The annual festival Burning Man has revealed the design of the 2024 Temple at Black Rock City, which will become the central installation during the festival happening between August 25th and September 2nd, 2024, in Black Rock Desert, Nevada. Titled “The Temple of Together,” the proposal is designed by Caroline Ghosn, the first BIPOC, female Temple lead artist. The proposal takes cues from neo-gothic religious architecture, combined with Art Deco styles and Lebanese Khaizaran weaving techniques to create a symbol of unity and respect. The design was selected following an international competition that seeks to find novel interventions that fit within the Burning Man tradition.
Measuring 94 feet in diameter and 70 feet in height, the structure recreates the motif of hands joined in prayer as a symbol of common spirituality, unity, and humility. The symbol is also recreated by using neo-Gothic ogive arches that are repeated throughout the design. Additionally, the layered geometrical shapes that take cues from the Art Deco style add complexity to the overall image.
The installation is clad in reed weaved following Khaizaran traditional techniques, in a nod to Caroline’s childhood memories. This also allows for a lightweight structure that employs sustainable and reusable materials. The designer took into consideration the fact that the structure will be built by volunteers, so the weaving technique is adapted to allow participation from people of any skill level, encouraging engagement and creativity.
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2023 Music Festival Installations: At the Intersection of Art, Technology and ArchitectureAccording to the organizers, the Temple of Together was appreciated for its feeling of familiarity, creating inviting and comfortable spaces that pay homage to the Temples of the past. Among them, Caroline references the Temple of Grace by David Best, the original Temple artist, and the central structure during Caroline’s first Burning Man experience in 2014. The various elements of the design come together to create a concentrated space at the center of the design, an interpretation of an alter defined by raising lanterns that symbolize the joined energy and shared journey.
As sites for large-scale experimental designs and artistic exploration, music festivals provide opportunities for designers from all over the world to test out and showcase their most outlandish ideas, igniting the imagination of festival-goers with unfamiliar displays, bold colors, and innovative materials. During last year’s edition of Burning Man, participants explored the theme of Animalia, creating interventions that explored myth and fantasy through large-scale and technologically-infused interventions scattered around the Nevada desert.
