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.2022
... the world is Watching.
This installation highlights the diversity of the Human Species. We are all the same – but look different. There is beauty in each of us.
Mother nature’s breath gives life to all of us. It provides energy and movement to this work and entices one to come closer. A naturally “kinetic” installation. “Eyes” beckons to us to look at the details in our world. To explore the edge of the Playa… to look beyond the “Man”. To see the wonder of the world that surrounds us.
In life… one feels at times that “all eyes are upon us”… we are all watchers… we are all watched…
Recognize that we are all a part of the universe. We are all interconnected.
“Eyes” will be Watching Us…. guarding the Trash Fence, and our Natural World beyond.
1:44 Inter-dimensional Space Time Portal
The 1:44 Inter-dimensional Space Time Portal provides an access point to the higher dimensional timelines and the ever expanding Now moment within which all of consciousness exists. A 32′ circular ring has two 16′ high arches crossing at 90º. In the center is a 12 stepped pyramid 20′ square 12′ high with space inside for people to hear the Codes of Creation and for connecting to Self within the Divine Blueprint of Creation. The East/West arch is Completion and Beginnings, the 1st and 2nd dimensions on which all other follow. The North/South arch is future and past. The Horizontal ring is the inter-dimensional presence. Following the Law of ‘As Above, so Below’, the arches imply circles and create our earth symbol, the cross in the circle.
38
38 is a group of letters. Each letter has a number in the alphabet. F-6, Y-25, F-6, A-1 = 38
FYFA is a riddle for the futility of trying to name everything, to try to understand everything. People need to relax more and just let things be. Instead of living in a Waking Dream, open your eyes and live in the moment, go with the flow!
A (XO)^2 Journey
A (XO)^2 Journey provides unique experiences for all who partake. Love, hugs and kisses come in many different forms and emote different dreams and memories from each of us. For some, it brings extreme pleasure and comfort, for others, it may bring pain and anxiety – enter a new realm of space!
Join fellow burners on the A (XO)^2 Journey to walk and dream, explore and experience, and discuss and connect. We hope to invoke individual and collective reflections from meaningful play and dialogue of the love, hugs and kisses that humans create for each other. These interactions allow us to remember limitless powers of the human heart and touch and is a catalyst for transformations.
A Burners Prayer
A Burner’s Prayer is an invitation to send love and well wishes to Playmates on the Playa.
A Temple of Masks
A Temple of Masks is a multi-dimensional portal that houses a unique collection of masks from this world and the next. This is a place for exploration and experimentation, a place where we can be what we truly are: shrouded in mystery.
A thousand eyes and a thousand dreams
“Dreaming awake, walking in a desert, where giant luminous trilobites
hover across the desert sands.”
A small group of giant multi-coloured trilobites surround a conical light beacon. As we journey, we see the world through a thousand eyes.”
Trilobites were some of the earliest life forms with complex ‘eyes’, because of their sight, they symbolise our most ancient visions, the first dreamers.
Evolution is a collective dream, from the consciousness of a cell to the realisation of a human, to the manifestation of our realities.
We are part of the evolutionary dream.
The hope is to shine a light on the perilous existence of all species on earth, by looking back at species lost to a past extinction event as we walk on a desert that was once an Ocean.
Adventure Spin'd Landia
enter a world where your house plants speak back to you..
Objects that are standees -photo opportunities and participant paintable cultures. Tell a survival story, based on a theme”saving Mother Earth”.
participants are invited to make there own badges color stickers and paint by number the (8) Stand alone sculptures… A guided journey into a world were oral tradition and a not to tall tale bring to light the need to stop the endless destruction of Mother Earth . In Collaboration with Black Rock Travel Agents, come to the Airport 5Pt. and escape to a quiet place to paint by number and escape the huge party. Become the characters from the story and escape to Mars!!!
Alien Drive-Thru
Aliens have been observing humans for the past few decades, trying to find a way to make peaceful first contact. They’ve noticed humans around the world love to talk into big glowing monoliths and derive their fuel from them… so they’ve built their own, a drive-thru menu board, as a way to interface with humans and learn more about them. But are they here to tell us something?
Angel and The Dragon
The Angel and the Dragon are large unique art pieces designed to amplify and project your inner character to your friends, the Playa, and the default world. They are separate 3-D steel fabricated photograph-interactive art pieces designed to be a background prop for the main character – YOU! They represent the good and the not so good we may feel each day. They invite you and all your best friends to step into the art and complete the scene and take lots of selfies if you choose! The Angel wings and the dragon wings become part of you so have fun or be very expressive. Theater lighting will assist in creating a mood provided you add your beautiful body.
Antematter (Catharsis Project)
Antematter, a word from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, is the dream versions of things in your life. This work is an ambisonic sound installation (14.7 system) creating a 3-dimensional, 360-degree sound field that fully immerses the listener. We gather compositions from different artists written for the sonic landscape of Catharsis, a geometric structure that is a physical manifestation of a hyperbolic space. Antematter adds a dimension to the structure, as the space is explored by the ears, if not also with the eyes.
ANTWANS HAND/ THE DREAM OF ST ANTHONY
A tower of seductive legs growing out of a gigantic egg that resembles the universe.
Inside the egg, naked people are dancing.
That is Antwans Hand, a 30ft inflatable sculpture/stage, created by Dutch artist Lucas Kastelijn.
Antwans Hand was originally commissioned by Bosch Parade, a bi-annual floating art parade in the spirit of Jeroen Bosch, the painter of ‘wondrous and strange fantasies’.
Kastelijn was inspired by Bosch’s triptych ‘The Temptation of St Anthony’ (1501) and was intrigued by Bosch’s mysterious imagery, the symbols and surreal creatures and scenes.
Originally, this object floats and drives autonomously on the water.
For Burning Man 2022, Kastelijn brings St. Anthony back to his natural habitat, the barren desert.
Apocalyptic Deep Sea Portal
The apocalyptic portal appears on Playa for the fourth time to provide Black Rock citizens the opportunity to move back and forth between the non apocalyptic world and the apocalyptic world. In the non-apocalyptic world, the citizen will enter into a world in which covid has never happened, everyone experiences adequate human rights, and war is a distant memory. Hyperbolically developed sea creatures will guide you between the two realms. The portal is a cube made out of recycled, reclaimed construction wood posts, with the Apocalyptic Emblems and the Guiding Sea Creatures hanging from the frame and interconnecting wire lines.
Aqua Ylem
Three climbable-sized geodesic spheres represent oxygen, hydrogen atoms, and their respective bonds to create a water molecule with lighting that represents electrons. Water scarcity is a growing concern with climate change, conflict, and pollution. UNICEF projects that by 2040, one in four children worldwide will be living in areas with extremely high water stress, which has been found to impact women and children disproportionately. Reliable access to fresh potable water makes it easy for people to overlook the challenges and hardships of growing water scarcity. This sculpture magnifies the importance of our world’s freshwater supplies as we progress as a global community.
Arising
This is an inherited work; all beings hold truth and ways of knowing, especially non-human relatives including plants, animals, ecosystems, and expressions of earth. Arising opens a space for stories of fertile dark and flexible truths. Revolving interdependence through multiple lenses celebrates personal experiences. We are drawing forward a human story of seeking to understand, collaborating, listening, and observing dependent and interdependent elements.
How can we play with these ways of knowing as a full sensory exploration and surfacing of truths? How does interacting with the product of co-creation offer insight and shared wisdom? Arising is one place marker to visibly share our collective experiences and hopes.
Arising Phoenix
The Arising Phoenix is a 14-foot tall sculpture of a bird, welded from tools, utensils and other objects that went through the Campfire in 2018. The artist, Wizzard, and his wife, AttaGirl, collected items off their property, as well as neighbors and friends who wanted to donate objects to be included in the piece. The artist said the vision of the piece was the strongest he had ever had. It is a symbolic representation of the tools that are needed to rebuild Paradise, CA, and the surrounding area that was also devastated by the fire.
Astrofengaiá
Astrofengaiá is a creative meditation on cosmologic circularity. Best experienced under blazing daytime sun, this light-refractive art installation is a home-spun shrine designed to embellish the beauty of Earth’s resident star. Lovingly made from upcycled and reclaimed materials, Astrofengaiá’s frame and walls provide respite from desert heat. Reflective wall cladding acts as a giant lens, focusing sunlight into undulating light patterns that move and morph across the ground. People’s reflections glide across semi-transparent surfaces. Faces merge with foreground and background, like a hall of mirrors. Participants listen through headphones to custom soundscapes crafted from NASA archives, electronica, binaural beats, and human voice. The artwork’s name is a play on words, a contraction of the Greek words for starlight (astrofengiá) and mother of all life (Gaia).
ATABEY
ATABEY is the supreme goddess of the Taínos, the native tribes who inhabited the Caribbean islands, mostly in Puerto Rico. She is worshiped as the deity of fresh water, representing the Earth Spirit, Divine Mother. Their God was female.
We chose to honor ATABEY’s symbolism with a fish coming up for air on the Playa in order to bring attention to the state of the Earth and the dire consequences of today’s dominant world views, those that are legacies of colonization’s victors. ATABEY’s legacy is to respect our waters and land.
Au son des voeux
A white flag standing in the middle of the playa. Copper pole, white fabrics tight to it, small traditional Koreans bells, red strings. In the idea of wishes Tibetan poles. The white flag will fly with the wind, as the bells will ting.
Six levels of fabrics, as the six senses that allow us to communicate and be part of the world, to be one with it, as said in Buddhism.
A white flag, asking for a break, an ecological break, as a spiritual one, as a wish to be send in the wind of the desert.
Red strings as the ones which link people in the asian mythology.
A unity, as a wish, a white flag as a totem for us to wish better.
Autumn Spire
The piece is inspired by the natural balance of organic and geometric properties in nature. The title refers to a red maple tree, a symbol of endurance and the passing of time. The tower, a blend of gothic and modern technology, is meant to combine these notions. The passage of time is important to me, and whether it is my perspective or an objective truth, society as a whole feels to be entering into a new season. It feels like something is ending, but as we pass from autumn into winter, so follows spring.
Awaken
Awaken is 3 wooden/steel stupas like the ancient towers of Angkor Wat. It offers the opportunity to sit, ride through, climb and discover, principles, words, quotes, and images burned and carved into the wooden rings’ surface. Its wooden rings sandwich LEDs that light up the night.
Awakening tree
Awakening tree is a interactive and participatory light art sculpture, that brings an immersive experience allowing to navigate through an holographic journey along the seven chakras, helping understand the human inner energetic structure.
The interactive sculpture is a 43ft tall tree designed to penetrate inside and move through 7 platforms, one for each chakra.
The journey will bring people from the earth to the sky, and back to earth, accompanied with the kundalini energy represented with moving light, connecting each platform and vibrating the color and sound of every healthy chakra.
b00th
b00th is a small playa colored box with a wider top than bottom. It has a sign above it that reads either There or here, depending on the lights that are on. it has a window facing the man and one facing the boom arm that lets folks either through or not. b00th is manned by anyone who wishes to participate and they decide who comes or goes. It is meant to be an expressly interactive experience. A toll booth at an intersection of no roads, that collects whatever the toll booth operator demands in a land of decomodification. It is a place of nonsense and play and asks people to take steps out of their comfort zone to participate.
Back to the Future: Dystopia about the Space Dogs
Art 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 art images from the science fiction novels. The heroes of these works – conquerors of outer space, extraterrestrial landscapes, as well as intelligent and faithful to mankind robots, comrades-in-arms.
The installation is composed of the six sphere shaped fire pits. Five spheres, telling the cosmic legend are located around the magnificent fire pit flower.
Bad Covid Advice & Testing
Bad Covid Advice & Testing is a highly interactive Bad Advice booth. In the spirit of Burning Man, it provides much needed bad covid advice! Vaxman is the centerpiece of the kiosk, which is fully Dr. Fauci approved and is colorfully embellished with zany and crazy covid art, bad advice, tests kits, and more!
BEAM
A new sculpture from the creators of Stone 27. Lessons learned at a heightened emotional state.
BFL (Big F***ing Lantern)
This is a fucking big shape of Japanese lantern, “TOUROU” in Japanese. Ordinary, Japanese lantern is around 0.2ft cube.
The lantern is a tall cuboid structure of iron pipe sized 18ft tall, 6ft wide, 6ft long.
“TOUROU” is spiritual and traditional Lantern in Japan.
the light of a lantern represents the spirits of ancestors, beloved dead, and to imagine peace. This Lantern is the gateway to the world of birth and death.
At night, this lantern emits light. The light leaks from a Japanese papaer-like cloth stretched over the outer wall. The light shines in response to the participants.
Black and White
The Black and White installation is about differences built into the perception of reality. The art is placed in our physical and mental space. One must look and try to understand that the other, who sees things differently, is not necessarily wrong.
This unique display emphasizes that nothing in our reality is absolute or unequivocal. Life is everything but black and white. Can you choose to examine life through a broader perspective? What if our solid opinions are also a matter of perspective?
BLACK ROCK ADVENTURES BUS STOP!
BLACK ROCK ADVENTURES BUS STOP!
This not only looks like a bus stop, it is a BUS STOP! We will swing by in our adventure rig and offer you a Playa Art Tour, usually around 9am and 6pm daily. Room for about 10 Burners! Tour times are posted on 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!
Black Rock City Swingr Dream
The BRC Swingr Dream is a piece of interactive multimedia art. Interconnects art, dance, and light technology, allowing for a spectacular performance of movement on swings. As a result, an aesthetically bonding interactive experience is created. We treat Playa as our 6th element, which we employ to promote connection through expression, where burners are be invited to share a moment of wonder. Visually, for most of the day the sun creates a colour spectacle and the night a light performance results in an autonomous environment. It becomes the playa in a translated form that’s represented as a triangular prism. There are 4 swings which promote random meetings which allow interaction (outwards) or a moment of shared vulnerability. (inwards)
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 Station
A mysterious rural train station appearing in the Black Rock Desert has become unstuck in time, haunted by ghost trains heard but not seen. Built in the mid-1930s to serve Black Rock City and the communities scattered throughout the vast Black Rock Desert, the station is unstable and oscillating through various moments over the last 150 years and beyond, with an ever-shifting interior life, and a subtle narrative that cuts against conventional historical themes.
Black Rock Superior Court
Black Rock Superior Court is the last chance for justice in this hot, dusty wasteland. A place where you are sure to not find any (ok, some) sympathy for your almost criminal, definitely deviant, almost certainly fun acts whilst on playa. We will judge you, let the jury decide what to do with you, and then punish you all in the same fell swoop. And it will be merciless. We welcome all to come and be judged.
As well as come and judge others for fun and spectacle. Our courthouse is open 24/7 for your judging pleasure, just bring at least one person who has done something heinous and just judge the hell out of them on your own!
Black! Asé
Black! Asé consists of large-scale photographic structures that offer multisensory experiences created by the artist and founder of Black Burner Project, Erin Douglas & Co Designed by Fran Xavier. The large-scale portraits of Black Burners stand 30ft tall on playa and mark their place in histories (past present and future). They are meant to not only be seen but touched, heard, documented, and remembered.
BlackBook (Remix)
BlackBook (Remix) represents a larger-than-life “sketchbook/black book” (black cover), which the Graffiti Community uses to gather fellow artists’ styles, tags, and lettering concepts. BlackBook (Remix) is intended to show the works of a variety of artists from pioneering legends, popular local talent, and students. This helps explain the culture of Graffiti and Street Art as folk art and shows decades of contributions from each generation. The redesign allows 360-degree viewing vantage points where 3D letters are built as a center column, and the pages are hinged to the center column.
Book-End Bulk-Up Challenge BAN-nanza
Has America got you full of intellectual rage? Have you been seeking a way to let off steam and pump some educational iron? The Book-End Bulk-Up Challenge BAN-nanza is the perfect way to get that stress off your chest. With dozens of books, a barbell and a weight bench, work-out buffs can exercise by bench pressing books of oppression to help lift up intellectual elevation. If you don’t want to work out, have a sit in the comfy chair after choosing a comfort blankie from the comfy chest. All book boxes are active library exchange zones. There is a crucial need to bring mental & physical awareness to literature, free speech, and the censorship used to restrict access to information. Books make us better as a society. Banning them does not.
Bop Bear
Bop Bear is a giant bop bag shaped like a Honey Bear. A bop bag is an inflatable toy that, if you knock it over, will stand back up. This is that, just larger.
BORiNG Sign
Inspired by vintage Las Vegas casino signs and a healthy sense of irony, the BORiNG sign is an 18-ft tall, 20-ft long reminder to never take one’s self too seriously. The sign is made out of reclaimed sheet metal and discarded letters from dismantled corporate signs, hand painted, lit by 300 LED bulbs and securely attached to a welded base with wheels (and sometimes, pedal-power). The piece is fully mobile across the playa. You can usually find the BORiNG sign accompanying burns, alongside popular art projects, and framing the silhouette of the Man at sunset. With four 500-watt speakers and a playlist of danceables from the 60s, 70s and 80s, the mobile, rolling sign often attracts an entourage of sunset or late night boogie revelers.
Bottle Genii
Bottle Genii celebrates an unusual cohort of world-changing individuals with 8x life-sized 3D-holographic steel portraits, interactive fire cannons, and a calm space to contemplate how you too can pay it forward.
Brahmi fluids
The world of modernity is intertwined with the world of history. Myths and legends keep coming back and repeating themselves in our lives. The proposed installation is timed to coincide with this year’s theme at Burning Man Waking Dreams and intends to immerse visitors into the legends of the god Brahma. It is said that in the universe in which we live is none other than Brahma, who creates the world through his dream, manifesting himself through the minds of mankind. The property of the consciousness of the god is to create reality through thought, as a passive observer of existence. The installation is meant to create a surreal and somnambulistic atmosphere of communication, a place where people meet.
Brain Drain
If people are not fighting and hating, make something up to get it started. Drive that wedge between neighbors. Each and every day we are fed mass amounts of information from mass media, social media, and governments. Misinformation, hate, and discourse are the norm.
Maximize the ugliness being fed to the people. Keep any compassion and love to a minimum. Getting along and helping each other is a bad thing. Keep the people in cages and feed them the madness that keeps them hating.
Bright Eyes
Heave: The act or effort of raising or lifting something, Often as and upward movement except in nautical terms where you just sort of stall or rest. The sculpture will stand 16ft tall and be fully climbable.
Brocken Spectre
Burners step back into the magic of their childhood when they look into for the first time to the viewport of an oversized kaleidoscope, where they transport to a magical world of magnificent swirling colors and fractal shapes. Brocken Sprectre immerses participants to become part of kaleidoscopic experience. On one end they look through to see the combinations of colors of the world in new ways. On the other end of the scope they can become part of the colors of the world as they jump, play and make faces into the tube. At night, well lit burners will be reflected and refracted on the shiny surfaces, inspirations for seeing the world in a new light.
Bucky Ball
Geodesic micro structures float by you as you breath smoke from fires. The intersections of this sphere show a model of a 60 carbon molecule known as a Bucky ball. People may climb on and inside the structure and experience what it feels like to be inside of a molecule.
Build A Seat
For many Black people, Burning Man is foreign concept. At best, it represents an exclusive experience for the privileged, an Instagram worthy photoshoot. But for black people that have attended, the experience is pure MAGIC ✨
Build a Seat is an art piece for/by Black Creatives to welcome more of us to this experience. A dramatic and radical space for inclusivity, where our Black Stories, energy, voice and not just present but celebrated.
Bulging Rhombic Dodecahedron
Bulging Rhombic Dodecahedron:
The interactive puzzle sculpture is a scaled-up recreation of the handheld twisty puzzle that was produced by Brett Ballow of Seattle, WA in 2002. The sculpture, completed just in time for the burn, is four feet tip to tip and fully functional (and quite solvable).
Sacred geometry and cerebral stimulation!
Burning Man Championships of Covid Ball
Participants will be able to play bocce ball on the playa in front of a “huge” audience. Day or Night
Burning Man Covid Ball Championship will follow traditional bocce rules, once the pallino (special covid ball) is in position, first team throws their covid ball. Taking alternate turns, each team throws their balls, which are of contrasting colors, toward the pallino. Object of the game is for each team to (A) get one of their balls closest to the pallino, (B) to move the pallino closer to their ball, or (C) move the opponent’s ball away from the pallino. The winning team begins the next frame. We will create a self-reporting scoreboard and the Burning Man Covid Ball Championship will be on Man Burn day.
Burning Manhole
The Burning Manhole streetlight is painted with an image of a cream pie being tossed from above, an image of snark comment surprise. Beneath the light is a manhole cover containing a speaker. When burners walk over the manhole, a motion sensor trigger audio snark recordings. There is a recording device 5 feet high on the lamp pole where burners can interact with the art work by recording snarky comments into the audio system to be played back when the next burner triggers the motion sensor. Overall, the concept of the piece invites burners to interact directly with an artwork, using the visual/audio impact of well lit colorful streetlight to share the long tradition of burner snark.
Burning Sky Night Jumping
Come see skydivers jump the best flying art that they can muster at night.
BYTE
BYTE is a fully immersive art experience featuring two giant furry and lovable robots named “Chip” and “Terra, the very first robots freed from slavery.
BYTE is a symbolic representation of Ai by using a microchip silhouette clad in vividly bright fur and big, bulbous mirror dome eyeballs to anthropomorphize our furiends. It’s all topped off with a hanging wisteria garden underneath and a cozy snuggle room on top creating a symbiosis between art and the viewer.
Cancer Unmasked
A sacred space dedicated to cancer victims, survivors, caregivers and loved ones. A large 3D wooden mask at the entrance invites citizens inside. The central space is filled with cancer masks and poetic interpretation. Each mask was made for an individual undergoing radiation treatment. Lighting will draw Participants to examine the masks in detail. The back wall is a giant writing tablet for individuals to express their thoughts and feelings on this difficult subject.
CARI: Car Art Radar Installation
Recently declassified research, with possible extraterrestrial origins, has indicated the existence of a fifth force of nature. Scientists now believe that this fifth force of nature, dubbed the creative force, emanates from the energy associated with creative expression and shared human experience.
With the latest understanding of the science behind the Creative Force and recent advancements in creative refractor technology, the San Diego CoLab team is excited to introduce the Car Art Radar Installation, or CARI for short. This exciting new product offering provides the ability to harness and amplify the creative energy emanating from art cars and crowds of like minded bohemians.
Carillon
Carillon is a 48′ tall wood bell tower covered in slat wood panels. There they encounter levers, ropes, and a spinning pole. All of these devices control one or a series of bells each ringing a special note.
Cat's In The Bag
It is cat cage with a paper bag in it where recorded yowling sounds of a cat are emitted.
Catayo
Catayo is a meditation platform featuring the figure of a two-headed black cat puking neon rainbows with neon chakras. Catayo will be approximately 6′ tall and 6′ in diameter with a black platform, meditation rug, ornate painting and decor. Catayo is lit at night with blacklight LEDs featuring chakra symbols and rainbows. One of the chakras will have a secret compartment with a message for inquisitive burners.
Catharsis
Catharsis is a fractal gallery for our infinite dreams.
It welcomes all arts in the spirit of radical inclusion and self-expression, acting both as amphitheater on playa and a travelling museum for burners around the world. After the event, it will be re-assembled in other cities.
Catharsis is a physical representation of the hyperbolic space. It is a three-dimensional representation of a geometry that could only exist in an another reality – or does it?
This infinite space has seven gateways elevating to the sky and getting increasingly intricate and intimate, forming a dream-like set of galleries for everyone to use and place art of all kind.
Celestial Whale
The “Celestial Whale” is a large-scale automaton, a simple, human powered machine. It is made of articulated sections, each composed of recuperated materials, suspended inside an icosahedron that represents the Earth. A hand crank generates the whale’s movement, making it swim through space.
A whale is a symbol of peace and tranquillity but also of our fight to combat the dangers menacing the earth and all its inhabitants: climate change, pollution and many others. Once hunted to the brink of extinction, whales are now protected by international law due to individuals coming together to act. This installation demonstrates that an individual can have an impact both on the people around them but also on the planet as a whole.
Centered
“Centered” is 3 – 7’2 plasma cut steel rings spaced every 15 feet with attached LEDs that light up the night. Its serves as a gathering space for participants to climb, bike through, and experience playful LED lights.
Chakra Man
During the past two years we have experienced unforeseen circumstances and many of us have been greatly affected by that. It was easy to fall into autopilot repeating the same thing day after day until you wake up and realize that you’re not living, but rather just surviving. Chakra Man represents the balance and intention that we search to create for ourselves in order to better our society. It is a six foot structure featuring the seven chakras and which Burning Man principles they connect to. Burning Man is a roadmap for creating a better society, so by aligning our chakras and applying and practicing the principles, we can achieve balance and build a better society.
Chaotic Reflections
Chaotic Reflections offers the opportunity to reflect upon yourself, others, and the environment around you. This kinetic sculpture absorbs wind and light, infuses them with chaotic motion, and offers them back for a new perspective on the world around you.
Chaotick
A clock inspired rotating ball lit by fire or LED, originally created by Ember and visiting the playa every year. It represents playa ingenuity and the controlled chaos. The essential mechanism behind its working is the controlled bit of sway from the tether pole and the physics of a swinging ball. It also represents the relativity of time. Burners arrive at the art piece intent on watching the mere minutes, but get sucked into the time vortex that Chaotick easily creates and end up staying for much longer feeling as though time is moving slowly. This is a piece for people to watch and become entranced. Seating allows for shared space and burner interaction with other burners. This piece gives a more meditative vibe and a sense of calm in opposite balance of the intensity of the burn.
Charismatic Metafauna
Metafauna resolves from a distant oasis of light into 7 endangered animal species (Houston Toad, Linsang, Spotted Owl, etc.), ranging in scale from humans to horses. Arranged by proximity to extinction, these creatures form a Danse Macabre procession, spiraling inward toward an elegant portal. One already extinct species lies dark beyond the gateway. The sculptures are united by common materials and a shape language drawn from art nouveau and art deco.
LEDs illuminate each sculpture from within while a hanging flame above each animal represents the creature’s vitality and bathes the site in glowing firelight. A composed soundscape compliments the beauty of the physical installation.
Chilopod
Chilopod (kai-lo-pod) enjoys communicating with humans. Visitors are confronted with a giant talking insect, whose spine is also a slide! But Chilopod comes with a serious message too.
Chilopod asks, “Are humans the pests or the stewards of Earth?” When her home planet’s ecosystem was collapsing, bio-engineers created intergalactic seed pods to grow in foreign soil, with a mission to encourage emerging civilizations to safeguard the health of their home planets. Chilopod landed in the Black Rock Desert and grew into what we see today, a maturing being just learning to communicate with humans. When visitors slide down her spine we pick up her thought-spores so that we might disseminate her ecological message across the world.
Chimes
the chimes are made of wood and will be mounted on the arms of poles that simulate trees. It will be 15 ft in diameter and the 5 trees each with 8 chimes will be equal distance apart on the circumference and 8 to 12 feet tall. This will create a circular space inside the circle and outside for all people to have a full sensory experience.
There will be solar lights for the night.
Chronotron
Chronotron is an abstract representation of the idea of multiverses via bubbles which are expanding and branching off into other bubbles, some of which pop and collapse while others are being created. Participants enter within the sculpture where they experience another dimension of spacetime, a different point of view with alternate possibilities.
Circle of Doors Tarot
A tarot deck has come to life, unfolding from the depths of our shared unconscious and appearing on the playa in the form of a sacred pavilion. The cards have manifested as portals into feminine wisdom. A host of witches, maidens, mothers, and crones reach out through transcendent images of photographic magic to deliver messages of poetic healing. Four outposts at the four compass directions embody the minor arcana, the characters and scenarios of life’s endless stories. At their center are twenty-two doors, each leading inward to the primal light of consciousness by way of the major arcana, the ultimate symbols of life’s infinite transformative power. Each sunset calls a mysterious cast of time travelers to light the central fire.
Citipati
The Citipati, fearsome protector deities, enact the eternal dance of death within an arching fire of perfect awareness.
Classy Trash
Trashy is the New Classy! She’s sparkly. She’s fabulous. No one knew how beautiful trash could be . Dazzling and shining in all of her pride- Sassy and Classy, She shines on even though she’s been considered disposable. She is encased, embalmed, for eternity to remind the world that she will always be considered treasure . So the question really remains- trash can or treasure chest? Lost soul or pleasure quest?
Close Encounters
Transcend and Ascend at Ascension!!! The Ascension Experience enhances the CE5 meditation protocol developed by prominent ufologist Dr Steven Greer with vibration, sound, and light to help us make clear and consistent contact. Participants with pure intent and love in their hearts work together to summon Inter Dimensional Beings to help us improve our beautiful home planet.
Colordance
Colordance is six 10ft poles, arranged in an arc. Atop the poles are 4×4 grids of colored lights, aimed at the apex of the arc. The lights cycle through patterns which create kaleidoscopic colored shadows. A control interface lets participants choose the vibe.
Colors of Nostalgia
A vintage photo kiosk that contains interactive displays with vintage cameras and film processors. The purpose is to create a unique environment with sentimental longing for the past by surrounding a person with vintage objects, decorations, sounds and smells from a specific time period. The displays are designed to create an emotional drift that has broadened to the notion of longing for or missing aspects of a unique experience from the past.
Each entrance will have stylized spaces according to the time period 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s.
For instance, 60s timeframe display will have vintage radios, tape cassettes, record players, cameras, hippie clothing items, dry flowers, smell of cannabis; posters promoting love, peace, and psychedelic drugs.
Come Home
Come Home. The conflict of wanting to be with your loved ones while also wanting to be somewhere they can’t be. We all come home to BRC, but we also leave a home behind. When we depart our beloved desert tired and dusty, filled with more happy memories than we came with, there is also a joy in coming home to what and who we’ve left behind in the default.
Two dogs await your approach, tails gently wagging, greeting you with enthusiasm. You may have to leave your furry friends behind to venture to Black Rock City, but Mushu and Ginger are here to give you a bit of the comfort of home.
Conexus Chapel
Conexus Chapel is a scaled down version of one of the Playa’s first large-scale art pieces, the Conexus Cathedral (2006). The creator has dusted it off and brought it back for his playa wedding! It will be a lovely space for contemplation or any ceremonies that may feel right for the space.
Confluence
Convergence explores the creative potential of drones as an art form.
Consumption
Consumption is a 45′ tall sculpture in the shape of a dollar sign ($) assembled from discarded household appliances (washers, dryers, fridges, stoves, etc). Ninety appliances are layered and stacked to create the “S” of the dollar sign.
Consumption brings our focus to the end of the era of consumerism and overconsumption. Our current trajectory is no longer sustainable and we must change. Reflect upon the mountain of waste to guide our beliefs, ideas and spirits to a more rational use of earth’s limited resources.
We all play a part in the chain of excess that starts with raw materials and ends in landfills and oceans. Many factors tie us to our throw-away society. We are driven to
overconsumption.
Cosmic Entanglement
Cosmic entanglement is a jungle gym and an artwork, originated in the jungle of Koh Phangan, Thailand. A web of ropes inside a dome creates an interactive playground that allows citizens of BRC to climb, play, and enjoy being monkeys in the middle of the desert – wild and free!
A special light show, together with the desert sky above, turns the dome into a cosmic nebulous world at night.
Council of Animals
The Council of Animals (What to do about the monkeys) is a piece exploring our relationship with our Animal family, and how the animals feel about us. Elephant, Polar Bear, and Rhino are the judges, and Coyote the intermediary, their iconic geometry rendered in faceted steel.
Cryptozoology Project
Everyone is experiencing a change in our world as we knew it. We are all experiencing grief. Grief doesn’t only mean losing someone; it can be a significant change in one’s life.
This reliquary holds the last of a civilization and is a shrine to the loss of our past lives. Some wanted to escape before, but now we all look to escape. Those that have have become fossils.
Crystal Heart
Is your heart on fire?
Is it ripped open and burning?
Have you found the light inside?
Come watch your heart explode with the denizens of Black Rock!
Daking Wreams
Daking Wreams is a 16ft tall directionator in the middle of deep playa with shovel head people sitting around it contemplating which direction to go with you. Four chase lounges are covering the base, rest, contemplate your way. Atop the post is a man on a shooting star always blowing the direction of the wind, maybe the way you should go? The signs are accurately pointing to the man, temple, bathrooms and other art pieces near and far. If you are caught in a white out, pray you find Daking Wreams.
Dancing Forest
The Dancing Forest is a playful interactive experience, a forest of dancing swaying trees.
Daruma
Daruma is a bright red, 6′ tall, 5′ wide Japanese intention setting doll. In 2017, Burners were invited to set intentions and dot in Daruma’s right eye as a symbol of commitment to those intentions. In 2022, Burners will be invited back to dot its eyes. Those who have not yet set an intention will dot in the right eye, and those who have already completed their goals will dot in the left eye to symbolize intention completion. Daruma will burn with the Empyrean Temple at the end of the week.
Dendritic Dreams
Dendritic Dreams is a collective manifestation of all burners who plant the seeds of playfulness and unguarded connection. It is part innovation in parametrically-designed plywood, part bamboo super-canopy, and part mix of bright textiles sewn together to emulate the beautiful flora and foliage of an enchanted forest. Our longtime crew of professional butterfly aerialists and forest creatures may descend from the trees at opportune moments to enchant and mystify visitors. Our installation is not simply a few large trees and mushrooms, it will be covered, every inch, with immersive art and LEDs made by our talented collective of multimedia artists – transporting visitors into a wonderland of their own narrative.
Desert Rose
In the stark flat dessert, you see a number of curved, pink pieces coming out of the ground, and you question what it is. Is it the tips of a flower coming up, or being burred down.
Dimentronome
My friend and I are overloaded with light, sound, our surroundings. It’s overwhelming and exciting. I turn to my friend and at the same time we both exclaim, “This is the coolest place I’ve ever been.” We spy in the distance lights and sounds of deep chimes. Could this get any better? We make our way past crowds of similarly effected people and find ourselves in front of a strange structure. We push the activation device and the art piece comes to life. Multiple pyramid faces of various themes light up in individual sequences and chimes sound above our heads! A fish, rocket ship, palm tree, (an eggplant?), a planet surround by stars…..why so many different thoughts and meanings? This is something we’ll discuss for the rest of the night.
DIPTOWN
DIPTOWN is a sprawling landscape installation of a town buried in sand with only building roofs sticking out of the ground. Diptown was once a simply a local tourist trap situated in a dip. Something covered the town up to the roofline, and the dip was transformed into flat desert. What’s happend? Here we leave space for interpretation. Everyone can invent their own legend. We only present an image, and we invite people to give it meaning and stories.
Most of Diptown is hidden beneath the surface, in both the physical and metaphorical senses. Like an iceberg, it projects only a few feet above the surface. It will be up to imagine what else exists below the surface. It will up to viewers to fill in the rest of the details.
Disappearoom
Disappear from the outside world. Enter your inner world.
DISTURB MY SLUMBER
Participants may enter Disturb My Slumber, a tribute to the mythical Cave of Wonders, day and night. They will be invited to reflect on their individual time of darkness during the pandemic, and share it verbally or in writing inside the walls of the internal space. What terrified them? What did they confront? What did they learn? What treasures may have been unburied by this nightmare? In this way they will be invited to HONOR their experience, SHARE it with the collective and upon the piece’s burn ritual, ALCHEMIZE it.
Diver UP
The sculpture will be a topless women holding an old diving helmet over her head.
She will be made several interlocking fiberglass pieces to create the seamless shape of her body and helmet. The interior superstructure will be reinforced with up-cyled and new mild carbon steel. Two I-Beams will anchor the structure to the ground.
The interior will have many elements of pipes, dials, compasses and reused marine gadgets as if you are entering a submarine. Information about our relation to the seas, and how we can help our oceans, will be placed throughout.
She will seem to be emerging from the Playa floor from her torso like a mirage.
Divided Face
A large, segmented Noh mask hangs from the ceiling. It is a mask called ZOUONNA.
ZOUONNA is used in the performance of divine women such as nymphs and spirits.
ZOUONNA’s facial expressions are difficult to read emotionally.However, the actor expresses the emotions of the role by the angle of the mask: joy, sadness, laughter, and anger can be expressed from one mask.
The wind in the playa may reveal to you the special expression of this mask. The mask may have been moved by the wind, but your mind reads the expression on the mask. That is the truth.
Dream Mirror
This interactive projection art will show a vision of you in an ever changing dreamscape of color. Your movements will trigger a range self reflective beauty.
Dream Quest
An inviting space where people gather and relax. In the center is a round table upon which stands a telescope… the spy-glass connects the beauty of the art on playa to your subconscious. This is a place to plant seeds for your waking dreams.
Dreaming Under a Desert Sky
Dreaming Under a Desert Sky is at its simplest a bed in the desert & at its finest a place of reprieve, connection, & inspiration. Colorful fabric pieces flutter from the canopy in the desert air during the day. At night, a rainbow of lights frame the playa. Laughter, beats, fire-breathing art cars provide the soundtrack. People are drawn to this resting place, whether by the white steed of a bed in the austere desert & bit of shade provided during the day or by the dreamy lights of the bed at night. While there, people pile onto the bed &, inspired by the surroundings, they share their dreams with others. ‘Dreaming’ invites all people to pause in their journey. And here, people don’t sleep to dream but wake to live their dreams.
Dreams: a pop-up book
Dreams: A giant pop-up book, will be larger than life, leather-bound book. When a reader opens the wooden book, it springs to life. Each turn of the page reveals a new pop-up showing a different dream.
Drelinquency Drone
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 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 EL lighting.
Drishti
Inspired by a Sanskrit philosophical phrase, “Drishti, Srishti”, meaning: “As is your vision, so is your universe” or, “How you behold, is what you unfold”. Drishti is a sculptural expression, and reflective symbol, of finding ourselves at a critical point in history, in which we are called upon to focus and engage our collective gaze into a more elevated vision, as co-creators and collaborators of our individual and shared realities.
Shimmering in mirrored steel, Drishti’s elegantly arcing angles sweep our gaze upward. Here, our individual reflections in each ‘facet’ of the multitude of lens-like convex mirror are framed with everyone else’ into a mosaic portrait of shared reflection, pointing us to the stars, literally and symbolically
Dust City Diner
The neon sign of the Dust City Diner beckons visitors to have a seat at its horseshoe-shaped counter. A 1930’s coffee urn brews fresh coffee while a short order cook works the griddle, their silhouette framed by a stainless steel backsplash. Bee-hived waitresses serve up grilled cheese sandwiches and top up your coffee with a smile. Every aspect of the diner – the sound of dishes clinking, the 1940’s music, a flickering neon sign all embody the all-night diner experience. An oasis for any weary traveler who discovers us in deep playa who needs a stool to sit on and a hot meal.
Effigies
Left-right, boom-bust, liberal-conservative, growth recession, capitalist socialist, this binary choice is a growing point of conflict. Burning man is an experience where self-reliance and communal effort coexist and thrive. Many of us who have experienced this feel classic ideologies are no longer serving us. Building these effigies in a medium that is classically made of paper is a representation of what they are, paper tigers constructs written on paper, not immutable realities. In expressing our feelings about them and burning them down together we can let go of the burden and confinement of ideologies that no longer serve us and be inspired to co-creation a new future.
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 Dandelion
The Electric Dandelions are 27 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.
Elon's Sperm Bank
Satirical piece on Elon Musk’s mission to repopulate the Earth, starting with his employees. After Nisa learned that Elon had kids with his employee (apparently non-romantically), she joked about how Elon might start donating his sperm to women that want to have kids. After being invited to BM last minute, she decided to create a sperm bank, with a spin that emphasizes people to think about growing their emotional intelligence not only for themselves but for potential future kids.
It’s a 30 gallon metal container, with “Elon’s Sperm Bank” written in wooden block letters on the exterior. Once people open the hinge top, fog comes out of it (water + dry ice), exposing a message, “deez nutz”, surrounded by red roses. Also inside is an interactive white board that says, “No kids? What if you could have Elon’s kids? IQ: Nature Guaranteed. EQ: Nurturing Required.” and a booklet on why therapy for men is important. Behind the container is a picture frame with a stock photo of a family.
Emergence
In most parts of the world, the Dragonfly symbolizes change, transformation, adaptability, and self-realization. The last metamorphosis stage of a dragonfly is when a nymph leaves the water, walks to dry land, and with its last molt, the body and wings of the dragonfly expand, and this process is named “Emergence.”
As a burner approaches, emerging from the dry playa will be grass, lily pads, and flowers made from recycled materials.
A desert dragonfly made with a structural steel frame will be drinking from a pond. The dragonfly will produce ambient lighting at night.
The wings will provide curious burners with a shady place to retreat to while pondering their own transformation.
Emotions without Morals II
An interactive wood robot that had just run out of love. It’s searched the desert for two years for it’s citizens and they haven’t returned. The renew bots have stumbled upon this lonely robot and are giving it one last go to bring it back to life.
The renew bots are trying they best to figure out the right combination of color and love to bring their giant counter part back to life.
The piece is a 10 foot interactive metal and wood sculpture with sound activated LED’s and sensors to help bring it to life. There is a control panel with color coded buttons that will help explain how to interact with the sculpture and help the renew bots.
Empyrean
EMPYREAN 2022: A Reimagined Temple Experience
A note on Experiencing this Architecture: (see video)
The architecture of EMPYREAN is replete with narratives and metaphors, which, with raw artistic inspiration, manifests a physical structure and intern allows the visitor to be sculpted by, and to sculpt, experience. This sculpting manifests by utilization of physical, prescribed architectural procession.
Evolution Field
Evolution Field is a 15ft tall x 50 ft long triple layer moiré wall that blends color and light in visual waves reminiscent of galaxy forms. The slightest change in perspective creates an evolution in form, which will be seen from great distances, especially at night. The three layers create valleys that participants can walk through, shifting focus from layers to an internal landscape. Motion sensors set at the ends, and in other locations, will act as gateways, activating waves of complimentary colors through the more stable slow evolution of color in fiber optic systems lining every vertical element. The work is meant to reflect on the complexity of layering energy and relationships, which shifts with only the slightest change
Facing the Fearbeast
‘Facing the Fearbeast’ is a project about facing the fears that hound us, both externally and internally. A snarling monster of claws and teeth and nightmares looms over a lone child, who faces the monster with dignified courage.
The Beast itself represents both the actual dangers that threaten us from outside as well as the complex of traumas, self-deceits, & phobias that exists within and perpetuates the many miseries that humans deliver upon each other and themselves.
The Child figures represent both the Wounded/traumatized child that is often at the core of many of humanity’s most destructive and violent behavior, as well as the Healing child that is both vulnerable and powerful in their creativity and capacity for love.
Fantasmophone
The Fantsamophone is a collaborative interactive sound sculpture. Look for a floating iridescent torus and enjoy creating a surreal and unique sound scape. This piece is meditative if you are alone and delightful if you are in a group.
Faradays Cage
Faradays Cage is a 20′ tall, conceptual steel tree from an alternate reality featuring brilliant multi-hued spinning leaves and brightly colored geometric patterns. This climbable, interactive piece is an oasis for relaxation & reflection and offers a colorful counterpoint to the harsh desert environment.
Feeding on Dreams
Feeding on Dreams is a 10ft tall hummingbird with a 10 ft wingspan feeding off of a flower whose center is the planet earth. It represents the collective dreams of society as one people feeding other sentient life.
FIRE
The FIRE Installation appears as a grove of fire ravaged Manzanita trees in stark contrast to the white canvas of the Black Rock Desert. Each tree stands as a unique sculpture, an individual entity, made more beautiful by its initial struggle for sun, the resistance to gravity, and ultimately the sculpting by blazing wildfire heat.
The installation poses questions regarding humanities ongoing relationship to the element of fire. Is FIRE friend or foe; teacher, healer, provider or malevolent force? Accompanying the grove an interactive altar provides a space for 2D art and written word responses to the questions.
Flamingo Roost
Flamingo Dream is a 16ft tall vision of pink loveliness, festooned with American Lawn Flamingos. The tower is supported by a tripod and has a circular bench around its base. Each leg of the tripod is sheathed in a pink petal and topped with nested flamingos. The three petals are rimmed in LEDs and provide a unique beacon at night. Capping this piece is a whirlygig, also encrusted with flamingos, that turns with the wind.
Flaminigo Dream is a place to rest and meet people.
Fleur de Lux by KnSculpt
At 19′ tall, 2600-Lbs, our robo-botanical steel sculpture is a “Blooming Lotus Flower of Bling” that not only changes shape, color, and sound but potentially hints of fragrance. Each aspect becomes a facet of artwork on its own. Adorned with 3,600 LEDs, this eclectic piece incorporates vibrant acrylic and bright sheet metal with recycled armor plate and reclaimed agricultural pipe. Its 8 elongated petals mechanically pivot overhead atop an 8′ steel column like a compass rose. Its foliage naturally diffuses sunlight through 160 panels of chromatic lucite by day while a gradient of colors illuminate outward by night. From the shadow play of crisp silhouettes, to its prismatic light show, Fleur de LUX is visually stunning at any hour.
Forest of Dreams
The Forest of Dreams is formed of 40 trees, 10ft tall, all made of steel. The trees are to be arranged on a square grid, 10 trees by 10 trees, placed in concentrically smaller grids and culminating in an open area at the center. The forest will be bathed in dancing LED lights of multitude of colors shining through the shaped cutouts in the trees. Citizens of Black Rock Desert will be able to see the forest for miles. My hope is the forest will be placed in deep playa past the temple so it will be dark enough for the forest to shine. Our hope is for participants will interact with the forest in the most magical way. As one will enter the forest, the will find a world of colorful beauty where one can let go, dance, be silly, discover a new more playful self. As an installation artist my goal is to create art that is experiential. With the Forest, participants not only physically walk through and explore the piece, they get lost in the space and become one with the forest.
Fork in the Road
Fork in the Road is a whimsical 30-foot tall steel installation representing the classic metaphor for a deciding moment in life when a choice between presented options is required. The piece is created by Hunter Leggitt based in Denver, Colorado.
Fractal Droid
The Fractal Droid sculpture will be a 12′ X 15′ tall biomechanical head extruding from the earth, cracked open like an egg with a curved ultra-wide face screen displaying HD content by our Visual Artists. The VR aesthetic draws our viewers in to explore the textures and programmed light designs within the sculpture.
The exterior aesthetic is created out of laser cut birch and CNC cut plywood painted with high gloss finishes and covered in programmed LED strips, spot lights, and ambient speakers, the sculpture is a high functioning playscape of social connection experiences integrating technology and human energy.
The fractal droid is interactive sculpture that is a bridge way between the integration of man and digital art technology.
Fractaled Mind
Fractaled Mind is an 11′ tall interactive sculpture of repeating shapes in a fractal pattern. The sculpture explores shape, color, light, and the language of the universe. It creates a space to climb, explore, gather, and rest. The predictable and repeating pattern of boxes is colored on each side in a gradient pattern. By night, lighting that cycles through the color spectrum augments the color and shadow on the structure creating an ever-changing form that challenges the predictability of the fractal pattern. Climbing the structure reveals an interior space to rest and gather. The space is filled with monochromatic light that contrasts the constantly changing light of the playa.
Free Pizza
Architecturally crafted structure providing a double-sided bench with a little bit of shade overhead. Sit – Zen – Design.
Freedom Trident
This ancient symbol is believed to have originated as a tribal symbol, a synthesis of the divine elements of fire and water in the manifested world. The wisdom embedded in trident is universal. Three points, three worlds, and trinities are ever-present in human mythology and culture. Today, a trident is a symbol of unity and freedom out of which all the planes of existence emerge and collapse into. A symbol of perseverance and determination, a symbol of a fight for freedom and democracy.
FreudsDreams
We are a group from Vienna – City of Sigmund Freud and his psycho- & dream-analysis.
And don’t we all need some therapy now and then!
On the therapy couch of the early 1900s burners can tell Sigmund Freud their dreams of all kinds
* dreams you had while sleeping
* the dream you are currently part of or
* your dream of the future
and record it on an audio device.
The result is an endless audio tape of all the anonymous stories and dreams.
Friendship Cube
The friendship cube is a sacred space to celebrate friendships, both existing and new.
Just as amazing friendships are the jewel of our lives, the friendship cube stands out like a beacon of joy on the horizon.
Black Rock City citizens will enter the cube with a chosen friend to intentionally & vocally honor that friendship.
Inside the cube each corner contains prompts that the friends may take turns expressing to one another, such as “I love your…” or “I admire you because….”
An altar of friendly love.
GAIA
GAIA, a 40′ metal/mesh sculpture of a reclining woman is the latest sculpture by Marco Cochrane with Julia Cortell: Inspired by and in honor of nurturing energy…mother energy…love and connection: and the joy we feel when we act on the imperative to take care of each other and our planet. We are all one.
Genesis
“Genesis” is an enchanting, fun, kinetic fire sculpture that presents itself as an elegant Sunflower atop a geometrical stand – that invites its audience to interact with its spinning Seed of Life center. The Seed of Life is a universal symbol of creation. Found at the heart of an ancient symbol called the Flower of Life, there is an entire cosmology of consciousness encoded into this singular geometric seed. In essence, the Seed of Life symbol, with its seven interconnected circles, symbolizes the interconnection of life on Earth and universal existence. It also symbolizes that all life originated from a single source in a divine plan. The name, “Genesis” quite literally means – an origin, creation, or beginning.
Gilded
Scared of snakes? Maybe not if you get close to this western diamondback rattler. As you are drawn in, you’ll see that it’s scales are actually gilded flowers and leaves. Delightful to admire and touch. A deceitful serpent from the Garden of Eden or nature’s beauty? Your choice.
Glow White and the Seven Rocks
This sculpture is glass (acrylic) case with a plaster cast of a greek-style sculpture in a sleeping position inside. A glowing apple is near the hand of the plaster cast. The case is propped on glowing rocks. Seven glowing rocks circle the coffin. This sculpture enchants and draws people to the mystical space it creates. Emotionally, this sculpture evokes fairytales and that the romantic and eternal sleep of the figure is outside of time and reality. The classical nature of the greek style statue contrasts dramatically with the barren and expansive character of the playa. Light drives the event at night, and every aspect of this piece will be illuminated bringing a soft white light to an otherwise very dark place.
Grandmother Tree
Grandmother Tree tells the story of our love and will be a place for telling love stories of generations before and after us. The shape will be like that of a windswept Cypress. Inspiration for the look of the piece came from a variety of different trees: Madrone, Bay-Laurel, Eastern Redbud & Cypress. She will have an east facing 2 person seat at her core & a long root reaching south that acts as a bench. She will be made out of reclaimed wood, metal, and hardware recovered from previous Burning Man projects, fences, and construction sites. The visual impact from afar will be whimsical, mysterious and intriguing. At night time the tree will be lit, shining from inside out with multiple colors and lanterns hanging from her branches.
Harmonia
Chaos and Resonance. Cycles and Epicycles. Movement evokes sound. Forms are implied. Unexpected order arises. Harmonia is a highly interactive light sculpture with spokes animated by light in harmonically related motion.
Harmony Strand
Can you imagine a world where humanity lives in harmony with each other, the animals & environments? The Harmony Strand is a nature-inspired beacon of light calling out for humanity to join forces for a more sustainable and harmonious world. A reminder that we are all connected, made of vibrations and frequencies and each have the power to help make this world a better place. On Thursday, 3pm, a naked art happening with photography will take place at the Harmony Strand called ‘Ashes to Ashes; Dust to Dust’ connecting participants to form a ‘Human Harmony Strand’ for peace, love, harmony & climate action. Red hands for HUMANITY ; Harmony Strand symbol for HARMONY organized by Dusty Doodler.
Homage au dali
This is a physical recreation of the 1948 painting by Salvador Dalí called “Los Elefantes.”
Hooter Tooter
Hooter Tooter is a set of 4 musical teeter totters where the energy and motion of the riders create music from the eight sets of notes. The music comes from handmade wooden organ pipes that are attached to bellows under each beam. It brings people together to have fun and create playful harmony. As more people join in, more notes play, producing sonic cacophony or beautiful music.
Hope
The clenched fist has long been used as a symbol of resistance. This can be traced back to the 19th century, when revolutionaries first used it against the European monarchies. It was later adopted by Europe’s anti-fascist movement. In the 1960’s, most famously through Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the Mexico City Olympics, it became both an iconic symbol of the Black Power Movement and a universal representation of the struggle for civil and human rights. The image symbolizes the ongoing racism and injustice throughout the world, but it is also a beacon of power, pride and perseverance – holding the promise of ‘Hope’.
HORIZON - Realms Within
“Horizon” is a shaded space designed to relax, reflect and explore the worlds within. We invite fellow burners to get lost in a sea of blue and yellow, or perhaps in a sea of their own thoughts and feelings.
Horizon is what lays between blue sky and yellow fields. Our goal is explore what is in between. What is happening in the world today, what awaits ahead… How can we find unity and make peace with one another?
I Ching O_Matic
The I Ching O-Matic is an elaborate analog game station based on ancient Chinese oracular techniques. The I Ching Book of Changes is a 3000 year old knowledge system that interprets life energies based on questions. The I Ching O-Matic presents ancient wisdom in a streamlined form to experience on the Playa. Participants ask a question via colored gems which then flows through a step by step discovery and self-education process. There is a detailed information display that translates the wisdom that flows from the oracle. A large amount of sacred language is distilled down to a concise answer to be found within the display. Earnest participants can ask deep personal life questions as they wish and receive a precise answer to their inquiry.
I Heart Mom
With this 20 foot tall wooden sculpture of the traditional style I Heart Mom tattoo, we hope to bring all the beauty, struggles, highs, and lows associated with Moms (or other loved ones) who have shown us true, selfless love. This is more of a dedication piece but not specific to one person, it can be anyone in your life that you love wholeheartedly and made you the person you are today. Unfortunately not everyone is able to bring those people out to BRC to experience Burning Man so this is a way to honor them on the Playa.
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.
Illumina Radiata
Six decorative fins acting as both shade structures as well as anchor points will arc upward to buttress a 44 foot tall vertical steel center pole. Radiating out from 3 equidistant sides will hang 3 identical columns of intricately patterned panels and wings, fabricated with bent steel bar and plasma-cut sheet steel. Various patinas and other metal types add texture and color to help define the patterns, designs and motifs that make up the panels. Fine details to appreciate by day will be lit at night by colored LED spotlights to create infinitely variable patterns. Wind-driven outstretched wings will rotate around the center pole, giving the sculpture a kinetic aspect. Flame effects will be at the top, on the wings and on the ground.
Imbalance
Every second about four people are born and two people die. “Imbalance” viscerally reveals human population growth through digital counters that track worldwide births and deaths since the gate opened. By the end of the week, Imbalance will report about 3,400,000 births and 1,500,000 deaths.
INCENTER
Home is now a place of refuge and a space isolated from community. Yet from home, we’ve shared this time apart together. INCENTER unearths this global connection: inside the shape of a house, our earth is found and viewed from within.
If it could be occupied, the center of our earth would be the only point in the universe where all humans would be in focus and equidistant from one another simultaneously.
INCENTER immerses its explorers within a manifestation of this fantastical innerview, and interactively displays global data to communicate a vantage of global interconnectivity and individual impact with respect to panoptic crises. This unique perspective hopes to remind us each that we are not alone, and that Earth is the home we share.
Indicator Species
Plecoptera is a Stonefly Nymph crucial to stream ecosystems, and a building block of ecological diversity. A 40-foot, stainless steel and aluminum Plecoptera is dancing upright on the horizon. Her life-like motions and glittering metallic colors are attracting passersby like a Siren. This smiling six-limbed goddess with compound eyes, delicate antennae, and silky metal leg fringe, anal gills, and cercus is a warrior insect from another dimension. Her inquisitive antennae and six limbs swimmingly stir the air, simultaneously producing music: deep gongs and chimes as people, small below the huge stonefly, pull ropes at the base of the structure. The small action below causing large action above reminds us of the importance of small things.
Infinite Dreams
Infinite Dreams blends our finite reality into multiple infinite dreamscapes. Pillars of reality keep the dreams just out of physical reach, but surrendering to the experience brings the dreamscapes ever closer.
Infinite Regression & Cubic Fantasy
When one gazes into infinity, what watches back?
Made of geometric shapes, During the day it will reflects what is around and at night lights up to show the mysteries kept inside.
Infinite Stare
“Infinite Stare” is a monumental sculpture of a head full of ideas by day and cosmos at night. From the distance, the head will look familiar; as if a forgotten culture had left it a millenia ago.
This installation represents ourselves while in ego (represented by day) and in Oneness (night); that we are all a part of universal consciousness.
Where the face and should be is a blank area representing the melding of all faces. Inside the hallowed-out head is a place where people can sit. Drawn inside the shell of the head are all kinds of ideas with pictograms depicting ideas that can filter through a person’s head. At night, the pictographs are superseded by light images of cosmos representing our infinite minds beyond the mind chatter.
Infinity + Beyond Column
The Infinity + Beyond column is a reimagined version of the Endless Column by Constantin Brancusi specially designed for the playa. While the original is made of metal, this one has a wooden structure with a thin veneer skin. As the sun sets, the column will slowly come alive with organic animations, which will get more intense as the night goes on. Certain special events will be observed on the column in a visually distinctive way, meaning to surprise and delight passersby.
Infinity Temple
Reflection becomes a journey. The Infinity Temple, a kaleidoscope of color and reflection. A pentakis dome, filled with over 10,000 LEDs and two-way reflective acrylic.
Flawless mirrors during the day allow deep reflection, while infinite color and light at night transports you to another world.
Inner Child Dream Catcher
It is a child’s playground that is used to stimulate past or suppressed feelings. The feelings of a child. It has a shade structure to block the suns heat during the day. At night it has an array of blue led lights to create a soothing feeling. At sunset or sunrise placed benches are available for relaxing and watching the sunrise or set. At other times, the benches make a perfect spot to observe the adults at play. The playground toys are four nautically themed spring riders located in the center of the shade structure. A person may play as a child and memories or states of mind can come out to be dissected later
IntraNurture
Where does healing begin? Within.
IntraNurture, meaning to nurture from within, is an INTERACTIVE, INNOVATIVE sculpture that fuses large-scale ART with HEALING TECHNOLOGY. The wings of the enchanting, 16′ ft tall, 40′ wide, color-changing eagle create an inviting embrace to welcome participants towards a healing voyage located within the eagle’s body. Just below the eagle’s beak is the entrance to the Heart Chamber. This 9′ x 9′ decorative and intimate space is where participants interact with multi-sensory, immersive, sound, light and somatic technology that has been calibrated to initiate a communion with “radical self nurturance.” Radical self nurturance is the key to unlocking your most present, vibrant and connected life.
Invisible Light of Distant Stars
An observatory making visible part of the Universe that cannot directly be seen or experienced. It shows the paths of cosmic rays whose journey began millions, even billions of years ago,.
The 6-sided pavilion is of doubly-curved, cloth panels designed to block wind & light. The lower half is a tent-like motif with 3 entrances. The upper half is 19 outwardly radiating, tension-membrane funnels lit from within representing the gravitational sources of cosmic rays.
Inside is a 7-foot tall, cylindrical spark chamber with 3 spiral legs modeling inter-galactic magnetic fields that twist the paths of cosmic rays. Over this is a funnel of cloth, representing the gravitational potential well of Earth. The inside walls represent stars in the heavens.
It's a Trap
A life-sized wooden mousetrap with a painted white marked Burning Man body inside (similar to a crime scene ) and an Instagram symbol in the center to represent the cheese. The dead Man was caught by the Instagram cheese as a meta statement about culture and Burning Man.
Instagram is a cancer on, and what is wrong with, the Burning Man culture. Taking photos for one’s personal brand or to commodify their own or others’ burn is bad. Instagram and social media won’t disappear, but cacaphony and absurdity is the root of Burning Man. Cultural degradation must be pointed out and ridiculed. The rise of Instagram models as a proxy for the death of the Man, results in the culture’s death. The real goal is to be present and with others.
ITZPAPALOTL OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY
Conceived as an altar for the spirit of the desert, this is a portal inspired in the well known ancient civilization deity of the Mexicas Itzpapalotl, the Obsidian Butterfly. The one that knows and embraces the shadow the duality as one. Shape relations, spaces and transform consciousness the altar is a place of contemplation, of being in contact with yourself, of observing movements guided by the sun and its shadows and we present a obsidian mirror, which serves as a solar lens and a cleansing energy tool.
Jackalope Adventure Guide
The Jackalope Adventure Guide has descended from the realms of the Cosmic into the fuzzy reality that lies between Dust and Dream. Here, this mystical creature awaits those who would seek its oracular powers on their journey into Adventure!
Jay's Suitcase
The artwork celebrates Jindrich “Jay Mingle” Kadlec, an artist, fabricator, and producer who passed away in 2019. From outside, it’s a large light artwork. Inside a kinetic sculpture contemplates: “Can the creativity, memories, and love of a person fit within a single suitcase?”
Jay went through a phase in 2010 where he used a large pink suitcase as a briefcase even though it was much too large for the purpose. He playfully refused to let anyone see inside. The interior sculpture is made from that very suitcase along with many keepsakes, photos, letters, and objects owned by Jay or linked to his life – all aiming to capture his totally unique and dynamic spirit. Provided headphones play audio of Jay’s friends telling stories about him.
Joya and its Mate
Joya is a black metallic structure that has the shape of an upside down diamond formed by six columns, 6 levels of removable static platforms. It has six sides. The columns are structural irons and the platforms are folded metal plates.
Mate, has a circular contour, and is an octagon. It has a mate cup shape.
Both structures have deep meaning in our latin culture. “Estoy Joya”, means when people are having a good time, all they say is “I’m Joya!”.
An English translation would mean that you’re in a jewel, splendid place. Or state, frame of mind.
Mate, is an ancient tea beverage that gathers people to share moments.
One represents the gathering, the sharing. The other, the root and fundamental of having a great time, connect with other citizens.
Kaleid-Escape 2
See the world reflected!
Kaleid-Escape is an interactive art project where a participant can view the surroundings and themselves and see things in a different way. Mirrors create an aimable periscope/kaleidoscope that bends the surrounding sights and people into a dreamlike fractal view. Direct viewing or incorporating a camera or phone for video or images makes a change in perspective.
Karaoke Deth Machine 2000
The Karaoke Deth Machine 2000 is a floating monolithic inter-dimensional antenna that uses electronics and feedback mechanisms to channel alien messages and fun, participant generated songs. It is the second piece in a series.
Kin-Neko
Kin-Neko is a gold cat, a family cat, a beckoning cat… a recurring vision of fortune in a dusty dreamscape. A seer, a messenger, and a guide. It glimmers in the light and illuminates the dark with an all-seeing third eye. Kin-Neko bears offerings of fortune and insight, always with a knowing smile. It is a beacon in the dust for wanderers and ramblers alike.
Kintsugi: the Art of Healing
Kintsugi: the Japanese art of repairing pottery with lacquer and gold. Scars are highlighted, not disguised. But how do you repair a broken heart?
Sentinels protect the heart with vigilant eyes. Within these Guardians, you can research the artifacts of pain, loss, guilt and shame. Each token is a memorial to a heart wrenching story. The Guardians turn these artefacts into bricks used to protect the heart by building a wall around it. But while walls protect, they cannot heal a broken heart.
When it is time to heal, we turn to nature. The heart’s forest feeds the heart. The larger-than-life rotating heart knows what medicine it needs- what medicine you need: love, connection, gratitude. Each tree will help you on your journey.
Kokopelli y los Coyotes
Side Yard Art continues its exploration in metal and minimilism; ie Steam Monk, The Keyed Up Shark, and The Row Boat Bass. This years exploration brings us to an interplay between Kokopelli and Coyote, imagined in metal and prose. The metal is a physical monument to existence. The prose is a parable on the value, cost, effects, and interplay of Trickery and Deceit. A few of the Parable we are working on include the ideas of ” F— me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me”. “Reaching for the Unobtainable, in our waking dreams”, The Sly Thief parable, The Parable of Strength and Honor, The Parable of Cooperation and Goodwill, The Idea of How to Titillate an Ocelot, the Parable of “Is it better to be Lucky than Smart.” There is more..
Kukulkan's Portal
Standing at 45ft tall, Kukulkan’s Portal will be more impressive than previously displayed. The merkaba will be entirely constructed of translucent lexan multi‑wall sheets encased in industrial strength resins. The idea is to make the merkaba look like a giant marble crystal shining on top of a pyramid. After we construct the individual triangles, we’ll coat the surfaces with a resin‑paint mixture to get the marble affect.
The cube is made of aluminum truss skinned with laser cut aluminum and backlit with LEDs.
They pyramid will also be constructed of truss and skinned with aluminum panels and will be climbable. The cube and merkabah will not be climbable.
At full height, the project will be 42ft tall and 27ft wide on it’s point.
Last Bet Motel
In Reno’s heart, a beacon of absurdity and low income housing shone at the corner of up-and-coming and pushed out. The “Best Bet” Motel was not the “best” for decor, but it provided shelter for our neighbors experiencing homelessness. Torn down in the name of “Californian progress,” we erect a monument to the not-soon-forgotten “Don’t Be Crasy” sign which illuminated the motel parking lot.
We present the “Last Bet” Motel, complete with separated rooms and mannequin “guests.”
Gleaming chrome mannequins encroach, fueled by the greed and capital of privilege, armed with demolition tools. Their threatening postures evoke fear and rage, as they plan to take the Motel for themselves and leave nothing for the folks that made it their home.
Late to the Party
“Late to the Party” is a big silly ghost, who just wants to join the fun! Unfortunately, they’re quite “late”, in a biblical sense. Holding a balloon to light the way, this sculpture is barely there, until nightfall when colorful light emanates from within the face, hands, and base of the ghost. Visitors to the deep playa will find this funny character by the light of his solar LED balloon, looking for the party.
This artwork represents our memories, loved, past and future. The embodiment of the ghost is a metaphor for the things we often can’t pin down, the places we long to visit, things altered by time or things that have drifted away. This ghost is waiting in the dust to remember you, and show you the way back to a different time.
LineLand: Green Grass of Hope (Springs Eternal)
A set of 5 unique grass shaped works 6 x 30 x 24 Inches approx each, sit on the landscape (with built in stakes) to make a traversable space, approx 10 x 10 feet, that can be felt in the knees and often elicits a feeling of walking in a garden, or the relief of green in a hardscape space, while also being somewhere between organic and minimal or perhaps virtual.
Lost Frequencies
Large scale anatomical human heart with a beat that glows and pulsates a high energy healing frequency.
Love Pod Forest
From the Greek Eros & Logos, a lighted sculpture of two trees growing together, a palm and an oak, also known as a St. Augustine Tree. Logic and love, heart and mind, deep interconnectedness and a spiritual oneness within ourselves, in our relationships with others and with the earth itself. Love Trees are inspired by the works of Lewis Hyde touching on themes of sacred economics, love, playfulness, mischief, magic. Lewis Hyde inspired the spreading of the gift and promotes art as a gift without commercialization as such.
Love Shack
Love Shack invites Black Rock City to share what you love. There is space to hang out, interact and regroup. Reflect or engage, sit or meander.
Lucid Booth
Meditate for just 30 seconds in Lucid Booth, and you’ll be transported into a fully self-controlled lucid dreaming state.
Open Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday from 9 to 10pm
Lux Lepus
Three sculptures of jackrabbits, each a cluster three hares. Each triad consists of transparent cut-outs, with block print style images of rabbits, casting shadows of themselves during the day and luminous by night.
The detailed facial features, human scale, and gaze of the rabbits is meant to engage the viewer on an emotional level, inviting a sense of connection with the animal. An illustrated display accompanies the piece providing information about and depictions of the local flora and fauna for those interested in learning about the year-round residents of the Black Rock dessert and surrounding area, as well as the mythology and symbolism of the hare
M- Theory Mechanica
M-theory Mechanica is a interactive kinetic sculpture that represents unification of all things chaotic. M-theory in physics unifies all consistent versions of superstring theory and this sculpture represents unification of participants that interact with it. The more energy that is put into it the more chaotic and stimulating the sculpture becomes. There are three stations equally placed around the base for participants that power the mechanics of the sculpture. As the recycled golf balls reach the top they will travel randomly through a captured track system triggering effects of light sound and fire.
Machine Hallucinations (Catharsis)
Machine Hallucinations boldly traverses the space between our digital and physical worlds, exploring the convergence of machine intelligence, media arts and architecture. Installed on a large screen and conceived as a fully interactive work, Machine Hallucinations invites viewers to visualise alternative realities by presenting them with redefined functionalities of exterior and interior architectural formulations, suggesting that all spaces and facades have the potential to be used as blank canvases.
Mebuyan's Vessel
Mebuyan Vessel is a spherical architectural installation that encourages community and interactivity. A creative imagination of “walking dreams”, it stitches together bubbles that allow people to move throughout the structure’s different dreamlike universes.
The title comes from Mebuyan, a goddess from the Bagobo mythology, an indigenous people of southern Mindanao, Philippines. A goddess of the afterlife with breasts covering her entire body, she nourishes the dead spirits of children, so that they can continue their journey of growth. Similarly, Mebuyan Vessel strives to become a nourishing, transformative, and cosmic place for citizens of BRC for their personal and collective growth.
MerKaBa Portal
MerKaBa (light-spirit-body) is the energy sphere in which everything exists,
and The MerKaBa Portal is the physical embodiment of that energy field.
Journey inside as you activate your spirit and senses…
Spin face to face with others in an intimate setting…
All the while topping off our batteries for tonight’s light show – you damn hippies!
MesmerElda -- 3 of the 6 grand rings
MesmerElda shows aspects of art on each of the 3 grand rings, which came from input the community provided. The art piece is designed to evolve over time, so that the other 3 rings will depict more ideas as they are offered. This installation is a vortex, meant to sweep in the observer, offering a space in the middle to sit and peacefully, garrulously, or otherwise enjoy the space. Certainly, when an art car arrives to play music, we expect people to dance within and around the very large piece.
Meta Girl
8 ‘ height statue of young women in polished stainless steel. In the times when many statues were removed from their pedestals what could replace them? Could it be something so generic that could work for all? A super girl from Marvel stories or not known character to wide audience that stand out as a Meta Girl.
Metamorphic Dischords
Ebbing from the pervasive background confluence of sound camps and mutant vehicles, those in proximity of Metamorphic Dis-chords may hear harmonies and beats out of sync, driven by wind, often teased by visitors interacting randomly or in coordination. Some may find it zen-calming like wind chimes in the mountains, others who inadvertently wake up nearby with a hangover may consider it just fucking annoying, though not loud enough to out-compete other soundscapes.
The output is determined by spontaneous wind and will, analogous to the path of our lives through the cacophony presented by default societies deluded and exploited by citizens in denial.
Metamorphosis
A dynamically LED lit Monarch butterfly, Metamorphosis expresses the beauty, grandeur, and fragility of life. It depicts the universal truth of change and transformation. The piece includes poetry that uses the imagery of the Monarch to express experiences of love and loss and explores our interconnectedness with the natural world.
First created in Burn2, the Second Life Regional Burn, Metamorphosis is a reverse virtual build, where the virtual become real.
Micro TV
Smallest and coziest TV setup that you’ve ever seen brings your regularly scheduled and sufficiently outdated programs back to Playa.
Modus Vivendi Phoenix
The Modus Vivendi Phoenix Totem is a shamanic interactive piece delivering transformation and healing for participants focussing on the values of R.I.D.E.
The totem is laid out as a compass; as a ceremonial context. The walking ceremony throughout the site will result in: inclusion of others; welcoming all ethnicities and backgrounds into relationships, community, and socio-economics; and, with less cognitive bias, demonstrating equity. Additionally, the spiritual entities affecting each participant will be enlisted in sustaining the healing and embodiment of R.I.D.E.
Burning of the totem is intentionally simple, restoring focus to primitive fires ancestors held ceremony with and the rising phoenix empowers regeneration and healing.
Money costs too much
MONEY COSTS TOO MUCH
This dining set is dedicated to the victims of oppressive political regimes around the world. Those in power are often blinded by the thirst of money and the fear of being dethroned. They prioritise their wealth, status and interests over other people’s wellbeing and even lives. Their values are as fake as money used to create this art installation. Struggle and poverty are real.
Morphoscope
Morphoscope is a series of 10 hand-cranked kinetoscopes, each infinitely looping through a short segment of 35mm film. Films are short animations, or live action clips. Some are funny, some are strange, all are wonderful.
Mother Jelly
Mother Jelly is a 12 foot tall interactive art piece designed to draw people in and converge under the safe space created under the bell of her body. She has a mellow blue ocean color led scheme until people enter the space under her, then she changes to a vibrant colorful scheme of led lights. Once under the body, people will find many treasures and hidden surprises. The space encourages people to talk and explore together while sheltering from the world in her protective fiber optic tentacled embrace.
N.A.D Lighthouse
Standing firm at the edge of the city, the N.A.D. Historical Lighthouse spills its light on the dust soft belly of the playa serving as a guide and symbol for all of BRC.
Night Bloom
Night Bloom. A night blooming flower found only on the Playa and only during certain times of the year. At night it occasionally catches fire providing warmth and light to those not so lost in the dust. Originally a concept born of desert blooming flowers some of which exist in the Nevada desert, this flower has taken on the transient character of flame in a desert.
Nighttime Oasis
Welcome to the Nighttime Oasis. The city is bustling and the music has been loud for days. You walk out into the darkness to seek some quiet. Dim lights bacon to a calm Oasis in the distance. Relax in the comport, talk with a friend or a stranger about the medaling of the universe, or just enjoy the peace of it all. The Nighttime Oasis is set in a semi circle just like the map of home and has a scene of a sunset that fades into the night sky.
No Flash Photography
No Flash Photography is a set of larger than life butterfly wings. The wings are mounted to a box with a bench to rest on. The design on the butterfly wings is made of recycled retro-reflective material, the same material that is used to make traffic and street signs. The piece is best viewed at night when the reflective design becomes the most apparent. No Flash Photography is working to remove the “influencer” from the art by creating a glowing design so vibrant in flash photos that it visually overpowers any person who tries to take a picture with it.
Nomadic Venues (The Brain)
The Brain is a red Inflatable plastic piece, inflated with helium gas and working with inner lights to make it glow at the night.
The surprising development of mobility for people and products; the digitization of communication and knowledge, migration, and an increasingly global economy have radically changed people’s perception of territories and borders. Historically, people have been on the move in search of a better life and future or new opportunities. Due to economic, cultural, political, or environmental circumstances, migrations have been voluntary and involuntary.
The Brain Balloon uses red color, which symbolizes a mind without limits, free to think, move and act. That mind crosses borders and does not need passports.
Nowhere Better
Eleven painted firewood towers arranged in a mystical cityscape are burned through video nightly. A reminder that there is NOWHERE BETTER than this place.
Numinous
Numinous is a dimensional, forced-perspective structure that continuously changes based on where participants are located around or within the structure. Using geometry to channel the power of the spiritual and supernatural, Numinous gives participants a view into the infinite possibilities of shifting reality.
Oculus
Oculus allows for our mind’s eye to wonder what could be occurring inside of us and why. Eyes have been paramount for human survival, communication, and creative existential exploration. Thus, eyes have carried collective cultural meanings over millennia. Appearing as a large luminous eyeball, Oculus reflects viewers’ own visual perceptive sensory nature that they share with other organisms.
omega flats
out at the edge of where the known becomes the unknown is blurred line there a lone way station sits. a place of respite. a place between places between one’s journey and adventure its Omega Flats.
One Tin Soldier
As you walk from the city deep into the playa, a series of objects slowly come into view, rising from the desert. Lost. Incomplete. Scattered. A series of giant children’s toys comes into focus. You can make out the letters L-O-V and E on alphabet blocks partially buried, emerging from the dust, the letter “O” taller than you. As you near, the beaten, weathered features and faded primary colors become clear. “Remember When…” it was all so simple….
Onward to Nod
Various Bike models out of metal with a representation of Bug Spirit Totems: Praying Mantis-Music ,and changes, Beetle- Life changes, blessings, and happiness, Bee-health, vitality, and prosperity, Butterfly-personal transformation, Dragonfly-change, love and sense of identity, Mosquito-change, and adaptability, Walking Stick-patience, build your dreams, and observe.
Life is full of illusions open your eyes, ears and mind to discover new truths.
Open Arms
You gotta open your arms if ya wanna get a hug and you need to open yourself to receive others. From a distance, “Open Arms” will look like a grouping of five flowers. Upon closer examination each “flower” is in fact a bowl (actually a 24-inch diameter cooking wok) on top of a 11′ high gently curved stem with human arms in lieu of petals. The life-cast arms are made from flexible polyurethane foam and are arranged in an outer ring of ten arms surrounding an inner ring of another ten arms. When you spin the drive wheel (located about three feet above the ground) at the base of the flexible drive shaft you will spin the bowl of arms which will cause the arms to open or close, depending on the direction you spin the drive wheel.
Optical Orb
Optical Orb is a 3D infinity kaleidoscope. Within this waking dream, we exist for each other as mirrors. We see our potential, we see our flaws. We have the opportunity to witness our projections. We question illusions. Optical Orb gives us a chance to see many faces at once, reflecting back at one another. Contained in this infinite kaleidoscope, we can observe our diversity and unity. What we see around us is a reflection of ourselves.
Orbit
Light and sound, in perfect correspondence, travel around a sphere. Various orbits are represented via sound and light. Participants are able to manipulate these sound and light patterns and find symmetries – or chaos – within these systems.
Owl's Nest
Owl’s nest
Small harbour for a couple wandering in Deep Playa in the night to rest between parties, sit and talk, warm and cozy, and enjoy snacks left for them by thoughtful birds.
Paradisium
Paradisium is an interactive grove of geometric trees built primarily out of reclaimed lumber and trees burnt in the CZU Lighting Complex fire in Santa Cruz. An interconnected canopy creates shadow art on the playa floor, and meandering pathways lead to an opening in the center. Climbable trees and various walkways among the canopy will afford elevated perspective. Just like a real forest, the grove will have its seasons and 24-hour cycles. Paradisium provides a space for respite and reflection while fostering a sense of community and an investment in our shared future.
Paragraph Zero (Catharsis)
Paragraph Zero is envisioned as a shamanic garden school in the metaverse, featuring a diverse array of plants in 3D, allowing viewers to interact with and be immersed in the natural world. The plants situated within the shape of §0 are approachable during the 3D glasses presentation, they can be activated and will introduce themselves with the help of audio recordings. Paragraph Zero exists as an activist draft for a universal law of protection of Mother Earth, the text of which is audible in 3D, and performed on a reconstruction of the Ancient Greek lyre. This Pythagorean healing instrument embodies the technique of catharsis in the ancient knowledge from indigenous Europe.
Paraluna
Paraluna is a giant, spinning disc of LEDs. Classical music plays from speakers on the ground while choreographed 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.
Parking Space of Broken Dreams
Are you chained to your broken dreams? Installlation will provide opportunity to release what no longer serves via journals.
Antique NO PARKING sign is surrounded by artifacts from childhood, a basket of tarnished musical instuments, antique small trikes, wagon wheels, rusty bird cages, and vintage pedal car, all chained together with padlocks.
Cherished yet discarded remnants of the past will hopefully provide inspirations to keep dreams alive! NO PARKING!
Participation Award 2020, 2021, 2022
Sometimes you don’t win first place or even place at all. But you tried… oh you tried! You did the very bestest you could and you know it in your heart.
If there was ever a time to receive a participation award for your efforts, that time is now.
For all the crap that’s been thrown at each and every one of you these past three years, there’s a 13′ tall participation trophy standing on the playa and it’s there to recognize all of your effort. Ready for you to stand proudly upon, knowing full well you tried your very best.
So what does it look like? It’s just like the trophy you’d find on a mantel but life-sized to fit your awesomeness. Stand proud, champ!
Particles VII & IX
Two abstract sculptures 8′ and 9′ height in polished stainless steel. Shiny interlocking elipses reflecting surroundings and spectators.
Peace & Arrow
A giant symbol of peace and acceptance stands towering over the landscape casting a shadow of itself while emitting light and energy too. In this way it beckons to its observers to come close and be present in the moment.
Additionally and because the artwork is more than a sign of peace, it is a tribute to the indigenous communities that use an arrow as imagery. A broken arrow represents the laying down or arms and a signal that a fight has ended while a crossed arrow is a sign of friendship and inclusivity.
Peace & Arrow highlights and includes each of these elements in its simple form.
Peace Under Pressure
“Peace Under Pressure” is a sculpture of a raging ball of fire with a woman sitting in the middle in peaceful mediation.
This work is intended as a reminder that as the world around us seems to burn we have the option of sitting peacefully in the flames, and not reacting. This piece is designed in layers, with the raging fire being the most readily visible, the thing that all will be seen from a distance. For those that look closer, the woman will appear within the flames, and for those that look even deeper, it will become apparent that as the noise of the playa increases, so does the intensity of the fire, but the woman, she remains at peace. Reminding us, that as the world burns, we remain in control of our reactions to it.
Peggy's Wash & Fold
Welcome to Peggy’s Wash & Fold, featuring state-of-the-art laundry equipment, happily disconnected from water mains and electricity, conveniently located by the Trash Fence.
People-Powered Music aka The Tinkle Drum
Music is art that brings people together. It’s a myth that only few can successfully create it.
Introducing the giant tinkle drum: a highly interactive work of art/music instrument/architecture that requires a team of people to walk inside it to turn the drum and create music.
Nothing is needed to experience the work other than participation: gather others, step into the drum and take steps together. It’s also re-programmable, so people can make their own composition. It encourages scribing, so people can share prose, lyrics and dreams from and for the inside the drum. And its designs reflect the dreams of the many people and cultures contributing from around the world.
Perennial Playground : PROLOGUE
Prologue is an introduction to a Perennial Playground by way of an enchanted garden. Here we take the fertilizers of life, the grief, anger, and frustration, add a dash of fire and plague, and pour some magical fairy shrimp dust on top. On our return to Black Rock City, we’ll see what has bloomed!
Petaled Portal
Petaled Portal is Portal now petaled. Possible of transformation to that which is here, brought to life through… C.R.E.A.T.I.V.I.T.Y.
Capturing
Reality
Endlessly
And
Timelessly-
Idealized
Vitally
Into
Techniques
Yieldable
Phoenix Syndrome
She is a representation of the re-birth we have all gone through in the last few years.
Standing 15ft tall clad in gold and copper, the phoenix will reflect the suns rays and the flames emitting from her head and wings.
Pipe Dreams
Pipe Dream’s main element is a 12″ diameter bronze pipe that is 12′ long. It will have a dome about 5′ in diameter on the top. The dome will be made of perforated metal and some colored lenses. The surface of the pipe will be covered by many different elements. Backlit screens will demonstrate the moire pattern as the outer screen rotates around the pipe. There will also be a zoetrope built into the pipe and will have a viewing piece that will give it a old time peep show feel. The illustrations on the zoetrope will be done by several different artists and we will be able to change the art easily during the event.
Pipe Dreams is an attempt to create a new piece that has the feel of machines that were made in the late 1800’s.
Planet View
Planet view provides an introspective perspective of the planet Earth. The ground level viewing pool provides a live aerial vantage point of the playa when the weather is calm as well as various prerecorded ground looking videos when the weather is feisty. Participants will have a chance to glimpse the playa from a vantage point that few have seen before and will walk away with an additional perspective that can only be gained from above. This piece is about experiencing new perspectives together in the hopes of realizing how perspective, which is to say our experiences, shapes our day to day understanding of the world around us.
Play With Your Food
This installation imagines a Waking Dream with a land of oversized food items that are not quite as they seem.
This immersive, multi-sensory playground is at first ordinary looking… until the participant inspects it more closely. Close up, viewers will be surprised with a birthday cake slide, a coffee cup merry-go-round, & watermelon seesaw.
Participants are invited to break the rules: to play with their food. To smell and touch the art. And to imagine a world where things are not quite as we usually know them.
Participants are invited to experience “discovery” again. To discover a cup of coffee, a piece of cake, & a slice of watermelon again… but to really experience them in a deeper, joyful, and more meaningful way this time.
Playa Art Park
The Playa Art Park is a space for smaller scale art within a park like
atmosphere forming a recognizable destination that is close enough for BRC residents to bike or walk to.
The Park is a 200″ diameter circle bounded by a necklace of lights around the outside edge. Four walking lanes lead visitors inside the park to a shaded cupola displaying the International Flag of Planet Earth Bench seating and garden chairs are placed around the area for lingering with the art and enjoying city views.
Playa Barbie Photo Box
Playabarbie Photo Box is your chance to radically express yourself and bend the stereotypes of how we view this childhood toy which changed women’s role in society. Our contrasting bright pink life- size doll box is available day or night for you to take pictures. This year it’s black light at night, break out your most Brilliant outfit and we will see you there.
Playa Beam
Playa Beam uses reflecting prisms to refract sunlight into a spectrum that can be projected across the Playa. Observers in the beam path will see a bright point of colored light on the Playa horizon. At first, Observers are surprised at this mysterious light appearing in full sunlight and then intrigued by its color changes, from red to violet.
The source of the beam is a pair of prisms located ~3000 ft north of the Man. The prisms are attached to an adjustable mount on a 4 ft pyramid. The direction of the beam is aimed by volunteer “Beamers”.
The Art occurs when Observers see the light and there is a Beamer aiming the beam to the Observer. As Observers see the light, a fraction will be drawn to the beam origin where they become Beamers.
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 interaction.
Playa Numbers
Playa Numbers is a deep playa chill area playing numbers stations through the night with photos from the era of Numbers Stations, and messages for Burners who stop by.
Number Stations were shortwave radio stations used for openly sending secret information to people using a technique known as One Time Pad. This is a communication method that uses clear text communication with a corresponding and mutable secret key – which is almost unbreakable without physical interception of the key. This was more common in the pre-Internet era – and short wave radio sets could easily tune into the stations, which would repeat in loops at night when the signal would propagate farther.
What messages will you hear?
Playa Passage
The Playa Passage is a doorway to people’s imaginations. The door may be opened by curious participants, revealing a lighted interior ‘canvas’ with various media and materials to allow drawing, writing, and expression. Participants may then close up the door, leaving their dreams, ideas, and imagination for others to enjoy.
Point of View
Pyrite field is a study and exploration of the geometry of crystalline structures. A self similar structure repeats at the atomic level holding pyrite crystals at 90 degrees. This causes the molecules to repeat into a large structure. however the result is not just a neat cube over a neat cube. The crystals jut out at 45 degrees, in an almost anti-gravity fashion. They can balance on the point because of tensegrity, as the stress of the structure is equally distributed to all of its points. When a person interacts with the sculpture, either by crawling inside during the day or playing with the shadow and light at night, they will be come a part of the geometry themselves, seeing the shadows reflecting on their skin and the land around them
Polymorphis (Catharsis)
Polymorphis is an exploration in Crystal Geometry. Polymorphis is a kaleidoscopic prismatic experience. The recycled cast glass panels in the inside of the structure are inspired by crystal geodes and represent the constant generation of structure at the most minimal scale. Polymorhis is a beacon filled with light.
Pomo
POMO embodies the structural geometry of the cubic world, more specifically of a 3D checkerboard of cubes expanded to interconnect. The fabric of space. Clustered as a group of five pods with a spire on a pyramidal tiered base it evokes a vessel, perhaps a Genies Bottle? Or is it similar to a pomegranate, an ancient multi-chambered fruit with lots of red seeds? Consisting of fully truncated rhombic dodecahedral pods where the panels are what is left of the faces and the connectors crossing what would be their edges, they include floors and seat backs, and are designed to hold as many people as can fit in or on them, being made from solid birch plywood panels and connecting parts and an engineered LVL lumber frame.
Portal of Love
The Portal of Love is a copper pyramid with crystal walls. It aligns with the Golden Ratio and is consciously created with multiple forms of energy work. The copper and crystals are gridded with intention to open a direct connection to the Divine. This connection is a portal, allowing Divine Light and the Power of God/Source to flow into the Earth. This Light can be seen with the mind’s eye and is intended to bless, cleanse, and heal the planet and her inhabitants. Those who step inside this pyramid may feel a subtle, yet powerful energy flowing through them. It may catalyze an awakening or invoke mystical experiences. The crystals are programmed to bring about World Peace, eradicate corruption, and miraculously help humanity Remember.
Private Party
Private Party is your personal entertainment venue on the playa. Lose yourself in the playa ambience melody and glimmer of the wall of tiny disco balls.
Project Flashlight
Project flashlight is the joy of light at grand scale.
Pure, incredibly bright white beams like fingers of god in the dust, contrasts 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.
Quadrupod 2.0
The Quadrupod is a giant metal walking vehicle that is driven from within a metal pod cabin. This giant machine walks on 4 electrically powered legs and looks like something out of a Jules Vern novel. The purpose of this work is to show how just a little low tech engineering and a pile of scrap metal can be used to create something that appears to be advanced technology. This art piece is meant to inspire do it yourself Sci-Fi
Ratchetfish
RatchetFish is a Mechanical fish based on the deep sea hatchetfish which swims around in the air. Turning the cranks on the fence will control RatchetFish’s movements.
RE-NO CAMPING
Are you “camping” or are you “RE-NO CAMPING”?
Re:Emergence
Re:Emergence is a series of 17 interconnected hexagonal wooden gates. The open air, jungle gym-like skeleton invites multiple burners to simultaneously climb and walk through the sculpture. The entrance to the piece begins at 20′ tall, with the gates consistently contracting to 4′ at the center, before again expanding outwards to 20′. The open concept will trace striking geometric shadows across the playa floor during the day. At night LED strips, running lengthwise, display intricate animations that accentuate the contraction and expansion of the gates. These LEDs will be both sound and motion reactive, changing their behavior based on the presence of burners or art cars.
Reactor Project
The Reactor is an interactive 3D Hexagram.
It is built from recycled pieces of the previous burn’s Art piece, laid out in a different way, yet creating the same scared shape from the bird’s eye view.
It is a visible milestone, meant to walk-thru or bike-thru, take shelter from the sun or dust storms, play on its swings, and enjoy the light scheme at night.
REM Cafe and Croquet
At 60′ in diameter, the REM Cafe will have 3 – 6 metal and wood tables, each designed with playful and interactive elements. The centerpiece will be an approximately 8′ tall metal candelabra piped with propane flame effects and embellished with graceful blacksmithed details. Fire zen gardens will be placed throughout the space and a ring of lanterns will define the perimeter. Weaving in and around the space will be a croquet course with custom crafted mallets, balls and wickets made by the Iron Monkeys.
Rhythm Jism
When you stumble upon Rhythm Jism in deep playa your inner drummer will experience sweet release.
Ripple
You are the hole at the center of the wheel,
The empty space in the jug.
You look ahead and see a path full of sharp stones and peril —
This will take you
Not where you want to go,
But where you need to be.
The horrors of the world rush in, and you realize
That you don’t mind.
And only then do you understand
What it means to pray.
—
Ripple is a place of movement and discord. It is full of flowing water, sparkling in the cycle of its closed-circuit fountains. It is full of light reflecting through water, full of the sound of water. It is full of the joy and tragedy of the human experience. And even so, it is just a place of emptiness, which you must fill.
Rise
“Rise” represents inspiration and new found purpose in the wake of uncertainty.
For DRIFT, insights from nature offer clues as to how we might tackle the myriad challenges we face today — from the global pandemic to climate change to geopolitical conflicts. DRIFT’s Lonneke Gordjin explains, “True evolution comes from adaptation and from getting into unknown and uncomfortable situations, to learn and become better. We have a massive challenge ahead of us. If we understand how nature works in uncertain circumstances, it will become easier to accept and embrace that we have to go step by step and constantly change and adapt to remain a part of the evolution of this earth.”
DRIFT explores how to reconnect people with nature through technology.
Rositas Dream Vanity
Rositas Dream vanity is the perfect addition to playa. It is pink and yellow mostly and it has all the accessories anyone needs to look “good” in playa.
Rx4u
Deep in the Playa you will find a recognizable large amber bottle. Each person has a very different history and relationship with its contents. Come, discover and share your own connection.
Sands of Time
Sands of Time is a 7.5 foot-tall neon glass hourglass, with interactive beading krypton “sand” that allows a participant to change or even reverse the flow of time through touch. On the first day the top chamber is full of light particles while the lower chamber has a trickle. Each day the upper chamber of the hourglass loses a little height to the lower chamber, allowing daily visitors to see the progress of the week, until the upper chamber is emptied and it is time for us to leave the Playa.
Sea of Dreams
Sea of Dreams is an immersive fire sculpture with a story that unfolds even from a distance. Larger-than-life origami boats sail on a pilgrimage: sailing towards the central ring of fiery origami crane Elders guarding a sacred blossom with the power to dispel illusions. Entrapped in a landscape of their own making, these bold dreamers sail the Black Rock Sea to pay homage to the Elders and to release their illusions as blossoms of flame blooming into the void.
Their release is shared with an assemblage of FLG’s signature fire art, including actuatable flame effects and a liquid fuel shooter sending colorful 50-foot flaming blooms into the sky.
Sea of Flames Fire for the Hearts
We are bringing a large, flaming center piece heart surrounded by multiple small hearts. The hearts will each have propane burners, creating spectacular blue and orange flames as the metal glows red. Each heart will be unique; the stands’ and hearts’ design being influenced by different art genres. Our purpose is to create a place for people to come together around the fire. To us this is a place of remembrance of our lost brother and son Skyler. To others this can also be a place to embrace, love, let go, or take a little time to relax and appreciate life in the moment.
Secretly Abandoned Spaces
Every abandoned space retains a feeling of what it once was. Abandoned buildings retain a beauty of that which has been forsaken; it’s the loveliness of disintegration. This piece is about the beauty of loss and decay of a building, a community or of a loved one. Elegance emerges from loss as the world takes back its own. The house becomes a church of ideas that have died and long passed. The cast figures upon the staircase is a theatre, or a play. The interplay of figures tell their own stories. The figures will also be ornate as structures of antiquity. Secretly Abandoned Spaces in a museum of stories that have been lost in antiquity.
Seed of Dreams
Seed of Dreams is a 15′ tall sculpture of a human head, eyes closed, in dream state. Geometric perforations resonate outward from the forehead, emitting light from an internal source by night and reflecting the golden interior by day. An opening allows participants to enter inside of the sculpture to discover a wondrous grotto with shimmering golden walls and ledges to sit upon. A magnificent geometric light in the shape of the pineal gland hangs from the center of the head illuminating the sculpture at night. A large open book of empty lined paper with pens invites participants to record their dreams and reflect on their thoughts. Seed of Dreams provides a place for participants to seek refuge, meditate, or connect with their intuition.
Serendipity Dispenser
Gifting is a wonderful conduit for Serendipity. The most memorable and precious Playa Gifts are experiences. The Serendipity Dispenser provides all of the elements for a moment of delightful Serendipity. The Playa is transformed into a giant scavenger hunt, inspiring participants to fully immerse themselves in the magical Principle of Gifting!
Shark
Mosaic glass Shark by Peter Hazel
Shit$torm
A large brown turd shaped into a dollar sign has a toothy mouth for an entrance, and after a few bends, a crawl-out anus. Flies and other bugs hover over the outside, and weird microflora roam the inside, all made of plastic and other rejected materials from our collective consumer culture.
Fecal factoids will embellish the inside to flesh out relatable details of our need to unloose the caboose, offload some freight, or curl some pipe.
Micro-plastics have entered our gut, bloodstream, lymph, and brain, to the detriment of our long term personal health, in addition to our collective environment.
When we release the payload into the crapper our terrifically tapered excrement reveals that we are pooping dollar signs made of plastic.
Shrine of the Macabre
Shrine of the Macabre is a gorgeous and gothic sculpture of steel that houses the cycle of birth, life, death, thus embodying… survivorship.
Standing at 25 ft Tall 25 Wide in Circumference, it is meant to encourage participants to venture within, to relish in the fortitude of what embodies the will to survive from birth through death. Shrine of the Macabre consist of a silhouette of a steeples, with cut out flame designs along its edges on the outside. With these facades are, art openings, and art nouveau patterns. Each corner of the structure is buttressed by additional filigree-like steel. sitting on platform of 4 legs with 3D square and Lyra Rig beneath. It will be lit by a wide pallet of colorful LEDs and calliope fire effects.
Sirsasana - Headstand
Rising 30 feet from the playa, Sirsasana is a whimsical inverted tree with its roots reaching for the sky. Its trunk is interwoven wooden arcs based on the golden ratio that form a hyperboloid. The tree’s canopy spreads out on the playa floor with openings that invite participants to explore its intricate inner geometry.
Sirsasana represents the ability to re-learn one’s own nature, the ability to change, to create new perspectives. It was born from a thought experiment that if a human can do Vrksasana, the tree pose in yoga, then can a tree do Sirsasana, a human-centric headstand pose?
Sirsasana’s beautiful radiating geometry will be covered leaf to roots with sentimental details to explore from Srikanth’s childhood home of Hyderabad.
SISYPHUS 2.0
SISYPHUS 2.0 IS A 2 METER STEEL BALL CARRYING A SONIC PUZZLE WHICH PARTICIPANTS CAN UNLOCK. AS THE BALL IS ROLLED TWO TONES CONTINUOUSLY SHIFT AND WHEN A PARTICIPANT CAN ADJUST THE BALL INTO POSITION TO MATCH THE TONES THE BALL WILL SING A CELEBRATORY SONG. WHEN THE SONG ENDS THE BALL RESETS THE PUZZLE AND PARTICIPANTS MUST TRY ONCE AGAIN.
Sleeping Beauty
Sweet Dreams is a simple and graphic design of a person peacefully sleeping and the dream bubble above their head gives an open and ever changing view of the Playa behind it. The Waking Dream that is Burning Man, this and every year.
Small Hadron Collider (SHC)
Small Hadron Collider is an interactive LED light art installation that lets users launch “particles” of light along a long LED strip that comes up off the ground into a loop in the air. Two people on either side can launch particles at each other by jumping up and down, and watch them collide.
Snug as a Bug in a Hug
Born from dusty fairy tales on the top shelf, cocoon sculptures hold you in a warm embrace. The enclosed, intimate moments absorb and play with sound, while also providing a refuge amongst the happenings of the 7:30 Plaza.
Environmental sustainability is at the heart of this project’s material selection. The structural beams are made of repurposed trampoline parts with woven fabric tubing stuffed with straw, a material that will be returned back to the land within the artist’s local community after use.
The use of weaving in this art installation can elicit a sense of familiarity and belonging, while we return to nature, our bodies, senses and each other.
Snug Den
The Sung Den is a place where you can relax and escape the hot sun of the playa or get lots in the visuals at night. Easy to spot on the playa as a bright blue pyramid and rainbow lights at night make it an easy land marker to find your way home. Bringing the Burning Man community together one snuggle at a time.
Sonic Sphere
The Sonic Sphere is a truly immersive audio and light concert orb.
Occupants lie on suspended nets in the middle of the giant geodesic sphere where they are surrounded in all directions by lighting effects and 60 speakers each with a unique audio channel. This creates a truly omni-directional spatial audio experience – where shifting position and orientation shifts the perceived location of sounds from all around – front and back – above and below – left and right.
Specially composed multi-channel compositions & audioscapes complimented by synchronised lighting effects will play on senses of sound to elevate consciousness.
Source Energy: An Invitation for the Mind & Body
Source Energy: An invitation for the Mind & Body
Seek the feminine source to ‘cure’ what ails you.
An ancient & mystical tool attracting people, guiding healing, deepening self-knowledge & empowering creativity. Oriented towards sunrise, Source Energy is an inviting 35’x35′ labyrinth, created using ~450 terracotta tiles, each with a design reminiscent of ocean movement.
The warm glow of lights along the perimeter sets the tone for a peaceful experience.
With one way in & one way out, the journey begins at the labyrinth’s mouth, designated to receive & absorb intentions. The inspiring power of meditation awaits.
An energetic shift is inevitable upon completion as the internal & external of the subconscious is explored while walking this path.
Sow and Grow
Sow and Grow
As you cruise around the playa you see crystal flowers in the distance. As you approach the iridescent poppy flowers you take in the reflective prism colors on the playa. As night falls on the playa Sow and Grow will come to life. It will be illuminated to look like glowing crystal poppy flowers.
Spacecats Final Landing
Spacecats is a whimsical tableau dedicated to cats that have passed away. Coming back for the third and final landing, the catstronauts will be joined by other furry friends. Inside the categon shaped mothership you’ll find a retro futuristic interactive interior. You can play with human sized cat toys, lounge on human sized plushy cat beds, and slide down the giant cat tongue. Spacecats are out of this world!
Spacium Cistae
Bright pink gym lockers in the middle of the desert. A surprise awaits behind each door.
Spin your body--fun with gravity and angular momentum
We experience the world in a bifurcated way: everything is either “in front” OR “behind”–until we start to spin. Standing on a slightly tilted miniature marry-go-round, just big enough for one’s 2 feet allows one to experience embodiment in a novel way. Gravity changes from a “straight down” thing to a “outward pull” sensation, and requires a new and unfamiliar deployment of one’s indigenous balance faculties.
When one first steps upon a low friction tilted axis: 1. Stand still. 2. Stand straight. 3 Remember to breathe!
Starburst
Like starlight on a hazy night, tracers of light shooting off in all directions.
*Not affiliated with a certain small square candy.
StarGloves
StarGloves is an installation where all 10 of your fingers become lasers that touch the stars and can be seen across the Playa!
Start to Finish
Starting line for the race of a lifetime… are you ready to cross the line?!?!
Stella Nova
Stella Nova is a research project examining how mindfulness connects with storytelling. People are shifting away from fast-paced lifestyles to make room for self-reflection and inner peace. We want to explore this phenomenon with a social installation. It is an ambient sound installation performing with people interaction. Staging literature in delightful soundscapes!
Stoicheia [Elements]
Stoicheia [ELEMENTS] is an homage to Earth’s earliest thinkers and mathematicians, merging modern technology with the very foundations of mathematics, and dedicating it to the culture from which modern academia was born. A perfect dodecahedron, each side depicting the iconography of one of the Twelve Olympians, centered in a stained-glass rosary design, this four-foot hanging lantern is lit from inside with 2,200 morphing LEDs, the colors and patterns constantly changing, never repeating.
Strong Magic
Strong Magic is a large scale steel sculpture of a lioness creature that evokes a sense of power and strength. Consisting of a female lion’s head paired with a human torso, she brings a fierce female presence to the playa. From her outstretched paws she emanates fire and light, and is made up of intricate hand formed and welded metal linework. She represents letting go of self doubt and leaning into deep confidence. Strong Magic embodies love, fear, anxiety–all emotion– and the ability to transform that energy into personal power.
Struggles of the Heart
Struggle of the Heart is a concrete metaphor to illustrate the physical, emotional, and societal struggles that I and everyone else experiences in life.
The structure will be shaped like a heart covered over with blue and red tubing that to look like veins and arteries. An entrance leads into a tunnel interlaced with bungees. The challenge will be to squeeze pass, climb over, duck under, and twist around a lattice of bungee ropes web netting to get to the other side. Once through the tunnel, a ladder leads up to a shaded viewing platform with bungee rope seating.
At night one sees a pulsing blob from a distance. Close up the tubes will have lights circulating back and forth in a heartbeat motion.
Sunflowers
Admire the beauty of the sunflower grove that has magically spouted from the silt of the Black Rock Desert. At night, LED lights illuminate the bright yellow and green colors as they stand as a collective.
Sunrise Deep Island
A New World knocks at the door of humanity. The subtle worlds begin to gain matter as Planet Earth bids farewell to eras of duality and density. An intraterrestrial ISLAND emerges in the deep desert limits. Is it real? What is real? The will to create islands of light that believe in the restoration of the planet through the communion between the knowledge of the peoples of humanity. UTOPIA? It is in the splendor of the sunrise that, every day, the hope of a part of humanity that is committed to building a planet where cultures meet to CELEBRATE AND design new paths for a FREE Earth in PEACE is renewed.
Sunrise Trash Fence Photo Op for Slackers
A beautifully and painstainkingly constructed piece of art representing our beloved trash fence.
Suspended in misbelief
Three wooden rectangular portals will stand vertically in the desert, representing past, present and future. Pass through each to reflect on where you came from, where you are going, and appreciate the moment you are in.
We hope people will share both inspiring glimpses of their past that got them to this moment, as well as promising dreams for their future.
The 15′ tall “PRESENT” portal will be elevated off the ground, supported by the other two portals, allowing for a unique view of the surrounding playa, serving as a reminder of the value of being fully “in” the present. This is also why the center rectangle will be reasonably larger than the two outer ones.
The portals will burn toward the end of the week, providing an explosive finale.
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.
Symphonizing Seahorse-Building Bridges Between Cultures
“The Synchronizing Seahorse: Building Bridges Between Cultures” is a 9ft tall Seahorse sculpture made out of copper wire. I built this sculpture to honor our Oceans and remind humans of all the natural things that bind us together of which we are responsible of caretaking and propegating. This Art piece was worked on in Rosarito, Baja California, San Diego, California and in Houston, Texas. I hope that your experience with the piece brings joy and inspiration.
Synaptic Tree
The Synaptic Tree is nourished by the sun during the day, and awakens at night to contemplate the meaning of life. The tree represents the mindset of all living things and the value of diverse perspectives. The tree loves to be hugged and welcomes visitors of all species and cultures, biological, digital and otherwise.
Takes One to Know One
It’s a billboard of a spoof iPhone ad (no real world branding) making commentary on the overly self-introspective nature of some burners. In the beginning of the week it’ll be just for viewing; however, halfway through the week, we’ll transform it into a “Greetings from Burning Man” giant postcard where folks can step up and put their head through a hole in the billboard.
Talk Dirty To Me
Talk Dirty To Me is an interactive art installation phone booth where participants pick up the phone and have the option to record their sexy fantasy or dream or listen to a recording of someone expressing theirs. The recordings range from funny to serious but all represent what is sexy to the person who created the recording. The phone has a mirror with lipstick kisses on it, instructions on how to operate, and a book and pen for writing personal notes. The art piece has a real glass neon sign on top reading TALK DIRTY TO ME which provides a beautiful glow to the piece at night. The installation is fully solar powered.
Tea Time
Our 8×16 foot tea party table is set for the community to enjoy. Grab a cup of tea at our massive table, and turn the page on prohibited literature. Take a trip with us to wonderland.
Temple of the 5 Elements
Inspired by the 1997 film, The 5th Element, To5E is an interpretation of the altar & plinths from the film’s temple room. To experience To5E, two or more burners will ascend to the top of a short altar to stand on an inset, clear plexiglass disk, triggering hidden pressure sensors. When triggered, beams of light will shoot out from four surrounding stone pillars in colors representing Earth, Air, Water and Fire onto the participants on the altar, then a powerful beam of white light will illuminate the participants from below as they kiss or embrace, illuminating the surrounding area as they become the element of love until the lighting effect times out and fades to make space for other participants.
Temple of Thought
The Temple of Thought is a place to consider your thoughts and put a thought, written on paper, in the Man’s Brain. The Temple serves as a permanent address for the Man’s Brain that is on tour of Black Rock City. It has a mail slot for people to leave a thought for the Brain when the Brain is not there. The Temple design is in tribute to Larry Harvey, based on his Lamppost design, expanded out to include 12 lanterns, seating around the base with desktop space for writing notes… with shade too!
Temple of 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, lovers, or any who seek to be soothed in the beautiful space, surrounded by brilliant ultraviolet artwork. The five portals are themed to the sacred elements: fire, earth, air, water, and spirit.
The Afterlife
The Afterlife is a visually stunning LED and blacklight installation. It is an immersive and interactive art piece arranged in a Tibetan-inspired mandala.
Forming the outer circle, The Four Gates of the Universe are cornerstones, aligned with the cardinal directions and connected by prayer flags.
Journey inwards, interact with fire-breathing dragons, Family of Flags, Flaming Lotus heaters, Windows of past life pagodas, incense urns and glowing Dazebeds. Anchored in the center is The Stairway to Heaven Temple.
The Afterlife is an ethereal and whimsical dreamland beyond our lifetime. A portal of transition between living and dead, it’s a meeting point between the two worlds attracting soul travelers from far away distances.
The Apocalypse is Breathtaking
A ghost tree on fire,
Set your candles alight
The apocalypse is here
It’s breathtaking tonight.
THE ART PARK
YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Welcome to the Art Park. Here you will find a 5-part series of interconnected installations by Olivia Steele centered around a freestanding fireplace of burning handwritten words. The theme is togetherness and the process is real. Burners are invited to explore the concept of togetherness through awareness and unity. Heed the florescent and mirrored road signs surrounding the booth as you are reminded to Share Happiness. 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 that reads “You are not alone”. It’s all connected.
The Bar
It’s the universe manifested. It’s a starting and ending point at the same time. It’s as far or near as you’re willing to go. It’s a point in time unfolding. It belongs to everyone and no one. It’s for whoever is there to decide what it is and how to interact with it. It invites people to participate how they see fit, creating a temporary definition of what it is unmediated by its creators. This constantly changes its reality and the reality of those who happen upon it. It’s premeditated and in the moment. It’s learning from the past. It’s an endless stream of alternate futures. It’s the smallest details that together make a bigger picture. It’s the patterns we form in life, that repeat, and either change or echo forever. It is what it is.
The Black Infinity Cube
The black cube and two infinity mirrors on the opposite sides of it symbolize the worst challenges that happened with this world since the last Burning Man and our fears surrounding and mirroring it: the pandemic, protests, wars, racism, loss of the loved ones, hate, pain, anger, mental health problems, loneliness and separation. The purpose of my project is to give participants an opportunity to reflect and contemplate on all the darkness and traumatic experiences from the past few years. And it is our responsibility to stare directly at the darkness, accept the tragedies, process our emotions, and fight against the injustices.
The Bouncing Infinity Gadget
The Bouncing Infinity Gadget stands beckoning, tall and bright with hexagonal and spherical motifs and mysterious glyphs hinting at it’s creator. Colorful steel and plexiglass structures house a human-powered kinectic mechanism and system to get thousands of superballs bouncing chaotically but in a closed, dynamic flowing system. It has a bucket elevator, ball return and bucket loading system that people control with accessible crank wheels. You can walk around or go underneath the bouncy ball jar to watch the balls bouncing joyfully overhead. Upcycled cymbals inside the bounce jar offer bounce surfaces to change ball trajectories and create natural chimes sounds to listen to. The system represents a boundless infinity of bouncing energy!
The Conversation Collector
The Conversation Collector – a collective ephemeral chatty machine.
The Corporate Ladder
A ladder stands and reaches upwards towards the sky. The higher the ladder reaches, the more narrow the ladder becomes. The ladder is lined with LED lights that dim the higher the ladder reaches. Four mannequins dressed in traditional American corporate attire stand in line waiting to climb the ladder.
The ladder reaches up towards the sky. This represents the long, rigorous climb that people make to reach a high status in corporate America. The higher a person climbs, the narrower the ladder becomes–representing the difficulty and limited space for people to make it big in the corporate world. Four men await to climb the ladder. One man checks his watch as he is already impatient to begin the long climb.
The Dreaming Goddess
Welcome to a world in which the worship of a Goddess by animals and humans is still vibrant. It is a religion of the mountains, the deserts, and the wild places. It bridges us between our human and our animal natures, between life and the afterlife.
The Dusty Oasis
The Dusty Oasis provides an intimate, communal space to gather, dine, and connect. Embracing the natural elements of the playa, this open-beamed design encloses an abundant, 12-person, low-profile table, furnished with plush seating, luxurious rugs, and festive decor. For the first time, Bougie Burners offer BRC a place to celebrate and nourish the mind, body, and soul.
The Electric Sheepcatcher 3.0
The Electric Sheepcatcher 3.0 is a place where dreams are physically embodied in sheep, precisely measured, and visualized on the patented DreamScope 5000.
The FACE Project
The Face is an open invitation to face oneself. Collaged from Haeckel’s biological illustrations and synced with Rumi’s poetic calling, is the airy sculpture of 1D elements. Standing as a symbol of unity, the Face bridges: East & West, spiritual & biological, aquatic & terrestrial, fauna & flora.
Aquatic creatures constitute the elements forging the parallax illusion of a genderless portrait collage. Ambient music, sounds of nature, & multilingual echoes of Rumi’s call, seduce wandering souls in BRC with a multisensorial composition that awakens the mind.
The Face beckons to all and guides without advice. The target is meditative dialogue. The process is intentional & incremental: one step at a time, one visitor after the other.
The Fireside Circles
Circular concrete burn platform with two concrete semi-circle benches.
Pallete of wood.
The Giant Suitcase
What is real? Is it right where we are, or somewhere else? What if we could transport ourselves in a instant with a the help of a beacon? Could then multiple realities exists, or do they already? What would such journey look like? Where would we go and who would we become if we could? Introducing The Giant Suitcase, your ultimate beacon for travel.
The Citizens of Black Rock City come from all over the world, creating many astounding camps and villages, which consist of equally as many philosophies and views of what is. The idea with The Giant Suitcase is to form a communal space where we can all come together and explore the many unique, discordant journeys we all have as a community.
The Gin Mill
The Gin Mill looks like a translucent blue wind mill machine spinning on the desert floor. From the bottom its foundation is cast iron steel to represent the test of one’s time on the planet. The shaft reclaimed drill pipe once used 100’s of feet below the earth’s surface. The Nacelle or housing of the windmill apparatus glimmers as the sun and dust make her do work. Blades are constructed of slumped glass material that have an annealing touch of shimmering blue.
The polished chrome orb has a reflective quality and allows the sun to once again do its work like a looking glass into one’s future.
Dream on standing still as the Gin Mill takes a turn while awakened by the wind
The Giver
The Giver is the feminine. She brings life into our world. She in turn is praising the sun (or god, or whatever one my give thanks to), and thus the circle of life continues. She is a glorious eleven foot tall marble goddess.
The Goodest Boy
Charlie, a rescue pit, was The Goodest Boy. He passed away just about a year ago, not long after he was out on Playa for the first time. He wore a beaded collar that bore his name and a wave motif. The Goodest Boy is a replica of his collar, but 7′ in diameter.
It will be mounted like a halo with a doghouse in the middle. The doghouse will have pictures of Charlie inside, as well as a journal for people to share memories of their own goodest friends.
The Heads
We’ve got heads on sticks
And you’ve got ventriloquists
The heads are nine robot heads that turn to look at you and speak to you. What will they say to you? Are they wise or nonsensical? How will they react if you approach them?
The Hellmingo
On the front lawn of the afterlife looms a terrifying three-headed beast, the Hellmingo. Will she roam the dusty wastes of Black Rock City, devouring scorched participants, or is this rare mythical beast simply misunderstood? Once the sun sets, she raises her heads to the sky and spews fire, hopeful that her flames will help her lost brood of Heckmingos find their way home; can you help her find them?
The Last Ocean
THE LAST OCEAN explores the crisis of plastic pollution in our oceans. Composed of over 300 interactive platforms and created from reclaimed and recycled ocean plastic, The Last Ocean is an immersive experience created using Lewin’s unique in-house mesh network LED technology. During the day, the platforms of The Last Ocean will highlight the transformation of reclaimed ocean plastic with a swirled surface of blue and white particulate. At night, The Last Ocean will glow with vibrant animated light, cycling through a diverse palette of carefully curated colors as visitors interact with the work. Participants will splash and dance in waves of light, illuminating the organic and powerful nature of our oceans.
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.
To develop personal meaning humans inherently have a desire to understand the connection we have with self, tribe & with what we believe to be the universe around us. We can come to understand that to change the smallest part is to change the nature of the whole. Finding balance within duality is where we can find the courage to set ourselves free, to be who we’ve always felt we are.
Simultaneously singular & infinite; separate & connected.
The Lionfish Lounge Redux
The Lionfish Lounge Redux – gobbling up Black Rock citizens since 2019 in a sea of fire and plush.
The Little People
From uckiood (Missy Douglas & Kim Rask) – the creators of ‘Odd Jelly Out’ – comes ‘The Little People’. Inspired by characters from classic children’s literature, this sculpture installation sees Dot (Dorothy, Wizard of Oz), and Chip (Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh) reimagined with playful charm. They are accompanied by both Peg the sausage dog (Toto) and an Odd Jelly Out toy (Pooh bear), as well as three small sprite-like entities – a grumpy Pants (Peter Pan), a toadstooly Mads (Alice in Wonderland) and Lolly the Lion (Lucy from Narnia). Created from hand-cast fiberglass, resin pieces and stained glass, these dazzling figures fuse symbolism from the books with dream-like details and maximalist textures, colors and pattern work.
The Living HARP
The Living Harp is a giant string instrument designed to lead you into the heart of the Universe. When people sit beneath the strings, they feel as though they are inside an instrument and are bathed in peaceful, healing, and grounding vibrations. The strings are anchored on one end by an 18 foot tall, 24 foot wide wooden heart that lights up at night. The strings are anchored on the other end by the True Reflections Palace, an 8’x8′ cube with a platform on top where the performer stands to play the instrument, which will glow at night. Inside the palace are mirrors that show the true self. These elements come together to encourage a deep inner-knowing of the self.
THE LOTUS TEMPLE
“The Lotus Temple”
is a true feast to the eyes and light to the soul.
Created by Hindi Baghdadi the founder of “LAdy Gaia”
The Midnight Museum of That One Time at Burning Man
The Midnight Museum will be 25 faux stained-glass lanterns depicting artworks, events, and people of significant interest within Burning Man culture. Each lantern will be a box 3′ tall and 2′ wide on a 3′ high stand. Each will consist of a wood box housing a faux stained-glass panel on each vertical face. Each lantern will be lit from within and will be topped with a light pole. On the top of each pole will be an LED beacon that will display a variety of enticing colors designed to draw viewers in from across the playa. At the base of each pole will be a button that, if pressed and held down, will cause the beacon to dim. The lanterns will be arranged in a regular square grid with the lanterns 6′ apart on center.
The Mind's Eye
Through The Mind’s Eye might make you wonder if Salvador Dali and Jeff Koons had a dream baby. Colorful, animalistic, surrealist and absurd. It’s a big bright toy that wants to be played with. And while your inner child goes ‘squeee’ over its fun-ness, you also notice that deep in its soul (and also glaringly on the surface) this sculpture is about struggle, and the beauty and wilderness that could very well emerge from the darkness within… if you dig your heels in and keep your head up. Ex Umbris, Ad Lucem = Out of Darkness, Into Light.
The Museum of No Spectators
Out in the dusty playa of Black Rock City lies a different kind of museum. As you approach this intriguing and mysterious building with its unusually shaped galleries, appearing part machine, part creature, part abstract and surrealistic form. Its dynamic shapes appear otherworldly yet grounded. It is waiting for you to approach and become a part of it. This Museum encourages participants to enter through its Gifting Shop, where you will be encouraged to make a gift before entering. The building guides you along, as a partially covered hallway leads you to galleries on either side, until you have spent time in all eight galleries. When participants exit, they find themselves on a stage, the Theatre of the Participant.
The North Pole
In Western folklore, it is said that the North Pole is the source of gifts for the pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice. As the geographical North Pole is almost permanently covered with shifting sea ice, the presence of a workshop there has never been confirmed or refuted.
The Obelisk
The Obelisk will be a 16 ft tall, wooden structure. It will be adorned with cutouts of the iconic Burning Man image. The cutouts will be backlit, so they will shine through at night, lighting the entire structure. There will be a pin-spotlight shining straight up, out of the top of the structure. The Obelisk will also contain a door, leading to a soft and plush interior where people can find solace. The inside will be softly lit with EL Wire and fully upholstered with shaggy, faux fur.
The Pendulum of Thorns
This is a free swinging pendulum that leaves a design in a medium and each design is different and unique.
The Pine Tree
Shousugi-ban is a traditional form of Japanese wood technique – The way I do is burn the wood with a giant torch, then wire brush it, then stain it then sand it around the wood grain then clear coat it then sand it again then clear coat it until I like it – the wood grain is super trippy, and I am excited to see how it looks in the desert. I live in the woods of Central Minnesota – a region known for both plywood and pine trees. I plant trees a lot, so feel I have offset this plywood – plus I am going to install it at home after the playa – I bring this representation of our pine forests to the desert.
The Pipe Gorgon
The Pipe Gorgon is a propane-fueled fire piano – a Hellenic, steampunk, burner instrument. Participants bring Medusa to life by playing the flame-whistle keys behind her head, creating an otherworldly soundscape and firescape befitting our collective waking dream. Come and ignite her writhing snake-hair poofers. Come play her siren song. Or come stand before her, braving the heat and the cacophony as you dare to be seen.
The Portal
This is a billboard that reads “The Everything Will Be Okay Again Portal, “Just Walk Through” is a symbol of and for hope. These past two COVID years have been hard and if only we could make a way for Everything to Be Okay Again… maybe all we need is a Portal to walk through?
The Prairie of Possibilities
The Prairie of Possibilities is a trans-dimensional collector of stories that travels through space and time, alighting wherever there are stories to be shared. Scientists believe it is heading for the Playa; plans are under way to intercept and study this mysterious yet mesmerizing field of glowing, swaying prairie grass.
The Prism of Possibilities
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* A multi-dimensional portal (a zome spinning the stars and flostam of humanity) invites citizens into a universe of potential climate futures. Spinning outward, the portal directs participants to explore three different domiciles, from best to worst case scenario climate-impacted earths. *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
The Pythagorean Institute: A School for Flightless Birds
Congratulations! You have been admitted to The Pythagorean Institute, Class of 2026!
You were accepted because your application has shown your ability to be molded into the person we want you to become. Despite your profound intellect you appear to be quite gullible and emotionally sensitive. How we are perceived by others is mortally important to us.
TPI has existed since 520 BCE, so we are quite certain about what we want to achieve. Whereas we believe in facts, as a bonus, if you graduate our 16 year program with honors, you will earn the power to transmigrate. Your soul can thereafter freely pass into a different body after your death.
Kudos! Cecelia Payne, Dean of Students Go Kakapos!
The Resurrection of the Clothes Peg
The artwork is a large modular sculpture of half a wooden peg made from a series of steel galvanised pipes. It is called the Resurrection of the Clothes Peg and is an ode the resurgence of the female voice. The monumental form of an ordinary household item like a wooden peg is meant to evoke a sense of criticality questioning why such a rudimentary form is given such importance. There is a clear dichotomy of male and female energies as the form is heavy and solid and erect – almost phallic, yet the message is about feminine strength. The item represented is a reference to female domestic chores and its function of holding and supporting.
The Self Help Yourself Bookshelf
Not just another library on playa, the Self Help Yourself BookShelf has a few surprises in store for for those seeking some dusty enlightenment. Come laugh at the punny titles, but stay to get some wisdom dropped.
The SKUM Thundercloud
SKUM is a large inflatable sculpture mimicking foam, clouds or formations of distant universes. SKUM is the Danish word for foam–a word that encapsulates the installation’s playful dialogue & interaction between burners and their surrounding landscape. SKUM–like foam-is at once physical & ethereal.
During the day, SKUM provides shelter from the sun. At night, SKUM is illuminated by lightning strikes within the structure. When a sound – man-made or natural – occurs in the vicinity of SKUM, the lightning strikes cease – only starting back up once the quiet serenity returns. This immersive experience challenges burners to moments of quiet reflection – to be experienced in either solitude, or together as a group.
The SkyWhale Project
The SkyWhale swims in the ephemeral sky above the burn. Come find her.
The Solar Library
The Solar Library is solar panel and charging infrastructure helping small art projects convert to solar without having to worry about engineering and transporting solar panels to the playa. Designed as a piece of functional sculpture the Solar Library is a series of secure charging lockers and will help solar power scale in Black Rock City without panel proliferation becoming an eye sore or a safety hazard. A group of volunteers known as Solarians dedicated to solar powered art build, activate & support artists.
The Solar Shrine
The Solar Shrine is an Afrofuturistic art installation which makes manifest the cosmology of Ancient Egypt and Nubia. The project references the artistic styles from this area of ancient Africa but with the massing, geometry, and materiality rooted in contemporary times. As a movement, Afrofuturism envisions ‘tomorrow’ by exploring cultural and design aesthetics between the arts, history, science-fiction, and politics from African and African diasporic lens. The Ancient Egyptians and Nubians believed that the sun was a deity, Ra, and had metaphysical powers as the giver of life on Earth and creator of the universe. The design is futuristic with clean lines, subtle angles, and large panels which also give it a ‘megalithic’ appearance.
The Stand
Welcome to The Stand. A product of the times, a post apocalyptic shop of sorts, interns wanted. If you were operating it, what would be on the menu? This is a place to take a moment for yourself, or to share with others. It is here for all of us to make of it what we will.
The Threshold: A Pathway in Time
And intrepid wanderer will come upon a series of illuminated steps. The invitation is to consider that in each moment of our lives, there is an opportunity to step into a brand new future. This threshold suggests the wanderer to consider the past from which they’re leaving and the future into which they enter, once they crossed The Threshold. A guestbook will avail the wanderer to write down what cast they’re giving up and with future they’re embracing.
The Torus Temple
The Torus represent the harmonic balance where everything exist.
Water as the divine element of life.
The Altar of Intentions continues to create meaning in uncharted spaces.The Altar has been affecting the way how people understand and look to water and life.Some may have met The Altar for the first time in Black Rock City,others maybe met it in the virtual world or on the documentary recently released.The Altar became a living entity,and it’s creating it own path to work in synergy with technologies to regenerate land and food systems.
The Altar of Intentions is Alive.
A memorable episode of it’s live is happening.
Here the perfect demonstration of the yin and yang,feminine and masculine,the harmony of duality that makes everything possible.
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 binoculars, first aid, as well as second and third aid. 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, The Tower represents the chaos of sudden change.
The Traveling Sound Museum Presents: The Anomaly
The Anomaly is a registered National Parks observation station that has always existed in the Black Rock Desert. Thanks to the specific placement of the city this year, participants will be able to bear witness to this incredible trans-dimensional energy disturbance that exists just beyond the trash fence via the binocular podiums. The accompanying signage explains the history of this near-impossible multiverse energy vortex. Must be seen to be believed!
The World We Want
The Triangle: The World We Want, Honorable Recognition, The Wall We Want
THEM
THEM invites participants to enter it and identify with the art-making the sculpture into THEM. Through community interactions and the people around us can the sculpture be transformed into new faces. At night those new faces are then expressed upon the playa in shadows created from an internal light. To explore the different personalities of “THEM”, one must generate commitment as part of the change, and this participation can be done alone but it is much easier to do with the support of a community. The sculpture will act as a meeting point for observation, contemplation, and self-discovery.
There Is Nothing At Burning Man
This 10’x20’x5/8″, 12,0000 lbs, single steel plate, sculptural text by artist MIDABI says “The Only Other Thing Is Nothing”.
It stands in the sun with subtly iridescent silver paint, large negative space, and an elongated shadow stretching across the playa.
The meaning is complex and varied, and can be summed up in this…
What is, is what is; the only other thing is nothing.
Reality exists on a horizontal plane, not a vertical one. All parts of creation are equally valid and relevant.
There is no fantasy OTHER place. This is the place.
You’re not reaching outward, through empty space, you are pressing inward, within denser space.
There is no other anything to know. There is only becoming more familiar and intimate with what is.
This Is Not a NFT
Burning Man is live & also conceptual and not a simulation of life. Yet, while it exists, it also doesn’t exist. NFTs exist but don’t exist in physical form. Participants live life live (not a typo). One needs to live, but also to do it live & not in a recorded or fake fashion. Too often burners live outside of their reality and not in a present way. Rene Magritte’s surrealist art makes the participant question their reality. The text communicates what it is (art) but also what it is not (not a NFT of art). While art exists, it doesn’t exist until someone creates some type of physical form. NFTs exist but not in physical form, yet this piece exists as a NFT upon being video’d & made into a NFT, which means what it isn’t becomes what it is.
TiKiZ
The Trash Phence is calling once again! BlinkingManCamp97 will adorn the trash phence with eclectic art. This is the 11th project out there at the deepest playa @ point3. This year there will be 80 TiKis out on the phence with odd unique items dangling from the bottom of each wooden TiKi. As always all objects are recycled, repurposed, self created. Sustainable, the rods used to support the weird stuff, will be used for the 20th time, including many regionals. This year there will be objects from many cultures around the world from Bhutan to Africa. While you ride along the phence you will enjoy the great variety and connect personally with more than one. Dragnet makes it more than a phence its an unexpected playa palette!
Time
Like sands through the hour-glass, so are our days on the playa. “Time” a 24-hour hour glass commemorating each day on the playa and begging the question what is time anyway. “Flipped” daily, behold the sands of time one day at a time.
Time Camp
Please come to our Clock to create your own message to the Playa. In the center of the Clock you will find a switch board to arrange the segments of light into words or designs. Some are kind, some are not, some are names or initials, some are new years celebrations… Throughout burn week you will witness many burner messages and celebrations, all unique and interactive. We like to believe we have brought a piece of canvas for the entire burner community to express themselves. Come and Play, after the sun goes down.
Time Tomb
Time Tomb is a collection of the time that has been lost these past few years. BRC citizens will experience the lost time and regain this time through the awakening of the playa and community being together again. Surrounded by time that is amiss, citizens will find truth on the playa ground and be encouraged to reflect on the past while becoming energized by the present.
Titan
Titan is a pair of ten foot tall monolithic pillars that represent a portal to the infinite expanse. During the day, citizens of Black Rock City will see these imposing black stone monoliths in the white expanse of the playa, and upon walking between these pillars be relieved of their imposing nature by way of experiencing an infinite space produced by the interior facing parallel mirrored surfaces.
At sunset and until sunrise, bright lights backlight the mirrored face, turning them into a powerful and almost blinding light source. The night effect similarly creates the experience of an infinite expanse and portal to another world amid the nighttime playa.
The stone pillars are 30 inches apart and ten feet tall, weighing over 2000 lbs. They create an oppressive physical space when walking between, yet the mirror (day) and light (night) relieve this sense when perfectly between the monoliths.
Toro Rosso
The bull is a symbol of strength and power. In the dream state the bull is abstracted, as is on the playa the bull will be a dream state of power and strength. This work is inspired by Salvadore Dali in the walking dream state.
TOXIC
An exploited and polluted planet in chaos. A society in which there is great suffering and injustice. An environmental crisis of biblical proportions. A world spinning out of control where greed and corruption is rampant.
We MUST DO BETTER for ourselves and future generations!
Tree of Exhaustion
The Tree of Exhaustion is a dedication to the toil all artists go through in order to bring and display art for the folks of Black Rock. Built from repurposed exhaust pipes and designed for grilling, TTE is sure to bring comfort to all weary travelers. surrounded by swingin couches
and circus like bistro spinners, there is ample space for formal sitdown viewings as well as picnic blanketing under the tree’s tired boughs.
Tree of Love
This piece is a piece for silent contemplation. It is a tree with the leaves forming the shape of the earth’s continents. Each of the leaves are heart shaped. The idea is that we are all love, that we are one connected being making up the whole world. We are and are not individuals, we are and are not a collective, we are both at once.
The leaves will be made of copper with a green patina, the branches and trunk will be out of a brown patina(ed) copper.
The piece will be about eleven or twelve feet tall, so it will be an intimate piece allowing participance to get close to it and bask in it’s shade during the heat of the day.
Tremolo
Tremolo is 50 freestanding wind or human powered musical instruments, each one with a spinning wooden enclosure that also serves as the sounding box mounted to a steel pole that is set in the ground. The height of the musical elements vary based on the tone of the notes that it creates. Each one spins in the wind or by human activation and has an electro-mechanical assembly within that resonates three metal bar chimes that are tuned to produce a three-note harmonic chord. The elements are designed to cause a warbling sound as they spin, which is referred to, in musical terms, as a Tremolo. At night, self-contained lights will keep the sculptures lit for safety and the intensity will also increase and decrease based on wind speed.
TRUTH
TRUTH is a soul inspiring piece, based on the power of language, taking the form of a tipi like shade structure for burners to protect under. Take a reprieve from the hot sun and take in the outer 8×8 layers displaying lyrics, based on Alex Ebert lyrics, that are truly awakening to the spirit.
Take the moment needed to absorb TRUTH as it can be a guiding star in moments of humanity and doubt. Find shade under TRUTH. And use the markers to share your inspired TRUTH with your burner community!
tryst
tryst; a meeting place between lovers
Unbound: A Library in Transition
Unbound is a Neoclassical Library clad in deconstructed books representing human creativity and changing thought. Saunter around the building to discover the layered pages of disparate words, illustrations and languages. Surprises fill the walls with secret doors, niches, hidden dioramas, bookshelves and a card cabinet containing objects for the taking. Walk up a few stairs and the floral floors direct you through one of three portals representing the body, the mind, and the soul. Reflect in the mirrored shards that flicker on the walls and represent both the loss of physical information while reflecting back you, the ultimate the creator of the information. Rest inside and listen to readings from others from around the world. Contemplate.
Universe
My installation represents the calmness and depth of space. The impact is very relaxing as well as dazzling. It is interactive by walking through ambient lighting with suspended planets and other lights.
Unpopular Music (or UNPOP)
UNPOP, or “Unpopular Music,” is an intimate, 8-channel listening environment. It features exquisite, detailed sound works, including field recordings, abstract electroacoustic music, ambient textures, and other non-beat-oriented sonic experiences. The installation is built around a circle of custom-built Hemisphere speakers, which enclose a listening area complete with soft couches for comfortable seating. Multiple overnight programs of sound works run from dusk until dawn, curated by the UNPOP team and created by a diverse, international roster of composers and sound artists. UNPOP is designed with the deep playa environment at Burning Man in mind, as well as the audience that is likely to encounter this listening sanctuary there.
Upward Spirals of Love
The Upward Spirals of Love is an immersive art installation created to showcase the transformative power of love. During the day, the 8 foot iridescent faceted heart projects multi-colored neon green and pink shadows on the playa floor, and at dusk it lights up and comes to life with custom programmed LED patterns that run up the spiral to the heart, giving an effect of an Upward Spiral of Love. As a gift from Nick to his beloved Brigitte, this piece creates a space for people to feel safe, to heal, to connect and to fall in love through the universal language of love. Each of the 5 Love Languages is illuminated in a circle of 5 steel hearts that the visitor can step onto, identifying the type of love that makes them feel the most loved.
Useful Idiot
Useful Idiot: A representation of a collective conscience getting through the struggles of everyday life together.
Vagina Throne
A throne like Victorian chair is covered w/ 33 soft sculpted fabric vaginas in 6 colors representing skin of the world’s women.
The Vagina Throne will be installed on a royal cloth covered multi-tiered dais protected by gold stanchions & red ropes.
The art is an homage to Yayoi Kusama’s groundbreaking 1962 protest sculpture of a phallus covered couch, “Accumulation no. 2”.
Kusama was protesting discrimination against women in the NYC art scene & The Vagina Throne celebrates Kusama’s protest by elevating the symbol of femininity to a vaunted position.
The separation of The Vagina Throne from the viewer represents respect deserved but do not receive by women. The symbolism is of changes in women’s role in society not realized in equity.
VALENCE // OXYTOCIN
OXYTOCIN (n): a neuropeptide which plays a role in social bonding, reproduction, and childbirth.
When people connect inside of OXYTOCIN, it gently comes to life, tuning the environment to the people inside. The structure rewards the connection by evoking sensation (auditory, visual, and somatosensory); enhancing but not distracting from the authentic human connection.
Valkyrie Dreams
Valkyrie wing sculpture made of metal and rubber feathers rises from the desert inviting you to imagine a new awakening.
Vibraj 5.0 – We can Dream, Waking Dreams
Vibraj 5.0 is a round wooden dream room with soft floors, enchanting sights, and a sound installation. A portal to another world, a place to relax and dream. A place to inspire and relate to others and get to know oneself a little better.
VIMOKSHA
VIMOKSHA encourages Interactivity in the act of self-observation, wonder, and consideration while contemplating a multiplied, fractal, apparently holographic self reflection. Maybe the observant observer notices the reflections of nearby aquainteneces and objects interplaying with their own reflections.
We will also provide a subtle sound collage exploring doorways into the waking Dream. The sound collage will offer perspectives of “reality” in a format that is itself layered, refracted and reformatted. Because of the layered fractal quality of the sound collage, as well as the mirrored reflection walls Black Rock Citizens will reformat in their own minds and hear what their subconscious mind chooses, similar to a rorschach ink blot image.
VOTE HERE!
VOTE HERE! represents Black Rock City Deep Playa Polling Precinct #1. Every year is a big year to get out the vote and cast your opinion. A variety of platforms are used for interactive voting to include electronic tabulation, written ballots and group voting/opinion on large banners. This voting precinct will encourage reflection on the issues and events relevant to 2022. Citizens will also get to ‘take a break’ from the sun and brightness of the Playa and play around the images reflected from the precinct ‘mirror garden’. At night, dramatic lighting within the structure will bring an additional element of visual stimulation encouraging citizens to stop by to vote early and often!
Waking nightmares
No comment
We Are
Since attending my first burn in 2012, I have been documenting the citizens of Black Rock City. That first year I started taking portraits using one particular lens and photographing full body while asking people to just do whatever they feel. The inspiration was to capture the unique self-expression that is such a huge part of this week long event.
To really get the best feel, reaction and emotion possible I wanted the prints to be life size. So that as someone approached and looked at the portraits it felt like that person was there in front of them. Helping translate emotion through scale.
After all WE ARE Burning Man 🙂
In Dust We Trust
-Aaron Feinberg
WE ARE THE CLIMATE PROBLEM
It is no secret that burning man attracts the elite of the world. It is also no secret that our planet is in the worst shape it has ever been. There is way too much carbon in the air, carbon released by the burning of fossil fuels that has been stored in the ground for millennia. When the sun hits these molecules they vibrate, creating energy that is warming up the planet. The logical solution would be to slash carbon emissions, and focus all our energy on healing ecosystems to bring down carbon levels in the air. However, the data shows that the richest 10% of the planet account for 52% of emissions, and the richest 1% emit more than double the emissions of the poorest half of humanity. It’s time for radical honesty.
Welcome to the Jungle
Layered two dimensional cut plastic plant forms. Hanging in sequence to create a three dimensional tropical jungle. Which glows though each translucent layer at night.
What to Expect When Expecting
How does a person hold hope and possibility for the future, while simultaneously grappling with climate change, pollution, overpopulation and the destruction of earth’s ecosystems? How would it feel to be pregnant in these times, to be bringing life forward amidst uncertainty? In What to Expect When Expecting, participants can step into pregnant body casts and take a moment to reflect on these questions. Many realities are possible, and every action is a choice.
What's The Point ?
This articulated geometric wood sculpture is an attempt to fashion something out of nothing. A point in pointless space. It is a model of an idea, a reflection of half-seen and implied mathematical symmetries. It is an object of focus in a vast expanse, meant to bring people, separate or together, into a nexus of time and space. The Now. A place to confront existential dread with an appeal to the immediacy of the moment, a view of a horizon toward the future, and a reckoning and reflection of the past. Hard questions may arise. But so too, wonder and awe, and maybe understanding and hope. In this moment we can ask ourselves, What’s The Point ?
Wild Horses of the American West
Wild Horses is a curated group show of approximately 15 horse sculptures of various scales, each made by an individual artist, in their own interpretive aesthetic and artistic method.
Wind of change
We are going to create a space with natural light streaming in.
A place where we can all feel at peace no matter what life throws.
Small temple of Wind. Huge hope for the Change.
It remind of the Buddhist drums in the temples of Asia, Then anyone walk by and with a twist, create a gentle current of karma.
So too, this temple, which by itself – will spray all the beautiful moments we live in these 7 days.
All this Peace, Love, Friendship, Connections & Equity.
No matter how you spin it – but all best will win.
We will create this world of the future into which we are not afraid to look in.
Word Walk
Word Walk is a 40 foot diameter Labyrinth for walkers or wheelchairs. This Labyrinth is for a moment of quite reflection as the participant walks the labyrinth. As they move around here are wise words for them to reflect upon as they continue to the center of the labyrinth where they reverse their course and come out the same way the entered hopefully refreshed and reflective.
Wrenching Raptor
The Wrenching Raptor is a spring loaded metal winged Wyvern creature. The hundreds of springs are the manifestation of an unstable and harrowing feeling. In movement the raptor is as difficult to control as the emotional trauma of anxiety.
The mass of wrenches are tools for the courage to channel unstable states into healthy fun through excitement! The pose of wings, springs, sharp looking things sings bring it on!
Xerarium
Find an otherworldly jungle-scape overtaking its massive terrarium container and a glowing fern swing out front. Inside, giant kaleidoscopic plant forms, a surreal forest floor flanked by furry grass pillows and a drippy ambient soundscape playfully engage a sense of scale and wonder while creating intimate observation or conversation space. A quick climb up to the apex look out point grants a new perspective of the vibrant alien terrarium and surrounding playa. Xerarium is an unexpected sensual oasis fostering connection with nature in the BRC desert.
You Don't Have To Like All The Art!
YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIKE ALL THE ART is a large sign broadcasting its message in illuminated LED Neon words.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIKE ALL THE ART gives participants permission to explore and to disagree. Especially at Burning Man, art can be challenging. BRC citizens bring many distinct perspectives to the playa and communicate them through art. These may be radically different, difficult, disturbing, or distasteful. And that’s OK: You don’t have to like all the art to appreciate it, or for others to appreciate it. Growth comes from challenge.