Over the past decade, Ukrainian art projects at Burning Man — one of the world's most famous festivals of art, freedom, and self-expression, held annually in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada — have come a long way. If in the early 2010s the Ukrainian presence was represented by futuristic structures and light experiments, then by the mid-2020s art from Ukraine began speaking about war, memory, and resilience on an international level. According to the publication Wave RBC.UA, over ten years Ukrainian artists have turned the festival into a platform where national identity, traditional craftsmanship, and political statement merge into a single visual language.
From Kurenivka to "Sorry": the first steps in the desert
The first official Ukrainian camp at Burning Man was Kurenivka, founded in 2017. It was from this moment that the Ukrainian community gained a stable infrastructure for presenting its works. Already in 2018, the festival featured one of the most notable installations of the decade — "Sorry" by artist Alexei Sai. A huge inscription about 25 meters long raised the question of the meaning of the word "sorry": in the artist's conception, this ordinary word could become a barrier behind which a person hides from the true content of their actions and words. The project was supported by the organization Nova Ukraine together with the Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco, and part of the funding was provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
"Catharsis": Petrykivka painting and 3D printing in a single object
In 2019, the Ukrainian presence at the festival became larger in scale. The central project was the installation "Catharsis" — a three-meter butterfly whose wings were decorated in the style of Petrykivka painting. At the center of the structure was a 3D-printed human heart. The authors linked the image of the butterfly to the process of inner transformation and sought to present Ukrainian traditional art in a contemporary format. The work was included in Forbes's selection of the most notable art objects of Burning Man 2019, which became an important international recognition of the Ukrainian art community.
Pandemic and turning point: 2020–2022
The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the festival's usual rhythm: in 2020 and 2021, Burning Man was not held in its traditional format. After the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the Ukrainian Burner community redirected a significant part of its efforts toward helping Ukraine. The festival itself separately wrote about Ukrainian participants who organized humanitarian aid and the purchase of medical supplies. At the same time, the Ukrainian presence at Burning Man acquired new content: art became a way to speak about war to an international audience that may not follow news feeds but sees and feels what is happening in the desert.
2023: "The Hedgehog Temple" and "Ukrainian Phoenix"
In 2023, Ukraine presented two landmark works at once. "The Hedgehog Temple," created by the Ukrainian community Kurenivka, was based on more than 100 anti-tank "hedgehogs"; the total weight of the metal structure reached about 2.7 tons. The work became a memorial to Ukrainians who died after the start of the full-scale invasion. The second installation — Ukrainian Phoenix — became the first Ukrainian ritual work burned as part of the festival's traditional final ritual. The phoenix, emerging from the form of the Ukrainian trident, was conceived as a symbol of Ukraine's rebirth after the destruction of war. This was an important turning point: Ukrainian authors were no longer simply presenting their own culture — they were creating an image of a country that is living through war while simultaneously speaking about the future.
"I'm Fine": art made from the wreckage of war
In 2024, Burning Man featured one of the strongest Ukrainian works of recent years — "I'm Fine" by Alexei Sai. A giant structure about 32 meters long and about 7 meters high was made from real materials damaged during the war in Ukraine: road signs, fences, satellite dishes, and other metal structures bearing bullet marks and debris. The title refers to the popular meme "This Is Fine," in which a character calmly sits in the middle of a burning room. In the Ukrainian context, the phrase "I'm fine" acquires a bitter meaning, becoming a metaphor for life under constant threat. The project was created in collaboration between Alexei Sai, the Ukrainian Witness project, its founder Vitaliy Deinega, and DJ Anatoly Tapolsky.
"Black Cloud": when the desert became a co-author
In 2025, the Ukrainian presence at Burning Man became one of the largest in scale. Among the main works was "Black Cloud" by Alexei Sai: a giant inflatable structure in the shape of a black storm cloud, about 30 meters long, 15 meters high, and weighing almost eight tons. Inside, recordings of explosions, artillery shelling, and other sounds of war played, while light effects imitated lightning; Ukrainian musician Involver was involved in creating the sound component. However, this time the desert itself became part of the work's story: shortly after installation, a powerful dust storm destroyed the structure. The installation did not withstand the elements and was destroyed within a short time. This episode only intensified the work's resonance, turning it into a symbol of fragility and, at the same time, resilience — the very theme Ukrainian artists had been speaking about throughout the decade.
