2013 Art Installations

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

Ancient Intelligence

by: Erica Halpern
from: WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA
year: 2013

Ancient Intelligence is a sound interactive Lighting Installation Sculpture that stands 8’x’8’x8’. This dynamic piece has around 2,700 intelligent LEDs and was inspired by the beautiful repeating lines and angles of circuitry, the majesty of trees, and the beauty of ancient temples. The installation reflects the intelligence of the organic and how technology is a manifestation of this.

Aux Folles

by: A. Bruinsma
from: Los Angeles, CA
year: 2013

A mini salon is based on mid-century beauty regimens and slavish currying of the flesh. A perming couch sits inside a gilded cage bathed in blue light, emanating from milky white antique hobnail lamps. Each of the heads are outfitted with small speakers playing episodes of the 1950s radio show “Our Miss Brooks” mixed with French pop yé-yé singers (Sylvie Vartan, Chantal Goya).

On the couch are vintage copies of Vogue that have been cut up and changed into a series of brain teasers. Each of the answers contains the code to unlocking one of the prizes.

Bat Country

by: Gwen Fisher, Paul Brown
from: Sunnyvale, CA
year: 2013

Bat Country is 21’ tall six-sided tetrahedron built with 384 aluminum baseball bats and 130 twelve-inch softballs. The bats form the structure’s edges; there is one softball at each vertex. Each edge of the structure measures 26’ in distance.
Mathematically, Bat Country is an example of a third-generation Sierpinski tetrahedron – a tetrahedron is a pyramid with a triangular base.
The structure is designed to be and intended to be climbed upon. As participants explore the piece, the view changes in dramatic and unexpected ways: one remarkable feature of a Sierpinski Tetrahedron is just how different it appears from different points of view.

For example, from the outside on the ground, Bat Country looks like a triangle with a complex lattice of interior edges. From several specific perspective points, the bats align perfectly, and it appears to be a two-dimensional Sierpinski Triangle.

Bathroom Beacons: Welcome to Fabulous

by: Starpony Arts
from: Brooklyn, NY
year: 2013

Welcome to Fabulous is the Bathroom Beacons’ redux of the iconic Las Vegas sign, guiding travelers to their #1 or #2 destination spot.

BELIEVE

by: Laura Kimpton and Jeff Schomberg
from: Fairfax, CA
year: 2013

Laura Kimpton and Jeff Schomberg have been showcasing their Large Word Series at Burning Man for the past 4 years. Their previous installations have been MOM, OINK, LOVE and EGO.
This years project, BELIEVE, returns to the iconic metal letters that have proved to be some of Burning Man’s most loved (and photographed) installations.
The Large Word Series in unique in that the installations evoke so many different things for different people. Citizens of Black Rock City interpret and interact with each word on their own terms and have expressed many different emotions and feelings based on their Word experiences.
BELIEVE will continue this legacy by encouraging people to contemplate what they believe, how their beliefs affect their lives and their experiences on the playa.

BIG BULLY

by: charlie smith
from: Atlanta, GA
year: 2013

BIG BULLY will be a modern, repurposed, reused version of a very old and ancient figure. Imagine a fire-spewing, human-headed bull with wings standing before you!
People lined up throwing logs into its mouth as sacrifice!
From its bulging belly and out of its three gaping mouths, the ports along its back between its wings belch smoke. From the top of its head fire dances up columns of thick white smoke fire then pure smoke then fire then bam it’s on FIRE! A bursting cheer from the surrounding participants: rage and glee! to see the energy set free into its pure bright and warm fiery form.

The Cathedral of Celestial Mathgic

by: Ilya Pieper
from: Cedar Park, TX
year: 2013

Around the perimeter you’ll find the constellations of the gods that have been worships for ages cut into scraps, with designs from cultures across the globe that have worshiped the heavens. You realize that these scrap falsified altars are just the lack of understanding of our true form. As you step inside, you begin to see the magic that we are. The center Frabjous is a representation of the universe ever connected. Each tip of the star you touch is a piece of yourself. As you touch and play the Frabjous, you are touching and playing the heavens above. And as you realize this, you look around and understand that all those shining eyes and bright smiles are your fellow star sisters and brothers. We are all sacred co-creators of this beautiful universal existence. And we will always be connected in this chaotic, perfection of swirling star stuff.

A Chaotic Affair

by: Nathan Kandus
from: Oakland, CA
year: 2013

“A Chaotic Affair” is a ride-able chaotic pendulum. Standing 30 feet tall, the pendulum offers an exploration of chaos through play. A magnet attached to the base of the pendulum is capable of pulling 500 pounds, while similar magnets are laid across the ground. The pendulum bounces, turns, and slingshots though the created magnetic field; its motion completely unpredictable.

Chaotic systems appear in many parts of our natural world including: planetary orbits, turbulent fluids, and certain fractals. We can characterize a chaotic system, yet we cannot predict chaotic movement. Chaos borders the edge of our understanding of the physical world, and we are able see the limits of our analytic scientific abilities.

Made in collaboration with: David Wright, Metal Fabrication; Luke Wilson, Magnet Stands; and Calen Barca-Hall, Lighting.

Char Wash

by: Christopher Schardt
from: Oakland, CA
year: 2013

Char Wash invokes 50s and 60s automotive commerce – the saturn-shaped car wash. Come on in! But there’s no soap and water here. Visitors are instead washed with flame. 8 propane burners spin around furiously as they propel themselves in their orbits.

Charcade

by: Christopher Guard & Site 3 coLaboratory
from: Toronto, ON
year: 2013

Every community needs an arcade, but for Black Rock City, not just any arcade will do. That’s why we’ve dreamed up the Charcade, where past and present interactive fire art and game installations come together to create the first ever fiery on-playa arcade! We’ve lured some old BRC favourites out of retirement and inspired a couple new pieces by bringing together a collective of 6 fire arts groups from across North America. The Charcade team has created a bank of 10 colossal metal Skee Ball machines that erupt fire, lovingly dubbed Riskee Ball.

Chatty Interactive Robot Rupert

by: Ron Simmer
from: Burnaby
year: 2013

Rupert the robot is a small cylindrical brass robot resembling his father R2D2 who got it on with a beautiful Italian expresso machine. Rupert does not make coffee but he inherited many annoying habits from R2D2. Rupert has a multiple personality disorder so you never know which Rupert you will meet – temperamental, shmoozy, hyperactive, horny or abusive Rupert. Rupert has a button marked “DANGER – do not push this button!”. If you push Rupert’s button he may have a meltdown.

Church Trap

by: Rebekah Waites
from: lakewood, CA
year: 2013

Church Trap is an interactive wonderland for the religiously rebellious. A large-scale decaying church, tipped on its axis like a box trap. Not only does it push participants to ask the question “why”, but it also invites the daring to take control of the many interactive features. A tricked out church organ, part central LED nervous system, part beautifully wicked installation art. It is your God. Or, are you its? Whatever the answer, play at your own risk. Feeling even more daring? Why not put your spiritual and religious beliefs to test by playing The Machine – an 80’s style upright video game. It might want to play “pulpit”, but it’s all “confessional”.

City Lights 2013

by: Gary Long
from: los angeles, CA
year: 2013

Black Rock City has over 200 utilitarian street signs to identify the roads and pedestrian walkways. The street signs are useful in navigating the city by day, but at night these sign posts are a hazard for being un-lit, especially in a white-out dust storm when you are lost.
By installing solar light artwork on the sign posts, the City of Lights creates distinctive artistic landmarks in the day meanwhile illuminating street signs at night. This is both an impressive and functional project. At night, the street signs in the darker corners of the city are much easier to read, and the solar light artworks make creative meeting places for the citizens of Black Rock City.

Claude the Dragon

by: Gabe Zanotto, Jim Bowers
from: Colfax, CA
year: 2013

Claude the Dragon! A 22′ long incredible work of recycled art! Everything (including) the kitchen sink went into creating Claude over his 20 year existence. Stop by, meet the artist and play with Claude and all that he does!

Coyote

by: bryan tedrick
from: glen ellen, CA
year: 2013

Coyote is a steel sculpture standing 25′ tall by 24′ wide. The head is kinetic and can rotate 360 degrees. The sculpture is climbable. Coyote is native to wild places just as Burners are home at BRC.

Cradle of "Mir"

by: Alexander Mironov, Sema Payain, Denis Harley and the ""Empty Hills"" crew
from: Russia, Moscow
year: 2013

The Cradle of “”Mir”” is not exactly a temple, rather a special place where we can behold the Orbital Station and perceive it as a symbol of connection between Earth and Space. A symbol of hope for interaction with other worlds. “”Mir”” is a huge object which was located in space for many years.
The construction represents a quadrilateral pyramid, the central inner part of which belongs to a hanging wooden model of the “”Mir”” station. Using the station, participants of the festival will be able to send their messages to extraterrestrial civilizations. Musical pieces of various epochs and cultures will be played inside of the pyramid.

Crash Site_Alpha-13

by: Aphidoidea
from: Los Angeles, CA
year: 2013

Crashsite_Alpha13 is a communication to the human curiosity of the unknown through visual and auditory means. The thirst for knowledge of the celestial can be traced back as far as the 4th millennium BC in Ancient Sumer. The Sumerians knew that our solar system was heliocentric and created maps of our planets and the constellations. Over 6000 years later, we still look into the playa night, and ponder the possibility of life on other planets. Crash Site ALPHA_13 will tap into that curiosity by confronting visitors with evidence of alien life.

Cult of the Can Opener

by: Jana Olson, Roger Carr
from: Berkeley
year: 2013

Who is practicing the cargo cult in today’s world? Our dogs and cats of course, who worship those with the awesome power of the can opener and who supply them with manna from the refrigerator. We celebrate this devotion to the gift economy with dancing sculpture.

D.E.M. (Desert Expedition Module)

by: Matthew Gilio-Tenan
from: Marina Del Rey, CA
year: 2013

Inspired by the history of Cargo Cults and the idea of cultures more advanced than our own, the installation becomes a shrine to a space age culture, signifying our worthiness and welcoming them to the playa. The project explores alternative methods of architectural lighting and ephemeral phenomena through the users interaction with the installation and each other. Inhabitants change the lighting effects with their presence by climbing through the structure, creating an ever changing space of colored illumination. Transitioning up into the installation, visitors are immersed in a changing world of glowing response, evoking a sense of wonder through an enhanced experience of being outdoors, at night, under the stars.

Desert Spirits by Spencer Tunick

by: Spencer Tunick
from: Suffern, NY
year: 2013

We would like to invite you to POSE NUDE in a group photographic installation by artist Spencer Tunick.
Spencer will choose men, women and any gender identity to be part of this unique installation.

In order to be chosen we ask that you please send in a low resolution photograph of yourself.
Participants will be selected based on photographs submitted to the email: projects@spencertunick.com
Please send the image sooner rather than later.

Most installations by Spencer do not have limits to the number of people participating, nor do they require the submission of a photograph. However, for this art work for Burning Man, there is a cap on the number of people participating due to the specific concept of the work.
We are asking for a photograph because we want to have a wide range of body types and skin tonalities represented in the final work. Although everyone is unique, If you are not chosen, it is simply because we may have reached the amount of people with similar specific characteristics. We apologize in advance if you are not chosen for this particular idea but please do not let it deter you from posing in future works by Spencer where there are no number limits.

Chosen participants will be contacted by email prior to August 26th with: the day, time, location and further instructions. Please only sign up if you are committed to participating and able to wake up before sunrise (or stay up all night). The work will take place before sunrise in order to utilize the pre-dawn light. You will be in position when the sun rises.

You only will be nude for a short period of time. In exchange for taking part, you will receive by mail, a limited edition print of the art work you take part in. Thank you for wanting

Dragon Smelter

by: Daniel Macchiarini
from: San Francisco, CA
year: 2013

Dragon Smelter is a mobile foundry in which we melt down aluminum, mostly recycling cans gathered from around the playa, and manifest both our own molds as well as playa participants to then pour large sand castings on the deck of the Dragon Smelter. Having the presence and physical appearance of a gold and black ‘Viking” Ship. The dragons head and tail swing up off a 12′ wide deck which sits 3′ off the playa. By night, flashing neon illuminates the body while the head and tail expel fire-effects, sending flames 25’ out both the head and tail of the installation. Under our safety supervision we allow anyone to trigger these fire effects with a remote key-fob! We especially enjoy “fire talking” with other fire-effect installations on the surrounding playa during BM nightly.

Drifts

by: michael christian
from: berkeley, CA
year: 2013

Elegant bodies slowly gliding across the playa with graceful weightless movement. Free from restraint or support – simply floating adrift without mooring or direction- driven or carried along as by the current, slowly becoming visible, noticed or found. Having thrown off or shed its skin or covering, the sculptures resemble something akin to a raw nerve, a single cell or follicle with loose dendrites branching from a neuron. A nerve in search of a stimulus -a beacon focused into the distance with little awareness of its extended appendages that follow its path.

Dust City Diner

by: Michael Brown & David Cole and Team
from: San Francisco, CA
year: 2013

A lone diner on the horizon, its red neon sign beckons “The Dust City Diner”. Approaching you hear dishes clanging, someone hollers “order-up” while 40’s & 50’s music plays. Is that Frank Sinatra? The closer you get, the aroma of fresh coffee and grilled cheese wafts by. You climb up on a stool and find yourself sitting at a classic diner, sassy waitresses and all. Yours offers you a cup of coffee and a hello. The fellow traveler sitting next to you nods and starts a conversation with you. How engaging and delightful your fellow humans are! Everyone is smiling, laughing, passing the sugar. Next thing you know a blue porcelain plate with a mouth-watering grilled cheese sandwich is served to you with a juicy pickle on the side. It’s a buttery, cheesy delight. You return the next night only to discover it’s not there… Was it just a dream?

The Experience Vending Machine

by: The Earthling Research Group
from: Oakland, CA
year: 2013

What would an alien race put in a vending machine destined to land on earth? Experiences that transform and prepare us for the broadening horizons that will accompany our inclusion into the universe-wide culture.
The Experience Vending Machine will deliver bite-sized “cargo drops” in the form of kits that will leave participants with memorable, interesting, and unusual experiences connecting them to others, the environment of the playa, and unseen aspects of their own sensory experience. In the spirit of decommodification, we will replace traditional vending machine fodder with tools for facilitation of communal effort and radical self-expression.

Flamethrower Shooting Gallery

by: Matisse Enzer
from: San Francisco, CA
year: 2013

Modeled after “County Fair”-style shooting galleries, the Flamethrower Shooting Gallery provides a flaming twist on a long-standing American tradition and pokes gentle fun at the American fascination with firearms and personal power, along with the Burning Man fascination with fire and “radical self expression” by allowing and encouraging participants to literally play with fire.
This year the FSG is proud to be a part of Charcade, another Honorarium Art Installation.

Fractal Cult

by: Athanasios Korras
from: London
year: 2013

“Fractal Cult” aims to create an intriguing, mesmerising, explorative, playful and interactive experience for visitors of the 2013 Burning Man festival.
Its geometry is based on one of the earliest fractal curves to be described, the Koch Snowflake, and it is essentially its adaptation in three dimensions.
The installation consists of four timber-pods that symmetrically surround a space frame-like structure of similar fractal nature with climbing nets dressing the faces of the created fractal geometry.
The timber pods act as intimate spaces that can provide shelter or meditation space while its interior creates a kaleidoscope-like effect, when the main steel structure welcomes climbers and engagement in all sorts of ways.
Overall, “Fractal Cult” offers a great variety of fun and explorative options, while serving as a place able to transform to temporary shelter / meditation space and at the same time impose beauty through its fractal and symmetric nature.

Galileo's Uvula

by: Jeddin White
from: Fairfield, IA
year: 2013

For centuries, pendulums have helped us unravel the mysteries of gravity, time, and even the mind. Named in honor of the pioneer of the field, Galileo’s Uvula uses lasers to trace the paths of one or more pendulums onto a photoluminescent surface. Participants may create their own novel patterns by using the provided hand cranks to slide the entire pendulum in up to three dimensions. The installation encourages teamwork and coordinated cranking to produce more interesting results. The structure reveals itself to be some sort of Etch-a-Sketch/Spirograph/Zen-Garden from Tron! Additionally, several hand-held lasers will be provided so participants can free-form laser draw on the canvas. During the day, a swing may be installed, turning the participant into the bob.

Guardian Of Dawn

by: Iron Monkeys
from: Seattle, WA
year: 2013

Upon entering the Guardian of Dawn, participants are greeted by two sentinel statues keeping watch over a gateway. Once inside the space participants are surrounded by eight acolytes, each frozen in an ecstatic pose of worship, arranged in a parabolic arc. At the focus of this parabola is the Guardian. A head priest stands at the apex of the parabola, directly behind and facing away from the Guardian, welcoming the dawn.
The Guardian awakes at night. Her wings are pulled open and the fire lights. She becomes a beacon to those wandering the night, and a source of heat and protection to those within her space. The Guardian has flame effects outlining the wings, fire traveling through the torso and climbing up to backlight the compound eyes. A six foot wide Zen Garden sits 10 feet in front of the Guardian and serves as a place of gathering and invocation.

Hands

by: Dave Gertler
from: San Francisco, CA
year: 2013

This sculpture is a 12 foot high pair of wooden hands raising up toward the sky. Hands is a structural re-creation of human anatomy. It is a symbol of our human nature to discover, create, and uphold. Our hands are a primary means of self expression and are of particular interest to our group since many of our livelihoods depend on creation. Our hands are also a symbol of our personal journeys, survival and creation throughout history. Hands creates an uplifting sensation for participants through the structural pose of these magnified hands and evokes interaction with them and one another. At night, Hands takes on a new life with brilliant illumination and sensation.

Helicopter Dragonfly on Mechanical Plant

by: Barry Crawford
from: Elko, NV
year: 2013

This is a 13 foot long mechanical Dragonfly with wings that rotate like a helicopter’s rotors rather than flapping. It is an expression of the similarities and differences between the machines made by man, and those formed in nature. As the wind blows, the wings spin while the tail and body expand and contract through a mechanical system of gears, levers, sprockets and crankshafts.

HELIX

by: Charles Gadeken
from: san fransisco, CA
year: 2013

Huge branches twist, intertwine, and touch the sky, branching out into massive nebulas, spinning orbs of fire nested in copper cradles. Orbs spinning slow or fast, creating variable fire effects, from spinning candles, to bright blue solid balls. Below you, the ground is covered in a giant pool of light, made from millions of twinkling stars shining outwards. The pool creates an aura around the sculpture and bathing those below in a cool glow.
To approach this work of art in the night may make you feel as if you’re moving on a space ship towards a small galaxy spinning in the inky blackness of space. The orbs on its branches twinkle like clusters of stars in the sky.

Homouroboros, Tantalus

by: Peter Hudson
from: San Francisco, CA
year: 2013

Homouroboros slumbers in virtual darkness with dimly lit drums at the base of a large tree. Strike the drum; you will hear the thunder of the drum as you see lightning for each strike. As you continue the rhythm, notice the increased flash rate as the branches of the tree begin to rotate around the trunk. Look up to the base of each branch. A serpent slithers up the branch away from the trunk, a shimmering red apple clenched in its jaws. Follow its path to the end of the branch only to see the apple snatched from its jaws, to be devoured by a playful monkey, swinging branch to branch.
Tantalus- To actualize this large-scale zoetrope, participants must engage a laboriously intense mechanism that puts a modern spin on the myth of Tantalus while reflecting on the seemingly dwindling fruits of such labor.

Ibis Maximus

by: Nick Taylor
from: Hillsborough, CA
year: 2013

Maximus is a beautiful sculpture of a bicycle, nearly 10′ tall. It is the brainchild and creation of sculptor Nick Taylor of Fort Bragg CA. The main frame is made from steel pipe, 4 inches in diameter with about 1/4 inch wall thickness, heavily manipulated and sculpted and  welded and ground and filed by Nick. The forks, bars, stems and links
 are also custom made. It weighs over 1,000 pounds; the wheels are 59 inches.  Not recommended for riders under 10? tall.

iPhone Cult

by: Abraham Carmi Raphael
from: Agoura Hills, CA
year: 2013

You have found your way to the iPhone Cult. A monolithic shrine rising from the jungle floor. It has been here for thousands of years. Step into the frame and be captured with the Man. Take a photo with my likeness in your hand.

Light Mandala

by: Tyler Buckheim
from: key west, FL
year: 2013

“Light Mandala” Is the Burning Man twist on the tradition of creating Mandalas. The piece will be made of a large spiderweb like geometric pattern, laid out over the Playa. Attached to the formation will be small glowing orbs of lights, illuminating the mesmerizing symmetry. Traditional Mandalas, are created with sand, then blown away after it is created. “Light Mandala” similarly, will only exist for the short time of Burning man, then will cease to exist. It represents the connectedness, as well as fleeting, wonders of life.

Like 4 Real

by: Dadara
from: Amsterdam
year: 2013

Like 4 Real is a big open-shaped Golden Like symbol, which stands on a massive black altar-like structure with six big steps leading up to the Like. Visitors will be requested to take off their shoes before entering the installation. The symbol will be the center of worship for the Like Tribe, who have built this structure, with the intention of using it as their central totem. There, they will perform rituals at set times of the day to demonstrate their belief in the Like. These rituals will incorporate movements, chanting, drumming, and will evolve over time. Visitors are invited to participate in these rituals, make these rituals evolve, and even design their own. After all, we want our Like tribe to grow! On Friday the Like will be burned and thus the act of Liking will be given back to the real world.

Mens Amplio

by: Don Cain - Dept. of Spontaneous Combustion
from: Oakland, CA
year: 2013

Mens Amplio will be a 15 foot tall model of a human head and brain, designed by Don Cain and built by a team of artists from a wide range of disciplines. The brain will incorporate an array of light and flame effects controlled through the use of an EEG headset. The headset will translate the participant’s shifting mental and emotional state into patterns of light and fire mimicking the images of clinical brain scans in real time. The Mens crew will bring together expertise in brain imaging and neural interfaces, LED and flame effects, and metal fabrication to create a sculpture that bridges the worlds of art and science.

MerKaBa

by: Michael Emery
from: Santa Cruz, CA
year: 2013

Merkaba is premised upon the notion that every
religion, every belief-system, even every scientific theory mirrors the
Cargo Cult phenomenon. Humans create conceptual reality-maps attempting
to comprehend incomprehensible existence. We invent magical rituals with
magical tools to validate our maps, empowering them with the potent
force of our belief. Our maps evolve from simple assumptions into
elaborate belief-structures capable of affecting our world in wondrous
ways, especially when we agree to not stray; experiencing, thinking and
communicating only in the realms constrained by our original
assumptions.

Passing through a desert landscape, travelers encounter MerKaBa,
a ritualized magical portal. This anachronistic, white, fractal-cut
dome responds audibly to the travelers’ approach. Within the dome a
reflective obelisk turns unceasingly. The repetition of this
petition-filled “prayer-wheel” induces a dynamo, driving a disturbance
into the non-local Group Over-Mind. Entering this potentiality-field,
devout supplicants transport, finding audience with the avatar(s)
specific to their favorite reality-maps.

MIZARU

by: Purring Tiger/ Aaron Sherwood & Kiori Kawai
from: Brooklyn, NY
year: 2013

MIZARU is about life and death, and how the border between life and death exists everywhere. This border is happening every moment, we just do not realize it. It’s hidden and decorated by many things.
The title MIZARU is the name of one of the three wise monkeys in Japanese Culture, Mizaru Kikazaru Iwazaru , better known in English as See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil. The literal translation of Mizaru is “not to see.”
In our installation, we take the curtain off.
The installation is comprised of a large transparent structure/box, allowing all to see inside, nothing is hidden. When one enters the structure one is presented with a white wall. Upon touching it, the wall suddenly springs to life, creating 5 different worlds of visuals and sound, surrounding the user. This wall is the barrier between life and death.

Neverwas Haul

by: Shannon O'Hare
from: Vallejo, CA
year: 2013

Neverwas Haul, a 3-story Victorian house on wheels made from 75% recycled material, is the home for the Travelling Academy of Unnatural Sciences which is circumnavigating the globe without the use of a Zeppelin.

Penrose Triangle

by: Blake Courter and Blake Courtney
from: Somerville, MA
year: 2013

The Penrose triangle is a surprisingly pervasive cultural artifact. Perhaps the simplest way to create a three-dimensional illusion from a simple drawing of straight lines, it has been celebrated in the works of MC Escher, on postage stamps and logos, and a surprising number of tattoos. Those of us who daydreamed during middle school may well have doodled it on the covers of our notebooks, as something in the geometry seems to offer an escape from the rigidity of everyday existence. Its aesthetic simplicity confronts and challenges our innate ability to visualize and navigate space, helps define the boundary of what is and what is not, and perhaps even fosters our own understanding of the underlying nature of reality.
The installation realizes this beautiful shape as a 17-foot tall illuminated, climbable sculpture.

PhotoChapel

by: Mike Garlington
from: petaluma, CA
year: 2013

A 40′ tall black gothic cathedral that is covered in photography and relief sculpture assemblage. This dark cathedral will offer respite and sanctuary for reflection under the ever present gaze of a thousand eyes.

Pimpsnaxx: The Door to Another Dimension

by: Chris Carey & Ellie Lawson
from: San Jose, CA
year: 2013

Pimpsnaxx: The Door to Another Dimension is a roughly three foot high representation of a inter-dimensional transportation module, used by the Pimps from another dimension as their main transport hub into this dimension.
The Door is built with native Earth materials and primitive electronics and seems to hold some kind of religious significance for the inhabitants of this isolated Earthen community, known as Black Rock City in the local tongue.

Project Insanity

by: Jessica Panuccio
from: Flushing, NY
year: 2013

In a vain effort to control the world I live in, my art tries to capture in language the things that I see and feel as a way of recording their beauty, power and terror, all in real time. In that way I try to have some sense of control in a chaotic world, by absorbing others into the art I have created. The language is not too abstract or chock full of symbols, losing the coherence and comprehension of the onlooker, thus keeping the project worldly and familiar. The juxtaposition between the primitive word and the surreal environment it lives in, is where the insane nature of the art exists. We are led to wonder though, is it the art that brings on the insanity or are the insane drawn to the art?

Psychokinetic Child

by: David "Altair" Karave
from: Crestone
year: 2013

Psychokinetic Child is a giant interactive hollow human’s head; a mechanical child’s mind, where you become the internal parent-puppeteer of a newborn, acquiescent human’s mind.
Inside the hollow head you will find controls for the head’s expressions, as well as synaptic formative altars to chairs, phones and cars, perhaps the every day objects most sacred to new western humans.
What is the effect of these objects in our lives, for which most of us take for granted? What is a chair’s will? Do chairs desire to be sat upon? Do our objects and clothing describe us as individuals, or describe the effect of these things upon our culture and perceptions? Do objects create us? How can we truly understand ourselves when we are constantly covered and surrounded by things?

The Racken!

by: Tyler FuQua
from: Eagle Creek, OR
year: 2013

It comes from the deep. From out of nowhere you see one giant tentacle, then another, then another, until all eight are visible. Then you see the head. Slowly it rises, its eyes lock on you as it towers to twelve feet high. Just like in the old pirate stories your grandfather used to tell, this is…The Racken! The Racken! is a nine-piece, giant octopus bike rack that is able to hold over 100 bikes. Complete with color-changing suckers, illuminated eyes, and a head that you can climb inside, The Racken! will appear as it is climbing out of the Playa, just waiting to hold your bike. Giant, interactive, functional, artistic – this is what Burning Man art is all about.

RVFMTV2

by: Robot V. Future
from: Oakland, CA
year: 2013

Robot Versus Future is happy to present their creation RVFMTV2! It is a MIDI Synthesizer constructed out of Televisions for the 2013 Burning Man Pavilion.

With this year’s art theme being “Cargo Cult”, we believed that we could generate a meaningful, and simultaneously playful, interactive art installation to be exhibited in the Pavilion. The RVF philosophy is fascinated with the antiquated machine, the borderline obsolete, thus we are dragging these arcane CRT TVs into the present to coalesce with modern technology. We believe we can redefine these obsolete objects, by making them useful again.

The Serpent Twins

by: Jon Sarriugarte, Kyrsten Mate
from: Oakland, CA
year: 2013

The Serpent Twins: The Jormungand (Midgard) and Julunggul (Rainbow) serpents sit between two worlds; the old world which needed and revered them and the present which has shunned such monsters as fears metamorphosed into mythical form. Our present world has left behind these harbingers of destruction and physical embodiments of “the ultimate task” (usually the task of slaying such beasts) as so much fantasy. Much as a child puts away his imaginary playthings when he becomes an adult, the dreadful serpent that exists in so many of the world’s cultures’s myths has been put aside. All these now modern civilizations went through this same rite of passage; that of dismissing myth and legend to depend merely on science and fact. Our two serpents render in metal and cast off materials these mythical beasts by using modern science; restoring ancient mythos to the Burning Man community

Shipwreck

by: Georgia Collard-Watson
from: Hassocks
year: 2013

‘Shipwreck’; a plywood pavilion beached upon the sands of the Black Rock Desert by the retreating Quinn River.

A standing edifice of the primal force of the elements, abandoned in a remote location with a lost past, with stories to tell. A site of exploration and discovery, slowly a microcosm is born with the wreck as its host.
Gone are the fanciful images of trunks of gold and silver, the rewards of this stranded vessel are immaterial. A habitat that can support life; create a new history and purpose for itself, offering those who choose to accept it a place of calm and rest as it diffuses the currents of the prevailing winds that pound it and provides shelter from the intensity of the sun’s rays.

Sparky's Wheel of Tesla!

by: Kat and Jesse Green
from: Brooklyn, NY
year: 2013

In 1893 at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Nikola Tesla debuted ‘polyphase electrical power,’ or what we now refer to as alternating current. Sparky’s Wheel of Tesla! is an artistic representation of one of the many generators that Tesla used to power the fair. And while visually paying homage to the great man, the wheel’s function is actually the opposite of everything he was working for. At its heart, the wheel is really just a giant mechanical sparking toy. And in its finer details, for practicality’s sake, it creates DC power from the user generated motion, to supply electricity to the LED light field that surrounds it. Sparky’s Wheel of Tesla is a big, pretty contradiction that incorporates a lot of different elements of electrical theory into one classic-looking package.

Star Stuff

by: Chris Cianciarulo
from: Larkspur, CA
year: 2013

We erect crude imitations of galaxies that previously brought us the cargo of our bodies, our beings, and everything in our world, in an attempt to lure them back… to return with more creations from within the hearts of their stars… and in fact they indeed are making new elements, new worlds, and new beings as we speak. Bring us these new creations, oh great ones.
Participants will see a multi colored glow from a distance and as they approach discover galaxies – spiral, cluster, elliptical or irregular – similar to the way we peer out into space at blobs of light only to discover on closer inspection they are really fields of galaxies. Participants can then walk or ride through and discover small interactive and visual art attached to the galaxy poles leading them to discover more about this world the galaxies created here on earth, and themselves.

Super Street Fire

by: Seth Hardy
from: Toronto, ON
year: 2013

Super Street Fire is a simulated fighting game in the style of Street Fighter. However, instead of playing a traditional video game, the participants interact with the game with motions and thoughts. Instead of an actual fight, the participants face off by controlling a ring of 32 flame effects.
Each participant wears a pair of gloves that reacts to specific gestures. A punch will send a single wave of fire towards the other player’s side; raising a hand in a blocking gesture will create a stationary pillar of fire that will block the oncoming wave; the hadoken you are familiar with will do what you expect it to.
Players can try to win by making simple attacks, or looking for moves inspired by video games they played long ago…

The Temple of Whollyness

by: SYNTHESIS LLC: Gregg Fleishman, Melissa Barron, Lightning Clearwater III
from: Oakland, CA
year: 2013

The Temple of Whollyness offers space to reflect upon how to become more whole. It’s epic central pyramid – an 87’x87’ base and 64’ tall – is designed with sacred mathematical proportions and constructed using innovative building techniques. Unbelievably, this majestic sanctuary is crafted completely out of geometric interlocking wood pieces that fit together without the use of nails, glue or metal fasteners.
This soulful destination incorporates a symbolic visual history of the mysteries of sacred places, artifacts and monuments found in nature, religion, and cultures.
The Temple’s name is derived from the concept that spirituality is a balance between three states of mind – to be holy, holey or wholly present. It is a safe haven to wholeheartedly reflect upon how to live in divine power rather than letting polarizing beliefs and the inevitable chasms – the holes in our hearts – lead us astray from joy.

Tesseract 2.0

by: James Reinhardt, Will Gibbs
from: seattle, WA
year: 2013

Walking up to this piece you see 216 dots with connecting rods in a giant metal cube with spinning mirrors on the edges. It looks like the dots are fire terminals and when someone registers with the 3D sensor, they are able to create all kinds of shapes in the cube out of fire.

Totem, Notem, Tonem

by: Priscilla NocuaYu
from: Vancouver, BC
year: 2013

A giant interactive chiming Totem Tower with magical hidden compartments of spirit animal wonders inside and out! A large stack of vintage luggage compiles to make the totem tower. The totem adorned with portals, cranks, gears, sprockets, springs,a gold bird with wind propelled wings, and a helix corkscrew wind chime chandelier on the inside is as much interactive as it is thought-provoking. The sculpture is colorfully scrolled with wood carvings of spirit animals from the Pacific Northwest which signify its meaning of reconciliation between man and mother earth. The sculpture towers over an observer while compelling one to crawl inside to sit within the ambiance of the sculpture and listen to the beautiful chimes during the day. Totem, Notem, Tonem at night becomes eerie and fierce as the eyes of the spirit animals are illuminated and the interior of the sculpture is flickering candles of mysticism.

Touch ME

by: Noah Rosenthal
from: Shaker Heights, OH
year: 2013

TouchMe is an homage to the 1970’s game “Simon”. Retrofitted in BurningMan style, it breathes tuned fire, mandates collective play, interaction and communication. Participants stand at one of four lit pedestals and do their part, pressing their button at the right time, and are rewarded with ever complex sequences to imitate. On one hand it is a game. On the other it is a metaphor for the grind of the daily routine, with its meaningless rewards and responsibilities, ever more tiring and mundane. May the participant enjoy the moment of pressing a button, playing a note and detonating a cloud of propane, but realize the richness born from the successful exchange and interplay with the people around them.

Truth is Beauty

by: Marco Cochrane
from: Mill Valley, CA
year: 2013

Truth is Beauty is the second sculpture in a three-part series featuring singer/dancer Deja Solis, the first of which was Bliss Dance (2010). For Truth is Beauty, Deja stands on her toes, head back, arms raised, in an expression of radical self-acceptance and love. She can do this because she is safe.
With the female body exposed and demystified you will see past what has been objectified and used to disempower: it’s the feeling, energy, strength, power… the person that remains.
These sculptures featuring women safe in the present to express themselves, are meant to help raise consciousness around violence against women, begin a healing process to make room for women’s voices, and ultimately result in a balance of energy that will allow women and men to thrive…

My intent is that these sculptures express this healing energy and inspire us to take action; to finally say enough is enough!

Universe Revolves

by: Zachary Coffin
from: atlanta, GA
year: 2013

Come ride and push the world’s heaviest merry-go-round. 80,000lbs of stone and steel for your fun and amazement.

VLAM I STOF

by: The AfrikaBurn Fire Collective
from: Cape Town
year: 2013

The AfrikaBurn FC will produce a collection of metal kinetic sculptures of various scales that all have a burning element to them. While some will be operated on nights through out the event, together they collaborate towards a larger vision that manifests in a single performance event. On Friday evening they will be activated for an elaborate choreographed cacophonic performance. In this extravaganza all the pieces will be ignited in a moving, playful chain-reaction of fire, music, performance and trickery, with costumed performers and fire dancers. The narrative is a cheeky evocation of a primordial struggle. The Smithies of the AfrikaBurn FC summon their supernatural powers to conjure up familiars, creatures of Earth sketched in steel and fire, in a fight over limited resources. The action suggests a spiritual battle, driven by the desire for a return of our innate wildness: spiritual, primordial, irrational, intuitive, playful.

What Came First? Your Tribute Or Your Gift?

by: Jamie Joyce
from: Oviedo, FL
year: 2013

This
delightfully simple machine is operated by Burner’s gifting good will and well wishes. A ‘stuff-painted’ tiny, trinket tribute altar is fashioned from the stuffs and squandering of the default world, of both city and suburbia, and is rendered in the image of a buttoned farm field and starry spacescape. If you offer a tiny, trinket tribute to the altar and perform a little ritual, you will receive a little gift in return. As you accept the gift vended from the trinket altar, you might find yourself wondering of the world, of wishes and of time: What came
first, my tribute or my gift?

Xylophage

by: Flaming Lotus Girls
from: San Francisco, CA
year: 2013

The Flaming Lotus Girls are creating a landscape of decomposition and renewal. Massive fungi containing sound, light and fire have sprouted amid the aftermath of the destruction of an enormous tree. A shadowy ghost of the tree spreads out on the ground in front of the tree suggesting its former majesty. Giant mushrooms offer fantastic interactions with fire, other create strange soundscapes. The hollow stump of the tree contains fiery wonders to gather around and enjoy.

Y.E.S.Project...Cargo Youth Spacecraft

by: Dana Albany, children from SF Boys and Girls Club Tenderloin, Bay View, Burning Man Kidsville Kids, Jessika Welz, David Haase, Haideen Anderson, Sam Frangimore, Wrybread, Kal Spellitich
from: San Francisco, CA
year: 2013

The Cargo Youth Spacecraft, Y.E.S., is an interactive spaceship/time capsule built by several artists guiding the participation of children from San Francisco’s Tenderloin and Bay View /Hunter’s Point Boys and Girls Club. The spacecraft is 12′ in diameter and 11′ high including a clear observation dome on top. The cargo spacecraft exterior and interior panels are comprised of a mosaic of 50 % recycled materials such as glass, tile, tin cans,etc. attached to a magical steel infrastructure.The spacecraft is built according to children’s specifications, but adults are welcome into the future fort as well! Inside there will be space control panels with buttons, joysticks, foot levers, pulleys and cranks that allow participants to interact with light systems, soundscapes, video moniters and robotic elements of suprise.

You Are The Key

by: Ralitsa Ivanova
from: pompano beach, FL
year: 2013

YOU ARE THE KEY is an interactive art installation made out of wood on which approximately 1200 wooden letters are forming out the questions: “What are you looking for?”, “What are you waiting for?”, “What stops you?” etc. As an answer to all the questions, the part of the key that opens the door – the lever, reads YOU reminding us that we are the reason and the answer to everything in our lives.

Zonotopia and the Quasicrystalline Conjunction

by: Rob Bell
from: San Francisco, CA
year: 2013

The Zomes of Zonotopia, equidistant by three, like sentinels, watchful, primordial crystalline structures of wood standing in perfect conjunction of invocation to create a resonance across dimensions.
The seed is sown. The Quasicrystalline Zome is precipitated from another dimension in the midst, a crystalline structure rising in spirallohedron form, a tower of one upon three, like an otherworldly form from another realm.
Entrances awaits entry, interiors awaits inspection and zonotopal mysteries awaits investigation.
zome mani padme zome