Burning Man Project is delighted to unveil the eclectic and inspiring artworks selected for the Black Rock City 2025 Honoraria Program! In the spirit of the magnificent city we build together, these projects push the boundaries of imagination, delight the senses, spark joy, and bring people together in unexpected and meaningful ways.
After reviewing and individually discussing hundreds of proposals, we are thrilled to announce that 76 projects will receive funding for Black Rock City in 2025, with a total of $1.3 million awarded directly to artists! So much gratitude to those who, through generous donations or higher-price ticket purchases, helped fund this year’s Honoraria grants.
This is just the beginning of an exceptional journey towards the playa. Whether awe-inspiring, thought-provoking, or downright silly, these works invite YOU to engage, explore, and shape Black Rock City in your own way.
A full list of projects and artists can be found at the end of this article.
Art That Invokes Tomorrow Today
Some artworks explore the 2025 Black Rock City theme, Tomorrow Today, envisioning a future shaped by innovation, imagination, and ingenuity. “Dynamic/Electro Mitochondriac Evolutionary/Generator [aka Reflections]” is a 32-foot tower where participants apply gravity to generate electricity. “The Cosmic Carousel: A Human-made Object for an Alien World” returns to BRC after more than a decade, inviting communal engagement through climbing and spinning this futuristic, gravity-defying sculpture. And “Un Nuevo Camino” depicts a parent and child in space suits — the child floating weightlessly ahead, leading the way toward a future where humanity must forge a new path.
Many projects unrelated to the theme also bring something essential to Black Rock City. This year, we leaned into projects that foster collaboration, both on and off playa. You’ll also see a blend of new creative voices along with some beloved returning artists, and a range of sizes, vibes, materials, and complexity. Whether you’re drawn to climbing, fire, storytelling, meditation, trippy lights, high-energy play, or a quiet place to rest, there’s something for everyone to discover.
Bringing People Together: Art That Connects
At Burning Man, art isn’t just something to observe — it’s something to build, interact with, and experience together. Crews of friends, strangers, and soon-to-be family come together to construct, problem-solve, adapt, and play, forging deep bonds in the process.
It’s inspiring when art ignites creativity and collaboration in local communities, strengthening connections long before and after the dust settles. “Ouroboros” from Milwaukee and “Altar of Awen” from Phoenix will each activate and engage their local creative communities. The “Black Rock Monster Containment” team will have open calls for build participation, empowering people to learn different skills and offering a welcoming, collaborative space for all.
The collaboration doesn’t stop once the art is built. Many of this year’s projects are designed to nurture connection between Burners on playa. “Future Sketch” is a giant Etch A Sketch-style project best enjoyed with others. There are portals and podiums surrounding the “Pillar of Po Tolo” — a modern interpretation of star systems and African spiritual technology that triggers a special display of visuals, constellations, and African music. Your camp might even want to orchestrate a hoedown at “Jukebox Country,” a honky-tonk-inspired dance floor from Texas, complete with an illuminated jukebox and a chandelier.
Some projects create spaces for deeper connection. “Afterlife Reincarnate” is a sacred space for soul travelers of many realms, while the Flaming Lotus Girls’ latest creation, “Haven,” will draw crowds with its fiery spectacle. “Grinder Garden” invites shared immersion in mirrored reflections. These collective experiences define the art of Burning Man, reminding us that Black Rock City is something we make and experience together.
Bird Is the Word
This year, the playa is for the birds… in the best possible way! More than a handful of the Honoraria projects take inspiration from our feathered friends, bringing an avian energy to BRC. We can’t help but wonder what in the current zeitgeist is inspiring artists to look to birds for their inspiration. Whether taking flight and soaring above, glowing from within, or holding space for nesting, these bird-inspired artworks remind us of the power of flight, transformation, and connection.
“Pitirre” captures the spirit of Puerto Rico in a striking, climbable sculpture of the Gray Kingbird, poised like a rocket and ready for liftoff, while “Inikadowa,” a glowing humanoid bird lantern, is inspired by Filipino mythology. “Nested Heart” features two connected Cormorant birds with suspended nests inside, taking a moment to bask in the sun and dry off their wings, conveying a message around heart-opening and gratitude.
For fire enthusiasts, “Riding the Thermals” uses the heat from a fire pit to activate a hawk circling high above the playa, and “Firebird” is a flame-colored raptor with articulated wings.
And let’s not forget the utter silliness of the “Black Rock City Chicken Ranch” because hey, rubber chickens are birds too, right?
From mythical creatures to real-world species, these winged wonders invite us to reflect on our relationship with the natural world, and perhaps even spread our own wings in new ways.
Materials Reimagined
This year’s Honoraria projects showcase an exciting array of unconventional materials that push the boundaries of creativity and sustainability.
Mycelium is a sustainable, organic material that the artists behind “Ancestors of Dawn” have been using for years to create biodegradable sculpture components — while asking “What kind of future ancestors will we be?” “DROP” weaves together layers of textile waste to form an oversized drop of breastmilk, symbolizing purity tainted by microplastics and environmental realities.
Upcycled materials take center stage in many projects, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. “Wings of Resonance” features a butterfly made from recycled vinyl records, speaking to transformation, connection, and the impact humans have on one another’s growth. In an unexpected trend of plumbing parts as art, “Sinksphere” turns recycled stainless steel sinks into a rotating death star sphere, while “Down the Drain” twists and converges plumbing pipes into a dense, sculptural mass.
“The Lightning Tower” from Italy features hand-blown neon bars visually recreating awe-inspiring lightning bolts, drawing participants towards its electrifying presence.
One of the highlights of Burning Man art is seeing the limitless potential of materials often overlooked in traditional art-making, reminding us that creativity is not only about what you create, but also about what you use to create it!
Other Highlights and Themes
Some projects are confronting the realities of an uncertain world, offering space for reflection and strength. A Ukrainian collective is bringing “Black Cloud,” an inflatable storm cloud hovering above, symbolizing looming threats. “Resilience” is coming from western North Carolina; they’re repurposing materials from the devastation of Hurricane Helene and featuring artwork from artists impacted by the natural disaster. “Celestial Intertwinement” is a glorious interpretation of a screaming booth, where participants can audibly release their feelings and see them transformed into a vibrant beam of light, symbolizing pain and love made visible, beautiful, and infinite.
There is also a serious amount of playfulness! Relive your playground days with a giant tetherball in “When We Were Young.” Or spin, jump, and swing on “Seesaw Organ,” “Loop,” and “Hey Queen,” with the latter being a sculpture of a woman with a merry-go-round crown, swing earrings, and long dreadlocks that you can use to jump rope.
For some projects, family ties play an important role. Longtime BRC artist Kevin Clark is mentoring his teen daughter, Harper, who will lead “Guma Chromosomal Collision,” a 65-foot long alien animal creature. Sisters behind “Tim’s Bench” honor their late father, who introduced them to Burning Man and often brought his own chair to events because “there are never enough fucking places to sit at these things.”
Sixteen projects will ignite the playa with fire and flame effects. “What Lies Beneath?,” an ancient submarine erupting from the playa surface, comes from the same crew behind the unforgettable “Great Train Wreck” of 2018, so expect a spectacle of pyrotechnics when it burns. Meanwhile, “Flame Pixel” lets you harness fire itself to create glowing words and symbols from its grid, an evolution of the 2015 piece, “Fire Tetris.” Get ready to feel the heat!
If you love the big and dramatic, then look for “The Sphinx Gate” and embark on an immersive adventure of self-discovery. One beacon to help you find your way at night will be the 30-foot tall “Event Horizon,” an audio-reactive LED sculpture with five concentric rings that spin like a gyroscope around a central spherical infinity mirror. Woaaaah.
In addition to 18 states in the US, including the unincorporated territory Puerto Rico, we’re pleased to include 11 international Honoraria projects this year. There are three from Canada and one each from Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. One of the most anticipated projects is “The Lost Troll” by Thomas Dambo, originally selected in 2020, and now finally making its way to Black Rock City from Denmark!
Empowering People to Become Artists
Each year, the Honoraria Committee seeks artworks that do more than just stand out — they invite interaction and embolden new artists-in-the-making. James Gwertzman, lead artist of the 2025 Honoraria piece “Moonlight Library,” speaks about how participating in Black Rock City inspired him to become an artist who is now bringing his third artwork to playa.
“As a kid, I dreamed of a career designing theme parks, and in college I spent most of my free time in the theater, designing sets and lights. But then when it came time to enter the ‘real world’ I turned my back on my creative side… More and more it was starting to feel like something fundamental was missing from my life. In 2022 I finally did something about that. Together with an amazingly talented team, we created and brought the ‘Prairie of Possibilities’ to the playa, and the experience was so much more rewarding than anything I could have imagined. It reawakened my inner artist, and has set me on the path now to becoming a full-time professional artist.”
Not only are there first-time Black Rock City artists among this year’s Honoraria recipients, but seven 2025 grantees will be touching down on the playa for the very first time, AND bringing art. We love the courage and inspiration that Burning Man ignites in artists and their crews to step into unchartered territory and create audacious things.
Your Turn to Create
While these funded projects are something to celebrate, the real magic of Burning Man is created by YOU. These Honoraria selections are meant to inspire, not intimidate. You don’t need a grant to bring art to the playa — in fact, most of the ~400 art installations in BRC are self-funded. Regardless of scale, every act of creativity transforms the playa from a blank canvas into our collective masterpiece. Check out the recent Journal post The Art of Leveling Up: Your Small Project Can Have a Huge Impact to see how others have brought their creative visions to life in BRC.
How will you creatively activate in 2025? Are you ready to change up your Burning Man experience by bringing something uniquely yours, or joining a project that sparks your imagination?
Explore the list of 2025 Honoraria projects below, and if you feel inspired to create something, you are warmly invited to register an art project of your own. If you’re looking to lend your skills, learn under an experienced lead, or connect with artists, check out the collaboration tool Spark.
The future of Burning Man is built by your hands. We can’t wait to see what you bring. In the meantime, here are this year’s Honoraria recipients.
Drum roll, please…
The 2025 Black Rock City Honoraria Recipients
(RE)Routing — Tabasco Mills and Iron Monkeys — Seattle, WA
Afterlife Reincarnate — Blitzy and The Afterlife Artists Collective — San Francisco, CA
Altar of Awen: Temple of Reflection, House of the Radiant Heart — Kristin Wesley and Roosevelt Artworks — Phoenix, AZ
An Event Horizon — Andrey Sledkov — Salt Lake City, UT
Ancestors of Dawn — Iyvone Khoo, Miguel Guzman, and Dust Spores Studio — Joshua Tree, CA
Aquatica — Anna Gribovsky — San Francisco, CA
Arm Chair — Meghan “Juniper” Rimelspach and Mike Bliss — Baltimore and Towson, MD
Beast Mode — Beau Blanche and Dust and Beau — Victoria, BC, Canada
Black Cloud — Oleksiy Sai and the Ukrainians ART Group — Kyiv, Ukraine
Black Rock City Chicken Ranch — Rob Brown and The Followers of Floyd — Cordova, AK
Black Rock Monster Containment (BRMC) — Carrie and Chris Jurney, Fat Panda — San Francisco, CA
Celestial Intertwinement — Dominique Birdsong — San Francisco, CA
Celestial Mechanica — Gescykae “Jessika” Wrecca Welz — San Francisco, CA
Disco Snail — Alyssa Oliveira and Alpine Artists Collective — Alpine Meadows, CA
Dispensing Influence — Gerry Laureus and The Black Flame Collective — Denver, CO and New York City, NY
Down the Drain — Michael Christian — Bay Area, CA
DROP — Auli Uiboupin — Riisipere, Estonia
Dust City Diner —David Cole and Michael Brown — Bay Area, CA
Dynamic/Electro Mitochondriac Evolutionary/Generator [aka Reflections] — Steven Knauff and Temple of the Utterly Indifferent — Saticoy, CA
Event Horizon — Ben Bartlett — San Francisco, CA
Firebird — Skyhunter Creative — Dallas, TX
Flame Pixel — Esmeralda Nadeau-Jasso — Slocan, BC, Canada
Future Sketch — James Beach and Ideasmiths — San Francisco, CA
Grinder Garden — Adam Frey — La Ventana, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Guma Chromosomal Collision — Harper Clark and Guma Group — Petaluma, CA
Haven — the Flaming Lotus Girls — SF Bay Area, CA
Hey Queen — Chelsey Hathman — Oakland, CA
Home Grown — Raylene Gorum and Little Earth Makers — Oakland, CA
I Wish You Could See — Benjamin Thompson — Grand Meadow, MN
Inikadowa — Lynn Bryant — Santander, Cebu, Philippines and Mojave Desert, CA
Jukebox Country — Max Juren — Austin, TX
Kauyumari Ceremonial Center — Leyla Brashka — Torreón, Coahuila, México
Kiosk — Studio Woo Woo — Nevada City, CA
Loop — Dan Rabinovitch and Aromatic Designs — Stowe, VT
Moonlight Library — James Gwertzman and The Moonlight Collective — San Francisco, CA and Seattle, WA
Mother — Weld Queen — Miami, FL
Namaskaram — Srikanth Guttikonda and Looking Up Arts — San Francisco, CA
Navagunjara Reborn: The Phoenix of Odisha — Jnaneshwar Das and Earth Innovation Hub — Cuttack, India and Tempe, AZ
Nested Heart — Stephen Reynolds — Los Angeles, CA
Nova — Chuck Sommerville — Folsom, CA
One Tin Soldier — Mark Deem and The Misfit Toys, LLC — Bolinas, CA
Oneirotica — Kirsten Berg — Berkeley, CA and Nevada City, CA
ORBs — David Oliver — Ventura, CA
Ouroboros — Steel Tigerlillies + Bathsheba Grossman — Milwaukee, WI and Boston, MA
Out the Other — Kathryn Greenberg — San Francisco, CA
PATCHES — Hope Antrim and Stardust Alchemy Studios — Brooklyn, NY and Los Angeles, CA
Pillar of Po Tolo — Antwane Lee and The Solar Shrine Collective — Chicago, IL
Pitirre — JuandelPuebl0 and the Parliament Art Crew — San Juan, Puerto Rico
Prisms — Michael White / Chaord Collective — Brooklyn, NY
PropanePunk — Brent K — Arcadia, CA
Proteus — Barbara Lietzow — Oakland, CA
Reborn — Clinton Lesh — Bozeman, MT
Resilience — Whitney Webb — Asheville, NC
Riding the Thermals — Mel Meow and Florian Stadler AKA The Neverending Source — Los Angeles, CA and Sydney, Australia
Samsara — Emi Watanabe and Art with Arundo — SF Bay Area, CA
Seesaw Organ — Daniel Newman-Lessler — Los Angeles, CA
Sinksphere — Scottysoltronic and JenkStars — Park City, UT
Staircase to Exordium — Joe Lilley — London and Oxford, United Kingdom
Star Love — Taylor Dean Harrison — Penngrove, CA
Stormborn: The Tyrant of Lightning — Andrew Frank, Space Cadet, and Goldenblack — Reno, NV
The Biggest Ball of Twine in Nevada — Woodruff Burley aka Xeno, Shayna Wade-Reich, and BRC Twine Ball — Oakland, CA
The Cosmic Carousel: A Human-made Object for an Alien World — Michael Walsh — Oakland, CA
The Cosmic Cuddle — Miki Masuhara-Page — Portland, OR
The Fire Hummingbird / El ColibrÌ de Fuego Pyramid — Adrian Arias — Oakland, CA
The Lightning Tower — Pepemaniak — Rome, Italy
The Lost Troll — Thomas Dambo — Gadstrup, Denmark
The Midnight Museum of That One Time at Burning Man — Jerry Snyder — Reno, NV
The Quantum Existence — STuro — Reno, NV
The Solar Library First Branch — Jared Ficklin aka Pearlsnaps— Austin, TX
The Sphinx Gate — Tania Abdul, Mareesa Stertz, and the Sphinxters — Oakland, CA
Tim’s Bench — Lauren and Caitlin Randolph — Reno, NV
Un Nuevo Camino — Mark Rivera aka Kidnetick — Santurce, Puerto Rico
Voxelite — Tyler Soon — Vancouver, BC, Canada
What Lies Beneath? — Reno Core Project — Reno, NV
When We Were Young — Chris Struble and buttcountry — Crestview, FL
Wings of Resonance — Denver Miller III — Reno, NV
Full project descriptions with images and links will be available later in the spring.
Mark your calendar for Desert Arts Preview on June 1, 2025, where you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at some of this year’s art and hear directly from the artists bringing it to life.
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 by making a gift here.
We’re so grateful to all the artists who will be sharing their creativity in Black Rock City in 2025, and we can’t wait to explore this outpouring of creativity together!
Cover image rendering of “Moonlight Library” by James Gwertzman and The Moonlight Collective, 2025
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Love it!!!! Looking forward to all of the artwork this year!
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