Awakening

Location
Funder

Installation History: Black Rock City, Nevada (2016 and 2023) | When We Were Young Festival, Las Vegas, Nevada (2022) |

Permanently Installed: Chaos Vineyard, Oregon (2026)

Awakening is a large-scale articulating sculpture and immersive camera obscura exploring the moment we first become aware of ourselves and the world around us. The installation consists of a monumental head facing two hands that rise from the ground. Visitors can climb through the head’s ear to discover a camera obscura hidden inside.

The 16-foot-tall head and hands are positioned as though a giant being is seeing its hands for the first time. Polished stainless-steel spheres form the finger joints, which are animated through a system of aircraft cables and motors. The open steel structure echoes the anatomy of the human hand, with solid plates suggesting skin and the negative spaces tracing the bones beneath.

Inside the head, optical lenses in the eyes project the surrounding landscape upside down across the interior. Colored filters and 3D glasses give the nearly 180-degree image added depth, allowing visitors to experience the world from the perspective of a giant.

Inspired by two of the body’s most extraordinary mechanisms—the eye and the hand—Awakening celebrates our ability to observe the world and create change within it.

Learn More |

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/262424680/awakening-at-burning-man-2016
https://www.chaosvineyard.com/awakening.html

Services

Burning Man
Design
Electromechanical Engineering
Fabrication
Honorarium
Structural Engineering

Year Completed

2016

Dimensions

16' x 16' - the distance between the head and hands can vary

Materials

Steel, stainless steel spheres, electronics, repurposed vinyl, acrylic paint