – the human voice.
Klein's Playground
Klein’s Playground is a rendition of a Klein bottle made with 2×4 wood. The base is a bulb that converges to a tube at the top. This tube folds over and intersects the base to form a non-orientable surface. The structure is completely climbable. Participants are able relax inside the base or explore other interactive experiences at higher levels.
Koro Loko
A billowing heart made of wire netting filled with hundreds of tiny dichroic plexi squares refracts the spectra of light in all directions. Benches under lightposts encircling the heart provide a place to hunker, commune and daydream. Like the exuberance of colors reflected by this heart, always-present and ever-shifting, this heart conjures the thousands of expressions and materializations of love prospected in the human experience.
La Escuelita
We’re the LA ESCUELITA (Small Classroom) team, a friendly and helpful group of Burners from different backgrounds that strives to teach newcomers and old-comers alike about how to implement the 10 Principles during your Burn and beyond!
In 2017, we brought “MÚCARO”, our wise, woody owl dedicated to teachers everywhere. Inspired by the incidents we witnessed at our installation and the vandalism we heard about from other artists, we realized we needed to be teachers ourselves.
We will do “pop up” performances out and about, with most of our programming taking place on buses or art cars. With a “learning is fun” mindset, we’ll use quizzes, reenactments and songs to impart tips and tricks designed to embed the principles into your very soul.
La Métamorphose des Animaux Extraordinaires
It’s a giant pop-up book!
When a reader opens the wooden book, it springs to life. Each turn of the page reveals a new pop-up telling the metamorphosis story of 4 different extraordinary creatures with their own soundscapes and lighting.
-Moth (Hyalophora Gloveri)
-Immortal Jellyfish (Turritopsis Dohrnii)
-Frog (Pseudacris Maculata)
-Human (Homo Sapien)
The reader will feel as if they are exploring an antique 19th century biology textbook that has magically come to life. The static, hand painted lithographic colour plates replaced by the flying, morphing and dissecting parts of each creature and it’s natural environment. The text becoming moving voice, sound, music and lights.
Lepidoptera
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10pm on Wednesday, August 28, 2019.
This 5 act, 20-30 minute performance is an aural and visual journey of metamorphosis—exploring shifts from feminine to masculine, from asleep to awake, from life to death. A transformative musical score will be created to match the performance.
LEVEL 6: The Eggsistential Crisis of the Gordian Knot
Six eggs will be hidden throughout the playa and within Black Rock City. Discover one, and it will provide clues to find another. Each egg holds a cryptogram that is part of a larger puzzle. Pass this first level, and create your own Playa Player Character (PPC). Fulfill your role by completing a specific mission by the end of the week. But beware, other players are out there and want you out of the game. The largest egg will burn mid-week to reveal a secret sculpture and special clue for later levels.
This is a multi-year interactive project providing the opportunity to unlock deeper layers to Burning Man that you never knew existed! Meet new allies and adversaries while you try to unlock each unique level, and see how deep the rabbit hole goes!
Life of A Butterfly
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10pm on Tuesday, August 27, 2019.
3 Caterpillar aerialists (staggered every other point) are wrapped and birthed from eggs. They begin their performance rising in a lyra/hoop where they’ll perform a choreographed routine with symbolic bendy caterpillar moves and flexibility movement. As the caterpillars reach the cocoon performers, the cocoons start to rise and perform the next act. When the cocoon performer reaches the butterflies, the butterflies discover their wings and begin to learn to fly. They will rise into the air and fly with hand painted large silk wings in a routine that includes flipping forward and backwards and choreographed wing dance. As the butterflies come down they will be met with their “mate” butterfly partner who will dance, play, and fly together in a choreographed piece symbolizing their mating. This dance will end in the death of all coming to a close
Life Puzzle
Life Puzzle is an 18-foot steel sculpture in the shape of the Ankh symbol, the ancient Egyptian symbol of life. The front and back sides are laser cut into puzzle piece shapes. Riddles are laser cut on both of the sides. Light escapes the cuts and is diffused by plexiglass.
Although the sculpture is meant to be visually appealing, the message of the installation is that life is simple and complicated, it is peaceful and frustrating and it is beautiful and finite.
The sculpture reminds us that time is precious and that each of us has our own beautiful puzzle to solve. We can try to solve it alone or with others. We can enjoy the journey or focus only on the destination. How we attempt solve the puzzle is more important that the solution itself.
Light Pegging
MorphLite MorphBrite is a giant interactive LiteBrite that will allow participants to move around colorful, backlit pegs to create their own art.
Liminal Entanglement
The project aims to aesthetically blend symbols and ideas of old world pagan liminal deities, modern society and technology motifs. The structure invites people to consider the boundaries between past and present, as well as the private and public self. It consists of two identical large doors or gateways (roughly 12ft cubes) placed over 800m apart from each other. Participants determine both how and who is able to pass through, stay in or even see the other door.
Lips
Lips is a 20′ wide, 10′ tall, climbable set of red lips. They are intended to be fun, playful, sexy but safe.
Liquid Forest: The Source
Liquid Forest is a hands-on experience! Citizens spin the jellie and spontaneously discover the sequentially-designed animated zoetrope worlds designed into it. At night, concealed strobe lights illuminate the mirrored zoetrope artwork when the jellies spin! During the day, the zoetrope can be seen without strobe lights using a video app I created called “illumiscope.”
In a literal sense, the project addresses the plastic pollution problem and the issue of preserving natural habitats. In a more spiritual sense, it is about the exploration of form to formlessness: human to BEing, as the sculpture spins and morphs from its static self into dynamic movement, morphing us from a object-based reality to a holistic universal experience.
LOVE
Rainbow LOVE is celebration of love — reminding us that everyone should have the right to love who they love, and to love themselves.
Love & Protect
From afar, burners see brightly colored posts decorating the playa. Coming closer, viewers realize the posts align vertically to form a straight line of imagery. Each post contains a “hidden” message visible only when you’re close up. Meaning culminates with the last post, a simple message of hope and love calling us to protect one of mother earth’s most precious gifts — our atmosphere — which shelters and enables life as we know it.
The post’s graphic style pays homage to street artists, while all of the imagery depicts currently endangered species. Look carefully to discover each species’ name in tiny letters. Be inspired to love and protect our forest habitats, which provide shelter for critters while maintaining the air we breath.
Love's Hug
Love’s Hug rises from the desert as a protected space where one can be extrospective and introspective. It will invoke individual and collective reflections and thoughtful dialogue of the love, happiness and joy that humans create for ourselves and each other.
Love’s Hug invites us to take a rest from the chaos, share an embrace, cuddle with others and be engulfed by human love and warmth in this safe place where we can (re)connect with our own hearts and those of others around us. These connections allow us to remember the limitless powers of the human heart and is a catalyst for transformations.
love, earth
The largest love letter movement ever conceived. The purpose: to inspire a clean climate future by spreading simple commitments to our planet. The art is intended to mobilize citizens to use the power of sending and receiving letters of love from Earth to change, contribute and commit to an environment that we can all be proud of.
The installation will be large enough to be captured from space, and thus our imaginations. In year one, a sky-facing comma will emerge and form a love letter altar. Within the wood structure, a writing area would support a hanging collection of completed letters, growing organically, drawing on attendees to contribute to a siren call from Earth, distributed around the world after the event by the artists.
LoveYou2Death
Beautifully mournful as it gently glides across the sands of Black Rock City in noble gothic-ness, the Love You 2 Death Mobile Funeral Parlour offers citizens of Black Rock the opportunity to grieve (or celebrate?) one another’s inevitable demise in the form of living wakes. HearseDesire mobilizes the wakes, black-clad and hearse-like, displaying vintage lanterns, reclaimed organ pipes, weathered church windows, large neon-lit cross beckons participants. Or let the mournful organ tones that sound across the vast playa guide you to her location. When not mobile, living wakes will be held at camp Dusty Vestibule (dustyvestibule.com).
Lumina
Lumina is a refuge that casts colorful patterns of light and shadow. The piece gives participants a chance to sit and watch colorful lanterns sway in the wind while music boxes fill the space with a nostalgic noise. During the day, it provides shade and some relief from the sun, while at night it provides a soft shadowy beacon or meeting space.
Magnetic Waltz
Magnetic Waltz is a freestanding retrofuturist structure cradling a large white circular glass viewing portal approximately 3 feet in diameter. Magnetic liquid dances and twirls in the portal, choreographed via hidden electronically-controlled magnets. The black fluid provides a clean, crisp contrast against the white glass background. Unlike electronic displays or LEDs, the fluid exhibits subtle three-dimensionality, reflecting sunlight off the surfaces of the liquid in interesting ways. It is physical and real, yet completely magical at the same time. The display showcases several interesting physics: magnetic force and magnetization, fluid mechanics, surface tension and gravity.
Manamorphosis
Manamorphosis shows an arrangement of 10 figures forming a V shape with typical men and women mannequins morphing into the Burning Man over 5 transformations, becoming brighter as they further morph fully into the Burning Man. The installation poses the question of what it means to become the Burning Man, and thus the excitement that comes with incorporating the 10 Principles into our everyday lives.
Mandala: Natural Form
This Mandala – “Natural Form” is a symbol of togetherness and continuity. The circular designs appear across all cultures and backgrounds. It was built to embody the universe, sun, and the rays that it emits, all the way down to the flowers they nourish. It sits behind the Artist as a supporting act, illuminating the more spiritual side of the music we all love. When designing it, the Notre Dame was ablaze with fire, and I thought to turn the sadness of that catastrophe, into something beautiful. Its lines were borrowed from the famous Rose Sud that sits above the entrance. Whenever the Mandala is present it’s meant to create a more sacred space and radiate splendid emotion.
Mariposita
Mariposita, meaning “little butterfly”, represents rebirth – of coming out of a shell, escaping confinement, and breaking through to a more meaningful and enlightening existence or experience. The act of emerging, however, is usually not so simple, and the complexity experienced both within the individual viewer and expressed externally as a communal experience, will become the atmosphere surrounding this piece. A rebirth requires power, curiosity, determination, and support, all characteristics that lead to revival and restoration. Mariposita is meant to inspire awakenings and reawakenings, growth and regrowth, beginnings and ends.
Mega Mega
Mega Mega is a MAGICAL FUNDERLAND. It’s a fantastical environment filled with possibility. Expect the Unexpected! Discover its secrets!
Mementomorium
Would you dare to lose your senses and spend 10 minutes in the darkness and silence inside a Sensory Deprivation Casket… How would starring in your own symbolic burial change you?
Mementomorium is not about glorifying death, nor is it about downplaying the sadness of the permanent separation with a loved one that death entails. It is about confronting the self, shedding denial and delusions, and revealing life’s true finitude. It is about the path to true happiness, achieved by owning the fear of dying and transforming it into the happiness of living.
Got lucid?
P.S. Vampires may skip the line during daytime hours only!
MerKaBa Portal
Mer: Light. Ka: Spirit. Ba: Body. MerKaBa is the Light Spirit Body that rotates around all of us. Participants ascend the stairs into the MerKaBa vehicle. They begin to spin, picking up speed as lights pulse to their frequency. At peak energy, they are transported off of Playa and into the Heavens…
Metamorphatoad
METAMORPHATOAD is a giant toad. Its bones are made from steel bar that have been welded together geometrically. Then it was sculpted together by a combination of foam board and polyurethane foam. A game of sanding and reapplication was played. Fiber glass resin was applied, until the toad felt ready to be painted (dressed). Finally being covered with a shiny lacquer finish.
Metamorphatoad has hole running through it so that dusty visitors may connect to the experience of portaling through the frog, cleansing, or metamorphizing.
I really want to capture the essence of ‘toad medicine’ in the painting of this piece. Expect psychedelic undertones expressed in a mysterious way.
metamorphic cinema
The Cinema is a 16’L x 16’W x 8’H x 16’D cube. When Burners enter the cinema, the front wall will have a large painting of the desert horizon. The sun will be digitally projected onto the painting.
Experiencing time and being in the moment is defined only by one’s individual presence or thoughts. The sunset and sunrise are showing us time passing by. Beautiful simple moments need to be reflected on in our life, so we don’t lose sight of the little things that effect the mind and heart. People tend to lose sight of the important things to brighten one’s day and unless they are framed in front of the eyes. The cinema is aimed at changing the outlook and people’s imagination responds in a positive way to the little things.
Metamorphic Dis-chord
Metamorphic Dis-chord is a wind-art installation offering tonal baselines for interactive features including upcycled devices for musical composition. This work adds to transformative deep playa experiences as organic playa sounds merge with human overlays. A source of deep contemplation; material used was salvaged from the Sonoma fires of 2017. Two pieces anchor the exhibit. One: an Aeolean harp, a 14ft tall string instrument based on a concept of ancient Greece and built around a trampoline salvaged from a destroyed family home. Two: a wooden windmill, 12ft tall rigged to chime via wind motion. An adjunct is a canon causing a gong to strike semi-randomly. Smaller sound and wind-active devices are hosted within the circle of the exhibit.
Mikey's Hug Deli
Mikey’s Hug Deli is a yellow delicatessen that has been serving different flavors of hugs on the playa since 2005.
Any person can purchase a hug from the menu for the affordable price of 2 compliments. Any person can work behind the counter and serve hugs. Important note: The compliments are to be given before the hug is rendered (if not, the customer loses out on participation). Thanks!
Mind Murmur
Beneath a glowing pyramid, a seasoned meditator sits peacefully in lotus position, wearing an EEG (brainwave) headset. As their meditation deepens, the pyramid pulses and responds.
Huge fractal-art blooms, controlled by the meditator’s brainwaves, are projected onto the pyramid walls. A glittering EEG chandelier cascades color and light from the pyramid’s pinnacle down toward the meditator, whose brainwaves control a lush soundscape sampled from animal voices, sacred tunes, synths and murmuring Burner voices.
Mind Murmur shares the power and beauty of meditation, focusing on interconnection, collective experience, and non‐locality of consciousness. It’s sublime to experience while meditating, and while wandering the playa.
Morphoscope
Morphoscope is a series of 12 hand-cranked film viewing cabinets, modeled after the original Edison kinetoscope. Turn a crank to activate the device and view one of the short films depicting a metamorphosis, made with love by artists from around the world.
Mortorious
If you knew the likely cause of your death, what would you do? Mortorious counts the number of deaths in the United States, by cause, from the opening of the Gate for Burning Man 2019. Digital counters reveal mortality statistics along with 15 “cause-of-death” posters for some common and uncommon ways that we will leave this Earthly realm.
MOST IMPROVED TROPHY
A 10′ tall, life-sized trophy juxtaposes against the flat playa, representing the celebration of our achievements. If metamorphosis is about transformation, then Trophy depicts the various recognitions one receives throughout their lives that shapes them into the human beings they’ve become. This trophy symbolizes each and every one of mankind’s accomplishments, big and small.
Murder INC.
Murder Inc.
Seek out the individual crows on the Murder Map located in front to the Illumination Village to find the full murder circling the playa.
Music With Words
It is the year 2019, humans have been roaming the Black Rock Desert for days, they have since forgotten any existence of music without a 4 on the floor beat. However, deep in the playa an oasis exists, a place where one can come listen to hundreds of their favorite songs with words.
Burners from all over the world have added their favorite songs with words and under a magnificent sign music with words will ring through the desert for the entire event.
Mycorrhizae (formerly Nursing Log)
Mycorrhizae symbolizes relationships among fungus, tree and the fluid decomposition of our world. The piece will emphasize that our world’s natural cycles are delicate, elaborate and incomplete without decomposition. It will spotlight that we too are a part of this balance. The balance is an inevitable contributor to existence and creation. The piece will remind participants that any life will eventually perish, equalizing the cycle and providing the chance for nutrients to be recycled for other life to flourish.
Nausicaä
The sculpture Nausicaä is a visual representation of metamorphosis. Drawing inspiration from flowers, insects, & the Phoenix — and incorporating themes of rebirth, breaking free, and self-consciousness, Nausicaä intends to inspire the viewer to self-reflect. The mosaic of mirror shards will both reflect the light of the playa and the broken image of the viewer. The yet to be parted ribbon wings imply the moments before monumental change. The broken chains reveal great effort unfinished. Nausicaä is meant to both incorporate and reflect the ever evolving self.
Negative Energy Receptor
Humans alter and transform themselves and the world more than any other known creature — but our power isn’t in the transformations, rather in the belief in transformation.
May this Negative Energy receptor remind you that the strength of humanity lies in our minds and beliefs — beliefs that bring us to the point of action, invention, & creation of means by which negativity can be filtered; bad can be made good again.
Night Light Tree
The Night Light Tree shines brightly during the day, reflecting the sun’s rays across the playa. The tree is composed of bronze wires that twist up and out of the gemstone base. Each branch holds several different gemstones. The gemstone base towers at 7 feet tall. In the day the sides of the base are reflective, but at night the base turns into 7 infinity boxes containing lights, gemstones, and tree roots. The tree’s branches will dance with light as well.
Niloticus
Niloticus is a 40 foot long mosaic crocodile that invites visitors to climb on top of him. His eyes, teeth, and osteoderms will light up in the night.
Nirmanakaya
Nirmanakaya is a 7′ tall rectangular monolith. The monolith is covered in ceramic tile. The tile are sculpted and carved and stamped to create a hieroglyphic storyline. The monolith appears to be in a state of transformation as it becomes engulfed with vines. The monolith has a window in it. The monolith is flanked by two smaller cubes. Each cube as well as the window in the central monolith contain a human head in a state of metamorphosis. Two microphones fitted with voice synthesizers are placed below the window on either side of the monolith. The voice synthesizers guide speakers through a continual process of vocal transformation. There are two seats placed on either side of the monolith. There is a “metamorphic” audio montage.
No Place Like Home
A tornado of fire has hurled a small Kansas farmhouse to a world of magic and wonder. As participants are drawn in by the torrent of flame they will discover a curious story woven into the details of the broken house. A road of yellow brick weaves away through a peaceful trail of giant flaming poppies.
Propane, Steel, Methanol, Wood, Brick, Iron, & Rubber are assembled to create a magical journey
No Place Like Home draws from the mythology of the Wizard of Oz, a tale that embodies the themes of personal transformation and discovery. The quest for the metamorphoses you think you need, may reveal the strengths you already have.
Nowhere
The difference between nowhere and now here is a little space.
O NOME DA ROSA - Solar ignition fire & mechanical energy generator
The Rose is Life: She is not precise. She guides the nomads in the desert but never points the “correct” or single North.
If With a Fresnel lens and a Sunbeam we can burn The Rose, then, we testify an amazing source of energy. After all, the “oil god”, charging all he offers, can be replaced by an older, benevolent god, the Sun.
It is urgent to be “freaky”, yes, and fear not the ignorance or darkness we live today. The Compass Rose illuminates Love, and only empathy Shines against fear and defeats walls or borders.
The Burner, pedaling the Rose, generates new forces, destroying the dogma of a single and polluting North. Ridding the rose we dream about alternatives. We gently believe that in Art, there will never be aesthetic without an ethic.
O.A.S.I.S.C.A.F.E.
O.A.S.I.S.C.A.F.E. is a full size, artistic representation of the Lunar Module that first landed on the moon in 1969. The lower half, or Descent Stage, will house various sub-installations related to the theme of the piece. The upper half, or Ascent Stage, will be constructed to look and feel similar to the actual Lunar Module, to experience what the astronauts lived in while on the moon.
Our Mission is to remember the biggest and most daring adventure humanity has ever taken. It is to allow the younger generations to connect with and understand what has just been a fact of history that happened before they were born. It’s celebrating something that humanity will still be remembering and celebrating 1000 years from now.
Olive Branch Library
The Olive Branch Library is a humble offering of peace and knowledge from the Black Rock Public Library. It is an ornate secretaire-style cabinet containing hundreds of books, all available for checkout, due back in exactly one year. Those who explore the cabinet’s many wonders will be richly rewarded with poetry and prose, and entreated to leave some of their own.
OOO(Omikuji Of Object)
OOO (Omikuji Of Object)
In Japan, there is a culture called OMIKUJIj.
When you go to the shrine, you will worship God and then ask fortunes and forgive the god to see the future.
I would like to do an installation using this fortune system.
OMIKUJI which I devised is unfinished one by one.
Each OMIKUJI is only one part.
However, the other OMIKUJI that matches my OMIKUJI is owned by someone else. If you find someone, OMIKIJI will be completed and bring new encounters.
The completed OMIKUJI will be installed in our objects by the people we meet, and the objects will also evolve during the period and approach the final completion.
Opus
Opus is an interactive installation where visitors can become multi-sensory artists. Both a playable instrument and an immersive space, it takes the form of sound emanating from a surrealist keyboard as light. This piece celebrates collaboration by encouraging impromptu ensembles to explore composition as a shared experience. And, it invites musicians to step inside the music they create.
Out of this World Advice
An alien communication device was left here 2000 years ago by future-seeing aliens who knew that in 2019, humans would really need some advice. Passed down through generations, the communication device is now available for all to contact the extraterrestrials for advice.
Owl's nest
Owl’s nest
Small harbour for a couple wandering in Deep Playa in the night to have a rest between parties, sit and talk warm and cozy, enjoy snacks left for them by thoughtful birds.
Panopticonotopia 2.1!
Hello! and welcome to Panopticonotopia 2.0!, the game-changing surveillance, security and mindshare corporation that takes your enterprise to the next level! Information sharing is essential to the protection of critical infrastructure and to furthering cybersecurity for the homeland. Panopticonotopia 2.0! solves your complicated challenges, helping you operate with greater productivity, security and compliance. Our contracted mission-critical services architect end-to-end security services that objectively leverage niche markets for a robust and expanded 24/7/365 surveillance ecosystem. Panopticonotopia 2.0 is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fink, Inc., a proud member of the VeriLarge Corporation’s family of products and services.
Paraluna
Paraluna is a giant, spinning disc of LEDs. Classical music plays from speakers on the ground while complementary animated patterns are displayed on the disc above. The disc is held up by a boom lift, allowing the disc to be raised, lowered, and tilted, to dramatic effect.
Passage Of a Radical Karmic Year (PORKY)
PORKY (Passage Of a Radical Karmic Year) is from the root POR (Point of Reference) and PORK (Point of Righteous Knowledge). One may ask what is the meaning of the piece? It has no meaning other than a love for creating, re-purposing past creations and the progressing of an acronym. How simple is that?
The piece is covered with over 1500 LED pixels controlled by a Teensy controller. A disco ball flashes will provide a means of locating it from across the playa.
Also it will provide the viewer a means to control of the animation and speed. The configuration and covering will provide some shade during the heat of the day and a visual impact during the night.
The ecological impact will be low due to the use of solar panels and batteries.
Pauper's Ballroom
A Pauper’s Ballroom is what our parents tell us when walking down to a beach, a clearing or any other beautiful place in nature. A palace free to all. A pauper’s ballroom.
The piece is a grand staircase with no second floor, framed by four towers. The way to the ballroom is to climb the staircase, turn around and then descend. The ballroom is the playa but best appreciated through the descent of a staircase, giving you the trappings of grandeur, while being merely pretense to the actual beauty of the free, natural space of the playa.
“Nothing” is the absence of substance. It is the void, the infinite unknown. In this way, the “Stairway to Nothing” is the “Stairway to the Void.”
Or it’s just the “Stairway to the Playa’s Second Floor.”
Penguin Colony
An installation to cause people to stop, to chill, to engage with each other – the penguin colony!
Metal fire-pit penguins (faceted steel, a bit cartoonish in their pot-bellied awkward way, but gracefully finished in clean geometry), arrayed around a small wooden shack. Haphazardly arranged to form pockets of warmth, with benches provided for the participants to arrange as they desire.
The intent is to encourage interaction between the participants at Burning Man, to invite a pause in the rush between here and there: to stop, warm up, and engage with the colony. Sit around with penguins, build connections, figure out the future. We’re all in it together.
Phoenix Rising
Phoenix Rising is an interactive sculpture, a steel hybrid between rooster and peacock. Her interactivity includes the placement of a pulse sensor on the finger of the festival participant which remotely triggers a signal to the sculpture’s flame effects system and causes the Fire of the Phoenix to pulse in unison with the beat of the participant’s heart. It will be exciting to see citizens of Black Rock City experience the rush (and heat!) of one’s own heartbeat pulsing through and with the Fire of the Phoenix! Because humans feel the need to destroy that which is old to reemerge anew through the Mythos of the Phoenix, it is dedicated to the many souls who no longer walk among us.
Phoenix rising and Dragon Spinning
Phoenix, also known as “Phoenix Emperor,” is the king of birds in ancient legends. Often used to symbolize prosperity and fortune in Chinese culture, phoenixes flying together serve as a symbol of auspicious harmony. It is an important element of Chinese culture since ancient times.
The Dragon will be 6M tall in a spiral shape, head to the sky waiting for the flames to come out of his tongue at the last night of the Burn!
Pieuvre
“With arms outstretched and swirling in the sea of stars, we watch her as she dances gracefully through the dust… carrying lanterns of light to lead our way.” This beautifully ornate octopus will create an ethereal essence of submersion underwater into the deep depths of the sea by bringing the ocean floor to BRC. Made of stainless steel, copper, and brass textured metals – the body form will feature delicate seaweed filigree accents, LED lit suckers, and stained glass mosaics. An assortment of colors, textures, shape, line, and movement will be used to create contrasting visual effects and accentuate certain detailed decorative aspects of the body. “Pieuvre” will hold fire lanterns to light up the night and heat us with her warmth.
Platonic Two: Tesseract
A shimmering cube of wonder. What will one see when one gazes upon it?
Playa Bells 2019
A heavy metal musical instrument created for the Burning Man Community.
Playa Connection Cafe
Playa Connection Cafe is back and better than ever for Burning Man 2019. The installation is meant to highlight, what we feel, are the most important and meaningful art pieces on the Playa, the burners themselves! The cafe is meant to bring people together and open a dialogue, whether between complete strangers or lifelong friends. The questions in each category of the menu take the conversation from light to thought provoking, and everything in between. The idea is to facilitate communication since we often struggle with connection in the default world.
Playa Flowers
A playful treatment of re-purposed materials to create a 12′ tall flower bouquet. There are 15 blue and red flowers. During the day sunlight illuminates the colored glass lenses that front the flowers and makes them glow. During the night the flowers are illuminated by LEDs. Viewers can use a control panel to control the LEDs. If the control panel is not in use the flowers are illuminated by an internal program.
Playa Harvey
Playa Harvey is a response to Playa Barbie, which is what is wrong with the world all captured in an ugly pink box. Radical inclusion is not poorly defined gender stereotypes and artificial visions that upset the moral arc of the universe bending towards realistic body shapes and non-binary gender roles. Barbie is a plastic aesthetic that degrades the Burning Man culture with a false identity and unrealistic proportions.
If we love ourselves, honor those that create love and not what defines eating disorders. If we must pretend to be others, at least let it be a revolutionary countercultural visionary.
Then, like all great Burning Man art pieces, climb inside, learn about Larry, take a selfie and depart for other shiny sparkly things.
Playa Nebula
The Playa Nebula is intended to appear as though the installation is a nebula taken from space & placed on playa. Nebula photos are colorful and soft; it evokes both the cloud-like and colorful character of these images. We celebrate the other-worldly presence that the playa provides us.
Playa Nebula is both seen and experienced; neither one without the other. It invites the viewer into a participatory act; first with the piece itself, second with surrounding environment. It acts as a place to connect to one another & witness the desert as universe. The soft-scape provided affords a place for participants to sit, climb, & play. It will allow for moments of internal reflections, for small intimate moments, & for inclusive social interactions.
Playa Wedding, Dusty Divorce
Playa Wedding, Dusty Divorce represents the metamorphosis of relationships, the celebration when hearts join together & the process of letting go. All over the world people perform ceremonies filled with ritual as a rite of passage that help people move with greater intention from one way of being into another. Even simple acts can have great and powerful meaning.
The Playa Wedding side is a white wedding chapel with a beautiful ornate white wedding dress and black tuxedo symbolic of wedding ceremonies. The Dusty Divorce side is painted black with red paint and play knives strategically located on a 2nd wedding dress and black tuxedo symbolic for a divorce ritual.
PlayaBarbie Photo Box
The PlayaBarbie Photo Box is a giant toy box cover on its end, which allows Black Rock City residents to pose and show their true inner Barbie. This interactive photo box allows everyone the opportunity to capture their radical self expression in a visual postcard moment. Barbie represented the first doll that wasn’t for girls to nurture, the first independent woman represented in a toy. Barbie never married, is independent, confident and believes in herself. This year, PlayaBarbie “Now Includes Art Bike” to allow each of us to capture in time our individual self expression and effort each of us put into our transportation sensation.
Playascape
Playascape is a fantasy landscape for rising out of the flat playa and connecting with fellow explorers. It offers an organic, informal take on the traditional amphitheatre – enabling an audience or horde of dancers to focus on an event or group or person – or sound car – that might choose to occupy its centre; in return, anyone at its centre becomes surrounded by a wall of humans, each occupying the undulating landscapes in unique ways.
The structure aligns with the cosmos and celebrates the sunrise, midday and sunset rays of light that slice through it, as if on a giant sundial. And the structure doubles as a giant shade structure, where people can push through the stepped skin to shaded terraces at the rear, or shelter beneath them.
Playatic Forrest
A lighted field of strange lights for exploring out in the deep.
Plaza of Introspectus
The Plaza of Introspectus is a 60′ wide gathering space laid out in the shape of a compass. A flaming steel armillary on an 8′ pedestal will be the centerpiece of the Plaza. Metal benches and fire zen gardens fill the space offering rest and reflection.
Portal
A Portal possible of transformation… not to that which is coming, but to things here. With a ring 12′ in diameter made from 4,608 stained glass tiles with a total of 24 colors, graduating the color wheel in a flowing mosaic that is two sided. Two 7-thousand-pound basalt stone columns stand guard from the left and from the right. Portal will also be lit with an increasing laser light show controlled on a theremin device, with sound effects that go off when one enters.
Symbiosis.
The color in harmony attracts vitality through beauty, like a flower does a bee. The bee gets food in exchange for spreading pollen. In the same manner one attracts to Portal. Coming out with powerful frequencies, to bounce off their friends, their family, the animals, EARTH, and even so called… “enemies.”
Positive Reactor
The Reactor is a large complexed geometric structure made of endless triangles. From the ground it looks like a crown or a pomograne, but from its center it forms the sacred geometrical shape of the Merkaba.
Its purpose is to remind us that acts of kindness reward the giver, the receiver and the witness of the good acts, with a boost of oxytocin, producing good feeling to all and taking nothing in return. Therefore creating energy — a Reactor!
Project Flashlight
Project flashlight is the joy of light at grand scale.
Pure, incredibly bright white beam-like fingers of God in the dust, contrast with the night sky, scale across the open playa, interplay of beams, light in motion.
Military/NASA billion-candlepower searchlights, reanimated for art! Interactive with tablet controls.
Psychedelicactus Garden
In the dry desert grows a rare variety of cacti known as the Psychedilcactus. It’s sprouted from Looney toon cartoons and pollinated with silliness. Five feet wide and 10 feet tall, yet only 1.5 inches thick. It will allow the viewer to question their own depth, or lack thereof. Some of the early blooms that have yet to fully mature may be scaled down and yet to reach their full height.
Purr Pods
Experience the healing power of the purr.
Feline forms gaze with Laser Eyes of Love and envelop participants in sonic vibrations. Snuggle down into the cozy bellies of the Purr Pods and be revived.
Puzzles and Prayers- Reinventing the Prayer Wheel
“Puzzles and Prayers” is a large scale interactive mixed media sculpture serving as a shaded gathering space for participants to explore, discover, to pray and play. Prayer wheels are typically seen as individual wheels aligned in long rows, but the “Puzzles and Prayers” wheel components will be arranged in a grid. Each ceramic wheel will be a puzzle piece. When spun into alignment with the rest, the wheels will compose a beautiful mural. It will give the participant a unique opportunity to interact with this spiritual tradition as well as discovering the hidden image of the contemporary mural.
Quadrahedron
The Quadrahedron consists of 2’x2′ cubes configured to form a pyramid. A curious arrangement of color emerging from the dust that comes to life at night. Each side is painted with unique art that represent the multiple dimensions of the multiverse that may exist orthogonal to each other, only observable by altering your perception of the whole. And by intentionally looking even closer, one can discover an environment only visible to those who choose to look within.
Quality of Life
Quality of Life will resemble a flock of migrating birds balancing on each other heads. The sculpture will incorporate large wood birds made from reclaimed wood beams salvaged from a demolished commercial building. We will resurface the beams down to a restored finish. Large custom bearing plates will be incorporated at each balance point of the birds that will rotate independently allowing the sculpture to slide in the wind. The axis of the piece will stretch ascending linearly in orientation to the Man. A large steel metal feather will sit at the forward apex of the sculpture symbolizing the fragility of the balance. The kinetic sculpture will honor the migration and the collaborative movement of nature and its processes.
Reared In Steel's Fire Kethedral
The Fire Kethedral will resemble a cathedral organ as a colossal fire instrument – a shrine to fire. The structure will be fabricated from steel tubing and CNC cut sheet metal standing forty feet tall and fifty feet long. The Fire Kethedral will be an ornate and powerful instrument capable of choreographing fire as music through a full keyboard as an instrumentalist plays sitting on an ornately decorated piano bench. Pipes mounted into the structure will shoot fire up into the air coordinated with every keystroke. The Kethedral will be adorned with stained glass lighted by flame rail pilots creating a tabernacle of fire and light. LED lighting will amplify the visual effect of the fire and sound.
Reflect / React
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10pm on Tuesday, August 27, 2019.
I would like to create an aerial chains piece based on my own ongoing conflict between being a control freak and disliking change, and my knowledge that I stagnate without constant change. The Metamorphoses theme reminds me of my conscious efforts to recognize my habits of avoiding change and overcome those patterns.
Revolution: The Art of Rising Up
Performance will be at the Man Pavilion at 10am on Wednesday, August 28, 2019.
The performance I’d like to do tells a story of a girl, growing into a young woman, and then emerging to find her voice as a grown woman. Her confidence grows as she grows and matures. The lyra/aerial hoop is my apparatus.
Rite of the Valkyries
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10pm on Wednesday, August 28, 2019.
Our piece uses the classic Hero’s Journey, and is told from the perspective of the hero. We will use solo, duo, trio and entire ensemble to narrate the journey of the hero through dance, classical tableaus, and aerial circus artistry.
Rolling Things
Rolling Things are a collection of ruled surface forms that all have the ability to roll on a flat surface. These geometric shapes will be set free to roam about the playa with some kindly rolling assistance from the citizens of Black Rock City. The forms are somewhere around eight to almost 10 feet tall, are made from galvanized steel tubing, and are lit by battery-powered LEDs integrated within the tubing.
Each form rolls in a unique pattern. The ruled surface forms include a hyperboloid hamster wheel, a right conoid, a sphericon, and an oloid.
Rose Project/The Necklace Factory
The Rose Project is an enchanting rose meant to draw you in with its magical beauty. During the day it will represent the beautiful flower and at night it will morph into a living rose that moves and sways you to the music.
Row Boat Bass
The Row Boat Bass will be an interactive musical piece of artwork. The back and body of the bass will be an old row boat. This boat will have a wooden front and metamorphose into a large musical instrument. The boat is 11.5 feet long and 4 feet wide and will have a 5.5 foot neck with a crown. The bass will have 4 steel strings and possibly some form of amplification. We are planning to have a hand crank or a wind power crank to strum and pluck the strings. There will be metal tines from an agricultural hay rake on the back and sides of the bass that will become a kalimba or thumb piano. These will be played either by hand or with wooden drum sticks and add musical depth and sound.
Rune Dice
Rune Dice is a fortune-telling system especially designed for the playa. Twenty-four wooden dice are inscribed with magical rune symbols. Participants can hold a question in their heart while handling and meditating on the images. When the querent feels the time is right, a door will open and release the dice on to a grid for interpretation. There will be a guided explanation available as well as reference material for the participant to delve into their answer as much as they wish.
Sabbatical
A nexus where Burning Man participants contemplate the experiences they have engaged in, help to inspire and guide the participants to bring the beauty and power of their BRC selves to rest of the world. Sabbatical is visual representation of the relationship of BRC, Participant and inspiration. The purpose of the the sculpture is to inspire effort, engagement, empathy and expression. The message of the Sabbatical is to come to BRC, learn, experiment, be open, invite new experience, contemplate, then take positive action in the default world. The sculpture will hopefully inspire people to drive their own interactive and participatory actions in the future, both in the committees they reside and Burning Man.
SACRA
Sacra is a totemic gateway, symbolizing a pivotal point between infinite and finite. The sacrum (= ‘holy bone’) is the first gateway through which we metamorphize from space to substance, into the wordly realm. It is also the last bone that disintegrates, holding ritual significance in ancient cultures, as a reminder of the past and future passage that we all share. Sacra’s focal point is a ‘sacral object’, embedded with convex mirrors reflecting our shared cellular origins; a bowed gate like a funnel for source into form; a silhouette echoing Japanese torii gates, which traditionally indicate a passage between the profane/worldly plane to the sacred. “Sacra” mirrors that journey, literally and poetically, in reverse and also ‘in between’.
Sagrada Perihelia
A radial arrangement of weather balloons — a compass rose. An eight-legged kraken straining to drift in the sea of the sky. The billowing skeleton of a circus tent: a remnant of celebrations, spectacles and revels that lie in the past; a pencil sketch of togetherness to come.
Sahasrara
Performance at Man Pavilion at 10am on Tuesday, August 27, 2019.
A tribe of dusty burners approaches the man, creatures of the dust, dressed in shaggy browns and blacks with traditional burner accessories such as goggles and top hats. The sound of their drums is heard faintly at first, but it quickly grows louder until they fill the man pavilion with their primal energy.
Salsola soda
Salsola soda is an invasive plant species. However, incredibly hardy. This collaboration between natural selection, New York-based situational artist, Aranka Israni, and found object sculptor, Kai Dalgleish, explores the relationship and distinction between the determined and deterministic, the probalistic and pugilistic, the ephemeral and the eternal.
Satellite
The stand alone portion of what has been on playa in the larger assemblages Otic Oasis, the Man Base Pistil, and the Otic Way, (all built in partnership with Melissa (Syn) Barron and Lightning Clearwater III), the Satellite is an embodiment of rhomboidal 3d space filling geometry consisting of interlocking structural plywood shapes in a classical vessel form. The integration of geometry and assembly methodology has elevated the construction process to something giving a glimpse of an unknown future.
See Trees
Explore and ponder this life-sized, interactive aspen grove. Enjoy the shade by day and marvel at the magical canopy by night. This is a contemplative place. Notice the details, luring viewers to look into the trees’ eyes and discover alternate realms inside the trunks. Explore our relationship to nature in modern society. Pondering questions of a multi-faceted universe; in what ways might lifeforms relate and communicate to each other and what stories do we all share? How can we achieve balance between (un)known realities and the interconnections of modern society? Experiencing the internal tree realms will provoke feelings of love, paranoia, and enchantment; visual nourishment through scenes of nostalgia and spiritual sanctuary.
Serenity
Serenity is an immersive fire sculpture. A large broken jar supports three beautiful giant fireflies, featuring interactive fire and LED elements at night, and providing an interesting destination during the day.
As you approach, points of glowing light in the air and on the ground reveal themselves to be LED-illuminated fireflies, gathered around parts of a enormous broken jar with three giant fireflies each perched on top. The giant fireflies are made of steel, and have transformed to truly become _fire_flies. Was it magic? Radioactive bugs? Ancient cursed jar?
There are up to 24 buttons to be pushed to produce a variety of flame effects, and FLG’s signature liquid shooter will be sending 50′ colored flames in the sky.
Shedding Shadows
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10pm on Friday, August 30, 2019.
Everyone is a child
the same child
in different permutations
reaching out
and curling in on itself
trying to examine its own belly button
There’s no more sun, but there’s you,
you have photons too, gleaming as the stars.
It’s the little things that keep it all from falling apart…
or falling together…
I forgot which.
Imploding glittery boom.
Tell me a story… Quickly! there’s no more time. I promise I’ll keep it safe. I’ve made a box inside my heart. To hold it. It’s special, made of wood, engraved with all the details of the world.
Do you remember spring’s first plunges into the lake? Swimming just after frost. Tingles through the body, skin pulsing.
Watching grandmother growing old, and I…
Goodbye?
somehow it will all be okay,
or at least it will be,
being is better than not being,
So it will all be. Okay?
SHEDDING. Embrace vulnerability to achieve growth. Fear can be our ally.
Our inner processes take life through sculptures. We all are confronted by challenges, injuries, traumas and losses, but all of those primal and legitimate fears and obstacles can be used as catalysts to break through into another step. We shed to become stronger. A giant spine like lamp post overlooks three wearable masks, each represents a distinct state: Dread, Shedding, Happiness. The Dread and Shedding masks will burn in the Temple, filled with everything we collectively leave in them. We are forging our happiness from within.
Shewolff
The Shewolf is nature, constantly giving and directing our growth for thousands of years. Only recently has man conquered nature by what we think is a smart and clever manipulation for our benefit. “What nature can do, man can do better.”
Or can we? Has man depleted our mother or is she still willing to nurture us? Come out and drink from the elixir from nature’s breasts. Lay in her shadow, protected from harm.
Shewolf now has a partner wolf. Can he keep up? Can we keep up?
Shots Fired Espresso Service
Shots Fired is an interactive espresso service. Our crew knows the magic of the bean, and how it turns from the “cherry” that is harvested in the mountains into the espresso drink. The Shots Fired machine is a naked machine, fully unclothed to show the beauty of the interaction of heat, pressure and temperature in the creation of coffee. The ideal gas law PV=nRT is at the heart of good espresso. By obeying the law, coffee is created with hot (not boiling!) water under pressure at a precise temperature, squirted through beans that have been ground to the consistency required to cause 1 oz of water to flow through the puck at a pressure of 100 PSI. Our special ingredient – a touch of playa dust – only found in BRC!
Sideways Room
Our art installation is an 8’x8’x8′ cube inside of which is a room designed to look like it is sideways. There are no signs telling you what to do, however, this is an art project that requires participation in order to understand the piece.
This piece is meant to be functional art. Some of the things our projects is meant to provide include but are nor limited to: shade from the sun, shelter from the dust, a place for people to gather and communicate, a place to rest, a place for sound reduction, a meeting point, or a landmark.
This project was our gift to the participants of Burning Man DaVinci’s Workshop in 2016. It is given as a small token of our appreciation for all the fantastic people and their wonderful creations that we have shared.
Skywhale: The Not ShyWhale
The SkyWhale is a life sized flying technicolor whale and she will kindle the flames of imagination and wonder within all who see, touch, and listen to the piece as she arrives into the dusty desert. She strives to open the possibility of using the sky as a 3-dimensional medium for art. In nature, water creatures live in a place physically below that of terrestrial humans, and they have been downstream of many harmful human activities. SkyWhale aims to show that there can be progress and she can help heal and transform the human relationship with Nature. In recognition of the metamorphosis theme, the SkyWhale will embody the transformation of a sea creature to dream that takes to the air.
Small Community Shelters
Out of the dust of the flat, dry desert, an oasis emerges. Plain as day, dry as a bone. Chattering voices in the shade. The sound of cloth billowing just overhead.
This collection of wooden structures will provide some shade and shelter but not enough that a dust-storm will go unnoticed. A community is at hand.
Some Things Never Change
WonkaVision TV
Capturing all that is evolving and transforming behind it.
Concept by 4yr old second year baby burner.
Soul Shadows
Soul Shadows is a refuge of shade and contemplation in the deep playa. Translucent human forms create a quiet glow as the bamboo and canvas chimes rattle in the wind. Our shadows can provide our greatest gifts.
space elephant
Space Elephant will describe how things and bodies get a new life after death in absolutely different forms. So on one hand it’s a scary elephant’s skeleton and on the other hand – a cozy tearoom and a calm place.
Space Polyp
Space Polyp is a large underwater space creature that you ride. By climbing onto the pendulum platform you can sway the polyp around and make its holographic leaves undulate as the pendulum moves around. In the day the spectrum of the sun shines through the leaves and at night the LEDs cast colorful patterns onto the ground.
Sputnik Theremin
In these times of technical progress and renewed interest in space exploration, let the first human-made object in space guide you through a musical metamorphosis into unknown territories of what the future has to give us.
StairRamps to Heaven aka Consent Ramps
StairRamps to Heaven are a series of 12′ long ramps that serve as boarding platforms for those wishing to ride Mutant Vehicles. They are colorful and well lit. They are also known as Consent ramps as Consent is required before boarding a vehicle.
StairRamps to Heaven/Chaos & Order
Our project is a handicapped accessible ramp. This project combines form and function as we also decorate to enhance the theme.
Star of Metamorphosis
Pentamorphisis will look like a mirage as the seeker traverses the playa. Upon entering this shimmering alchemical container, the seeker will be spun into a dimensional reality where she will be challenged by the elementals to release fear, overcome ego, and find forgiveness and unconditional love for self on the road to purpose and service. Once selected the seeker will be asked to look into themselves (and a mirror) and find those aspects to be transmuted and overcome in order to realize freedom and the next level of attainment.
StarZ
My tenth year of art on the trash fence and finally a project that will have you seeing STARZ. The farthest point at BRC, Point 3, once again is their beautiful wide open home. Literally on the green fence stakes you will perchance upon almost 100 STARZ of all kinds. They are creatively concocted by 25 different people from ages 3 to 75. Each star tells a story, some are head scratchers, all are quirky. They are created with almost 100% recycled objects, repurposed items from yard sales or found objects. Your ride along the fence will most certainly be rewarded with unexpected folk art that puts a smile on your face. Discover the sounds and the open vistas the deep playa offer. Wish upon one because as we all know the playa provides.
Stellar Core
In Physics, a “stellar core” is the hottest and densest part of a star. This sculpture strives to inspire by showing how seemingly flexible materials such as aircraft cable can be combined to provide extreme rigidity and stability. The red, green and blue moving lights on this sculpture combine at it’s center to create a dynamic blend of color in a swirling rainbow. The sculpture is transparent and frames the background through it as well as projects it’s light out onto the playa around it illuminating the world with rainbows like the star that it was built to be.
Still Alive
“Still Alive” is a heptagonal wooden structure covered with acrylic mirror sheets that generate a highly sensory interactive atmosphere.
This art piece projects and receives light through its entrances and skylights that are in synchrony with the sounds and the light that is emitted. It reflects the landscape of the desert from its exterior layers and an infinite universe in the interior.
Thus, this static installation mixes images from the surroundings in its mirrors and the trajectory of the sun combined with the vibrating pulse of Burning Man giving a semblance of a living form, as a metaphor of the cycle of life.
Stone 27
Confront nature and yourself as you journey along 27 stones floating above the Playa. Step into an alternate reality where destructive energy has been harmonized with nature to create moments of physical and mental elevation. Stone 27 finds great inspiration in simplicity, minimalism, and math to create clearness and consciousness in a material world, inviting you to a moment of complete presence.
SWING
SWING is an art-play project. It is an 11′ tall two person swing built utilizing wood & steel, with support structures constructed in the silhouette of the Burning Man logo. We invite participants to play and experience both the active and contemplative fun that something about swings just brings about.
Syzygy
Syzygy is a viewer-responsive sculptural installation that reveals a drawing made from light as the sun fades. The shadows and light on the ground move around as the sculptures respond to viewers walking amongst them. When the work’s center point is occupied, the various colors of the massive drawing move to their true alignment.
Take Me Home
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10pm on Tuesday, August 27, 2019.
The underlying theme is the metamorphosis from lost to found, from being adrift and alone to being united with a community (especially one with feminine energy) and ‘home.’ Five aerialists will start in separate spaces on unique elements. Slowly, as the music progresses, they will begin to notice each other and interact. The ultimate vision is to perform the transformation we go through as humans from being sad and alone to finding our place in a literal and figurative ‘home.’ Beyond this, we are all from different countries but make our home in Israel. As aerialists, burners and women, we share many common bonds. We want to share our hope for peace in Israel and Palestine by performing a number that ultimately shows the connections that are possible when people connect. These connections transform us. And this transformation — from hate to love and misunderstanding to acceptance — creates ‘home.’ By reaching that place physically, we can reach it emotionally.
Taking Flight
Nicki Adani’s “Taking Flight” emboldens visitors to be who they truly are, inspiring them to leave behind what is holding them back. A 10-foot tall feminine bird-like figure, welded from raw steel rods and tubes, her wings spread wide, takes flight from her perch upon a 10-foot tall spoked wheel, representing the circle of life. Viewers interact by making colorful ropes and weaving them into the wheel as a metaphor of releasing one’s past. Experiences already lived through can’t be erased, but they can speak their truths, and be let go. In the process, individuals can connect to their inner strength allowing them to spread their wings to fly free.
Talking Heads
Talking Heads is an abstract sculpture, a spatial composition based on a balance between negative and positive space in conjunction with a line that can create an image or point of reference to spark imagination.
This is a work of imagination, inviting the engagement of curiosity with creativity. The viewer can experience a multiplicity of meanings, depending on what goes on inside their own heads. Some may prefer looking at an object, while others like looking through the object. Maybe everyone lives in different realities. Talking Heads can show the power of imagination to lead us into a metaphysical and magical experience of metamorphosis.
Tatanka
Tatanka is an Indian word for buffalo. For the Northern Plains people Tatanka meant life. Ceremonies and daily life revolved around sacred reverences to Tatanka. They relied upon the bison for food, clothing, housing, tools, just to name a few. This piece is a 9′ tall mosaic buffalo created in Reno, NV by large scale sculpture artist Peter Hazel. The piece is made up of thousands of handmade tiles of various colors, textures, and sizes.
Tecopa Yacht Club
The Tecopa Yacht Club celebrates the famed and historic Tecopa Yacht Club. Though the club has been long abandoned, the recreation of this space is intended to provide a gathering spot – day and night for BRC 2019 citizens to come together, learn more about one another and interact together in the present and learn ways together to impact the world in a positive way in the future.
TeeBeeDee
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 8pm on Sunday, August 25 and at 10pm on Thursday, August 29, 2019.
All 6 arches are activated within our show. Transitioning from individual solos on their respective arches to a crescendo of all 6 arches and repelling face activated simultaneously in a visual bombardment. We’ll use the metamorphosis theme to present, “The life of an artist”…a metaphorical look at the commitment, sacrifice, transformation, evolution, deconstruction, reinvention and ebb/flow of what it means to dedicate your life to Art.
Temple of Brad Pitt
The Temple of Brad Pitt channels the famous Hollywood actor. It captures Brad Pitt’s aura, extracts the essence of his being through data gathering and redisplays it as a data portrait and performative sculpture enabling Burning Man 2019 participants who enter a special apparatus to briefly experience what it is to be him.
The Achilles Apparatus
The Achilles Apparatus allows communications with spirits and transdimensional intelligences. Several of the people working on it were or became insane; the mechanism by which it operates is under study.
The original Achilles Apparatus is more than 100 years old, but has been extended over the following decades. The current manifestation includes a console containing panels with switches, lights and other controls. The console is surrounded by three illuminated antenna masts. A separate desk contains notebooks, pictures and audio recordings about the history of the Achilles Apparatus.
Successfully activating the Achilles Apparatus is a complicated process that generally requires several people working together to manipulate the controls.
The Art Park
TELL ME EVERYTHING! Welcome to the Art Park. Here you will find a 5-part series of interconnected installations by Olivia Steele centered around a 19th century antique confessional booth. The theme is forgiveness and the process is real. Burners are invited to explore the concept of forgiveness through awareness and confession. Heed the florescent and mirrored road signs surrounding the booth as you are reminded to Forgive yourself. Indulge in a daily dose of truth and humor as the message on the marquee board changes daily. Come light your fire with the fireplace of burning handwritten words that reads “I still love you.” And finally, ponder on the neon conundrum “Those who know themselves know their/they’re God.” It’s all connected.
The Bard's Branch
I would like to bring my childhood joy of books and climbing trees to the playa by building a tree library. A comfy armchair will be in the nest at the top for folks to read in, shaded with branches. It will look like an old organic library with bookshelves, staircases and books stacked all over it. Recessed shelves will be hidden in the trunk and books will have light up letters, inspiring words and pop-up images inside. There is a playful childlike energy to the piece. The Bard’s Branch will bring joy & stir the imagination.
The Bear
The Bear. An invitation to the courage and power to create.
The Beat Box
The Beat Box is a vintage wooden crate emblazoned with images of delicious red beets. As you approach, you hear the sounds of beatboxers who’ve come before you. You push one of the five pulsing arcade-style buttons on top of the crate and lean into a microphone: “Bah dum dum kah! Dum da dum kah!”. You let go of the button and your fresh beat continues on loop. Your friends each take a turn and together you make a joyous cacophony of silliness!
Burning Man shifts the paradigm of art from a commodified object of consumption to an interactive, participatory, shared experience of creative expression. Everyone loves music, but many people have never experienced the joy of making music. This piece illustrates how easy and fun that process can be.
The Blanket
This huge reflective installation will bring the waves of the ancient Lake Lahontan back to ‘laya. The Blanket will be constantly changing its silhouette by the power of wind, taking different surreal forms: waves, mountains, or some giant, fantastic sculpture.
The Center of Attention
The Center of Attention is an interactive art piece where participants become the center of attention and then not the center of attention at the center of The Center of Attention. The Center is surrounded by a vertical rainbow of color fabrics to attract attention. Participants are given the opportunity to decide the type of attention they wish to receive. With clear consent from everyone present and involved, participants are given the options to get attention, give attention and pay attention before exiting the Center.
The Chrysalis
Derived from the Greek term for gold, chrysalis is the pupal stage of butterflies, who often encase themselves in a metallic gold cocoon.
Befitting this year’s Metamorphosis theme, The Chrysalis is the magical ceremony and celebration space in which Fran Grabowski and Justin Natoli will enter as individuals and emerge as husbands. Come join us as we celebrate our transformation!
The Chrysalis
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10pm on Monday, August 26, 2019.
In change, we often easily recognize the “before” and the “after,” but what does the actual change itself look like? Sometimes scary, chaotic, and unrecognizable as one thing or the other, as it is not what it was before, but not yet what it is to become. We can overlook examine this process, but it is the sometimes monstrous, uncomfortable phase that leads us to the glorious breakthrough. It *is* metamorphosis.
My act is depicting the chrysalis itself; the change as it’s happening, the weird and awkward growing pain that we sometimes shun in the moment but are so grateful for after the growth has led us to wisdom and experience.
The Dahlias Transformation
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10am on Thursday, August 29, 2019.
We have many ensemble acts that show the shifting and transformation of shapes, one of our favorite is the duo lyra. This act demonstrates and illustrates change and transformation, from slow moving compassionate movements, to dynamic transitions that are in sync, but also asynchronous. Our troupe came together exactly in this manner, we’ve all come from different walks of life, different circus experiences, but found commonality in the passion we have, and the passion we have for sharing, teaching, learning and collaborating with one another. The duo lyra is the first piece we’ve worked on together, and like us, it has also transformed and grown over the years. We’d love to perform this at Burning Man and share our passion for the community.
The Dollhouse
The Dollhouse is a life-size dollhouse replica, modeled after a turn of the century Victorian home, where participants are encouraged to discover haunted elements by interacting with objects that trigger lights and sound. The back side of the home has the illusion of being completely exposed to open playa, but is enclosed with clear acrylic paneling. This allows citizens of Black Rock City to see the illuminated structure, and the people inside, from afar. Each room has a unique interactive sound installation, which plays off the concept of a seance gone wrong. The Dollhouse transports participants to an ethereal world on playa, captivating and enticing all to play and discover more secrets within.
The Dust Telephone
The Dust Phone pays homage to an accidental art installation in Japan – Kaze no Denwa (風の電話)- or The Wind Telephone. After the Tohoku earthquake, this disconnected telephone became a touchstone and a conduit of grief. Our phone booth structure is inspired by traditional Japanese Shoji screens and resembles a large Japanese lantern. Inside is an old telephone with a voicemail system that will record any story participants wish to share. The intention is to create a private, tranquil space for folks to talk with someone or something they miss and record their story if they choose. There is also an option to listen to messages left by others. Grief is a powerful metamorphic force and the Dust Phone seeks to hold the stories of that change.
The Electric Sheepcatcher 2.0
The Electric Sheepcatcher 2.0 is a gateway between the world of sleep and the world of wakefulness. It is a quirky place where the grass smells of lavender, sheep fly in to be counted, and a dreamcatcher sparkles with passing visions. Participants can come to experience tranquility, or to control the medieval siege weapons that give the animals just the right trajectory.
The Fairy Oracle 2019
The gazebo is about a 6′ wide hexagon, 9′ high. There is a 20″ high ‘eye’ on the top of it that locks on to passersby at night.
The gazebo has a 14″ fairy oracle inside that talks and listens.
The gazebo is lit by LEDs that change with the progress of the prophecy.
The Field of Echoes
The Field of Echoes is an interactive sound installation that transforms a piece of the open playa into a reverberant space where sound echoes and decays slowly as it would in a large enclosed space such as a cathedral or cavern. This pocket of altered acoustics contrasts strongly with the vast openness of the playa, transporting participants to a sonic environment that is at once familiar and new. Spoken words, hand claps, performances on musical instruments, and all other sounds made within the installation are rewarded with a lush, surround-sound response as they are echoed throughout the space by a number of small pillars rising above the playa’s surface, scattered across an area approximately 60 feet in diameter.
The Flight of Ataraxia
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10am on Wednesday, August 28, 2019.
Ataraxia (pronounced AT-uh-RAX-ee-yuh) is Greek for “undisturbed” or “untroubled.” It’s a kind of inner peace – the ability to remain calm despite fear, anger, sadness, or stress.
To travel the world alone is to experience all these emotions- light to heavy, real to surreal. Our journey is not measured by the circumstances we encounter, but how we choose to react.
“The Flight of Ataraxia” is a whole-hearted playa creation of aerialist, Sarah Patrinellis. She tells a story of her travels to vast inner and outer landscapes. Along the way she turns obstacles into opportunities, repression into expression, and stagnation into expansion and rebirth. As a Phoenix who rises from the ashes of her own limited disbelief, she grows wings.
The Flybrary
The Flybrary is an extraordinary library within an enormous human head, partially cut open at the top allowing a flock of illuminated birds to emerge. Within the head are several levels of catwalks to climb and nooks and crannies to sit in and enjoy the selection of books. The eyes and mouth are portholes to the outside world. Up above, the open ceiling holds a large chandelier radiating soft light within. It’s a dreamy, transformative space providing an intimate and surreal refuge for contemplation, written wisdom and freedom of thought.
The Folly
The Folly represents an imaginary shantytown of funky climbable towers and old western storefronts, cobbled together from salvaged and reclaimed lumber from original San Francisco Victorians to be reborn in the desert, affording shelter, entertainment and perspective to the community.
The InnerSun Project
This monumental art structure is an eight-story wooden globe gently cradled by a giant pair of hands. Within, the space is lit by a sacred light: the InnerSun. A series of wheelchair accessible ramps wind up the curved walls to an equatorial terrace, where participants will gather inside the sphere.
The InnerSun Project: A global art collaboration. Each massive hand on the structure is comprised of individual human-sized hands with messages from across the world written on them — our collective answer to “what’s your InnerSun?” In this way, thousands of people from anywhere in the world can take part in the artwork itself.
Many hands, one light, a better world.
The Intersection X
Nothing stays the same. We are changing all the time and the world around us is changing as well. In the place of last year intersection the new one appeared. It is the same, but absolutely different. Metamorphose took its toll.
The Key Bearer Project
The Key Bearer Project contains a visually pleasing central gathering area made using mathematical principles, with four pyramids, the Archway of Pi, swing sets made of two colliding golden ratios, and a double sided reflective heart. Around the area are five crystal structures to keep safe the gifts that aim to make more sense of the world. Through a gifting process that sends participants on an adventure, they will interact with beautiful art, people and games that will lay the foundation for individuals to bond, form meaningful connections, and express themselves with the embrace and encouragement of others.
The Larry Memorial
A stepped pyramid crowned with a palanquin and large spire, flanked on each corner by lamplighter spires.
It serves as a physical representation of Larry’s mind palace and contains some of Larry’s books and mementos.
THE LENS
The Lens is a playful yet confrontational art piece that challenges participants to experience shifts in perspective. By enabling a sudden shift in focus from the external world, to infinite self-centered images, participants are invited to make a parallel shift in their habitual perceptions of themselves.
We need to turn inwards; to feel, heal and grow. We also need to expand out and see beyond ourselves; to connect with our tribe. So we come to understand that to change the smallest part is to change the nature of the whole. Finding the balance between the two is where we find the courage to set ourselves free, to be who we’ve always felt we are.
Simultaneously singular & infinite; separate & connected.
What will you see through your lens?
The Lionfish Lounge
The Lionfish Lounge — break past the sharp exterior to find an interior of fluff and comfort.
The Listener
The Listener is a large interactive game based on the 1980s favorite “Simon.” Come work together with friends and strangers to repeat sound and light sequences using the button on your pedestal. Repeat enough sequences and enjoy a dazzling display of light and sound.
The Little Church of Thoughts and Prayers
The Little Church of Thoughts and Prayers is a place to rest and reflect on part of our insane American culture. Meet kindred spirits or be challenged by opposing points of view.
The Man's Army
The Man’s Army is 100 androgynous life-sized human figures standing in a 10×10 grid. Each figure has skin of white wax and a unique 3D printed face created by a point-cloud scan of real people. At night an internal LED creates a glow emanating from within. The body and face create a blank canvas for expression. Throughout the week the figures are customized, culminating in a transformative burn. The piece is a visual metaphor contemplating conformity through shared non-conformity. People, from a distance may appear homogeneous but once among them you see their individuality. Through shared experience burners are altered and stretched by the thoughts and intentions of one another and then transformed through an expression of impermanence.
The Monumental Mammoth
The Monumental Mammoth project will depict a life-sized steel Colombian mammoth skeleton collaged with metal found objects to tell the story of Tule Spring National Monument’s past, present, and future. The sheer size and struggle of the mammoth’s stance is a representation of the universal call to protect what the earth has given humanity. As a community, we are called together to protect the fossils of our past and the education of our future. Dana Albany and Luis Varela-Rico are pulling together the sleek elements of the interior steel structure and the intricate weavings to represents the distinctive community that is Las Vegas.It also tells the story of a rising feminine power, and shows all women of any age that anything is possible!
The Mourning Grove
The Mourning Grove is an immersive light sanctuary of weeping willows formed by a dynamic field of lights arranged in an organic configuration in the outskirts of Black Rock City. The grove will consist of five equidistant trees with branches leaning inward towards the center. Each vine consists of hand-crafted fiber optic leaves that hang off the branches forming the weeping willows’ canopies. The light emitted through the twisted design of the trees casts ambient impressions at night, paralleled with shifting shadows during the day, providing both shelter and time.
The Music Box
The Music Box is a human powered interactive contraption of the imagination. Made with metal and recycled materials , it is an oversized music box that will play a tune.
The Ovule
An Ovule in botany is the part of the ovary of seed plants that contains the female germ cell and after fertilization becomes the seed. The Ovule is a self-portrait; an exploration of the feminine self and the value found there. Appearing as a large amber egg, it will contain two sculptures, a figure and a tree symbolizing humanity in all the beauty of its gender and color spectrum.
The Pain Cave
Spinning, swirling, rocking; non-stop thoughts all around and inside. A cavernous void crushing and suffocating. Stuck, stifled and condemned by imagined and spineless fear.
The Phoenix and The Butterfly: A story of metamorphosis
Imagine walking across the playa, looking up to see a huge flaming Phoenix flying high in the night sky facing its partner, a beautiful glowing Butterfly. Twenty-five-foot pyramids made of spheres connect you to them and a staircase invites you to share their view.
Imagine returning the next day to find these pyramids filled with interactive elements like places to connect, find shade, swing, climb, and view the playa.
The Portal
The Portal is a large scale interactive kaleidoscope you can climb up into. The body structure is a dodecahedron. It has 10 pentagon shaped inward facing mirrored panels with LED patterns. The outside of the panels will have geometry based LED patterns on wood, then caged for climbability. The top face will be used for sunlight entry and will house a spinning star powered by a wind turbine, the bottom face will be used for a standing platform and human entry. The body will be off the ground, suspended by steel legs. Humans can climb into the body from the bottom and will have standing room. The visual impact from the outside will be a climbable geometric vessel. Within will be infinite patterns of light which the user becomes a part of.
The Present Moment
The Present Moment is a circular meditation platform on which up to three participants can sit facing and looking out to the playa in various directions. Inside the platform are several speakers that will play a specific vibrational sound mantra that can be heard while sitting on the platform. This sound mantra can be listened to or if the participants are inspired to, they can repeat it mentally or aloud while they sit. The project is designed to encourage direct experience of the present moment and the sound vibrational mantra is one that invokes love and compassion for all beings and all life.
The Secret Bench
The Secret Bench will be placed in the deep playa waiting for anyone who needs a rest or quiet moment to reflect. I will be there Monday through Friday from 4:30-6:30 if anyone needs someone to talk to for reflection or perspective. This is my gift to the community. I am a professional therapist by training and whether they get professional advice or very nonprofessional suggestions will be contingent on their issues. During the times that I am not there, this bench can be used as a buddy bench. If someone sees another sitting on the bench, it is an opportunity to take a seat and make a friend. You never know who you will run into or connect with on the playa and this will be a constructive way to facilitate this encounter.
The Self
“Duality” of the self represented by a heart depicting two equal sides of humanity — the higher self represents higher levels of consciousness, awareness, virtues. While equally representing the darker, primal, aspects of humanity — the lower self. As human beings, we have the choice to operate from the lower self of consciousness, which has an adverse effect of bringing forth destruction to health, society, environment & the world. Adversely the effect of placing our focus to operate from higher levels of consciousness — we create, we move forward as a species, cohesively supporting others, environment & world. In the grand scheme, there is no good or bad, but rather choice to operate at the higher/lower frequency levels which reside within us.
The Shrine of Sympathetic Resonance
The Shrine of Sympathetic Resonance is a sanctuary dedicated to letting participants experience the phenomena of sympathetic resonance. All the walls of this epic structure are made of piano harps, surrounding the participant with 20,000 musical strings that echo back every sound they make. All the strings are tuned to pentatonic scales based on the Schumann Resonance, the earth’s fundamental frequency, so that anything played on the strings sounds musical. Five intimate, pentagonal chambers let participants deeply immerse themselves in the experience, while the open-air center space allows for larger gatherings. A 39′ tower rises up from the center’s intricately designed dias while detailed artworks adorn the space.
The Temple of Direction
The Temple of Direction is organized linearly. It recreates a restricted passage which expands in the center into a large hall. This is a response to the openness of the playa; it creates a space traveled end to end; versus wandering an open plan; this temple provides direction and focus. Linearity also reflects the passage of life; all lives have a beginning, a middle and an end which metaphorically is included in this temple’s form. Following this metaphor a variety of spaces are created; narrow spaces and wide spaces, dark spaces and bright spaces. Tunnels create intimate experiences with shade.. A large central hall expands in width and height providing a bright area suitable for gatherings.
The Temple uv Enlightenment
A beautiful oasis of color and light, this sacred space provides a spectral beacon for all who pass by. Brilliantly colorful by day, it comes alive at night under UV lighting. The Temple uv Enlightenment is a gathering point for passing minstrels, artists or any who seek to be soothed in the beautiful space, surrounded by beautiful 3D ultraviolet artwork.
The Tower
The Tower is an interactive lifeguard stand and observation deck accessible by ladder. Visitors can climb up to the deck and observe the playa from a new vantage. Inside the hut, visitors find simple tools for spontaneous interaction. Made of untreated wood, the simple shape looks both silly and at home on the waterless beach. Named for card 16 in the tarot’s major arcana, where The Tower represents the chaos of sudden change.
The Towers of Crete
The Towers of Crete stand upon the playa as a monument, connecting the dirt to the stars, the ancient to the modern, and the abstract world of forms to the our world of the three dimensional. At nightfall the crowns of the towers alight with flame, each tower taking turns in a dialogue with its visitors.
The Trailing Soul
A one hundred yard mobile art piece of articulated panels of soft white light illuminates fabric billows behind an apparition in a long ombre. The Trailing Soul tells how our light of intellect, energy of emotion & interactions diffuses behind us as we journey amongst humanity. Acknowledging that energy requires immediacy and reveals the power and effort each of us has to influence our fellow human.
Active at night at times, The Trailing Soul may interrupt a pre-planned route requiring immediacy or circle a resonant group pooling energy. During the day, the Trailing Soul becomes a Resting Soul gathering power from the sun and those that choose to sit amongst its billowing fabric and tinkling chimes.
The Turn of a Friendly Cat
The Turn of a Friendly Cat is a fence installation. Maneki-Neko, the beckoning cat, is an Asian-based talisman figurine which is believed to bring luck to the owner. How can it change into controversial politicians and other sinister characters? Certainly by Metamorphosis!
The TVs
The TVs collectively resemble a highway billboard standing about 12 feet tall and 18 feet wide. 20 fiberglass TVs, each embellished by different artists with thoughts of what TV has meant to them.
During the day some people will get off their bikes to take a close look at what each of the 20 artists did to each of the TVs regarding the topic: TV. Participants will think about and relate to the messages put forth.
At night the display shows beautiful LED animations across all TVs as if the TVs together represent a single large screen. As a participant approaches the installation, the participant’s moving image silhouette will be super-imposed upon the animations and displayed across the wall.
#TheTVs
The wall
A Mexican piñata symbol in recycled wooden pallets in the shape of a Trojan Horse (23 foot high) will face a wooden wall (32 feet wide and 13 feet high), with the horse’s back towards Mexico.
During the interactive exhibition, the piñata will be dressed with clothing that is 100% cotton from the participants at Burning Man. We are going to collect the clothes and put them together by color. In this way we will dress up the giant piñata, a symbol of unity.
In return the participants get a polaroid picture in front of the installation with a message from the artist what they can take home. The people of burning man can also write messages on the wall.
Walls and border change in history and like ideas fade away like flames.
The wandering wonderful door
The best thing someone can get as a guest is a warm heartful welcoming. The place someone’ll be welcomed is at the door.
Just imagine a magic looking door which can appear anytime to anyplace on the playa. It looks like an entrance to a different world. It’s a playground for our senses. And when someone goes through it, it’s the place with the most beautiful hugs.
That’s the wandering wonderful door; or short: the wanderful door. < 3
The Wheels of Zoroaster Resurrection
Two large wheels hung on two axles driven independently by two drive shafts with hand-cranks. The wheels are cages that will contain firewood that is set on fire and spun by the hand-cranked drive shafts.
The Word on The Street
From a distance, one imagines that they are being told that the circular space defined by this piece is inaccessible. Eight signs appear to proclaim “Do Not Enter.” But on closer inspection, the message is much different.
Theophany
Theophany is a spinning tornado of fire and lightning, meant to inspire awe and wonder. It sits on an elevated base, from which rises a glass and metal sheath that encases and drives the whirlwind. There is an oblong perimeter of ground lanterns, which guides those approaching to the front of the pedestal. Here, they find an ornate metal wheel that controls the intensity of the tornado.
The pillar of fire in the desert is an ancient symbol of knowledge and immediacy. Theophany evokes this meme while adding the power of lightning, to both dazzle and amaze. In addition, it gifts control of this power into human hands, allowing a blurring of roles between mortal and divine.
Therolin no2
Therolin is a Theremin but instead of playing from a speaker the instrument is a very large guitar string electronically strummed, using an 8 inch X 20 ft pipe as a resonating body. The large pipe juts up from the playa at a very low angle. It ends at eye height. Below it’s opening a small podium awaits. As the participant reaches out to touch the podium, they will notice a soft musical sound starting to emit. If they move their hand closer to the antenna, the pitch of the sound will rise, and as they move their hand away the pitch will fall. The experience will be the interface of a traditional theramin, but with a more real, physical sound in lieu of the traditional synthesized sound.
Through Thick and Thin
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10am on Thursday, August 29, 2019.
The work is also intended to represent the current growth of female energy coming to be a larger force in our world. Both of these things require perseverance through trials and tribulations. Needing to endure and band together when things are hard. As a community we can be patient and diligent, allowing synchronicity to emerge and bring each one of us to reach our full potential. People are currently experiencing disconnect from one another, as we all have to hustle so hard to keep a roof over our heads. We so often forget to turn to one another in times of need. This piece symbolizes how we must come together to find strength, breaking the illusion of necessary isolation, dissolving our doubts through connection with others.
Throw the Stories in the Fire
“Still I rise but at first I must burn to emerge.” Do we as humans live our lives like a chapter in a book and if so, what do our chapters look like?
Till Death do us Heart
Many hearts create many feelings. I wonder what my heart is saying!!
Time Camp, Clock Brothers
Time Camp’s Giant Digital Clock
The art piece allows all participants to leave a unique message to the playa in blazing red LED. Visible from the Man, the Temple, the Playa and the Esplanade!
Your imagination and creativity allows you to customize your very own piece of art.
Take a picture of your creation and share it at #timeclock2019
Time Machine MVP
This is a first prototype (an MVP) of a time-travel booth.
Please keep in mind, that this MVP currently operates in one direction and can only take you from the present to the future and the currently available speed is one second per second.
If the testing proves interest in our prototype, in the coming Burns we will be bringing a fully operating time-machine, which will be able to take you in different directions in time and at different speeds. Actually, if goes as planned, this current MVP will be replaced with a real time-travel booth.
This is in fact also a place-holder. When ready, our fully functional time-travel booth will be sent here on 08/31 at 5 pm. Please meet us next to the booth at this time (not too close just in case).
Tiny Dirty Secret
Tiny Dirty Secret (TDS) – is the third art piece in a series of Dirty Secret Art. The 2 previous were Big Dirt Secret and Little Dirty Secret in which each have been a huge sensation. They have gathered thousands of Dirty Secrets and are always a cool place to sit and chill.
TDS will be an 9″x9″x58″ pedestal much like a mailbox. It will be made from high grade quality hardwoods, and finished with a smooth dust free surface. A tray will fold down from the front and reveal a writing surface, pens, and Dirty Secret Cards. On the top there will be a slot to drop in the card. It will be small, quaint and beautifully interesting.
Everyone has a secret, this will be the place to write them down and release them.
Toxic Unicorn
Toxic Unicorn is a rainbow-colored, LED-covered, life-sized sculpture of a unicorn who simply begs for attention. But beware… those drawn in by a shiny facade are in for a shocking surprise! This piece is packed with interactive features that you may find less than pleasant.
On one level, TU points to a social trend where an emphasis on outward appearances leads to superficial relationships and isolation rather than real, deep interpersonal connection.
On another level, TU is made of and begs consideration of humanity’s favorite toxic unicorn material — plastic. Although it has enabled innovation and permeated human culture around the world, the consequences of using this seemingly magical material without due diligence are becoming clear.
Transition In Comfort
A journey of mental transition displayed through three large quilts, hung on an old fashioned laundry line.
Transmutation
Is extinction forever? This work seeks to generate a reflection on the increasingly possible cloning of extinct species. Since the origin of life, evolution has never returned to a vanished species. However, human science is about to break this rule. Is it ethical and moral to play gods? Through scientific reproductions of a neanderthal and a saber-toothed tiger that emerge from the earth (extinction) to cross a DNA helix and reach our present with a paleo-reconstruction where the visitor can interact and then go through a series of circles that forms the geometry of life arrive at a mythical alebrije that represents the transmutation of our matter.
Trash is Art. Art is Trash.
Trash is Art. Art is Trash. aims to show fellow burners how much trash escapes our grasp. TAAT is a 200ft long orange fence with the words “Trash is Art” on one side, and “Art is Trash” on the other. Placed ~200ft off the trash fence, TAAT collects trash before it gets to our pristine trash fence by litterally (pun) replicating the fence. Burners will be a part of the art by simply existing, creating trash, and then interacting with it at Trash is Art. Art is Trash.
Let’s be honest with ourselves and acknowledge our failings such that we can improve! TAAT’s sole purpose is to show us how much we need to improve in our Leave No Trace effort!
After the Burn, all collected art/trash, will be deposited where it belongs.
Traversing Through Dust
Out of the dust, citizens of Black Rock City will see a metal bridge made up of five towers with six decks suspended from the towers.These decks will be made of wood and held up with lifting cable. Decks will start at ground level. They will rise to a height of 20 feet. The bridge will take up six sides of an octagon. Participants will be able to interact with lights that will be attached to the towers. The lights will produce shadows and trail effects that will cause participants to question their reality. Participants are encouraged to write on the structure about their experience at designated locations. Participants will be able to climb the structure.
Trippity Twitchit
A cluster of giant steel stems, wrapped around each other and swirling upwards, will form the base of the main structure and its support. The stems will be segmented to show definition as well as hug the curves. Atop the stems, at approximately 10′-12′, sit three massive heads, sharp-toothed and spiky, looking in different directions. These will be the fire breathers, each independently controlled from the ground.Flanking the main structure will be three smaller plants, all with similarly twisted stems and spiky, toothy heads. Inside these heads will be LED par cans, focused on the main structure for extra illumination.
Tulpa Ashrams
TULPA ASHRAMS is a tower group represents the fusion of senses. Tulpa is a concept in mysticism and the paranormal of a being or object which is created through spiritual or mental powers. It was adapted by 20th century theosophists from Tibetan: སྤྲུལ་པ་ which means “emanation” or “manifestation”.
Emerging from a study into the geometry of Chinese art and architecture, the tower group references motifs and elements traditionally found in Tibetan Buddhism, chanting music, sacred places, and daily objects though in itself.
Tulpa Ashrams has ties to no religion. It transcends time and space, memories and culture.They are chaotic eons of the past and a distant future of the unknown.
Turn, Turn, Turn
Turn, Turn, Turn is a forced-perspective sculpture exploring the constantly evolving phases of human life. Consisting of vertical columns arranged in a golden ratio spiral, Turn, Turn, Turn allows the participant to move around the piece, changing their visual experience based on their location. As they move, specific columns align, creating multiple images which seem to morph from one into another. Upon entering the spiraling passageway inside the piece, participants experience the imagery from an entirely different perspective, while discovering some up-close detail surprises.
Tzompantli
Tzompantli were skull racks that were built in front of temples in a number of Mesoamerican civilizations to demonstrate the power of the ruling elite and their gods. The sacrificial victims are thought to have been mostly captives of war.
Each victim was skinned and had a hole cut in the cranium by an expert using obsidian blades. Tzompantli is a Nahuatl word, the language of the Aztecs, and the largest one was in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. It was 60 by 30 meters, several meters tall, and contained an estimated 60,000 skulls.
This BRC tzompantli is a replica of the ancient ones. The historical tzompantli stood outside the oldest temples of the Americas and here the skull rack stands outside the newest temple of the Americas.
Unintentional Broken Promises
Unintentional Broken Promises is a statue shaped like a cash symbol that is degrading into the wind, made from baseball cards. What was once a symbol of investment and value is now found to be worthless and a burden.
Unlimited
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10am on Monday, August 26, 2019.
The journey of living in the third dimensional and transforming to the fifth dimension. Start with hiding in fabrics and symbolizing being in stress and survival (fear mode) the transformation into fifth-dimensional being in the manifestation and creating the future filled with unlimited possibilities. From physical experience to internal spiritual experience. Going through facing fears, changing body and mind, and creating empowered shapes and experiences, lots of gravity-defying roll-ups, dynamic drops, flexible shapes with wings effects, and powerful, loving, and abundant energy.
UNPOP (Unpopular Music)
UNPOP, or “Unpopular Music,” is an intimate, 8-channel surround sound environment featuring quiet, detailed sounds, including field recordings, abstract electroacoustic music, ambient textures, and other non-beat-oriented sound experiences. For those deep playa wanderers who are looking for sonic respite and exploration, UNPOP offers a unique program of multichannel sound works that will run from dust until dawn.
Varanasi Sage
Custom-printed prayer flags create a pyramid around a fawn resting in a lotus flower, on a platform decorated with glyphs that convey a message: True wisdom belongs to the natural, non-human world. And yet, the natural non-human world is vulnerable to humans; humans must choose not to destroy it and instead revere it as the divine. It shows the wisdom, inherent compassion, harmony and gentleness.
Deep transformation can come from a place of peace. Even in the chaos of the playa, one can find peace. People may feel overwhelmed or lost in deep playa — this is a refuge. It provides comfort and calm and shows that peace is always available.
Vibraj 4.0 The Gazebo
A gazebo appears in the distance as an oasis in a chaotic desert. Inspired by the bubbling spawning pool that is LA and beautiful laser cut trash, this environment is reminiscent of a futuristic gazebo. The walls are made of layered geometric shapes framed as art. Under each piece is a bench back to sit and lean against. Within this six sided circular structure there is no beginning or end. The wind speaks to those who will listen via the structure. Resonating chambers, strings, and chimes bathe the environment in sound illustrating the interconnected nature of the universe via the principles of sympathetic resonance and kinetic motion. Night views include a subtle changing lightscape that casts colorful shadows on the playa.
Vortex
Vortex is a kinetic light sculpture that participants can rotate with a large hand-wheel at the base.
A series of parametrically generated iridescent panels adorn the outside of the sculpture. Each panel reflects a different color depending on its orientation to the viewer, creating a rippling effect.
Way with Words
A Way with Words is an interactive art installation that allows participants to physically manipulate famous quotes into new inspiring phrases. The sculpture is a small semi-circular space created by six benches on the top of which sits a grid of ceramic blocks that can be spun and configured to align words from the quotes. A Way with Words celebrates the struggle to accurately remember a favorite quote. It embraces short term memory loss and encourages new discovery. The blocks are literally words set in stone, and also an opportunity to re-create an inspiring quote for someone else to remember . . . or forget.
We Are
WE ARE is a life-size replica portrait photo book with a spine that is bound with large rings and pages printed on white dibond. At night it will be illuminated just like a book with ‘clip on’ style overhead lighting.
Burning Man is a self-driven community, and my portrait project over the years has aimed to capture those that embrace the Radical Self-expression aspect. My personal perspective is that we are all here for the enjoyment of everyone else and creative dress is a part of that. Printing out life-size images gives the full effect of what it looks like and feels like to capture these people in that moment. After all, WE ARE Burning Man !
We Rise
Performance at the Man Pavilion at 10am on Monday, August 26, 2019.
We would create choreography and pieces that were special and specific to the Man Pavilion and the Burning Man’s theme this year: Metamorphoses. This would be a wonderful opportunity to display choreography showing the growth and change of our aerialists through motion and dance. We would love to create choreography that shows the growth of shapes and form through multiple performers and the use of bringing our bodies together to create a singular form. For our group, Burning Man is about growth and becoming one with the wonderful community we’re so blessed to be part of – that’s our vision that we would like to bring to the Man Pavilion this year.
WE. The People.
Imagine a large, glowing, transparent circle like a beacon on the playa. As you approach, two human forms push and pull luggage against resistance while a third heaves a suitcase onto a long entry wall not made of bricks or sticks, but of baggage. Some are open and display the artifacts of identity and a sign states, “Everyone has a story to tell.”
You enter the circle and are greeted by 108 blank human forms and scattered permanent markers as invitation. A center hub holds an integrated center, where dialogue converges with a human form costumed as the creative forces of the universe. Three wise children at play lead you out of the circle through wings and a sign that says, “Now you are Free.”
Progressive, participative, metamorphosis.
Welcome Home
Burners call the playa home. Home not because of the location, but because of the people we share it with; friends, family, lovers, strangers. Welcome Home creates an absurdly normal setting by taking a space associated with default homes and bringing it to our true home. This fully decorated parlour in the sky invites wanderers to climb, explore, and enjoy the view.
Welcome to the Jungle
A layered structure of semi-translucent two dimensional cut out plant forms, make a three dimensional visual jungle escape for viewers.
Wheel Of Fortune
“In medieval and ancient philosophy the Wheel of Fortune, is a symbol of the capricious nature of Fate. The wheel belongs to the goddess Fortuna who spins it at random, changing the positions of those on the wheel: some suffer great misfortune, others gain windfalls.”
Fate is it’s own form of metamorphosis.
The construction is a wheel, 5′ in diameter, suspended between two timber A frames.
Mounted on the wheel, are 16 gimbeled LED candles.
The wheel will be driven by a DC motor with solar backup.
I will have a section of Saint Matthew Passion by Bach playing when the wheel is activated.
The creative act is not performed by the Artist alone….the spectator…contributes to the creative act (Marcel Duchamp).
Why People Can't Fly
“Why People Can’t Fly” is a work that I feel represents myself. I, much like most of us, have baggage, problems and worries that drag me down. Because of this baggage, I feel like I can’t fly, metaphorically. I’m being pulled down by my obligations and my inner immaturity.
I know I’m not the only one with these issues. Each of us has baggage that weighs on us. Whether it’s financial, familial or personal, these problems are at the base of each of our lives. We as a species and individually cannot grow unless we change, we cannot fly without it.
Seven sins underly these problems. These are our own, personal sins and the sins of those people on whom we rely and depend.
Windchest
Windchest is an interactive landscape, a sculpture reminiscent of a pipe organ, integrating light with its music.
Collaboratively participants activate Windchest by jumping on nearby LED-lit pads that compress like bellows.
Windchest aims to combat cultural isolation through group curated play, fostering singular creativity through group expression, encouraging large scale participant play and interactivity among strangers.
From afar, Windchest is a series of softly lit monolithic columns rising and falling out of the desert, reminiscent of ancient architecture and evocative. The heart of the sculpture is immersive, making it feel like architecture.
Wing Portal
Built as a gift for California, a sculpture of transcendence made from the ruins of the 2018 fires. This past fall our community here in California was hit by the devastating fires that destroyed hundreds of homes and affected so many lives. These events have deeply changed us.
As a visual metaphor to transcendence and metamorphosis, our team is building a sculpture out of the ruins from the fire and is bringing it to another place of deep personal transformation: Burning Man. And after the Burn, the sculpture will be publicly installed in California.
The wings span 60 feet across, and are built out of recycled metal, iridescent dichroic acrylic panels and thousands of LED lights.
Wings of Glory
Wings of Glory is a giant mechanical metal Pegasus sculpture, flying in the air. It is the expression and embodiment of pure, epic, beautiful and awesome creativity of New York based artist, Adrian Landon, and the forefront of his legacy of metal and kinetic art.
YES
An invitation for the courage to say YES to life’s possibilities.
Zigzag Reflection & Reveal
Zigzag Reflection & Reveal appears as a small point of repose on the open playa allowing Citizens to playfully interact under shade with the mirror garden and respond to queries on the banners challenging them to reveal answers to, “I Wish, I Hope, I Will, I Want …, I’ve Been Meaning To Tell You…, If I Could Do or Take Back One Thing….” or whatever happens to be on their mind.