The main pyramid at Burning Man festival in Nevada featured Ukrainian symbols including sunflowers, wheat, and blue and yellow colors through an AI-generated video created by director Olha Navrotska, Suspilne Culture reported on 4 September.
The audiovisual animation was conceived by philanthropist and initiator of educational projects “Skarb” and “War Diaries: Unheard Voices of Ukrainian Children” Khrystia Khranovska and displayed on the festival’s central pyramid structure used for projections, performances and light shows.
“My idea was to make Ukraine visible even in the middle of the Nevada desert. With this video, I wanted to show our country as modern, noble, intelligent, authentic, unique and understandable to the world. We must be heard everywhere,” Khranovska said.
Director Olha Navrotska brought the concept to life using artificial intelligence. The video incorporated Ukrainian cultural symbols: blue sky colors, sunflowers as signs of life, wheat ears and horses as images of freedom and fertility, along with figures of Ukrainian women and brave men.
The musical component features an ethno-house track “Skarb” by Fahot, leader of the band TNMK.
“This video is another opportunity to remind the world about ourselves, and to do it at a huge international festival. We chose yellow-blue colors both because it’s our flag and because it’s an incredibly powerful color combination that should immediately be associated with us and create a bright picture in the night,” Navrotska explained.
According to Suspilne Culture, the animation on Burning Man’s main pyramid served as a tribute to the 34th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.
Burning Man, an annual eight-day independent art event in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, runs from 24 August to 1 September under this year’s theme “Tomorrow Today.” Organizers define it as an experiment in creating a community of radical self-expression, culminating in burning a massive wooden human statue on the final day.
Forbes reported that Ukraine was represented by five artworks at the festival: “Black Cloud” by Oleksiy Say, “The Point of Unity” by Mykola Kabluka, “Death Conquered Death” by Volodymyr Semkiv, “Merman” by Merman Team, and “Blue Bull” by “Workshop of Wonders.”
Pragmatika reported that an additional installation called “HeyDay” by Kharkiv artist Volodymyr Ponomarenko – a mirrored flower made of stainless steel.
Say’s original installation was destroyed by a storm on the festival’s first day, leading the artist to transform it into a new work titled “No Fate” – shortened from the phrase “No fate but what we make,” borrowed from Sarah Connor’s line in the “Terminator” franchise.
The new installation continues the message “Get Ready!” from “Black Cloud”: invisible threats are real, but the future is not predetermined and remains in human hands, emphasizing the choice to resist threats rather than become accustomed to them.