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No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man

April 26/June 7–September 2, 2019

Tuesday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Thursdays, 11 a.m.–8 p.m. FREE.

Museum Members can beat the crowds during Member Mornings: Every Saturday and Sunday, 10–11 a.m.

Become a Member | Make a Donation | Press Releases: Phase I, Phase II

 

Fresh from the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, stunning immersive room-sized installations, mutant art vehicles, creative costuming, films, jewelry and more will transport Cincinnati Art Museum audiences to the Burning Man gathering.

Burning Man attracts more than 70,000 active participants from all over the globe who gather in the desert outside Reno, Nevada. This thriving temporary metropolis is a hotbed of artistic expression and innovation through its shared principles. Both a cultural movement and an annual event, Burning Man is one of the most influential happenings in contemporary American art and culture.

Artists include: Candy Chang, Marco Cochrane, Duane Flatmo, Michael Garlington and Natalia Bertotti, Five Ton Crane Arts Collective, Scott Froschauer, Android Jones and Richard Wilks, the FoldHaus Art Collective, Aaron Taylor Kuffner, HYBYCOZO (Yelena Filipchuk and Serge Beaulieu), Christopher Schardt, Roy Two Thousand, the Flaming Lotus Girls, and many others.

Ephemera, archival materials and photographs will be on view in the companion exhibition City of Dust: The Evolution of Burning Man, organized by the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno; it will trace Burning Man’s origins from its countercultural roots to the world-famous desert convergence it is today.

The first phase opens on April 26, 2019, and the second opens on June 7, 2019. Both phases of the exhibition will close September 2, 2019.

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Programs & Events

Gallery Experience: Radical Self Expression with Pam Kravitz

August 25 | 3-4 p.m.

About the Phases

Visitors are encouraged to experience the exhibition at least twice. After April 26 (Phase 1), about 70% of the art will be on view. An additional 30% more, additional artworks will be added for Phase 2, starting June 7.

Phase 1 includes many large-scale installation/sculptures including: Shrumen Lumen, Truth is Beauty, Gamelatron, Capitol Theater, Evotrope, Paper Arch, Nova, Tin Pan Dragon, Thorax and the City of Dust photography and ephemera.

Phase 2 will feature additional artworks in the Schiff Gallery and include a few installations and fashions including headdresses, jewelry and patches, and photography including some submitted by Burners for this exhibition. Artworks include: Before I Die, Hybycozo, and Android Jones digital images.

Featured Installations

Before I Die

by Candy Chang

Lake of Dreams

by Roy Two Thousand

Dharma Dragon

by Android Jones

 

Support for the Cincinnati presentation of this exhibition is provided by the August A. Rendigs, Jr. Foundation.

No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man is organized by the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 

The museums especially thank colleagues from the Burning Man Project, a nonprofit public benefit corporation, for their close collaboration and assistance throughout the preparation of this exhibition and tour.

Lead support for the exhibition was provided by Intel and Bently Foundation. Support for the exhibition’s tour is provided by the C. F. Foundation, Atlanta, Georgia and the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment Fund.