Man Base Submissions

​about. Concept design submissions for the Pavilion are currently invitation-only to a small selection of artists, and must represent the theme for the event that year. Submissions designed by Kate Greenberg for the 2022 Man Pavilion and 2023 Man Pavilion. 

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2022 • At Burning Man 2022 we gathered again after two years apart. Many things about our world had been altered, and many individual and community dreams were going through a process of reevaluation and change. This proposal celebrated the concept of collective memory and dreaming, and it invited the community to interactively share in the act of honoring the evolution of our dreams. 

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The man base featured four central man(s) brought together by a giant cloud of collective dreaming. Around the main structure, four smaller dream pavilions encircling an undying hearth. The pavilions each represented a type of dream: one for yourself, one for another, one left in the past, and one for the future. Visitors would take small burn sticks from this central alter to feed the dream flames within the small pavilions. As the Man burned, flames from each dream pavilion would be physically collected and used to start the fire of the main alter - representing  the consolidation of Black Rock City's new dreams. 

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2023 • “porifera” • a phylum of aquatic invertebrate animals that comprises the sponges

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The site of the Black Rock Desert was underwater until 9,000 years ago, and the first animals to call it home were sea creatures. Sea sponges evolved over 500 million years ago, and are believed to be some of the oldest known forms of animal life. Many porifera fossils have been found across present day Nevada, where ancient lakes once existed. What if the basin valley could be refilled, and we could adventure through the aquatic garden that lives on the bottom of the lake bed?

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At night, the playa becomes a bioluminescent reef, where we pedal after sea monster art cars in neon-lit aquanaut schools. At dawn, we see again the great effect geologic time has cast on this other-worldy landscape, and set out to expedition through its fossilized magic like sci-fi archaeologists. This proposal celebrated animal life that was on playa long before us, with a Man Pavilion inspired by the unique structure of porifera.