NICOLA GINZLER

Senior Graphic Designer

Pics ’n Vids from Nicola’s Burningperson 2023

Here’s a bunch of visuals from Burning Man (or as we should all call it, Burningperson) 2023. Follow the day-by-day retelling below, or just jump directly to the photo gallery or videos.

This year I attended the event as a member of the Flaming Lotus Girls (FLG), a woman-run, all-gender art collective based in San Francisco. We make huge interactive metal sculptures that shoot fire. I arrived early to help build this year’s sculptures, provided fire safety and helped audience members participate in the fire effects during the event, and stayed late to help strike everything at the end.

Me with bright red hair and my new Adventurin' Hat!
Me with bright red hair and my new Adventurin’ Hat! 8/22 (still in CA)
Sunset in Truckee, CA.

Sunset in Truckee, CA on the way from Oakland, CA to Black Rock City, NV. 8/24

Map showing layout of members' areas in Flaming Lotus Girl (FLG) Camp
Map showing layout of members’ areas in Flaming Lotus Girl (FLG) Camp. 8/24

FLG’s “Mutopia” is a mutant plant/beast that was originally built in 2008 as a series of seven pods ranging from a few feet high to a towering 30 feet. We took only four this year, omitting the smallest and the two largest and adding LEDs and ambient sound.

I stayed with some of the FLGs in “FLG Camp” in a group of camps called Illumination Village aka “IllVille,” so called because all IllVille camps offer something to do with fire to the public. Other FLGs camped elsewhere in IllVille or in the larger city. I really enjoyed living for almost two weeks with my crew mates, a great bunch of hardworking, inventive, capable people who are also NICE: an essential ingredient to getting through a challenging event not only intact but stronger and relatively sane.

Build Week

I arrived in the early morning of Friday 8/25, did an initial setup and got to sleep around 5am. I generally lose about a day to altitude sickness: Burning Man’s site, Black Rock City, NV (BRC), is at 4000 feet elevation and I live at sea level. Next year I plan to go a day early, stay overnight in a hotel in Reno and continue to the playa in the morning—I’ve done this before and it really helps. In any case, I wasn’t very useful until Saturday 8/26 when I crawled over to the Mutopia site to help build.

Event Week

Sunday 8/27

The Burning Man 2023 gate opened to the public at 12:00 am on Sunday 8/27. We worked throughout the day to be ready for our first fire show that night. With all essential functions in place, we lit up the sculptures (see video for 8/30) and invited our audience in. The whole point of FLG art is that it’s interactive. The sculptures have buttons or joysticks that control flame effects, and we encourage audience members to activate and play with them. 6:30pm was our walkthrough and crew photo, 8:30 was fire time!

The tanks of propane delivered to us at the FLG Mutopia sculpture site actually contained a butane-propane mix, which is useless to us for fire art purposes. We had to just burn off the mix to empty the tanks. The local fire department and other agencies used this as a teaching event about fire art safety on the playa. 8/27
A tour of the Mutopia sculptures by day, with LEDs. 8/27

A cow art car going past the FLG Mutopia site, mooing. I designed the “Mutopia” image on the blue hoodie. 8/27
A long view of the Mutopia site at dusk, with the LEDs in and under the sculptures visible. 8/27
Looking past the Mutopia site to the “Elder Mother” tree light sculpture by Charlie Gadeken. 8/27
A square design. Background is a computer-generated mockup of massive tree with colorful lights coming off it; green background. The image is reflected on itself in the lower third of the square. All-caps white type in the bottom third of the square, over the seam between the top art and its reflection: "ELDER MOTHER / BURNING MAN 2023."
This is one of the sticker designs I created as giveaways for the Elder Mother sculpture. See my blog post about them and go here for the Elder Mother website.
Solar path lights marking out the legs of the Rhizome, then moving up to see the lit eyeballs in the top. Faint sound of thumping music. 8/27

Monday 8/28

Monday was a non-work day. I spent several hours volunteering as a “Greeter” at Arctica, the organization that sells ice to BRC inhabitants—ice is the only thing you can buy in the city. This was super fun: I met people at the door of the cool, shady dome, explained the options, and passed them on to the other Greeter, who set them up with the next available cashier. The people actually slinging the ice were mostly young, women as well as men, and mostly dressed in high BRC style, with a lot of shiny fabrics and bright colors. They had loud dance music going behind the counters and in the ice trucks, and it was a dance party. Best volunteer gig on the playa: all of the above, plus every customer leaves happy.

A few of us went out looking for food, art, alcohol and fun Monday night. We encountered:

  • A kiddie pool full of rubber chickens (see video)
  • Home-made pizza
  • Honey cocktails
  • A sculpture called Apex of Azure that FLG Max worked substantially on
  • A man with a typewriter in a bar who said, “What’s your name? I’ll write you a poem” (he had a waitlist so we didn’t stay long enough for that).
  • A camp touting their hot ramen that turned out to be lowest-common-denominator Top Ramen® which was at that point both the best and the worst thing I’d ever eaten
  • A place of comfort with soft pillows on the floor
  • A cozy camp to go back to

I and other FLGs were out looking for food, cocktails, art and fun. We found a kiddie pool filled with rubber chickens that squawked when you stepped on them. 8/28

The famous Thunderdome presented by the Death Guild übergoths. A geodesic dome where combatants in bungee harnesses swing at each other with Nerf weapons until one is judged the winner. The spinning sign on top says “Death Guild.” 8/28
The structure again. The sign on this side says “Thunderdome.” 8/28
Another geodesic dome, this one with plex triangles suspended between the piping. The edge of each triangle was wrapped with LED tape, controllable down to the single bulb; when the LEDs lit up, the whole surface of the triangle glowed. The LEDs were programmed to create washes of light over the entire surface of the dome—hypnotic! 8/28
Inside the LED dome was a miniature version, reflected to form a sphere. 8/28

My fellow FLG Eric, showing off his truly amazing computer programming and fabrication skills with a staff that lights up according to how—and how fast—you move it. He has spent over a year working on this. 8/28

Better video and stills are here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw3YF9lSA3s/

Tuesday 8/29

Tuesday morning I made French Toast for the whole camp on my new Coleman 2-burner stove with griddle. I love feeding people and my French Toast is killer so this was fun for everyone.

In the afternoon there was a reception and group photo for all the designers whose stickers had been chosen for gate giveaway. Total whiteout dust storm on the way there, so I arrived for the photo with my entire face gray from dust except where my goggles had been, pretty entertaining. “Deets,” my BMan contact, said there were usually about 150 sticker design submissions, of which 10-12 are chosen, but they received many more good designs this year so there were 30 different stickers. The other artists and I exchanged stickers and squinted into the sun (which by now had come out) for the photo.

Intricately designed art car in the shape of a fish. I think the scales are dozens of shovel blades.
Intricately designed art car in the shape of a fish. I think the scales are dozens of shovel blades. 8/29
White inflatable art piece to jump and climb on. Ten feet tall by 20 feet diameter.
White inflatable art piece to jump and climb on. Ten feet tall by 20 feet diameter. 8/29

I went out alone on my bike at night across the Esplanade and inner playa.

Pink and orange lasers shoot out across the playa above head height; yellow squares of light spell out a huge "D"; two people on a tandem bike go past with lit-up green and blue wheels. From inner playa looking towards Esplanade.
Pink and orange lasers shoot out across the playa above head height; yellow squares of light spell out a huge “D”; two people on a tandem bike go past with lit-up green and blue wheels. From the inner playa looking towards the Esplanade. 8/29
Red Flaming Lotus Girls "HAZARD" sticker on side of stainless steel vehicle; it was massive but I forgot to take a photo of the whole thing.
We are everywhere! Red Flaming Lotus Girls “HAZARD” sticker on the side of a stainless steel vehicle; it was massive but I forgot to take a photo of the whole thing. 8/29
FLG camp: my tent under an E-Z Up with four crates and two coolers covered in Mylar in front
FLG camp: my tent under an E-Z Up with four crates and two coolers covered in Mylar in front. 8/29

Wednesday 8/30

In the early afternoon I worked another Arctica ice-place shift, this time as the second greeter who distributes the customers to the cashiers. Also fun. Forgot to mention that for every shift you work, you get to take home a bag of ice! I found some great art on the way home.

The playa just before sunset. Everyone howls like wolves just as the sun slips behind the mountains. The art car in the distance seems to be a cross between a galleon and a blimp. 8/30

Wednesday night was a fire night.

A closeup of one of the Mutopia “pods”: a mutant plant/beast that lights up, makes sound, moves and shoots fire. A fellow FLG is lighting the fire effects on the pod with a long propane torch. 8/30
A fellow FLG is lighting the fire effects on the pod with a long propane torch. Yes, we all have pink hard hats. 8/30
More lighting of the pods. 8/30

Thursday 8/31

I don’t have much written down for this day, but I know it was a fire night!

FLG's "Mutopia" sculptures at night. Four huge metal shapes of a mutant plant-beast, rising to 15 feet high and extending to a footprint of ten by 20 feet. Sculptures are moodily lit with bright LED colors. The bright lights of the BRC Esplanade are visible behind.
FLG’s “Mutopia” sculptures at night. Four huge metal shapes of a mutant plant-beast, rising to 15 feet high and extending to a footprint of ten by 20 feet. Sculptures are moodily lit with bright LED colors. The bright lights of the BRC Esplanade are visible behind. 8/31
A brighter view of the previous image: FLG's "Mutopia" sculptures at night. Four huge metal shapes of a mutant plant-beast, rising to 15 feet high and extending to a footprint of ten by 20 feet. Sculptures are brightly lit with bright LED colors. The bright lights of the BRC Esplanade are visible behind.
A brighter view of the previous image: FLG’s “Mutopia” sculptures at night. Four huge metal shapes of a mutant plant-beast, rising to 15 feet high and extending to a footprint of ten by 20 feet. Sculptures are brightly lit with bright LED colors. The bright lights of the BRC Esplanade are visible behind. 8/31
Split-second video of two bicyclists, wheels lit up, riding among the Mutopia pods at night. The four pods are brightly lit up with colorful LEDs. A bright line of lights showing the edge of the city is in the background. 8/31
Looking across the Mutopia site at night with the fire going. The Heavy Petting Zoo (HPZ) art car is parked outside the perimeter, providing loud dance music. Colorfully dressed people dance and look at the art. 8/31

Pod 6, the one with the highest gas pressure, blasts out fire further than the others. The vertical joystick at the far right, about two-thirds of the way down, controls the three-way “poofer” that hangs from the curved stem. 8/31

Two extravagantly dressed partygoers walk in front of a Pod 6, which is lit up with both LEDs, underneath, and flame, above. The HPZ art car is still pumping out dance music. 8/31
Looking towards Pod 6, which is poofing out jets of flame as an audience member operates the joystick. One of my crew walks past, smiles at the camera, sticks out her tongue, then turns and walks towards the pod.

Friday 9/1

This was when things started to get weird. The weather was unsettled all day, with spatterings of rain in the city and whiteouts on the playa. In the afternoon it just began to pour. My notes say: “Raining like fuck; mud everywhere.” I managed to take shelter with some friends; we were protected from the storm but the carpets they’d put down were sodden. At around 7pm the rain stopped and the sun was visible near the tops of the mountains. “Look!” someone said, gesturing outside. Above another camp’s structure I saw part of a faint rainbow. Other people saw more: brighter colors and a double rainbow.

Looking from the Esplanade towards the playa after one bout of rain, the playa is soaked. A "mutant vehicle" is in front of the iron Illumination Village "Ill Ville" gate. The sun is setting and the light is reflected in the wet ground.
Looking from the Esplanade towards the playa after a bout of rain, the playa is soaked. A “mutant vehicle” is in front of the metal Illumination Village “IllVille” gate. The sun is setting and the light is reflected in the wet ground. 9/1
The playa is soaked after a bout of rain. Looking from the back of Illumination Village towards the Esplanade, the IllVille "Fire Garden" is part way built. The gray sky at sunset is reflected in the wet ground.
The playa is soaked after a bout of rain. Looking from the back of Illumination Village towards the Esplanade, the IllVille “Fire Garden” is visible. The gray sky at sunset is reflected in the wet ground. 9/1
Closeup: a graceful black bicycle stands on a completely wet playa.
Closeup: a graceful black bicycle stands on a completely wet playa. 9/1
A faint rainbow is visible above the top edge of a shade structure. Elsewhere the light effect was a double rainbow, and much stronger.
When the rains ended, a faint rainbow was visible above the top edge of a shade structure. Elsewhere the light effect was a double rainbow, and much stronger. 9/1

Saturday 9/2

Saturday was clear during the day but returned to rain in the evening. I and a few other FLGs went out on foot to look at art on the playa.

Members of the FLG build crew on an art tour: several people climbed up on a huge cobra sculpture made of bent steel pipe, some of it with copper-colored scales.
Members of the FLG build crew on an art tour: several people climbed up on a huge cobra sculpture made of bent steel pipe, some of it with copper-colored scales. 9/2
Members of the FLG build crew on an art tour: several people climbed up on a huge sculpture, "Farmer the Rigger," described on https://www.farmertherigger.com/ as "an impressive sculpture of an African tribal mask that celebrates the power of vocation."
FLG crew art tour: several people climbed up on a huge sculpture, “Farmer the Rigger,” described on https://www.farmertherigger.com/ as “an impressive sculpture of an African tribal mask that celebrates the power of vocation.” 9/2
Members of the FLG build crew on an art tour: several people standing around the huge hand of a sculpture, "Farmer the Rigger," described on https://www.farmertherigger.com/ as "an impressive sculpture of an African tribal mask that celebrates the power of vocation."
FLG crew art tour: several people standing around the huge hand of a sculpture, “Farmer the Rigger,” described on https://www.farmertherigger.com/ as “an impressive sculpture of an African tribal mask that celebrates the power of vocation.” 9/2
The playa in sunlight with high clouds. The wooden Temple building is in the far distance: a low circular pyramid of light wood with a long thin spire.
FLG crew art tour: the playa in sunlight with high clouds. The wooden Temple building is in the far distance: a low circular pyramid of light wood with a long thin spire. 9/2
A dramatic shot of a 20'-high shiny steel retro rocket ship, standing straight up on a pedestal. A young woman in a cow-print bikini and big white boots poses in front. The sky is bright blue with white and dark gray clouds.
FLG crew art tour: a dramatic shot of a 20′-high shiny steel retro rocket ship, standing straight up on a pedestal. A young woman in a cow-print bikini and big white boots poses in front. The sky is bright blue with white and dark gray clouds. 9/2
One of my FLG crew, Max, sitting on a 6' high structure of turquoise-colored helical steel rods with a wooden top.
One of my FLG crew, Max, sitting on a 6′ high structure of turquoise-colored helical steel rods with a wooden top. 9/2

FLG crew art tour: Max examines the gracefully bent helical steel. Several people have scrambled to the top.

(Max is in all my photos because he’s documenting the excursion, same as me, but with, like, a real camera.)

In the foreground, a structure of a black helix inside a blue helix made out of bent steel pipe. Surrounded by wet playa. in the far distance, the sun is low over black mountains. High rain clouds.
Almost sunset and the rain clouds are gathering.
Two of my FLG crew mates stand in front of a 15' high silver robot sculpture. The robot is pointing with its left hand and holds a massive wooden axe in its right hand.
Two of my FLG crew mates stand in front of a 15′ high silver robot sculpture. The robot is pointing with its left hand and holds a massive wooden axe in its right hand. This has significance but I can’t remember what. 9/2
A rocking "horse" in the shape of a snarling yellow leopard with a blue face and multicolored stylized spots. Slightly larger than human scale.
FLG crew art tour: a rocking “horse” in the shape of a snarling yellow leopard with a blue face and multicolored stylized spots. Slightly larger than human scale. 9/2
From a distance: a human-scale cat tree carpeted in teal fake fur with sisal-wound supports. Supposedly there were three large cat tree art pieces this year but I only saw this one. We didn't go in as it was closed due to the recent rain.
FLG crew art tour: from a distance, a human-scale cat tree carpeted in teal fake fur with sisal-wound supports. Supposedly there were three large cat tree art pieces this year but I only saw this one. We didn’t go in as it was closed due to the recent rain. 9/2
Two hands with worn-off nail polish hold a scrap of thermographic paper with the images of 5 smiling people on it.
FLG crew art tour: a photo of a printout of a photo. We met a man in a large white fake fur coat who asked us all to pose and took our picture with a tiny pink camera, which then printed out an image of us on thermographic paper. 9/2

It rains all night.

Sunday 9/3

I taped plastic bags over my socks and boots and went out around 2pm to a Ranger Station, where they’d set up free public wifi. There were so many people trying to use the hotspot that I had difficulty getting on to send my emergency messages and post a video to Facebook. I started talking with a young man and woman from San Diego (I think) who were experienced campers and backpackers but first time Burners. They were relaxed and laughing and said the rain and mud were just another adventure. I noticed though that they were wearing sandals on bare feet, so I gave them the talk about how caustic and corrosive the calcite and gypsum of the playa dust/mud are to the skin, and if they don’t have proper shoes they should be counteracting the alkalinity with a weak acid in a footbath. “Do you have lemon juice?” “No.” “Do you have vinegar?” “No.” “OK, when you’re done sending your messages, come to FLG Camp with me; I have a bottle of vinegar I can give you to mix with water 1:7.” “Wow, really?” “Yeah, sure!”

A muddy major road is impassable for cars and bicycles and difficult going for walkers, some of whom can be seen. There’s music pumping in the background, though, which means that some people’s generators are working and that spirits are high. I’m on my way to the Ranger Station for free public wifi. I managed to post this video to Facebook. 9/3
Muddy, rumpled people with phones in their hands trying to get on the free public wifi at the Ranger Station. The area has a roof but no walls, and the ground is muddy. 9/3

We did a final Mutopia burn that evening until the propane ran out. It was a chilly night and I was doing Fire Safety/perimeter so I was far away from the flames, in just a t-shirt and a cotton hoodie. Why cotton? Natural fibers burn away if you have accidental contact with fire; synthetic fibers melt to your skin, creating much worse damage. I was talking with a man and woman, don’t remember their home city. “Are you cold?” the woman asked me. “Freezing!” I said. “Here, have this scarf,” the man said, pulling one of those huge black and white square scarves, the kind popular in the Arab world and on disaffected college students, out of his back pack. “Wow, really?” “Yeah, sure!” This generosity is one of the concepts and practices I strive to bring back to the “default world,” as Burners call it. Some cultures have always had it; my culture of origin could use more of it.

After we closed down the fire a couple of us wandered over to the Elder Mother, the huge light-emitting “tree,” and watched the lights.

Charlie Gadekan’s “Elder Mother” art piece. Small groups of people are gathered around the base of a huge gray steel “tree.” It’s lit by programmable LED lights inside translucent white cubes. The cubes are phasing through shades of deep blue, light blue and a little purple. 9/3

Monday 9/4 – the “Man Burn” is scheduled for 9pm

Not such a great day. This whole time I’d mostly been wearing my work boots, but I brought a pair of regular walking shoes for relief. I’d had to trash these, though, as they were almost encased in mud, so I was wearing the boots only, and had developed bad blisters. I tried to bandage them but it still hurt too much to walk. My bike wheels were also caked with mud so I couldn’t really use that either. I hobbled to the Esplanade to see the Man Burn, then back to camp to sulk.

One of my campmates found me and gave me veggie ramen, yum.

9pm: the “Man” burns: against a black nighttime ground, a line of bright lights shows where art cars and people have gathered. In the center is the Man, barely visible behind a long, colorful fireworks display. 9/4

Tuesday 9/5 – the “Temple Burn” is scheduled for 9pm

Each year at Burning Man, the Temple is a sacred structure, intricately built out of wood and then ritually burned the day after the Man burns. In the days prior to its burn, the Temple serves as a place where people can place materials or write messages about people, relationships or whatever that they’re grieving, or just sit for a while.

A lot of the FLG crew biked out to the Temple together, meeting first at The Tip of the Iceberg, a 30′ tall 3D model of the entire clitoris including all the inside parts everyone should know about, as it was just next to the Temple and a good meeting point, plus it was really cool. I got a sticker. From there we walked to the wide circular perimeter set by the local fire safety officers and found a place for all of us to sit. There were thousands of people sitting, waiting in the dark, but as soon as torchbearers finally lit the wood, there was absolute silence. The building as a whole took a while to be fully involved, but we just sat and watched it. I’m not sure how long it took from torch to full involvement to when the whole structure had fallen and there were only embers, but there was complete silence the whole time except when someone called out “I love you!” and many people echoed them.

Every so often some smoke from the cloud above the fire would spin off and turn into a smoke cyclone (see video).

9pm: the Temple burns. A group is watching the low flames and smoke cloud in absolute darkness. Smoke cyclones spin off from the larger cloud a few times. We were sitting right behind these people. 9/5

After a long while, the perimeter was released and we could go right up to the fire. People were still quiet. A line of participants, single file, was slowly pacing the inner circumference of the circle, right up against the embers. “Making a full circle is like walking a labyrinth, isn’t it,” someone said.

After that ethereal experience, unfortunately, it was time to keep packing to go home. Back to camp.

Wednesday 9/6

I and my ride got up early and packed the rest of our stuff, then loaded the vehicle and trailer. We left BRC proper at 1:07pm and made it to the county paved road by 2:45pm: a very good “Exodus” time by Burner standards. We stopped at Burger King in Fernley, NV, then it was just driving until the Bay Area. We unloaded her stuff from the trailer into her apartment and took my stuff from the trailer to my house. My stuff from the inside of her car would come on Thursday. To bed at 1am.

Already planning for next year.

Pics in Order

Me with bright red hair and my new Adventurin' Hat!
Me with bright red hair and my new Adventurin’ Hat! 8/22
Sunset in Truckee, CA.
Sunset in Truckee, CA on the way from Oakland, CA to Black Rock City, NV. 8/24
Map showing layout of members' areas in Flaming Lotus Girl (FLG) Camp
Map showing layout of members’ areas in Flaming Lotus Girl (FLG) Camp. 8/24
Pink and orange lasers shoot out across the playa above head height; yellow squares of light spell out a huge "D"; two people on a tandem bike go past with lit-up green and blue wheels. From inner playa looking towards Esplanade.
Pink and orange lasers shoot out across the playa above head height; yellow squares of light spell out a huge “D”; two people on a tandem bike go past with lit-up green and blue wheels. From inner playa looking towards Esplanade. 8/29
Red Flaming Lotus Girls "HAZARD" sticker on side of stainless steel vehicle; it was massive but I forgot to take a photo of the whole thing.
We are everywhere! Red Flaming Lotus Girls “HAZARD” sticker on the side of a stainless steel vehicle; it was massive but I forgot to take a photo of the whole thing. 8/29
FLG camp: my tent under an E-Z Up with four crates and two coolers covered in Mylar in front
FLG camp: my tent under an E-Z Up with four crates and two coolers covered in Mylar in front. 8/29
Intricately designed art car in the shape of a fish. I think the scales are dozens of shovel blades.
Intricately designed art car in the shape of a fish. I think the scales are dozens of shovel blades. 8/29
White inflatable art piece to jump and climb on. Ten feet tall by 20 feet diameter.
White inflatable art piece to jump and climb on. Ten feet tall by 20 feet diameter. 8/29
FLG's "Mutopia" sculptures at night. Four huge metal shapes of a mutant plant-beast, rising to 15 feet high and extending to a footprint of ten by 20 feet. Sculptures are moodily lit with bright LED colors. The bright lights of the BRC Esplanade are visible behind.
FLG’s “Mutopia” sculptures at night. Four huge metal shapes of a mutant plant-beast, rising to 15 feet high and extending to a footprint of ten by 20 feet. Sculptures are moodily lit with bright LED colors. The bright lights of the BRC Esplanade are visible behind. 8/31
A brighter view of the previous image: FLG's "Mutopia" sculptures at night. Four huge metal shapes of a mutant plant-beast, rising to 15 feet high and extending to a footprint of ten by 20 feet. Sculptures are brightly lit with bright LED colors. The bright lights of the BRC Esplanade are visible behind.
A brighter view of the previous image: FLG’s “Mutopia” sculptures at night. Four huge metal shapes of a mutant plant-beast, rising to 15 feet high and extending to a footprint of ten by 20 feet. Sculptures are brightly lit with bright LED colors. The bright lights of the BRC Esplanade are visible behind. 8/31
Looking from the Esplanade towards the playa after one bout of rain, the playa is soaked. A "mutant vehicle" is in front of the iron Illumination Village "Ill Ville" gate. The sun is setting and the light is reflected in the wet ground.
Looking from the Esplanade towards the playa after a bout of rain, the playa is soaked. A “mutant vehicle” is in front of the metal Illumination Village “IllVille” gate. The sun is setting and the light is reflected in the wet ground. 9/1
The playa is soaked after a bout of rain. Looking from the back of Illumination Village towards the Esplanade, the IllVille "Fire Garden" is part way built. The gray sky at sunset is reflected in the wet ground.
The playa is soaked after a bout of rain. Looking from the back of Illumination Village towards the Esplanade, the IllVille “Fire Garden” is visible. The gray sky at sunset is reflected in the wet ground. 9/1
Closeup: a graceful black bicycle stands on a completely wet playa.
Closeup: a graceful black bicycle stands on a completely wet playa. 9/1
A faint rainbow is visible above the top edge of a shade structure. Elsewhere the light effect was a double rainbow, and much stronger.
When the rains ended, a faint rainbow was visible above the top edge of a shade structure. Elsewhere the light effect was a double rainbow, and much stronger. 9/1
Members of the FLG build crew on an art tour: several people climbed up on a huge cobra sculpture made of bent steel pipe, some of it with copper-colored scales.
Members of the FLG build crew on an art tour: several people climbed up on a huge cobra sculpture made of bent steel pipe, some of it with copper-colored scales. 9/2
Members of the FLG build crew on an art tour: several people climbed up on a huge sculpture, "Farmer the Rigger," described on https://www.farmertherigger.com/ as "an impressive sculpture of an African tribal mask that celebrates the power of vocation."
FLG crew art tour: several people climbed up on a huge sculpture, “Farmer the Rigger,” described on https://www.farmertherigger.com/ as “an impressive sculpture of an African tribal mask that celebrates the power of vocation.” 9/2
Members of the FLG build crew on an art tour: several people standing around the huge hand of a sculpture, "Farmer the Rigger," described on https://www.farmertherigger.com/ as "an impressive sculpture of an African tribal mask that celebrates the power of vocation."
FLG crew art tour: several people standing around the huge hand of a sculpture, “Farmer the Rigger,” described on https://www.farmertherigger.com/ as “an impressive sculpture of an African tribal mask that celebrates the power of vocation.” 9/2
The huge hand of a sculpture, "Farmer the Rigger," described on https://www.farmertherigger.com/ as "an impressive sculpture of an African tribal mask that celebrates the power of vocation."
FLG crew art tour: the huge hand of a sculpture, “Farmer the Rigger,” described on https://www.farmertherigger.com/ as “an impressive sculpture of an African tribal mask that celebrates the power of vocation.” 9/2
The playa in sunlight with high clouds. The wooden Temple building is in the far distance: a low circular pyramid of light wood with a long thin spire.
FLG crew art tour: the playa in sunlight with high clouds. The wooden Temple building is in the far distance: a low circular pyramid of light wood with a long thin spire. 9/2
A dramatic shot of a 20'-high shiny steel retro rocket ship, standing straight up on a pedestal. A young woman in a cow-print bikini and big white boots poses in front. The sky is bright blue with white and dark gray clouds.
FLG crew art tour: a dramatic shot of a 20′-high shiny steel retro rocket ship, standing straight up on a pedestal. A young woman in a cow-print bikini and big white boots poses in front. The sky is bright blue with white and dark gray clouds. 9/2
One of my FLG crew, Max, sitting on a 6' high structure of turquoise-colored helical steel rods with a wooden top.
One of my FLG crew, Max, sitting on a 6′ high structure of turquoise-colored helical steel rods with a wooden top. 9/2
Two of my FLG crew mates stand in front of a 15' high silver robot sculpture. The robot is pointing with its left hand and holds a massive wooden axe in its right hand.
Two of my FLG crew mates stand in front of a 15′ high silver robot sculpture. The robot is pointing with its left hand and holds a massive wooden axe in its right hand. This has significance but I can’t remember what. 9/2
A rocking "horse" in the shape of a snarling yellow leopard with a blue face and multicolored stylized spots. Slightly larger than human scale.
FLG crew art tour: a rocking “horse” in the shape of a snarling yellow leopard with a blue face and multicolored stylized spots. Slightly larger than human scale. 9/2
From a distance: a human-scale cat tree carpeted in teal fake fur with sisal-wound supports. Supposedly there were three large cat tree art pieces this year but I only saw this one. We didn't go in as it was closed due to the recent rain.
FLG crew art tour: from a distance, a human-scale cat tree carpeted in teal fake fur with sisal-wound supports. Supposedly there were three large cat tree art pieces this year but I only saw this one. We didn’t go in as it was closed due to the recent rain. 9/2
Two hands with worn-off nail polish hold a scrap of thermographic paper with the images of 5 smiling people on it.
FLG crew art tour: a photo of a printout of a photo. We met a man in a large white fake fur coat who asked us all to pose and took our picture with a tiny pink camera, which then printed out an image of us on thermographic paper. 9/2

Vids, in Order

The tanks of propane delivered to us at the FLG Mutopia sculpture site actually contained a butane-propane mix, which is useless to us for fire art purposes. We had to just burn off the mix to empty the tanks. The local fire department and other agencies used this as a teaching event about fire art safety on the playa. 8/27
A tour of the Mutopia sculptures by day, with LEDs. 8/27

A cow art car going past the FLG Mutopia site, mooing. I designed the “Mutopia” image on the blue hoodie. 8/27
A long view of the Mutopia site at dusk, with the LEDs in and under the sculptures visible. 8/27
Looking past the Mutopia site to the “Elder Mother” tree light sculpture by Charlie Gadeken. I designed stickers for the project: see my blog post here. 8/27
Solar path lights marking out the legs of the Rhizome, then moving up to see the lit eyeballs in the top. Faint sound of thumping music. 8/27

I and other FLGs were out looking for food, cocktails, art and fun when we found a kiddie pool filled with rubber chickens that squawked when you stepped on them. 8/28

The famous Thunderdome presented by the Death Guild übergoths. A geodesic dome where combatants in bungee harnesses swing at each other with Nerf weapons until one is judged the winner. The spinning sign on top says “Death Guild.” 8/28
The structure again. The sign on this side says “Thunderdome.” 8/28
Another geodesic dome, this one with plex triangles suspended between the piping. The edge of each triangle was wrapped with LED tape, controllable down to the single bulb; when the LEDs lit up, the whole surface of the triangle glowed. The LEDs were programmed to create washes of light over the entire surface of the dome—hypnotic! 8/28
Inside the LED dome was a miniature version, reflected to form a sphere. 8/28

My fellow FLG Eric, showing off his truly amazing computer programming and fabrication skills, a staff that lights up according to how—and how fast—you move it. He has spent over a year working on this. I’ll look for other people’s videos that show more of the staff. 8/28

The bright lights and ever-present music of the Esplanade, the innermost ring of horseshoe-shaped Black Rock City. View from a little way into the inner playa. 8/29
The playa just before sunset. Everyone howls like a wolf just as the sun slips behind the mountains. The art car seems to be a cross between a galleon and a blimp. 8/30
A closeup of one of the Mutopia “pods”: a mutant plant/beast that lights up, makes sound, moves and shoots fire. A fellow FLG is lighting the fire effects on the pod with a long propane torch. 8/30
A fellow FLG is lighting the fire effects on the pod with a long propane torch. Yes, we all have pink hard hats. 8/30
More lighting of the pods. 8/30
Split-second video of two bicyclists, wheels lit up, riding among the Mutopia pods at night. The four pods are brightly lit up with colorful LEDs. A bright line of lights showing the edge of the city is in the background. 8/31
Looking across the Mutopia site at night with the fire going. The Heavy Petting Zoo (HPZ) art car is parked outside the perimeter, providing loud dance music. Colorfully dressed people dance and look at the art. 8/31

Pod 6, the one with the highest gas pressure, blasts out fire further than the others. The vertical joystick at the far right, about two-thirds of the way down, controls the three-way “poofer” that hangs from the curved stem. 8/31

Two extravagantly dressed partygoers walk in front of Pod 6, which is lit up with both LEDs, underneath, and flame, above. The HPZ art car is still pumping out dance music. 8/31
Looking towards Pod 6, which is poofing out jets of flame as an audience member operates the joystick. One of my crew walks past, smiles at the camera, sticks out her tongue, then turns and walks towards the pod.
A muddy major road is impassable for cars and bicycles and difficult going for walkers, some of whom can be seen. There’s music pumping in the background, though, which means that some people’s generators are working and that spirits are high. I’m on my way to the Ranger Station for free public wifi. I managed to post this video to Facebook. 9/3
Dusty, rumpled people with phones in their hands trying to get on the free public wifi at the Ranger Station. The area has a roof but no walls, and the ground is muddy.
Charlie Gadekan’s “Elder Mother” art piece. Small groups of people are gathered around the base of a huge gray steel “tree.” It’s lit by programmable LED lights inside translucent white cubes. The cubes are phasing through shades of deep blue, light blue and a little purple.
The “Man” burns: against a black nighttime ground, a line of bright lights shows where art cars and people have gathered. In the center is the Man, barely visible behind a long fireworks display.
9pm: the Temple burns. A group is watching the low flames and smoke cloud in absolute darkness. Smoke cyclones spin off from the larger cloud a few times. We were sitting right behind these people. 9/5

2 Responses

  1. Very cool. Thank you for giving a “non-burner” a better understanding of the experience. Your photos and stories are wonderful.

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