1 of 5 | A team of Ukrainian artists unveiled a new sculpture at the Burning Man art festival in the Nevada desert on Thursday to draw attention to Russia’s war ravaging the country and symbolize Ukraine’s rebirth. Photo credit Andrii Ivanchenko
A team of Ukrainian artists unveiled a new sculpture at the Burning Man art festival in the Nevada desert on Thursday to draw attention to Russia’s war ravaging the country and symbolize Ukraine’s rebirth.
Ellen Lopatkina, the producer and manager behind the project, told UPI in a phone interview from the makeshift Black Rock City that the monumental sculpture, titled Phoenix, was created to “resonate with pretty much every human being even without the context of the war” with Russia. Advertisement
Lopatkina said Vitaliy Deynega, one of her friends and the founder of the Come Back Alive fund for Ukrainian veterans, had come up with the idea of bringing Ukrainian art to the playa last year “to show that Ukrainians are out there in the world and that despite the war, they are creating.” Advertisement
The artist collective behind the work is named the Phoenix Project and is led by the artists Oleksiy Sai and Bohdana Kosmina.
The work was envisioned as a metal sculpture inside a massive 26-foot-tall pine box like those that are actually protecting statues and monuments in Kyiv and around Ukraine, she said. Lopatkina said one of the artists on the build team is an engineer who builds such protective boxes in Kyiv.
“This is exactly what you’ll see in Kyiv or Kherson. You’re not going to see the monument, you’re going to see this wooden box,” she said.
“Every Ukrainian on the playa recognizes that. The whole world right now recognizes what that looks like.”
The artwork includes the act of setting the pine box to flame for about an hour to reveal the metal bird inside, which happened Thursday morning as a “Ukrainian soundscape” played over speakers.
The statue of the metal phoenix, made of thin sheet metal welded together, measures about 13 feet tall and is styled to mirror the Ukrainian coat of arms.
“It’s minimalistic,” Lopatkina said of the design ahead of the burn, adding that the pine boxes that protect the monuments in Ukraine are normally filled with sandbags. Advertisement
“It’s going to blacken out from the smoke of the burning pine. Slowly the phoenix is going to start revealing itself head down to the support beams. As Phoenix burns, you’ll see the ashes, you’ll see the burn marks and the soot.”
Lopatkina called the statue of the phoenix itself “very aesthetic” and one of the more eye-catching pieces in the Nevada desert.
“Flooding shortened build time by two days, so we had to do much work in a short amount of time and the community knowing this is a Ukrainian project has been absolutely unbelievable,” she said.
She said that others at Burning Man rallied and brought food to the build team and helped with the build to ensure the piece was assembled in time for the festival.
Of the meaning behind the piece, Lopatkina said: “It is about losing the protective shell of everyday life, comfort and routines. Everything you thought was holding you together.”
“It is also symbolic of what all of us humans have, protective shells of our family, friends and home,” she added. “When that shell is shattered or burned, It’s important not to collapse along with it.”
Lopatkina noted that Phoenix is not the first Ukrainian installation at Burning Man and is not the only Ukrainian installation at this year’s festival. Advertisement
“Despite our homes being bombarded, we’re getting stronger and surviving through fire to become a better nation, a stronger nation, just like everyone does through loss,” she said.
“We try to be as productive members of society as we can. We will continue working, creating and participating and we want the world to know that the war is still happening. Ukraine is still under fire. Ukraine is still on fire.”
