Public awareness of Burning Man has exploded in recent years, and with that, curiosity in the art that comes to the playa each year has exploded as well. And though not everyone can make it out to the desert, a large part of the public is interested in what Burning Man artists have up their sleeves. In front of a packed house at Fort Mason in San Francisco on May 3, eight artists took to the stage to offer a glimpse at artworks in progress at the 10th Annual Desert Arts Preview . 

Each year, this first-look event focuses on artists who've been awarded financial grants by the Burning Man Project. Usually, grant recipients are among the most interesting forays into unknown artistic territories. These territories include projects that espouse any or all of the Ten Principles, and incorporate them in innovative ways with interactivity and participant takeaway in mind. This year’s theme is “ Carnival of Mirrors ,” which is about "mirrors and masks, mazes and mergers. It will be a kind of magic show that takes the form of an old-fashioned carnival," and entreats us to ask three essential questions: "Who is the trickster, who is being tricked, and how might we discover who we really are?"

While many of the presenters (Rebecca Anders, Flux Foundation, Marco Cochrane) were familiar Burning Man faces, the Temple of Promise comes from first-time playa artist Jazz Tigan. Each artist led us through the conceptual sparks that ignited their projects, and displayed concepts, sketches, models, maquettes, and photos of build teams hard at work.

In addition to the 8 projects detailed below, the full Honorarium Art Installation list has been released with more than 50 additional art projects to get excited for.

This year's Desert Arts Preview exhibited the mysterious, the conceptual, the physical, the outlandish, and everything in between – the time stamps below refer to what parts of the video above you can view the specified artists' talks.

1. "Project Empire": Jon Sarriugarte, Kyrsten Mate [3:45 - 15:25]

Project EMPIRE (Early Manned Planetary Interplanetary RoundtripExpedition) is the enterprise from husband-wife team Jon Sarriugarte and Kyrsten Mate, and the crew at Empire of Dirt. To start, Mate explained that the feel “...of the whole thing is exploratory, and the exuberance of the early space missions and the zeitgeist of the wonders of space… Carl Sagan, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, art, technology and science. And so that’s why we’ve chosen still a more glorious dawn awaits.”

The story begins when extraterrestrial-fueled NASA aerospace expedition "Mission Control" fell off radar communication and was buried deep in NASA archives. These mysterious origins came to the attention of the team, and led to a search for more details. Considering Black Rock City is only 30 miles from the original "Empire" launch site, a trip to Burning Man made perfect sense.

This mobile piece will be built of steel and acrylic bubbles, and will feature sound equipment from the Bay Area’s Meyer Sound. The intended soundscape will “recreate a bubble of space around our car.” Clearly, the galaxy's the limit, as the crew has invested considerable time in creating “an immersive performance art experience" an entire backstory and websites.” A fresh new language, logo, patches, and crew uniforms will be components of the experience. 

The crew will be very busy this summer as they aim to be “building the ship that’s coming home.” With plans to make the vehicle street legal, it will drive as-is to Black Rock City. Talk about a homecoming.

2. "Illumacanth": Rebecca Anders [16:35 - 25:10]

In the Burning Man art world, Rebecca Anders barely needs an introduction. An original founder of The Flaming Lotus Girls and co-founder of the Flux Foundation , Anders is responsible for some of the playa’s most memorable installations to date, including the reigns on the 2010 Temple of Flux . This year, she’ll bring her own project to BRC with a small, dedicated crew.

With her trademark warm exuberance, Anders explains that Illumacanth is “an enormous deep-sea fish, which is charging out of the earth… a metaphor for extreme adaptation in the world. We live in an environment right now that is changing so rapidly, we can barely keep track of it.” A project driven by heartfelt encouragement to consider alternatives in the way we consume and live our lives, Anders says “...This is almost a wish, this is almost an idea that one creature could decide it’s gonna make it and go someplace totally different from where it’s been."

Structurally, the Illumacanth will be 28 feet long, 15 feet high, and will feature a swirling storm of flame effects coming out of the fish’s mind (aptly named “The Brainstorm.”) The interior will have "soft-sculpture feel," with programmed LED lights to “give us kind of a pulsing, lifelike change on the inside.”

3. "The Life Cube:" Scott “Skeeter” Cohen [27:15 - 41:40]

At his first Burn over 10 years ago, Scott “Skeeter” Cohen wrote down that he wanted to return to the playa one day as an artist. Just 5 years later, he made it happen with The Life Cube Project: an "interactive, experiential art piece for the community.” Cohen is a firm believer "that if you write down your goals, dreams, wishes and aspirations, that the probability of it happening increases significantly.” With this in mind, participants are invited to write what they want on cards he has at the installation site.

Cohen brought his first Cube to Burning Man in 2011, and it has evolved quite a bit. It's come a long way in size since those humble eight-by-eight-foot days; the Cube will now occupy a 24-by-24-foot footprint. Even though 2015’s Life Cube is not a first-time endeavor, it has morphed into a project that’s truly larger than life. In addition to its two former appearances on the playa, it has touched people around the world, most notably children in the Las Vegas school system who've had the chance to create mini Life Cubes of their own.

Cohen explained to the audience that, “The Project is based on two things: Mission Number One: Write it down; Mission Number Two: Community.” Advocates call themselves “Cubists,” and they’re “people who are unbelievably passionate.” He also established essential components of the Cube, which state that they're always be "i nteractive, experiential, radically inclusive, visually stimulating and ephemeral."

4. "Dreamland": Flux Foundation [42:40 - 53:30]

Of all the night's seasoned artists, Flux Foundation managed to snag warm mentions in nearly every presentation. A friendly, volunteer-based organization out of Oakland, CA, their workshop at American Steel Studios is open to all, and they “don’t care if you’ve never seen a tool before.” Touting its illustrious history, Flux provided a rundown of its creations through the years, from  2010’s Temple of Flux, all the way to " Bloom," currently at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.   

Flux project #13, "Dreamland," is based on a real place: a century-old amusement park on New York’s Coney Island that met an early demise when it burned to the ground in 1911. Visual imagery of the light-filled space still exists, and the team explains, “Our Dreamland echoes that space... It echoes the excitement, the energy of the carnival, the wild lights, the moving parts…” The team has pulled a lot of inspiration from the lively cacophony you'd find on a boardwalk. Beyond the physical design, Flux is conceptually “looking at this kind of tension between the way that Burning Man is... spaces of respite and spaces of chaos, and creating an environment state of mind where you can experience the carnival outside of the carnival.”

A multi-faceted sculpture, Dreamland will occupy a space 100 feet across and with a carousel that reaches a height of 18 feet. The installation will revolve around this central carousel, with 3 large lamps (lit by participant-driven fire, naturally) and several benches flanking its sides. Famed Burning Man artist Kate Radenbush is designing the top spire of the carousel, and a boardwalk-esque soundscape will play an integral part in the experience.

5. "Axayacoatl": Capra J’neva [55:00 - 1:04:30]

“Let me take you to a giant ritual celebration, where people spend the entire year making artworks to give away. Then, they imbibe lots of entheogens, dance, drum, play music… Sound familiar? I am NOT actually talking about Burning Man..." Capra J'neva was talking about life in ancient Mexico City.

Creator of Axayacoatl and a member of Firebug , J'neva recounts her experience studying natural building outside of Mexico City. As a resident, she studied the history of Mexico City, a city formerly known as Tehnochtitlan, capital of the ancient Aztec colony. A vibrant city, Tehnochtitlan was rich in culture and her art was inspired by its feathered serpent god Quetzacoatl. 

J'neva has long desired to “resurrect this trooper spirit of Quetzalcoatl and bring him home to his people on the playa.” She asks, “Have you ever wondered what it would have been like if Cortez and his band of 400 men had NOT managed to sweet talk and swindle their way into the heart of Tehnochtitlan and destroy it all?… Would their culture have survived? … And most importantly, would our cities more closely resemble Black Rock City?”

Pronounced “A-shay-a-co-ah-tul,” Axayacotal means “the mask of the serpent.” The mostly copper artwork will contain a 21-foot-tall effigy of the mask of Quetzalcoatl. In his copper-mesh mouth will be a swallowed warrior, which represents the battle of Cortez and the turmoil the area underwent. Along with the translucent head, participants will be able to pull levers, spin wheels and control his mood. The lighting on the sculpture will reflect the mood each person has chosen. J'neva and team wanted to bring a lighter touch to the project, and are planning "to collide the Aztec myth with the American myth of The Wizard of Oz. 

This foray into ancient Mexican culture is part of a multi-year plan, with additional components to be added to this core piece in years to come.

6. "Mazu: Goddess of the Empty Sea": Chris “Kiwi” Hankins, Charlie Nguyen [1:05:20 - 1:14:30]

A cultural marriage of Black Rock City and Taiwan, Mazu: Goddess of the Empty Sea was among the buzziest projects of the night. Nathan Parker, friend of presenters Chris “Kiwi” Hankins and Charlie Nguyen, went over to Taiwan last year and happened to meet Gordon Tsai. A longtime traveler, Tsai had been going to various festivals around the world and ended up at Burning Man. He created a parade upon returning to Taiwan, and out of that created The Dream Community , a collective with an “Artist in Residence” program that enables local creators.

Despite initial reluctance, the friends decided to bring something to Burning Man. Enter Mazu, a Taiwanese goddess born in 960 AD, who was “a very precocious young girl... She lived in a fishing village off the coast of Taiwan and realized that there was a lot of family and friends being lost at sea... She figured it would be a good idea to go out there and perhaps hold a lantern so fishermen could see where the shoreline was, and actually make it safely home.” This international team wants to invoke in participants "the feeling and emotions of being in a temple environment in another country." More of a cultural exchange than an art project, Nguyen expresses the crew's desire to "showcase what the Taiwanese and eastern culture has to show you in terms of the rich art culture that is over there.”

Spatially, the main island will be 50 feet wide, 40 feet tall, and with a footprint 150 feet in diameter. Aesthetic emphasis will be on costuming, metal sculptures, and the 108 perimeter lanterns resembling the Buddhist rosary. Embodying the shape of a lotus flower, the piece will have an aerial view of a sort of "floating lotus with islands." An accompanying Taiwanese village theme camp will have a night market culture, breathing and meditation workshops, and three parades, all culminating in a fireworks display on Friday night.

Over the centuries, Mazu has become a guardian of travelers – and she's a fitting one, as the project will bring about 75 Taiwanese people to Burning Man for the first time.

7. "R-Evolution": Marco Cochrane and Julia Whitelaw [1:15:45 - 1:25:35] 

You've probably seen a Marco Cochrane creation if you've even glanced at Burning Man photography in the last 5 years. In a series of iconic sculptures beginning with "Bliss Dance" in 2010 and followed by "Truth is Beauty" in 2013, "R-Evolution” is the third and final sculpture in The Bliss Project. The sculptures are “about dancing even when it’s not safe, because it’s a powerful thing to do... In other words, follow your bliss and doors will open where you didn’t know doors existed.  'Truth is Beauty' is about self-acceptance and love, and 'R-evolution' is about being present in the moment.” 

The impetus for the Bliss Project came from Cochrane discovering, at 7 years old, that his 9-year-old friend had been sexually assaulted. He laments, “…I spent my life thinking about this, and what to do about it. So, my solution has been to ask, 'What would the world be like if women were safe?'" He began creating these sculptures to “challenge people to see beyond the sexual charge that has developed around the female body, which has been used for power and control...They are intended to de-objectify women, and inspire men to take action and end assault and violence against women.”

Materially, "R-evolution" construction is well underway. It started with clay molds that are being scaled and finished with a steel rod skeletal structure. The piece will be enclosed in steel mesh with intertwined LED effects. Cochrane and partner Julia Whitelaw also hinted at special surprises they didn’t want to disclose just yet.

Cochrane and Whitelaw were bold in their assertions that society’s treatment of women needed to change. Towards the end of the emotionally charged presentation, Cochrane offered a challenge: “I believe it is up to us in the Burning Man community to take the lead in changing the norms, both at the event and for the world. Our goal is zero assault at BRC in 2015. Can we do that?... And then we can bring it out in to the world, one safe space at a time.”

8. "Temple of Promise": Jazz Tigan [1:28:00 - 1:37:18]

The final presenter of the night, Jazz Tigan took the stage with a leveled, quiet confidence to introduce his vision for the Temple of Promise. A first-time playa artist, his vision was in the works for a year before he was awarded the build honor in March. His understanding of the Temple is that it is a unique place, a place whose “singular nature derives from a confluence of elements. That it is secular, that it is ephemeral, that it is a gift both to and from the community…. There is a conversation to be had here that is simply unavailable elsewhere.” With slight mystery, no technical build details were mentioned as Tigan used his time to paint an emotional picture of a future participant's experience.

Taking into consideration the respect of ritual that the Temple has come to represent, Tigan says, “The central question driving every decision you make is, 'Who are these people? What do they need?'" 

His vision began over 10 years ago while living in New York City in the aftermath of 9/11. At the time, he was struck by his reaction to a wall of “Missing Person” posters in Union Square. While reading, he noticed that people didn’t just include physical characteristics of the people they lost. Emotional details were there. Personal glimpses into the life that each “Missing Person” led gave dimension to those carefully crafted pieces of paper. Tigan believes those who made the posters felt "a duty to their denial, a duty to keep hope longer than the rest of us."

Today, those names are no longer on flyers in Union Square, but engraved in a memorial at Ground Zero. To Tigan, " everything about that is wrong. Because that memorial is all about how they died. That wall of missing posters spoke to how they lived....  I can draw a straight line from that wall to a temple in the desert with its own rituals. Where people bring remembrances and personal altars... where they write messages on the structure itself, what would be graffiti in any other sacred space, here it becomes the very heart and soul of the place.” Ink, words and tears are tools for release.

The Temple is where ritual plays a central role. The air inside is thick with rituals of honor, of grief and of celebration, of rituals that Tigan and his crew are trying to build a worthy home for, even temporarily. That temporary structure will burn, and yet will help serve as a sense of finality for those who may have found peace to be elusive beforehand.

Temple of Promise from Temple of Promise on Vimeo.

A Q&A session with the artists followed [1:38:25 - 1:57:46]

The night's artists expressed a desire for event participants to be inspired to shift their ways of thinking and ways of living – but a radical change would be even better. Burning Man is fast approaching, and artists are working tirelessly to ensure they "... create something that will inspire, engage, question, puzzle, amuse, seduce and otherwise influence the citizens of Black Rock City."

The sense of pride and responsibility in the air and on the stage that night was palpable. The art criteria from the Burning Man Project looks simple to satisfy, but it takes that rare combination of imagination, passion and dedication for a grandiose vision to become reality. We're excited to see what takes hold in that sweet desert ground. How soon until we can go?