When it became apparent that Black Rock City was going virtual, little did we know we’d be opening up a Pandora’s box of opportunities for y’all to co-create in not one, but EIGHT fully interactive virtual Black Rock City Universes.
This post kicks off a series of rich and colorful conversations with the eight independent teams of multi-talented humans who are building the Recognized Universes in the Burning Man Multiverse. We asked them our burning questions, and their responses were fascinating. Some discussed advances in VR technology. Others mused philosophically about the capacity of virtual worlds to expand endlessly, incorporating past, present and future Black Rock Cities.
All expressed excitement over having your help building their wildly creative experiences in preparation for Burn Week 2020 — August 30 to September 7 — when each Universe will be open and ready for intrepid explorers.
“Wow,” you may be saying, “That sounds like fun! But just how can I bring my creativity and mad skills to help build these virtual Universes?”
If you’re Universe agnostic, and simply want to lend your flavor of tech wizardry to whichever Universe needs it, fill in this form and we’ll find you the best match. You can also browse the “Multiverse” category on spark.burningman.org to find opportunities to collaborate.
Want to choose the Universe that makes your heart sing? Read on to learn how to add your art, your theme camp, or your tech skills to each and every Universe in the Multiverse.
BRCvr
BRCvr is Black Rock City in full VR, complete with current and past art installations, structures, theme camps, live talks, classes, and music performances. The veteran Burners behind this Universe have created a BRCvr Playa Toolkit that allows anyone with 3D software such as Blender or SketchUp to cut and paste pre-designed Burner objects to customize a virtual theme camp or art installation.
- Learn about the BRCvr Toolkit and watch the tutorial.
- Join the BRCvr Facebook group to join weekly BRCvr toolkit training
- Explore the BRCvr website.
BRCvr creators Athena Demos, Greg Edwards and Doug Jacobson explain how using the toolkit is like “playing with LEGO”.
Build-A-Burn
Build-A-Burn is like a sketch pad come to life — an interactive 2D digital space where participants can co-create a delightful art-filled playa that encourages explorers to connect with one another, join workshops, take in performances, and more. Truly anyone can contribute an art installation or theme camp — simply upload your drawings, digital files or photographs and the Build-A-Burn team will render them in 2D for all to experience.
- Try the Build-A-Burn preview and walk to the end to submit your camp.
- Watch this tutorial to learn about customizing your art piece or camp.
Build-A-Burn co-creator Dylan Jones details how easy it is to turn your photo or sketch into a 2D theme camp or art installation.
BURN2
BURN2 is an extension of the Burning Man culture and community into the world of Second Life. It is an officially sanctioned Burning Man Regional, the only virtual one out of more than 100 Regional groups worldwide. During Burn Week, anyone can dive into the Deep Hole BURN2 Sim to share a live performance. The crew behind BURN2 recommends that you explore the space first and connect with the community there to learn more about getting involved.
- Visit the BURN2 website.
- Learn how to join BURN2 in SecondLife.
- Follow BURN2 on Facebook to learn about upcoming workshops on how to participate.
The Infinite Playa
The team behind The Infinite Playa has painstakingly recreated a photoreal landscape and immersive Black Rock City experience. Participants will be able to create their own avatar, roam the deep playa, ride on mutant vehicles, participate in live performances, and even dance until dawn. Artists, theme camps and inspired individuals all have the opportunity to bring their unique offerings — they’re seeking everything from digital rangers, to 3D modelers, art installations to live streamed performances.
- Fill in The Infinite Playa participation form to get involved.
- Explore The Infinite Playa website.
- Read the FAQ for information on accepted file types, file upload links, and other key details.
Helix Wolfson, half of the duo leading Infinite Playa, describes the types of humans he’s seeking to help bring his Universe to life.
Multiverse
Multiverse is a full-scale, virtual interactive Black Rock City, including the deep playa. The Multiverse crew has digitally recreated the entire landscape of Black Rock City 2019 — every street, every theme camp. All theme camps are built, and each has an infrastructure that allows it to broadcast content live or hold Zoom meetings simultaneously. All you need to do is register your camp with Multiverse and they will issue you a broadcasting channel that is accessible via a web browser.
- Register and claim your 2019 camp.
- Learn how to submit an art installation.
- Special volunteer call out to Unity designers.
- Visit the Multiverse website.
Faryar Ghazanfari from Multiverse speaks about adding your art to their Universe, and explains how easy it is to register and claim your 2019 camp in Multiverse.
MysticVerse
MysticVerse is a radical experiment of conscious collaboration, more about the journey and the process than the destination. If you are a builder, a maker, a co-creator who’s more committed to Build Week than Burn Week, the MysticVerse crew wants to collaborate with you in building a fully immersive, interactive 3D experience complete with theme camps, art installations, live events, and more. Anyone can join — from 2D and 3D modelers and project managers, to social engineers, visionaries and communicators.
- Fill in this form to join the MysticVerse digital village.
- Learn how artists, mutant vehicles and theme camps can get involved.
- Visit the MysticVerse website.
Simeone Scaramozzino and Cyberius Rex talk about their process for adding contributors to MysticVerse.
SparkleVerse
SparkleVerse is a 2D web-based Universe — kind of like a cross between Google Maps and a video game — where you can serendipitously mingle with other Burners who are in close proximity while co-experiencing magical spaces and performances. Everyone is invited to help co-create this decentralised experimental city in the Multiverse. The SparkleVerse crew has created tools for artists, theme camp organizers, performers and other magical humans to create immersive clickable spaces through which to deliver whatever imagination calls forth.
The SparkleVerse crew describes the people and skills they’re seeking — from software engineers to product managers, theme camp organizers to content creators.
The Bridge Experience
A passion project created by theme camp organizers from The Love Burn, The Bridge Experience is an interactive, fully immersive, 3D web-based Virtual Reality (XR) Camp/Burn accessible on any device. They welcome participation from all types of Burners — artists, volunteers, greeters, organizers, creatives, techies, theme camp organizers, and beyond.
- Visit The Bridge Experience website and choose your option on the left — volunteer or theme camp — to fill in their participation form.
Share Your Live Event or Experience with the Universes via Kindling
You don’t need a digital presence to contribute your magic to the Multiverse. You can choose to share a live event or experience using Zoom, Twitch, Facebook Live, or any platform your little heart desires, as long as you provide a link for participants to reach it. This is a great option for anyone who wants to gift a workshop, class, gathering, DJ set, or other interactive experience.
To tell the Universes about your event, share it with Kindling by filling in the Kindle a Project form. Our shiny new live events portal functions as a centralized hub, where each and every Universe can choose the live events that fit with their experience. In other words, you only need to submit your experience once to make it accessible to all the Universes.
Top photo: Charlie the Unicorn and “Rainbow Bridge” by Josh Zubkoff, 2018 as presented in BRCvr
Black Rock City is going to happen on the playa, not online. Burning Man 2020 is going to happen at the regularly scheduled time. BRC on the Internet? What kind of joke is that? See you on the playa!
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Really enjoyed the experienced of different peoples and learned a lot from it. Thank you so much.
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This is what you’ve been spending two million dollars a month on? Eight websites? Time for new leadership.
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In fact, these Universes are self-funded and are being built by independent teams of developers.
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How can you guys not even manage to pick one art project? So of the few thousand folks who go to this virtual thing, you’ve spread them across eight different things? Good grief.
I was considering putting our sound stage on one, after getting approached, but when I heard they were just one of a bunch of ideas that were proceeding because nobody upstairs (apparently) could figure out what one to get behind, we gave up.
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After reading some replys to this article, it angered me. Why so much hate, angst in here? I get it, change is hard, and this stupid thing we call Covid is, well, not making things easier. Its shit, simply put. But we are in this together, as a community. No matter if you like it or not, we are in this hole, deep. So let the techies attempt to create something out of it…, a glimmer of hope if you will, it may lead to something beautiful, or not. i for one wouldnt want to snuff out something that is an attempt to keep us connected through all this. Open your mind a bit more, educate yourself…cuz it ant going no where. After all, ALL of life is an Art form. Try something different, log in, participate, or not, its still a free country…. for now.
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Dude, I’m going out to the playa to Burn. You nerds can stay home and play the Burning Man video game, safe from the Corona boogie man. Make sure to wear your mask at all times, even online and especially in your car. Cars make the virus super charged and can get grandma though her belly button. Be safe!
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Dead Beat is right. Someone forgot to lock the screen door and a butt load of HATE flew in. Picture perfect examples of what BM is NOT! No worries, they eventually turn on each other once they figure out Burners dont speak hate language.
Have a beer and enjoy being alive cuz this ride is a short one.
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Yeah! Burningman!
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❤️
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I very much appreciate the time spent, ingenuity and creativity from the Burner community to help us feel at home, while still at a distance. And to the “techie” community and all the volunteers that are helping to make this possible, I am so grateful for your gift. I feel your love. I also feel joy and excitement for the endless opportunities that this technology will make possible. The chance to be in community, to feel connected and engaged, to experience art, radical expression, and to explore intimacy with one another despite being in a socially distanced post COVID world is amazing! Thank you.
I also understand that for many people change is hard, and the thought of going to a virtual burn seems like a lame joke or a ridiculous substitute. I hear you and you are right, there is no substitute for being there in person. But I also would like to invite you to keep an open mind about what it truly means to live in the multiverse. Let that sink in… deeply. And yes, there may be eight different platforms, and perhaps hundreds or even thousands of different experiences in each of them, but isn’t choosing what kind of Burn you want what it’s all about? So, this year you can choose to stay home, go back home, or be home. Not to worry, the playa will provide. Anything is possible in the multiverse.
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Ignore the haters. Thanks for all the great info. Do we all want to be out on the real Playa? Of course we do! But, this is what we got this year. And I’ve already spent a little time running around through some of these worlds, and what people have been able to do is pretty amazing. I for one am very excited to still get to have this experience, and I know many others who are as well!
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I appreciate the effort members of the community have made to ensure BM can go on virtually. This is awesome. Change is hard but adapting is important. Excited to participate in The Multiverse.
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Nice post. Thanks for the share.
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