Europe and the UK — Burning Man Art Is Headed Your Way

Greetings Euro-friends and intrepid travelers! It’s not easy to make the journey from Europe and the UK to experience mind-bending art in Black Rock City. If you’re staying on your side of the Atlantic this year, do not fret — we have exciting news to soothe those big art cravings. You can look forward to not one, not two, but THREE expositions of large-scale Burning Man Art in France and the UK in the coming months.

We’re not producing these exhibitions! But we are over the moon that these installations are coming to life in new locales, bringing participatory art out into the world.

“Sanctuary”: A David Best Temple in Nuneaton & Bedworth, England

When: May 2022
Where: Miners’ Welfare Park, Coventry, UK

David Best — yes, that David Best, the one whose temples have graced Black Rock City for two decades — will be collaborating with the local community to build his next ephemeral temple in the Midlands town of Nuneaton and Bedworth, near Coventry, England, this May. 

“Sanctuary” will provide a space for visitors to honor those lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. Volunteers, schools, and community groups will work alongside Best and his team to bring the temple to life. Do you plan on being nearby, and want to help out? Build participants and Sanctuary Guardian opportunities are open now.

“…This temporary public artwork is intended as a healing space for everyone, a place to remember those we have lost and a beacon of hope to mark the rebirth, recovery and regeneration of the whole community.” —Sanctuary Statement

The project is another collaboration between David Best and Artichoke — the arts organization that brought David Best’s Temple to Derry-Londonderry in 2015. “Sanctuary” is produced in association with Imagineer and local stakeholders including Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council and Warwickshire County Council. 

While there’s currently no direct mention of igniting “Sanctuary,” you can expect that there will be a release ceremony, if you catch our drift. 

“Radical Horizons: The Art of Burning Man” at Chatsworth

When: April 9 to October 1, 2022
Where: Chatsworth House, Bakewell, UK

Not far from Manchester, England, sits Chatsworth House, a fantastical manor with vast and stately gardens. From April to October 2022, all are invited to experience 12 monumental works of Burning Man art installed in Chatsworth’s 1,000-acre park. The exhibit will be free. 

“Radical Horizons: The Art of Burning Man at Chatsworth” will invite the public to experience eight works originally built in Black Rock City, and four new pieces created expressly for the exhibit. All 12 installations are from artists whose works have risen from the dust in Black Rock City.

The outdoor exhibition will kick off April 9 with a community celebration. There will be many opportunities to participate all summer long — from landscape walks, to painting at sunrise. If you’re anywhere nearby on October 1, we strongly encourage you to drop by for the closing effigy burn. 

Existing work that will be at Chatsworth:

• “Flybrary,” Christina Sporrong
• “Murder, Inc.,” Charles Gadeken
• “Wings of Glory,” Adrian Landon
• “Le Attrata, Therm,” Margaret Long
• “Ursa Mater (new bears),” Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson
• “Spread Eagle,” Bryan Tedrick
• “Transmutation,” Arturo Gonzalez
• “Lodestar,” Randy Polumbo

Work to be built on site:

• Benjamin Langholz and Amihay Gonen, stone work (quarried locally)
• Dana Albany, found objects, sculpture based on local legend built with youth
• Shrine, recycled ‘wastestream’ materials, piece built with youth
• Rebekah Waites, mythic themes, built to burn, built with youth

Works by Dana Albany, Shrine, and Rebekah Waites will be built through a participatory process with help from visitors and local community groups.

If you are interested in volunteering or participating in “Radical Horizons: The Art of Burning Man,” from the install in March to the Burn in October, write to radicalhorizons@chatsworth.org.

Peter Hudson’s “Charon” in France, UK, and Belgium

Nantes, France: July 8-31, 2022
London, UK: September 1-10, 2022
Clisson, France: June 15-18, 2023
Paris, France: July 11-30, 2023
Antwerp, Belgium: August 10-31, 2023

How many of you have gazed in awe at “Charon,” Peter Hudson’s kinetic wheel featuring the skeletal god of the underworld rowing in a perpetual loop toward the afterlife? Equally stunning in both its daytime and strobing night iterations, Hudson and his team built “Charon” in Black Rock City in 2011 and 2017.

Hudson and Building 180 are collaborating with Les Machines de l’île to bring “Charon” to Nantes, London, Clisson, Paris, and Antwerp in 2022 and 2023.

“Charon” is one of several large-scale Zoetropes Hudson has built in Black Rock City and beyond. Many of his pieces require participants to push figures into kinetic motion, supported by a sequence of interlocking gears and spinning wheels. 

“Charon” will begin its grand tour at Nantes Maker Campus July 8, 9 and 10, and will stay on at Les Machines de l’île (Nantes) until July 31. It will then make its way over to London (September 1-10). In 2023 “Charon” will be exhibited in Clisson, France (June 15-18), Paris, France (July 11-30), and Antwerp, Belgium (August 10-31).

These exhibitions of “Charon” came about thanks the vision of the team at Les Machines de l’île; indeed their wondrous creatures uniquely compliment Hudson’s kinetic work. We look forward to watching participants pulling the ropes that animate Charon as he paddles his eternal craft. 

Cover image of “Charon” by Peter Hudson, 2017 (Photo by David Bunnell)