Playa Nebula

Team fundraiser

Mark Richards and 2 others are organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Playa Nebula is an art installation to be experienced at Burning Man 2019 . After a successful install at BEquinox 2019 in the California desert, we're ready to bring it to the Playa!

We still need to secure funding for transport, and to make this thing grow!

Artistic Vision:
The Playa Nebula project intended to appear as though it is a nebula taken from space and placed on the desert floor. Nebula photos are colorful and soft; light passes through different gas-formed space matter to reflect different colors. The project will evoke both the cloud-like and colorful character of these images.

The installation is a pair of nebula-like structures that provide a place for people to sit, lounge, and play on. The form will be an aggregate of different sizes and quantities of exercise balls. The balls will be color coordinated and LED lit from below, to recall the colorful space images. Each ball cluster will be contained by a net enclosure to secure them in place. The woven net allows for the surface of the nebula to flex under people’s position on it. The exercise ball base will create a responsive structure for people as they move or sit on the clouds.

With Playa Nebula, we hope to provide a place: for self reflection; for quiet moments that become memories; and for a pause in an atmosphere of immense activity for balance.

Nebula is intended to be both viewed and experienced; neither one without the other. While the initial concept is visually linked to an astronomical element - the project does not solely rely on this. Rather, the important function is to invite the viewer into a participatory act; first with the piece itself, second with the surrounding environment. The cloud-like furniture should act as a place to connect to one another and witness the broader experience of the desert as universe.

Nebula allows for equal experience - it will appeal to families, children, and adults with a variety of physical or intellectual disabilities. Quite often viewing and interacting with art is challenging for certain people. It’s important that artists provide work for people of all ages, size, and restrictions to experience - that is the goal of this project. Interactivity is at ground level so people with physical limitations can interact equally. It’s both tactile and visual; this allows access for blind and deaf people to interact with the project. It’s also inclusive of those with intellectual disabilities; who may have high or low energy tendencies. It is sensory friendly; lighting is not aggressive and there is no triggering audio associated with this project.

The materials of this project are ubiquitous separately, but unique in product. Decommodifying ‘art’ by using recognizable things, into something new. Further, these materials will also be given a second life after exhibition; adaptive reuse. The exercise balls will be donated to rehab and community centers, the netting will be repurposed as netting for youth sports.

Donation Thank You Gifts:
We're still figuring it out - but we'll make sure you get something cool for backing the project.

About the Budget:
Raw Materials- $1,200
Tools & Build Components - $900
Lighting & Electrical - $700
Power - $1,000
Transportation - $2,000
Fees & Gifts (est.) - $200

Meet the Creative Team: (We're still growing.)
Lead Artist: Mark Richards
Playa Nebula will be Mark's second Burning Man installation. Previously, he was Kostume Kult's frontage build co-lead from 2016 to 2018. In 2017 he brought the tkkts stairs to KK's frontage to re-imagined the iconic Tkts Booth in Times Square. It provided a participation platform - for families and friends to view the man burn, people to dance, and a place to watch the sunrise. His joy on playa has been building & seeing people interact with his work.
PA & Muscle: Amanda Donelan Safety Coordinator: Jillian Duran
Flare: Jason Wadsworth Location Scout: Rome Odom