Introducing the 2022 Black Rock City Honoraria

Burning Man Arts is thrilled to announce the art installations selected for Black Rock City 2022 Honorarium art grants. There’s nothing quite like the announcement of our Honoraria artists to get us psyched to build our city in the dust, and our anticipation is higher than ever after two years away from the playa. 

Things are starting to get real!

Some Insights Into the Selection Process

When we select the Honoraria projects, the artworks we fund reflect an experience we would like to create, rather than a value judgment. We don’t choose the “best” artworks, but rather look to build a collection that offers a full range of experiences for participants. 

Our goal is to include representation from a variety of categories, from large to small, silly to serious, sculptural to architectural, outlandish to quietly contemplative, experienced artists to first-timers, monochromatic to colorful, and everything in between. We’re always keeping in mind interactivity, visual impact, and sheer creativity. Finally, we lean into diversity and environmental sustainability, and how the Honoraria Program can align with these important organizational goals.

This year the selection process was unique, because 52 of the 2020 Honoraria artists who stuck with us these past two years will return in 2022. That means that going into this year’s process, we already had a fabulous collection of projects. As a result, we selected fewer artworks than usual, and it was important to make sure the new projects filled creative gaps and expanded diversity.

We received 433 Letters of Intent and invited 281 projects to submit full proposals. All in all, we’re excited to say that in this unusual year, we will have 15 more Honoraria projects than in most years, with 88 projects coming to BRC in 2022

“Evolution Field” by Matt McConnell

Radical Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity

We are committed to supporting all kinds of art for all kinds of people. 

Thoughtful selection of Honoraria projects can help create a multicultural, open, inviting, and inclusive community within Black Rock City. We have a unique opportunity to elevate BIPOC, non-binary, female, and marginalized artists in an extremely visible way, which also furthers Burning Man Project’s values around Radical Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (R.I.D.E.). 

For the first time, we asked each applicant to reflect and share how their project advances the Principle of Radical Inclusion. During the selection process, we appreciated that many artists prioritized diversity. While we don’t inquire about demographics on the grant application, based on the information that artists voluntarily shared in their proposals, 20 percent of this year’s funded projects will have a lead artist of color.

“Behold… From the Dust” by Erin Douglas (Black Burner Project) with support from We Are From Dust

Some highlights of artworks that represent the spectrum of diversity within our community include “The Solar Shrine” by Antwane Lee, an Afrofuturist artwork inspired by the magical realism of Ancient Egypt and Nubia. The piece will be one of the largest burns this year. We are so pleased to have Erin Douglas and the Black Burner Project bring a huge installation, “Behold… From the Dust,” consisting of three monumental portraits of BIPOC Burners. “Build a Seat” led by BIPOC artist Mo Osunbor is a philosophical and physical invitation to Black creatives to join and contribute to the incredible experience of Black Rock City. 

“The Solar Shrine” by Antwane Lee and Collective

We’ve always had amazing female artists in BRC (Dana Albany, Kate Raudenbush, the Flaming Lotus Girls, Christina Sporrong, and Karen Cusolito to name a few), and 2022 will continue to expand on that tradition. South African artist Usha Seejarim will share “The Resurrection of the Clothes Peg,” a metaphor for the rise of the female voice and an expression of the desire to be heard by the marginalized. We’ll celebrate motherhood with “What to Expect When Expecting” and “I Heart Mom.” And “Circle of Doors Tarot” by Anne Stavely and Jill Sutherland will be a photographic representation of a complete Tarot deck as well as a fiery invocation of deep feminine power. Yes!

“The Resurrection of the Clothes Peg” by Usha Seejarim

Sustainable Art 

It’s been nearly three years since Burning Man Project released the 2030 Environmental Sustainability Roadmap, and this year, for the first time, we asked our Honoraria applicants to consider how their projects will address the challenges and opportunities around sustainability. 

Dave Keane and The Folly Builders are bringing one of the largest projects this year, a wondrously interactive grove of trees called “Paradisium.” They’re putting sustainability at the heart of their work by using reclaimed lumber, planting trees to offset their carbon footprint, and — rather than doing a big burn at the end, as large wooden projects usually do — they’ll be rehoming the trees after the event. Now there’s a cool new approach for 2022 and beyond!

“Paradisium” by Dave Keane and The Folly Builders

“The Apocalypse is Breathtaking: Flame of the Forest” by Lekha Washington (who brought that amazing moon in 2018) is a Japanese-inspired tree with intricate metal filigree. It’s a commentary on the climate crisis, reflecting that the disastrous state of the world can still be beautiful. She aims to find a permanent home near Nevada to eliminate the need for return travel back to India. Genius! Gray Davidson and Majorelle Arts will highlight endangered animal species in their elegant project “Charismatic Metafauna.” And finally, Tom Boughner and the Desert Propaganda Collective are using reclaimed steel and home appliances rescued from landfills for their project “Consumption,” a commentary on consumerism and overconsumption. 

“Charismatic Metafauna” by Gray Davidson and Majorelle Arts

Overall, we’re pleased to report that 36 percent of this year’s projects demonstrate a significant effort towards sustainability. As we move to a more sustainable event, we are also doing a careful review of the number of artworks that will be approved to burn on playa this year, ensuring that burns only happen when they are conceptually warranted. 

2022 Highlights and Themes

There are certain beloved themes that always have a home in Black Rock City. Our ongoing celebration of play will be present in whimsical projects such as “Alien Drive-Thru” (an installation created by aliens who wonder whether food might be a good way to make first contact), “The Jackalope Adventure Guide” (a delightful choose-your-own-adventure oracle), “Heave” by Michael Christian, and coincidentally, two different animal installations with built-in slides: “Chilopod,” a giant insect, and “ATABEY,” a big shiny fish.

“The Jackalope Adventure Guide” by Marco Turrubiartes and Cult of the Cosmical Jackalope

Our ongoing love of the weird shows up in “A thousand eyes and a thousand dreams,” the giant eyeball “Oculus,” the monumental “Facing the Fearbeast”, and “Shrine of the Macabre” (why not put giant chicken legs and a flaming calliope on a gothic shrine?!). 

“Oculus” by Tatiana Lupashina and Edge, Philip Depoala & Intrepid Arts

Some artworks create environments and explore our sense of place, from planes to trains to oceans. Other projects will explore our current collective consciousness after the past few very unusual years on this planet. “INCENTER” by Kate Greenberg brings the earth inside the home, reflecting on home as a place of refuge and how, through global connection, we’ve shared this time apart together. We received a huge number of applications for projects featuring hearts, a touching response to the past few years, and we’re looking forward to seeing a wide variety of those on playa, from anatomical to graphic to flaming.

Out of the barren landscape of the playa, you will delight in discovering trees! We’ve had a number of trees in BRC over the years, but this year looks to be exceptional (one might even say they are branching out). We’ll have the entire forest of trees in “Paradisium” along with the exquisite tree in “The Apocalypse is Breathtaking.” “FIRE” from Zoe Fry is a grove of fire-damaged manzanita trees. And “Sirsasana – Headstand” is a fun play on the headstand yoga pose, wondering… if a human can do the tree pose in yoga, can a tree do a headstand like a human? Hmm…

If you love books and reading, you’ll find inspiration in “Unbound: A Library in Transition,” “The Self Help Yourself Library,” and also in “Dreams,” a giant pop-up book where you’re invited to flip the immense pages, bringing them to life through sound and surprise discoveries. “The Little People” is a sculptural installation in resin that features whimsical characters from children’s books. And while “The Solar Library” doesn’t have any books, chosen artists will get a library card to use to charge batteries for their installations.

“Citipati” by Ryan Mathern

This year’s Waking Dreams theme entices artists to make their creative dreams a reality after three long years away from Black Rock City, and it inspired a fun range of creative interpretations. Long-time favorites, the Flaming Lotus Girls are creating “Sea of Dreams,” which conceptualizes a sea of steel origami boats bearing the lore of dreams and approaching a ring of fiery oracles. Not to be confused with “Seed of Dreams,” a gorgeous geometric sculptural head that you can climb into and discover the pineal gland. “Catharsis” is a fractal art gallery for our infinite dreams, and “The Afterlife” is a waking dream that sheds an alternative light on death — with blacklight! It depicts the ethereal realm in colorful glowing beauty, where ancestors are celebrated, and light beings play with mystical creatures in a whimsical wonderland. The surrealist side of this year’s theme will come to life in “The FACE Project” and “Through the Mind’s Eye,” both colorful explorations of deconstruction. 

“Catharsis” by Arthur Mamou-Mani and Catharsis Crew

We’re pleased to have 15 international Honoraria projects this year, representing 17 percent of the total artworks. There are two from Canada, two from Russia, and one each from Austria, Brazil, Germany, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Philippines, South Africa, and Turkey. There are several artists that have just started making art recently, and two Honoraria recipients will be coming to Black Rock City for the first time.

Map of 2022 international Honoraria (Photo by Bob Tregilus)

Burning Man is known for fire art, and we are happy to report that 21 Honoraria projects will play with fire and flame effects. One of the coolest will be “Sea of Flames,” a circle of molten metal flaming hearts ablaze with different colors of fire (who wants to see blue, green, and orange flames? Yes, please!). Plus we’re excited to support some sound art, like the playful “People-Powered Music aka The Tinkle Drum,” and the intriguingly experimental “UNPOP,” an intimate, exquisite, spatial listening experience (which does indeed comply with our sound policy). 

“Sea of Flames Fire for the Hearts” by Harmony Switzer-Tryon and Mischief Lab

There’s so much to be excited about, and we can’t wait to share it all with you. 

How You Can Get Involved

Of course, most of the more than 400 art installations in Black Rock City come without financial support from Burning Man Project. We are serious about our commitment to support ALL artists, so there are many other ways (besides financial) that we help artists to ensure they are successful, such as providing heavy equipment, engineering review, promotion, and partnership with our team all along the way.

So peruse the following list of 2022 BRC Honoraria projects, and if you have a vision that is missing from the list, you are warmly invited to make it happen. Check out the Art Department’s recent post with info on the Temple and updates on bringing art to Black Rock City in 2022. Do you have skills to contribute and want to help an existing art project? Then please check out our collaboration tool, Spark.

So without further ado, we’d like to introduce this year’s Honoraria recipients. Drum roll, please…

The 2022 Black Rock City Honoraria Recipients

1:44 Inter-dimensional Space Time Portal — Harlan Emil Gruber & Maraya and TransPortals — Taos, NM and South Africa

A Temple of Masks — Jason Gronlund — Guadalajara, Mexico

A thousand eyes and a thousand dreams. — Miguel Guzman and Caustic — Joshua Tree, CA

Airfield 2.0 Tower — Weld Queen  — Moscow, Russia

Alien Drive-Thru — Madeline Fried and Swing Shift — San Francisco, CA

ATABEY — El NiNo and Parliament Art Crew — Los Angeles, CA

Autumn Spire — Eric Coolidge — Brooklyn, NY

Behold… From the Dust — Erin Douglas (Black Burner Project) with support from We Are From Dust — Odenton, MD

Black Rock Station — Wes Modes and the Black Rock Transportation Company — Felton, CA

Build A Seat — Mo Osunbor and Build A Seat — Brooklyn, NY

Carillon — Steven Brummond — Oakland, CA

Catharsis — Arthur Mamou-Mani and Catharsis Crew — London, UK

Charismatic Metafauna — Gray Davidson and Majorelle Arts — Berkeley, CA

Chilopod — Lawrence Grown and Team Embrio — Berkeley, CA

Circle of Doors Tarot — Anne Staveley & Jill Sutherland — Santa Fe, NM

Citipati — Ryan Mathern — Atlanta, GA

Coalesce — William Nemitoff and Curious Form — New Orleans, LA

Colors of Nostalgia — Alena Starostina and Eastern Promises — San Francisco, CA

Consumption — Tom Boughner and the Desert Propaganda Collective — Reno, NV

Council of Animals (What to do about the monkeys) — Quill Hyde and Acavallo — Tonasket, WA

DIPTOWN — Stanislav Shminke — Ekaterinburg, Russia

Dreams: a pop-up book — Esmeralda Nadeau-Jasso — Winlaw, Canada

Drishti — Kirsten Berg — Berkeley, CA

Dust City Diner — David Cole & Michael Brown and Kinematics Lab — San Francisco, CA

Emergence — Jesse Lightcap and The Emergence Project — Truckee, CA

Evolution Field — Matt McConnell — Raleigh, NC

Facing the Fearbeast — Tigre Mashaal-Lively — Santa Fe, NM

FIRE — Zoe Fry and The Introverts Collective — Mill Valley, CA

Fractal Droid — Jenna Finney and Fractal Droid Collective — Austin, TX

Gilded — Mr and Mrs Ferguson with David Moreno Teron — Alameda, CA

Harmonia — Roy Trammell — Beaverton, OR

heave — Michael Christian — Oakhurst, CA

I Heart Mom — Ryan Stevens and Lorena Serrano — San Francisco, CA

Illumina Radiata — Eric Zann — Kirkland, WA

INCENTER — Kathryn Greenberg — Mill Creek, WA

Infinite Stare — Kelly Smith Cassidy — South Lake Tahoe, CA

Invisible Light of Distant Stars — Douglas Ruuska and Divide By Zero Labs — Brighton, MA

Kukulkan’s Portal — Abram Santa Cruz and Liquid PXL — Long Beach, CA

Lost Frequencies — Shelby Dukeminier — Las Vegas, NV

Lux Lepus — Jennifer Law and House of Lepus — Renton, WA

M- Theory Mechanica — Matt Parkhurst — Truckee, CA

Mebuyan Vessel — Leeroy New in collaboration with Pinto International — Manila, Philippines 

Oculus — Tatiana Lupashina and Edge, Philip Depoala & Intrepid Arts — Berlin, Germany

Orbit — Hayden Harrison — Oakland, CA

Paradisium — Dave Keane and The Folly Builders — San Francisco, CA

PeepShow: Land of Lost Encounters — Ashley Stracke — Los Angeles, CA

People-Powered Music aka The Tinkle Drum— Bibi Bliekendaal / Bibi & the Tinklers— Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Petaled Portal — David Oliver and Art City — Ventura, CA

Play With Your Food — Bryan Saunders & Keegan Havelock-Rice and P Canadensis — Edmonton, Canada

Quadrupod 2.0 — Scott Parenteau — Sacramento, CA

Ratchetfish — Barry Crawford — Elko, NV

REM Cafe and Croquet — Tabasco Mills and Iron Monkeys — Seattle, WA

Schrödinger’s Rat — Philipp Blume and The Department of Precision and Soul (DPS) — Vienna, Austria

Sea of Dreams — Flaming Lotus Girls — San Francisco, CA

Sea of Flames Fire for the Hearts — Harmony Switzer-Tryon and Mischief Lab — Garberville, CA

Secretly Abandoned Spaces — Valerie Elizabeth Mallory and They Collective — Oakland, CA

Seed of Dreams — Martin Taylor and Chromaforms Art Collective — Oakland, CA

Shrine of the Macabre — Ezra Livingston and Fishsubmarine — Emeryville, CA

Sirsasana – Headstand — Srikanth Guttikonda and Looking Up Arts Foundation — San Francisco, CA

Small Hadron Collider (SHC) — Jack Kalish and Everything Good Studio — San Francisco, CA

Spacecats Final Landing — Ayda Keshtkar — Chicago, IL

Strong Magic — Jessica Levine — South Lake Tahoe, CA

SUNRISE DEEP ISLAND — Karine Lima and White Sage Project — Prado, Brazil

The Afterlife — Blitzy aka Adrian, Chickpea, Steve D., Pando, Noah S. — San Francisco, CA

The Apocalypse is Breathtaking: Flame of the Forest — Lekha Washington — Mumbai, India

The Buddha at the Trash Fence — Ali Agus Ardie and Digital Dalang — Indonesia and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

The Dreaming Goddess — David Bell and Camp Luminos — Phoenix, AZ

The FACE Project — Milen NAE — Istanbul, Turkey and Rancho Cordova, CA

The Importance of Small Things — Ela Lamblin and Lelavision — Vashon, WA

The Jackalope Adventure Guide — Marco Turrubiartes and Cult of the Cosmical Jackalope — San Diego, CA

The Last Ocean — Jen Lewin Studio LLC — New York, NY

The Little People — Kim Rask and Missy Douglas: uckiood — Burien, WA

The Midnight Museum of That One Time at Burning Man — Jerry Snyder — Reno, NV

The Prism of Possibilities — Emily Nicolosi and The In Theory Art Collective — Cottonwood Heights, UT

The Resurrection of the Clothes Peg — Usha Seejarim and Sao Foundation — Johannesburg, South Africa

The Self Help Yourself Library — Brie’Ana Breeze — Alameda, CA

The Solar Library — Jared Ficklin and The Other Singularity — Austin, TX

The Solar Shrine — Antwane Lee and Collective — Chicago, IL

The Traveling Sound Museum Presents: The Anomaly — Chris Cerrito and Mike Rosenthal — Brooklyn, NY and Emeryville, CA

Through The Mind’s Eye — Launa Eddy — New York, NY

Tremolo — Nick Geurts and Ryan Elmendorf — Denver, CO

Unbound: A Library in Transition — Jules Nelson-Gal — Palo Alto, CA

Unpopular Music (or UNPOP) — Stephan Moore and Scott Smallwood as Evidence — Chicago, IL

VIMOKSHA — Michael Emery — Santa Cruz, CA

What to Expect When Expecting — Julia Bonnheim and Future Problems — Portland, OR

Wild Horses of the American West — Adrian Landon and the Wild Horse Collective — Reno, NV

Xerarium — Bailey Haack + Alissa Kolom as S’more Art Co. — Joshua Tree, CA

Full project descriptions with images and links will be available later in the spring.

The BRC Honoraria Program relies on the generosity of our community. You can help support this program and an array of on and off-playa artist services and our nonprofit mission by making a gift here.

We’re so grateful to all the artists who will be sharing their creativity in Black Rock City in 2022, and we can’t wait to explore this outpouring of creativity together!


Cover image: Digital rendering of “The FACE Project” by Milen NAE

About the author: Katie Hazard

Katie Hazard

Katie Hazard (yes that’s her real last name) is the Associate Director of Art Management for Burning Man. She leads the selection, placement, and installation of over 400 artworks annually in Black Rock City and beyond. She’s been passionate about arts administration and grants management for many years; she has a degree in Art History from the University of Notre Dame, worked at the Art Institute of Chicago, and spent 10 years at Harvard University as a Senior Grants Manager. Katie’s first year on playa was 2000, and she volunteered for 10 years (DMV, Man Base Lighting, art build crews, theme camp organization, Fire Conclave) before joining the staff in 2013. Katie is also a certified yoga teacher and has been a practitioner of Buddhist meditation for more than a decade.

37 Comments on “Introducing the 2022 Black Rock City Honoraria

  • Burning Man Project Communications says:

    Reminder: Burning Man Project has a responsibility to maintain this space for the benefit of all participants, to ensure that comments serve to enhance the experience of our visitors, rather than cause harm. While spirited conversation is welcome, unruly and rude behavior is not. Posts that are harmful to others or run counter to the spirit of civil discourse may be removed.

    Please review our COMMENT POLICY here, then comment with care: https://journal.burningman.org/comment-policy/

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  • Anonymous says:

    Two art grants to Russians? This will surely be controversial when much of the community supports cutting ties with Russia. Of course these two Russian art groups presumably are themselves opponents of the war, I am sure. Some think that is important, others feel this this should not be a factor. In my experience with boycotts and sanctions which end up punishing non-perpetrators, I have heard the view from other victims that they prefer the sanctions be acted upon them because of the symbolism, that doing what may seem the wrong thing is better than doing nothing and continuing engagement.

    Clearly views will differ on this. Some feel that the message of “we will not engage with Russia” has to be given to the whole population, even those who oppose Putin, to push them to act within their own land. Others prefer a surgical sanction. We may not resolve this but it might be worth clarifying the position.

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    • Tahitian 27 says:

      “Othering” Russian artists because of the current political climate is incorrect. Now is the time to engage and create dialogue , if they can even get here will be a miracle anyway. Let us not forget, the US has PLENTY blood on its hands for destabilizing nations and destroying lives of not only people in the US but around the world. Let us not forget all the lives that have been ruining by war perpetuated by the US , and no one seems to care about the well being of the innocent people killed and maimed by depleted uranium and what not. No one particularly enjoys being born in country that is the current perpetrator of terrible things de jour. Empires wage wars and ordinary people suffer! So please take a breath, and let’s create an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence without pointing fingers and othering.

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  • Rico Thunder says:

    Welcome, all of the 2022 Honoraria Artist! So awesome to see artists of color representing. Can those of us who received an honorarium in 2020, put “Burning Man Honorarium receipient 2020, 2021, and 2022” on our art CVs? Thanks for all the support Katie and the BM art team.

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    • tony says:

      This Diversity and Inclusiveness agenda, with its underlying finger pointing and virtue signaling is divisive and it is alienating masses. If diversity and inclusiveness are not allowed to happen organically it is no more than a dog and pony show. “Look at us… we are the good guys” But are you, the past two year have suggested to me that Borg may not be……

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  • ScottieDo says:

    Thanks so much for this breakdown! A lot of interesting info. While we were disappointed our project was not selected, I also had no idea how few projects were. Our build crew is still very excited to do some fundraising and bring our project to the playa. Can’t wait to see all the epic projects built this year.

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  • Congratulations on so many outstanding voices being represented in 2022, such a gift to the playa family.

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  • Step Dad says:

    Is the $1 million from the Art No Matter What donor gift funding some of these projects in BRC 2022?

    Are there any 2020/21 honoraria projects that are not on this list that are bringing their art to BRC 2022 with that funding?

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    • Katie Hazard says:

      Yes! Of the 62 projects that were funded by the generous Art No Matter What gift in 2021, 52 of them will be coming to BRC this year. All of them are included on this list.

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    • Hanna says:

      yes there are, we applied but got rejected and this was the reason – many previous honoraria recipients got honoraria awarded again

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    • Rico Thunder says:

      Definitely. Black Rock Station was selected as an honoraria project in 2020, received our honorarium in 2021, received no additional funding from the Iorg, and are bringing the project to the Playa in 2022. Anyone else who has taken the same path is likely on this list including ours.

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  • GirardotDelCamino says:

    Bravo Artistas!
    we are so proud of all the art coming to playa,
    and congratulations to all entries,
    chosen or not.
    You all make BRC Great
    dont give up
    make art
    bring art
    after all we are all artists
    in our very own way.
    Particularly proud for
    The Face
    and honored to be supportive
    as a CampoSanto member.
    Come to CampoSanto and check us out,
    salsa dancing
    and beer in hand soccer
    lets also us all celebrate the small art!

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  • Dan Cahill says:

    Excited! Thanks for all the creative and hard work that it takes to make this happen.

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  • KoKo says:

    I am so excited to come and lead burners to this and more. I hope to be on the Discovery team to make everyone share their thoughts on the pieces on the playa. I am counting the days!

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  • Nexus (he/him/they/them) says:

    Congratulations, y’all!! Stoked to see all this wonderful work out on the Playa.

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  • Wendi Leader says:

    Harmony Switzer-Tryon from Garberville… Can you contact me in Redway about my getting involved in your Honorarium art for the Playa. I haven’t been for many years and I would love to volunteer to work with you, really. Wendibird

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  • Captain Ping says:

    It would be great if the list of honoraria at the end had a URL link for each project! :-)

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    • Katie Hazard says:

      Definitely, we’re on it. As it says at the end of the post, “Full project descriptions with images and links will be available later in the spring,” so please stay tuned!

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  • Andrea Walters says:

    Absolutely thrilled to see that South African feminist artist Usha Seejarim is included. Her work is conceptually brilliant and physically exciting albeit that she uses banal items from the domestic realm to create them.

    All the featured works are fascinating.

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  • Vergennes Ami says:

    So jazzed to get this in JRS. But what about the links to the project submissions? Did I miss that earlier in the article?

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    • Katie Hazard says:

      Yay, we’re jazzed too! We’re working on links & more info right now. Full project descriptions with images and links will be available later in the spring.

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  • Yanni Manana Yogi says:

    Our camps has been officially awarded Honoraria Art Grant Status. We are the collective aimed at introducing diversity and sustainability and gender equity in combination with a centralized global artscape that brings all peoples of the world, all colors and cultures, together in a sphere on global acceptance and tolerance and acceptance inclusivity productivity neutrality collective and peaceful.

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  • Compass says:

    Congratulations to the Afterlife Crew! Can’t wait to see this on playa!

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  • Sasha Q says:

    What a shame that BMorg supports a policy of apoliticality at such a difficult moment for Ukraine, Europe and the whole world!

    It is this mistaken thoughtless policy of non-interference in politics that has led Russia to the dead end in which it found itself – when the russian dictator commits bloody crimes and wages a war of conquest in the 21st century against a neighboring free country – and the citizens of Russia do nothing with their regime because they are “out of politics” and are allegedly not responsible for their leadership.

    What a shame that BMorg did not support artists from Ukraine at a time when their country is waging a dishonest and bloody struggle for their freedom, but at the same time supported artists from fascist Russia, one of whom officially hung out at the party of Russian Burners “Holodok” when a bloody battle was fought in Ukraine carnage!

    What a shame to be silent when the world is on the brink of nuclear war.

    Radical Spinelessness Is Your New 11th Principle.

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    • Katie Hazard says:

      What’s happening in Ukraine right now is tragic. My heart goes out to all Ukrainians. We would have loved to support Ukrainians this year with Honorarium art grants, but the Ukrainian artists we selected for funding had to cancel given the current circumstances.

      In 2020, we selected a Ukrainian project for an Honorarium called Merman, which was going to be one of the biggest projects on playa that year. Like all 2020 Honoraria projects, they never had the opportunity to bring their art to BRC. We were still able to fully fund them in 2021, and they created a version they installed in several places in Kyiv. We were excited they were finally going to be able to bring Merman to BRC in 2022, and offered them additional funding this year. Sadly they had to cancel; it isn’t possible for them to work on an art installation with a war going on. But we very much hope they can come in 2023.

      The two artworks listed here from Russia were also selected in 2020. We have been partnering with these artists for two years and we recognize that people are not their governments.

      We have welcomed and funded a number of Ukrainian artists over the years in BRC and through Global Art Grants and Burners Without Borders grants. You can read about current efforts from Burners supporting Ukraine at this page on the BWB site: https://www.burnerswithoutborders.org/projects/burners-responding-ukraine

      Katie Hazard, Head of the Art Department

      Check the Merman project out here: https://www.instagram.com/merman_art/

      Learn more about the 2021 funding of the Ukrainian project Merman:
      https://medium.com/beyond-burning-man/2021-the-year-of-art-no-matter-what-d9bb53d30e4c

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  • Lux Aeterna says:

    Some of these, like Solar Shrine and Prism of Possibilities, I heard about on ArtSpeaks, and I’ve been following their progress over the last couple of years.

    I’m very proud of my son, Juan-Carlos, who’s part of the Chilopod team. The Chilopod is a giant illuminated insect (or arthropod, or something) that you can slide on. Don’t miss it.

    Quill Hyde, a fellow Washingtonian (State, that is) will be bringing Council of the Animals. He has been painstakingly building (and documenting on FB) the construction of his animals. It will be wonderful to see them all together on the playa.

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  • Cinnamon Brûlée says:

    Thank you for taking a step to elevate BIPOC, non-binary, female, and marginalized artists in an extremely visible way. Yeah, it’s nice to see some familiar artists in the list. It’s more exciting to see something completely different!!

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  • Janice says:

    Last year our camp on the Honoraria and we built an amazing butterfly of equity and diversity. It was 30 feet tall and we lit it on fire on Friday night. 5,000 people watched it go up in flames.

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  • Tranquil Light says:

    Thanks

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  • Emiluz Picante says:

    How can I not gather my energy and my less than abled self and get back home when there are such amazing art projects and people who support art?
    If I can figure out a way to mobilize myself better than the rented scooter I used in 2019(grateful to Mobility Camp for charging it!), I think I need to be in Black Rock City. Thank you all for creating a space where we can all be “US” . I do agree with the comment above about finger-pointing regarding diversity and inclusion, yet if we say nothing or make assumptions that all are included, the status quo dominates. Our entire human civilization is at risk of extermination from war and climate damage, we must take the Ten Principles out into the world, even if we cannot all make it to Burning Man’s Waking Dreams.

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  • paul says:

    Why are previous honoraria funded again?

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    • Katie Hazard says:

      Hi Paul,
      Some of the Honoraria projects that were previously funded in 2021 (but who weren’t ever able to bring their work to BRC) didn’t request any additional funds this year, so they are still Honoraria artists but with no additional funding in 2022. We are awarding small grants to other artists in the 2021 group though, primarily to help offset the major increase in the cost of materials and supplies.

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