Make a Financial Contribution
While you can make a donation to Burning Man Project to support our year-round efforts to spread Burning Man culture worldwide, you can also make a donation directly to a project spearheaded by Burners like you — just select one from the list below. See our submission guidelines to get your fundraiser listed here.
Apply Your Skills
If you'd like to apply your skills, resources or another kind of contribution to a project, browse the Spark system, which facilitates collaborative connections. Also, watch the Jackrabbit Speaks email newsletter and/or your local Regional announce list for requests from artists for assistance, take a look in the Art and Performance discussion area of the ePlaya, browse Burning Man's Facebook Page, or seek out specific projects in our list of Art Installations. Finally, once you're at Burning Man, visit the V-Spot near Center Camp.
Temple of the Heart: 2023 Burning Man Temple
Temple of the Heart is the official 2023 Burning Man Temple. A vessel for reconnecting with our hearts and a space for communal healing. Through flowers, Eastern European lacing, and warm feminine energy, the Temple induces the feelings of maternal love, acceptance, and protection.
Fundraising goal: $100,000
DONATE HERE!
1,000 & 1
We were lucky enough to receive an Honoraria art grant from Burning Man Project to build two giant robots — one made of metal and one made of wood. We are calling it "1,000 & 1" for this will be Mechan 1 and Mechan 1000. At some point during the week we will light the wooden robot on fire! (We have never had a burnable project before so we are super excited about this.) The metal robot, Mechan 1000, will be all shiny and look as if it is fresh off of the factory floor. The wooden one, Mechan 1, will be made of wood and was the first-ever prototype from Mechan Inc..
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Fundraising goal: $10,000 DONATE HERE!
1,000 Hands
“1000 Hands” is a 50'-tall collectively-made tapestry built as a monument to the power of creativity and community. It depicts an abstract fiery landscape by day and a serene mountain scene by night, weaving together our climate fears and hopes for the future. The work is shaped by forces of Nature and Human Nature. Participants are invited to swing and sway from the base of the tapestry, experiencing "the weight of the world on their shoulders,” while witnessing the ripple effect of their actions across the entire tapestry. In this way, participants become an integral part of the artwork, co-creators of this masterpiece that reflects the potential we all have to affect change through our actions. As the name “1000 Hands” suggests, this artwork will be co-created by the involvement of over 500 participants whose hands weave a community as we build our art. Our home base will the Lloyd The Warehouse in North Austin, and we already have community involvement sessions planned with The Contemporary Austin at Laguna Gloria, and Creative Action. Our final tapestry stands as a testament to the transformative power of art and creativity, reminding us that together, we can create something truly magnificent. The piece is a Burning Man Honorarium Grant recipient and will be exhibited in The Black Rock Desert in August.
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Fundraising goal: $11,000 DONATE HERE!
Alebrijes! Immersive Art Car Experience
This year, our team is setting out to construct four (4) Alebrije-inspired art cars for Burning Man 2023. Alebrijes are brightly colored fantastical spirit guides, inspired by Mexican folk art, which are made up of various body parts from a variety of different animals, each holding a specific meaning. We are creating these creatures to showcase the customs and traditions of the Dia de los Muertos holiday, pay homage to our loved ones that have passed on, and promote unity and oneness, while holding space for Black, Brown and Native communities. These vehicles will be outfitted with vibrant colors and traditional Aztec patterns, pulsing LED lighting effects, high-resolution projectors, and a state-of-the-art sound system. The audio systems for all four vehicles are designed to link together and also play sound individually.
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Fundraising goal: $100,000 DONATE HERE!
Andas
“Andas” meaning breathe in Swedish, is a delightful luminescent turtle with a sensory deprivation room representing its heart, located underneath its shell. "Andas" aims to bring a sense of otherworldliness yet serenity, while also cast light on our carbon footprint via its solar-powered fulcrum. This is a cross-border, multi-cultural project from Sweden. The construction is made so that the unskilled builder can join in and make a difference, part of the responsibility as an artist is to promote participation, that means facilitating accessibility which we do through our construction plan. Another important aspect of our work has been to minimize our carbon footprint by creating a solar-powered piece. Once the installation is done, we will offer up our solar battery to other artists in the coming years of BRC.
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Fundraising goal: $7,000 DONATE HERE!
ATABEY's Treasure
Representing Puerto Rico again, ATABEY's Treasure is a fun, solar powered, interactive installation in the shape of an oversized fish emerging from the dry lakebed of the Playa. She is made from recycled steel, aluminum and wire mesh. We chose to honor ATABEY, goddess of freshwater spirit and its dedicated to the resilient people of Puerto Rico to express the immediacy of taking action to conserve and protect our precious resources. We hope to continue promoting climate change awareness.
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Fundraising goal: $8,000 DONATE HERE!
¡Axolotl!: The Earth Guardian (mutant vehicle)
"¡AXOLOTL!", the renowned and beloved art car, is preparing its return to Burning Man in 2023 – bigger, better, and with a deeper commitment to our vision of inclusion, creativity and ecological regeneration – including donations to save the last remaining wild axolotl in Mexico. We remind everyone that "¡AXOLOTL!" is deeply linked to its spirit-animal namesake – a critically endangered salamander native to the dwindling wetland-aquifer of Mexico City which possesses regenerative powers of ‘stem’ cells that could revolutionize medical science. 10% of your donations to "¡AXOLOTL!" will be devoted to the restoration and regeneration of the axolotl salamander’s native habitat in Xochimilco, Mexico City.
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Fundraising goal: $30,000 DONATE HERE!
Be Here Meow
"Be Here Meow" is 12' tall and resembles a cat tree that’s scaled to human size, complete with immersive rooms, rope net ladder, scratching post, rolling pin slide, and a viewing platform. “With the right cattitude, anything is pawsible!”
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Fundraising goal: $5,000 DONATE HERE!
Big Spinning Wheels
Simple, yet complex! "Big Spinning Wheels" are not for the faint, but rather the open of heart. From near or far, these kinetic sculptures evoke a secret and sacred tantalizing beauty. Placed at the bounds of BRC and the edge of reality ... patience is a virtue. We are small team based out of the Catskill Mountains in New York. We have been building and displaying large scale art since 2016, and it has been an absolute dream of ours to display at the burn. We are seeking funding to make this dream a reality and yearly tradition.
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Fundraising goal: $10,000 DONATE HERE!
Black Rock Adventures Bus Stop!
Hi! We are "BLACK ROCK ADVENTURES BUS STOP!" We provide daily tours from our BUS STOP! in our adventure rig, departing 9am. The BUS STOP! is usually located around 3 o'clock off Esplanade. We also provide tours by request to mobility challenged + sometimes otherwise, including nighttime. Tours are pretty popular, some Burners are not comfortable with bikes, or don't feel confident to hitch on an artcar, or perhaps want to know where + when they will end up. Some people scared of the Playa- weather or getting lost, or can't get around. We hope to fill that gap somewhat. )'(
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Fundraising goal: $6,000 DONATE HERE!
Blastoff
"Blastoff" is a large-scale tower plane, breaking free from the ground and exploring new worlds. (It is a follow-up of the art object the "Airfield for Walking in the Clouds," successfully created by Weld Queen team at Burning Man 2019.) The residents of Black Rock City are welcome to manage the flight of their fantasies during dawns and sunsets, enjoy views from the tower, and find shelter in the clouds of the tower’s flaming tail tent. Come at night and check out the interactive illumination. At the top of "Blastoff," there will be exits to the wings through the aircraft cabin, and the residents of Black Rock City will be able to look at playa from above, dance, and enjoy unforgettable views of "Burn Universe." At the bottom of "Blastoff," in the fiery color tail, which is also a tent shelter from the sun, there will be a small tea room and a chillout area. It is a place where any resident of Black Rock City will be able to quench their thirst or try to be a tea master. There will be several rope swings on the wings of the aircraft available to people, where they will literally be able to fly under the wings of the shuttle rushing into the sky.
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Fundraising goal: $50,000 DONATE HERE!
BRC Snow Club's Ski Slope!
We're bringing exciting new (w)interactivity to the Burn! Our slope uses innovative, sustainable building materials and an artificial ski surface to bring skiing, snowboarding, and sledding to the playa. See you on the dusty slope!
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Fundraising goal: $35,000 DONATE HERE!
Breaking Open
A broken heart stands as a chrysalis to new life within. As the heart burns away it reveals the butterfly, now free to fly. A giant wooden heart encasing a steel butterfly will stand at 14'H x 13'W in completion. Our team is building this piece out of 100% recycled wood and as much recycled metal as possible. The wooden heart will be designed in a basket type of weave, so the butterfly will be visible within and it should make for a beautiful burn, leaving the butterfly standing emerged against the night sky.
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Fundraising goal: $20,000 DONATE HERE!
Butt-activated Jellyfish (BAJ)
"BAJ — the Butt Activated Jellyfish" is ready to bounce her way to Burning Man. BAJ is a 12'-tall mixed media jellyfish with over 10,000 LEDs! By bouncing on exercise balls that encircle the sculpture, participants will affect the light patterns on the jellyfish, creating a fun interactive moment of joy, and even reflection on how our actions can impact our ocean environments.
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Fundraising goal: $10,800 DONATE HERE!
Day Trip Lullaby
We are Camp Babe and we are a Burning Man community focused on spreading art and good vibes across the playa. We have been a designated art camp for years and we need your help bringing our latest creation to Black Rock City. "Day Trip Lullaby" allows participants to be a part of a musical jam without prior experience or ability. Imagine, if you will, biking across the desert when you come across a familiar space — with couches and chairs, you think you have found a nice comfortable hang-out spot. But then you start to notice that not all is as it seems. Within the space are a few objects out of place: a rick of brightly painted hubcaps, and an array of tent poles. You touch one of the objects and all of a sudden sounds appear. Your friend touches another piece and your sounds merge together in perfect time and key. The next thing you know, you are jamming together. We are setting out to create several unique instruments that will be interactive with future rockstars of the desert.
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Fundraising goal: $6,500 DONATE HERE!
Dirty Goat Roadhouse (mutant vehicle)
Is that dust in your eyes? Are you parched to the point of delusion? You get on your bike and ride toward a silhouette and it slowly becomes clear that you’re headed toward the mystical skull of a large beast floating on the horizon. This is not a hallucination. Curious, you move closer and the music and laughter reverberating from the beast draws you in… As you arrive, you find yourself among a band of mischievous misfits with refreshing libations to help soothe your weary soul. Take a load off and have a seat at the bar, raise your glass to be filled with a delicious concoction. Help us bring the Dirty Goat back home!
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Fundraising goal: $5,000 DONATE HERE!
Disco Space Shuttle
Over the years, our "Disco Space Shuttle" art car and camp have become beacons of love, joy, and positive energy. We've danced together, shared magical moments, and built a vibrant community that radiates with warmth and acceptance. Now, we're reaching out to everyone who has experienced the magic of the "Disco Space Shuttle" art car, our camp, or danced at our beautiful, positive, and happy events in San Francisco. We need your support to continue creating extraordinary experiences for you and more people to enjoy. We hunkered down during three pandemic years without fundraisers or dues. Covid took away our gatherings and fundraisers but not our bills. As a result, we are under financial duress. But fear not, dear friends, because we believe in the resilience of our community and the power of our collective love! We launched a special fundraiser to help us recover and get to the playa this year.
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Fundraising goal: $20,000 DONATE HERE!
DraGong
"DraGong" is a 1,200lb. gong with an 800lb. oak log striker and a slight dragon attitude. The art piece will bring calming vibrational energy to be cast out into the world and across the playa at Burning Man in 2023. Intimidating at over 20 feet in height, you along with others will be able to draw back the striker sending out a vibrational long, deep tone. At night the ringing of the gong will alter the lighting, creating rotating encircling bands of light with the look of stop action photography or slow-motion effect on all within its illumination.
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Fundraising goal: $10,000 DONATE HERE!
Duck, Duck, Gaggle
"Duck, Duck, Gaggle" is a bench with a gaggle of whimsically dressed geese sculptures that invites participants to rest, commune, preen, or play a game of duck, duck, goose. Geese are social creatures and this piece is meant to support connections. It is an invitation to turn inwards, or to play and run outwards. People can teach each other how to play Duck, Duck, Goose, or find other ways to engage.
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Fundraising goal: $2,500 DONATE HERE!
Eileen, the Pearl Peacock
Our incredible team has worked hard to make our art car dream a reality and we couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you to our amazing community who supported us through this process. We’ve now brought Eileen to the playa three times, including the Renegade Burn in 2021. We’ve given countless rides and made the playa even more magical, thanks to you! We need financial support if we are going to bring The Pearl Peacock to the playa this year.
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Fundraising goal: $15,000 DONATE HERE!
Emergence (mutant vehicle)
We build "Emergence" art car every year to bring love to the global Burning Man community, transporting you to the greatest art, music and theme camp destinations under a canopy of shade where you can relax or dance and stay in a fun, loving community environment.
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Fundraising goal: $10,000 DONATE HERE!
Field of Flowers
In "Field of Flowers," you'll notice a beautiful garden of approximately 150 electronic singing flowers, ringed by a garden fence and entered through a garden gate. Walking through the garden, you'll realize that the flowers are reacting to your movements with waves of color and sound, creating a truly immersive experience. By changing direction and walking at different speeds, you can guide the waves and create beautiful interference effects with other people. It's as if you're a pollinator gliding through these Nevada native flowers. With its emphasis on movement and cooperation, "Field of Flowers" provides a unique and interactive experience that is sure to leave a lasting impression on all who encounter it. Each flower stands 3-4 feet tall and has between 4-6 leaves. The stems of the flowers are PVC, while the heads and leaves are resin casts. The flowers are modeled on 3 types of native plants — asters, geraniums, and poppies — which provide a variety of colors and shapes to the installation. The flowers contain individually controlled LED lights, which illuminate the head and petals of the flower with a rainbow array of color. Additionally, each leaf contains LEDs.
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Fundraising goal: $30,000 DONATE HERE!
The Flamingo Project
The Flamingo Project is a large-scale interactive structure with multiple rooms & spaces representative of different facets of everyone's personalities. Using color, texture, lighting, and sound, each of the distinct spaces is designed to invoke a different set of emotions. There are designated areas of the structure for participants to add onto or otherwise modify the piece, making it a constantly evolving work in progress. Just like you.
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Fundraising goal: $20,000 DONATE HERE!
The GiantCockCar (mutant vehicle)
Help Cocky get off! We need help raising funds for new loading ramps for the GCC (plus minor repairs and upgrades). All proceeds will go directly to bringing awesomeness to the playa for Cocky's 11th trip!
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Fundraising goal: $2,500 DONATE HERE!
Giganty's Space Emissary
Li'l Hex, "Giganty’s Space Emissary," traveled from space on a beam of star trails and will land at BRC to check on us and report back before Giganty arrives next year. Li'l Hex's Landing Pad, a 7’-high climbable platform and shade structure (made of 8’ steel hexagons with a star trails railing) provides shade and views in the day and star gazing at night. Li'l Hex dances when participants dance and measures joy with spinning buzzy joy balls and giant oversized pinwheels. Participants can feed Li'l Hex messages to be sent to the Boss out in space or read the story book to learn of Giganty’s wanderings through the universe. Nightime lighting is star powered!
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Fundraising goal: $3,000 DONATE HERE!
"Go Fish!" Flying Fish (mutant vehicle)
In 2023, we decided to step up our offering for others to experience by way of Communal Effort in designing and building an art car to bring to the Burn. The "Go Fish!" flying fish mutant vehicle concept will offer a mobile oasis of shade and cooling mist to hot and weary Burners on their bikes as they traverse the playa, as they call the dusty ground. "Go Fish!" will have the ability to cruise deep Playa during the heat of the day, and create much-needed shade during art tours when daytime temperatures push upwards of 100 degrees, as well as make surprise visits to camps throughout the event.
Heartburst
"Heartburst" embodies and celebrates the profound connections between mind, heart, and breath, serving as a catalyst for optimal human function and physiological coherence through the practice of 'heart breathing.' Embodying universal love, an implied heart marks the bamboo cube's four entrance ways.
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Fundraising goal: $50,000 DONATE HERE!
Hubowl
"Hubowl" is a 12' tall sculpture mainly crafted with fiberglass, wood and metal, with a “telescope” inside that allows people to interact with it by observing images of fantastic worlds, actual footage from Hubble telescope, or surroundings. Owls are often used as a symbol of wisdom because of their big eyes that can gaze into the darkness of night. "Hubowl" expresses the importance of observation as means to gain wisdom; it doesn’t matter if you observe the fantastic or the real, everything can build on wisdom in the observer's mind.
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Fundraising goal: $23,724 DONATE HERE!
Icarus 2023 — The Final Mission, Fall from Space
The ICARUS crew returns to playa for its final year – not as an art car, but rather, an art installation. The piece tells the last chapter of the ICARUS saga: what happened *after* the spaceship flew too close to the sun, burned its wings, and fell from the sky. When wandering across playa, you may find a crash site – a double-wide military scissor lift spaceship that crash-landed on its final endeavor to reach the sun. We are building a wooden structure remake of the art car and integrating pieces from the original ship with it — its engines and rockets, the central dance box, the driver's cab, the panels with glowing LED lights…
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Fundraising goal: $20,000 DONATE HERE!
Justice
"Justice" is a 20' steel sculpture of Lady Justice, a blindfolded woman holding scales and a sword, all highlighted with flame effects. She stands upon a pedestal with bars for ambulatory participants or in wheelchairs to push, turning the base making the halo disc behind her head turns, creating a moire effect and setting off a "poofer" in her sword. "Justice" stands as a beacon of hope with her raised sword flickering with flame, a call to action to lead the way and bring light to the state of our justice system. The pedestal is adorned with words about justice to inspire and remind us of what this concept means: equality, dignity, rights, respect, hope, and liberty. Braille type is also used below, visually stopping cracks of the pedestal from creeping up the sides. The project is meant to draw in the viewer to contemplate the role of the justice system, women, equality, and icons in today's society.
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Fundraising goal: $20,000 DONATE HERE!
Kinderpanzer
Help fuel the "Kinderpanzer" and reach Black Rock City ANIMALIA and funding for replacement parts! We are helping Illumination Village to become carbon neutral at BRC by 2030 by providing compost delivery to Ideate camp. "Kinderpanzer" is also a donated time work utility vehicle for the DPW Fuel Team and relies on the support of donors like you.
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Fundraising goal: $3,000 DONATE HERE!
Kinki Yokai
This is our Kinki Yokai, an interactive, multi-sensory adventure created to change one's perception of intercommunication with art. The acrylic Yokai is a fusion of Demon and protector-Mother, inviting you to explore the mythic duality of good and evil in a captivatingly tactile way. Beneath the Yokai's soft, welcoming belly, discover an intimate oasis of reflection and play. This velvet chill-out zone invites you to sit, lie down, and let go. The Yokai's nipples - five spheric "moons" bound in Shibari ropes - beckon you to engage. Pull the ropes and watch the moons respond with a symphony of lights and sounds that dance in harmony with you. Ready to move on? The Sandbox-altar awaits. This interactive oracle, a moving tableau of playa dust, responds to your touch with a multitude of lights and sounds, offering up its own cryptic answers to your silent questions.
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Fundraising goal: £30,000 DONATE HERE!
The Lite of Spring
"The Lite of Spring" is a 2023 Burning Man Honorarium art installation that will feature a pair of imposing back-to-back thrones with a 12-foot wingspan made of wood and antlers. During the day, the wings appear as a natural extension of the thrones, but at night, they come alive with fire from a propane fire system built into the structure, creating a warm and inviting glow. The installation is designed to make visitors feel powerful and in control, inviting them to engage with the piece on multiple levels. The use of natural materials like antlers is meant to convey the fleeting power of nature and challenge visitors to consider their relationship to power and control.
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Fundraising goal: $5,000 DONATE HERE!
Living Knitwork Pavilion
The "Living Knitwork Pavilion" is a customized and modular textile shade structure (dodecagonal pyramid: 19.6' high and 26' wide) consisting of 3D-knitted optically and electrically-active yarns that sense activities and dynamically change color and light up through the day and night. The functional yarns, intricately embedded within the twelve petals of the knitwork are able to detect physical interactions through an array of electric-field and resistive-based proxemic, touch, and strain sensors and drive an immersive lighting network in real-time. During sunny days, hidden patterns of humans, nature, flora-fauna, and synthetic beings inspired by our history and the future worlds are revealed through photochromism. The pavilion, working as a shade structure by day and responsive lantern by night, serves as a communal place. Our presence, movements, and environmental changes constantly contribute toward the entire glow, visual effects, and ambiance of the space, as they are reprojected onto the pavilion as living memories, fostering and amplifying moments of discovery, reflection, and connectedness. By seamlessly integrating sensing, computation, and interactivity into the knitwork, we aim to create a dynamic, engaging, and immersive space that will take the audience into a storytelling journey, while also responding to their movements and activity. The pavilion demonstrates a creative interplay between art, architecture, and technology, evoking our relationship with nature and the built environments through augmented textiles as media for artistic expression, mediation, and protection.
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Fundraising goal: $20,000 DONATE HERE!
Loophole
"Loophole" is an art installation designed especially for Burning Man. It is inspired by the geometrical torus shape, which is the shape of the magnetic shield that protects life on earth. A central platform represents the earth and is a space where people can celebrate life!
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Fundraising goal: €10,000 DONATE HERE!
Los Animales de la Playa
We are a small band of Burning Man Burners that have decided to tackle an art project. We are creating four adult-size rocking animals painted in the Oaxacan wood craft style. They will be enjoyable to all both day and night for the child in everyone! This is our first time creating art of any kind but we do come with some skills that hopefully won't disappoint.
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Fundraising goal: $2,500 DONATE HERE!
Loss in Translation
"Loss in Translation" is a sound project containing non-English recordings from Persons of Color and other minority artists, spoken in their native languages. This installation will be housed in a wooden structure, inspired by şadirvan (cleansing fountains) across the world — from Algiers to Istanbul to Linxia — reflecting the artists' own roots in China, Turkey, and Algeria. In a white, English-speaking world, artists from other backgrounds are pressured to make themselves legible to the dominant audience, often at the cost of deep expression of their culture. With "Loss in Translation" we hope to evoke a vision of a world without a lingua franca, or a dominant language. At a time where the machine of global capitalism commodifies and homogenizes culture, accelerating the death of languages around the world for the sake of standardized communication, we seek to preserve the beauty in the diversity of human expression.
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Fundraising goal: $10,000 DONATE HERE!
Love Inspired
"Love Inspired" consists of 7 representations of the man standing in a circle, arms up in celebration. Prayer flags raise from their connected hands to a central pole between them. Each man is a color of the rainbow including a man representing the light that shines though the rain storm creating the rainbow colors. Each flag contains our artist's rendering of beloved animal family members that show us the true meaning of unconditional love, bringing the brilliant colors of the rainbow more in focus in our lives. Entering inside of the art piece, memory books are available to write about an animal story that has impacted one's life for the better. The men are 8' tall with the center pole adorned with a flag reaching the height of 19 feet.
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Fundraising goal: $6,000 DONATE HERE!
Make Your Mark
We want to encourage participants to express what feels right to them. Whether it is something they are striving to be or something they just recently discovered. Art is meant to tell a story and make you think. We want to help Burners ask themselves that question to get the wheels turning. They might realize something about themselves they want to improve on or celebrate! If they haven't already, they might even find out something they didn't know they had in them. A gift, a story, the motivation they can bring back to everyday life! The citizens of Black Rock City will be able to interact with this art piece by spinning the words on each column to create their sentence or phrase of choice. There will be 5 wooden exclamation marks, starting with a box at the bottom and each having their own word reading up the post. We will have 4 words per exclamation column ready to spin! This project encourages mixing and matching the words adding to the fun of creating a unique phrase!
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Fundraising goal: $1,500 DONATE HERE!
Mariposa
Christopher Schardt, the creator of Firmament and Paraluna, is making a new immersive LED piece for Burning Man (and beyond) this year. She's called "Mariposa"! She's a 26'x14' butterfly with something like 38,000 LEDs. Visitors will flap her wings while the LEDs display patterns choreographed to classical and classic pop music.
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Fundraising goal: $13,000 DONATE HERE!
Millefera @ The ARTery
Millifera @ The ARTery is an installation in the space where every artist of Black Rock City comes for support, guidance, and logistics. For this reason, the space we want to create for The ARTery will be a garden for the hive. We will incorporate greenery and flowers to create an environment where bees thrive, creating a path that will lead to an installation of a hive. Visitors will be able to walk through the "field of flowers" and will be able to enter "the hive" acting as the bees.
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Fundraising goal: $18,000 DONATE HERE!
Moonshadows
At first glance, "Moonshadows" is an obelisk. But on closer inspection, it's a sundial and moondial for past, present, and future events. It's a puzzle that will challenge your perception of time as a universal, digital, or linear measure. With "Moonshadows," time is a physical system that you can observe and measure — on your own terms. Concretely, Moonshadows will rise 16 feet tall over deep playa, casting shadows from the Sun and Moon during the week of Burning Man. As the sun and moon travel across the sky, their shadows will move in arcs across the playa.
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Fundraising goal: $7,000 DONATE HERE!
Oracle io
The sculpture will be a large-scale, realistic representation of an artificial philosopher, created in metal and other durable materials. The figure will be depicted in a contemplative pose, with a look of deep concentration on its face. The sculpture will be interactive, with a touchscreen display embedded in the base that allows visitors to engage with the figure and explore different philosophical ideas and questions. Additionally, the sculpture will be equipped with AI technology that will allow it to respond to visitors' questions and engage in conversation. As technology advances, the question of what it means to be human and the relationship between humans and machines is increasingly relevant. The concept of an artificial philosopher, a machine capable of deep thought and contemplation, raises important questions about the nature of consciousness, intelligence, and the meaning of existence. This sculpture will be an engaging and thought-provoking representation of these questions, inviting viewers to contemplate their own relationship to technology and their place in the world.
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Fundraising goal: $44,000 DONATE HERE!
Over Ruled / NO DANCING
A large, red sign commands “NO DANCING” in big, bright letters, visible from afar. The provocation dares participants to defy with a boogie, shuffle, or strut, and perhaps even gather together into a sweaty, rhythmic rebellion. Ground mounted spotlights cast enlarged silhouettes of dancers up onto the letters, broadcasting the disobedience across the playa. Crowds thus magnify their energy, sending out ripples of mischievous joy, and luring in reinforcements. Approaching reveals smaller text on each letter, a true story of someone’s collision with a rule and the consequences: banishment, termination, expulsion, or incarceration. If the tincture of joy and grief give way to a desire for restorative justice, then "Over Ruled"’s goal is fulfilled.
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Fundraising goal: $10,000 DONATE HERE!
PādaPagoda
"PādaPagoda" is a sustainable kinetic pagoda — created mainly from reclaimed bamboo — which celebrates AAPI heritage and explores the interconnections between people of all walks of life. Inspired by the pagodas common throughout Asia, this installation celebrates pan-Asian heritage and empowers our collective healing. Our team is mainly based in the San Francisco Bay Area. We received an Honoraria art grant to help us get started on this project. However, we are asking for support from our friends, family and the community to offset costs in excess of the grant.
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Fundraising goal: $10,000 DONATE HERE!
Papi Gallo (mutant vehicle)
"Papi Gallo"'s purpose on the playa is to continue Pollo's legacy by picking up fellow Burners and inviting them into the trailer, where they can find a safe and comfortable space to connect with others and experience the magic of Burning Man. The core values of PG Squirt House include Radical Inclusion, Immediacy, Participation, and Gifting, and Papi Gallo will embody these Principles. Papi Gallo aligns well with this year's ANIMALIA theme, as roosters are bold and symbolic creatures. They have a rich cultural history, from the Chinese Zodiac to popular culture references. Papi Gallo's presence on the playa will remind everyone of the strength and symbolism associated with roosters, while the chicken coop represents a warm and protected space of incubation. The coop symbolizes the journey of personal development and growth before individuals are ready to face the world.
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Fundraising goal: $20,000 DONATE HERE!
Perennial Playground
Last year, we took our years of grief, anger, fire & plague, dusted some magical fairy shrimp on top & planted a playground. This year we’re excited to see what has started to sprout! For 2023, the courtyard appears as "Perennial Playground: Germination." Returning are raised garden beds filled with colorful fairy light “buds” that sway in the breeze & bloom shaped chairs around the perimeter. This flower garden play area will have GROWN to include a raised central padded fuzzy yellow ovary accessible via colorful petals of climbing net ladders. Reaching the top is an adventure, & gives explorers a chance to see things from a new perspective, having overcome an obstacle & being able to see the growth from last year. This piece represents our perennial resilience; that we can turn our betrayal & loss into something amazing. While flowers bud, bloom and die, they keep returning. Our joy in life, friends, family, and opportunities ARE returning, and we're blooming again — only stronger!
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Fundraising goal: $2,500 DONATE HERE!
The Phage Planetarium
Phage Camp's Dome will be upgraded to "The Phage Planetarium" with the capability to host immersive visual content for science talks, planetarium shows, parties, and more.
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Fundraising goal: $6,000 DONATE HERE!
Prairie of Possibilities
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Fundraising goal: $10,000 DONATE HERE!
Provocative Paleontology
Immerse yourself in the prehistoric era by joining the Black Rock City Jurassic History Society at our active fossil dig site. Unearth the remnants of the recently discovered Triceracocks and Pegasaurus, two of the majestic dinosaurs that once roamed the Playa 65 million years ago.
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Fundraising goal: $5,000 DONATE HERE!
Queen Cobra
"Queen Cobra" is a large art installation made of gleaming powder-coated tubular steel and hand-beaten copper. It takes the form of a huge rearing cobra with a coiled body, a beautiful copper-scaled head topped with a magnificent crown, and a spreading hood. Her body is a hooped structure that invites climbing and play, appealing to the child in us all. Snakes symbolize rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing as a result of their ability to repeatedly shed their skin. In many cultures they are revered and celebrated, and this artwork references these ancient shared mythologies. Specifically, "Queen Cobra" represents the awakening of Kundalini, a form of divine feminine energy believed to rest at the base of the spine and symbolized by a coiled serpent, which can be awakened and cultivated through tantric practice. This feminine spiritual force has a strong connection to bliss and pleasure — both pure physical pleasure and the bliss of spiritual liberation. This is visualized as the uncoiling of the serpent while it ascends through different levels of mystical experience until it reaches the top of the head, leading to a profound transformation of consciousness. Burners can take a journey through "Queen Cobra" from the tip of her tail to the crown on her head, representing their own progress towards achieving spiritual liberation. She is intended to inspire awe and fun in equal measure.
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Fundraising goal: £50,000 DONATE HERE!
Quetzalcóatl Reborn
Quetzalcóatl is a prehispanic god, the feathered serpent, the creator of men and giver of corn — the most powerful god in Mesoamerica, he is a representative of our prehispanic legacy that lives inside of us as Mexicans. This large-scale installation of Quetzalcóatl will be made out of 1⁄4-inch metal sheets with prehispanic symbols plasma-cut all over his serpent body, adorned with jewelry bracelets and a drum corn tail. The bracelets will be stained glass with some of the prehispanic symbols, so the light of the sun will transfer the colors onto the playa ground and visitors. The Quetzalcóatl piece will be an interactive space for the Burner community, a playground for the senses, allowing Burners to come, play and have fun around the piece, reflecting in each Burner the prehispanic symbols that will translate in light and color over the playa and everyone in front of it. The corn tail will be an interactive musical instrument for Burners to create percussive sounds. The philosophy of the piece is to express the rich ancestral heritage Mexico has as a country, full of diverse cultures, tribes and traditions, and to honor that heritage through sharing a bit of it through one of its most important gods and intriguing mythological creature: the Quetzalcóatl.
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Fundraising goal: $20,000 DONATE HERE!
Rain God, Chaac
This year we are making Mayan "Rain God, Chaac," surrounded by animal deities masks. We are testing eco-friendly materials such as mycelium, plus upcycled materials and solar-powered lights. In Mesoamerica, animals were not lower beings but neighbors, alter egos and a way to communicate with the gods. In the Popol Vuh, animals assisted in human creation and were the guardians of the natural world. Chaac, the Mayan god of rain is a symbolic representation of the elemental forces of nature that ensures that natural cycles of life are preserved.
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Fundraising goal: $3,800 DONATE HERE!
Respirator
"Respirator" is a living embodiment of the playa's respiratory system. Encased within a transparent cube structure, its translucent, multi-colored bubble interior creates a mesmerizing interplay with the surrounding environment. The installation beckons visitors to pause and feel the wild breath of the land captured and coalesced within its walls. As one steps inside, the wind squeezes from different directions, a reminder of the untamed force that shaped this ancient terrain. With every breath, visitors inhale the same frequency as the playa, and the original heartbeat of the land is felt within. The installation invites all to embrace the magic of the playa, to surrender to its power, and to emerge transformed.
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Fundraising goal: $8,000 DONATE HERE!
Shark Boat (mutant vehicle)
"Shark Boat" turns 21 this year! For over two decades, "Shark Boat" has captivated the hearts and minds of Burners from around the world and continues to be a vital part of the Burning Man community. As a female owner of "Shark Boat," I stand proudly among the passionate creators (Captain Ken) and visionaries who have shaped Burning Man's art car culture. My support camp (Camel Dust) is an extension of my art car. It is welcoming, street-facing, and open to the public. Having grown up in hospitality, I find tremendous joy in creating experiences that surprise and delight the community.
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Fundraising goal: $12,800 DONATE HERE!
Snailing Around Splayrograph
With this social art, Burners draw a gigantic spiral-graph design continually onto the playa, without any lasting impact to the environment. Based on community efforts for change, the snail art reminds us of the path of social change, begs us to consider our contributions, and to work together.
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Fundraising goal: $9,348 DONATE HERE!
The Solar Library
"The Solar Library" provides charging infrastructure to artists to eliminate the fumes, noise & spilled gas of generators. They buy batteries instead of generators and we charge them at the library. Funds will help us expand the number of units and artists served.
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Fundraising goal: $30,000 DONATE HERE!
SUPERIOR (MOTHER)
"SUPERIOR (MOTHER)" is an optical illusion, with ripples of light reflected in the hot desert air. She consists of a series of rotating, reflective, stainless steel stems. Her poles are bent to create organic, asymmetrical shapes; these create a pattern of disruption along the horizon line. With all her arms moving, "SUPERIOR (MOTHER)" will be Black Rock City’s first three-dimensional moving mirage.
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Fundraising goal: $6,000 DONATE HERE!
TechnoGecko
We are hosting a Silent Auction to raise money for the TechnoGecko project which will consist of six fully-electric mutant vehicles will merge to form the "TechnoGecko"! When all modules are completed, each will have the ability to split apart with independent operation then come together to form a mega-art car, the TechnoGecko, and move as one. This project was started in 2018 and is being completed in stages with one vehicle / module completed at a time. It's a community project by the Dreammakers, the same team that brought you DiscoFish.
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Fundraising goal: $5,000 DONATE HERE!
Temple of Floating Compression
The "Temple of Floating Compression" is a large tensegrity sculpture inspired by MJ's father, who enjoys making small models and suggested it would be fun for us to make a large one. Previously it was at Arizona's regional burn Saguaro Man, and served as the temple for San Diego's Regional Burn, YOUtopia.
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Fundraising goal: $8,000 DONATE HERE!
Tip of the Iceberg
A large-scale sculpture about women's empowerment — to be revealed at Burning Man 2023.
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Fundraising goal: $52,000 DONATE HERE!
Trust
100% solar, "Trust" is a ring of 5 large, metal cat sculptures with their booties facing inward, creating a "ring of trust." Each cat has a decorative butthole. Yay buttholes! "Trust" provides comic relief to help people let down their guard and feel safe.
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Fundraising goal: $20,000 DONATE HERE!
Unfolding Humanity
We are thrilled to bring "Unfolding Humanity" back to Black Rock City in 2023 as an Honoraria project. Originally exhibited in 2018, the piece is undergoing a full makeover. The interactive sculpture, a steel dodecahedron covered in over 17,000 LEDs, highlights the tension between technology and humanity. One of the pentagonal walls of the sculpture unfolds under human power – inviting visitors to experience infinity reflections in the mirrored interior. The piece alludes to both Albrecht Dürer’s 500-year-old unsolved math problem on unfolding polyhedra and a possible shape of the universe. While the skeleton of the piece will be the same, we are rebuilding much of the structure to be lighter, easier to interact with, and even more fun! We can't wait to share it with you.
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Fundraising goal: $5,500 DONATE HERE!
Yuluka: Duality
Join us on a journey to explore the fascinating theme of duality that has long been a fundamental principle in Tayrona pre-Columbian culture. Indigenous communities descendant of the Tayrona, such as the Kogi and Arahuac of the Colombian Caribbean region, attributed great relevance to animals in their beliefs, imbuing them with personalities and unique character. Our upcoming Burning Man art installation, featuring a large scale double-headed cayman, will transport you to a space of contrasts and natural opposites, which alludes to the concept that every element in the universe is composed of two opposing but complementary forces.