The piece was designed and made for Burning Nest, one of the UK's officially recognised regional Burner events, associated with Burning Man. A co-created volunteer lead event.

The 2023 theme was "Glitch in Reality". We intended to make a calm structure away from the music and the rest of the event that provided shade during the day and comfort at night. It was designed to encourage communication, by providing an enclosed place with a sense of cocooning, discovery and privacy.

The mushroom was constructed using a geodesic dome (climbing frame) mounted on a timber frame. The LEDs are mounted to the timber and dome, then there is a waterproof cover over the top and fabrics draped to defuse the light inside. While the piece was designed very collaboratively with the core members, I was personally responsible for the timber frame design and fabric cover. I produced a CAD model and scale model to explain the design and provide costings for that part of the project.

It uses 20 strips of LEDs that go through the stem and up along the mushroom dome, and a further 5 LED strips that illuminate the ground. The LED controller is designed by Coriolan Verchezer, who was responsible for the programming of the content and all electronics.

The art piece was completed over an 8-week period, from initial ideas to finished piece.

Burning Nest Website
Principles

The art piece was repurposed for London Decom 2023, where we did a skills share and I learnt more about the programming of the lighting and how to use the lighting program.

Team

Siobhan Hughes - Concept, "restraint and reality" and build
Roisin Bovington - Concept, structure design, woodwork lead, waterproof cover and build
Coriolan Verchezer - Concept, technical design, electronics, content development and build
Manish Gohel - Structure design and build

Special Thanks to Harish Persad (Content Consultant), Alex Sim (Build), Polo (Pre-Build) and Dan Holt (Pre-build)