To our ancestors, the Empyrean was known as “the highest heaven”. It was thought to be home to celestial beings made of pure light—the source of all creation.
In 2023, the citizens of Black Rock City were welcomed at an officially placed art installation by Burning Man’s ARTery: a light and sound installation called the Empyrean Gate.
A sixty-foot diameter shade structure was lofted twenty feet in the air, with a thirteen-foot ‘gateway’ at its center aimed at the Empyrean.
At night, the shade structure pulsed with video and sound sequences curated from artists worldwide, issuing from an array of 64 radial spokes of high-density, computer-addressable LEDs—25,000 in all—and eight radially arrayed speakers mounted to the structure, facing inward.
The Gate presented two faces to the public, nightly. From midnight to 8am, it played eight one-hour sequences that included ethereal music such as Tibetan throat singing, Renaissance choral music and Gregorian chants against varying backdrops of light art, collectively intended to sponsor meditative contemplation. Twelve radially arrayed double hammocks and a 13-foot central stage offered visitors options for viewing the art.
From dusk until midnight, an adjacent sound stage created by SRQ Beats of Sarasota, FL hosted an array of DJs that spun to the backdrop of the Gate’s LED sequences, its own sound system staying muted in the early evening.
Located near Esplanade and 2:45, on ‘Playa’ adjacent to Entheos Village, it drew as many as 300 participants and a dozen ‘art cars’ at a time, every night of the annual event.
The Empyrean Gate was beta-tested at Black Rock City in 2022, and again at unSCruz in 2023, before making its full debut at Burning Man 2023.
© Anthony Fieldman 2022
Artist:
Anthony Fieldman, concept, lead designer and architect
Contributors:
James Tramel, Entheos camp lead and logistics (2022-23)
James Andrew Scott, fabrication (2022-23)
Nati Shabat, music production (2022-23)
Adrien Lacquemant, digital content production (2022-23)
Abraham Fuentes, audio systems (2022-23)
Walter Patrick Smith, digital content production (2022)
Andris Kasparovics, lighting systems (2022)
World of Kaleidoscopes, HD Colors, Tony Grund, Meditative Mind, Sleep Before Midnight, video and sound art (2023)
Major Donors:
Matt Mullenweg, benefactor (2022)
Ed Chimney, James Currier, supporters (2022)
Whitmire Vo, fundraising (2022)
Key DJs / VJs:
Nati-Pitch, Justin Shaffer, John Dill, Lila Kova, Dude Skywalker, Mary Jane Is Playing, Bjor, Tigrr, Quantify, Bhaskar, Hawk Dan, Mirkat, MikiHumo
Components:
TomCat USA, Inc.—Custom Structure Fabrication (2022-23)
Clark Reder Engineering, Inc.—Engineering Analysis (2022)
DIALOG Design—Custom Engineering Design (2023)
Capitol Awning—Sails and LED sleeves (2022)
Sight Unseen—LED systems design (2022)
Kennedy Fabrication—Consultants at large (2022)
Photography:
All photos © Anthony Fieldman 2022 — All Rights Reserved unless otherwise noted