In 2021 selected design teams will be provided an honoraria grant for the purpose of building a functional prototype on site.

Burning Man and Fly Ranch

Each August, the annual Burning Man event transforms a desolate corner of northern Nevada into a thriving temporary metropolis fueled by creativity, experimentation, and awe. In 2016, the organization behind this city acquired Fly Ranch, a 3,800 acre property just north of the event site.

This property is home to dozens of hot and cold springs, three geysers, acres of wetlands, dozens of animal species, and more than 100 identified types of plants. The Fly Ranch project is an opportunity to create a year-round rural incubator for Burning Man culture and a catalyst for innovation and creativity in the world.

To host residencies, gatherings, and projects at Fly Ranch, the site will need infrastructure. We could bring generators, bottled water, packaged food, tents, and dispose of our waste off-site, but why would we do that when we have the opportunity to mobilize the desert-tested ingenuity of the Burning Man community and the inspiration of a greater creative culture to build scalable and sustainable solutions in one of the harshest climates in the world.

Land Art Generator Initiative

Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) brings forward new energy infrastructures that are works of art—expressions of culture that strive to reinforce the beauty and ecology of their surroundings.

The great global energy transition that is required to stem the tide of climate change will have an impact on our built environment and our visual landscapes like no other technical shift since the automobile. What will these new infrastructures look like?

Creatives around the world have responded to the LAGI open design competitions for Dubai/Abu Dhabi (2010), New York City (2012), Copenhagen (2014), Santa Monica (2016), Melbourne (2018), and Abu Dhabi (2019) which together have brought over 1,000 designs from 80+ countries.

LAGI 2020 Fly Ranch will expand on this portfolio of blueprints for the future by challenging creative interdisciplinary teams to propose artworks that will provide the food, water, shelter, power, and closed-loop systems for life on Fly Ranch.

PRIZES:  $150,000 will be distributed to selected teams for the purpose of constructing functioning prototypes at Fly Ranch in 2021.

EXHIBITIONS: In October of 2020, an exhibition will be held at the Burning Man Project Reno Headquarters, adjacent to the Nevada Museum of Art.

PUBLICATION: The LAGI 2020 publication (Prestel Publishers) will feature selected projects and will document the prototyping process at Fly Ranch.

JURY

• David de Rothschild Explorer and environmentalist
• Nadia Nazar Zero Hour, Founder, Co-Executive Director, and Art Director
• Matt Forkin Google X, Hardware Engineer; Wilderness skills expert
• William Kamkwamba Founder, Moving Windmills
• David Walker CEO, Nevada Museum of Art; Burning Man Board Member
• Will Roger Founding Board Member, Burning Man Project
• Crimson Rose Founding Board Member, Burning Man Project
• Jason Schupbach Head of Design, Arizona State University
• Darien Sturges Ellen MacArthur Foundation
• Michelle Tulac Ellen MacArthur Foundation
• Stacey Black Assistant Principal and Teacher, Gerlach K–12 
• Christian Gaines Executive Director, Western States Arts Federation
• Heather Gayle Holdridge LEED Fellow, EIT, Assoc. AIA Sustainability Director, Lake|Flato Architects
• Melissa Melero-Moose Artist
• Victor Pérez-Rul Artist and Founder, Studio Victor Pérez-Rul; LAGI Board Member 
• Rina Schumer Asst VP of Academic and Faculty Affairs, Desert Research Institute
• Dave Solaro Assistant County Manager, Washoe County
• Kate Thomas Assistant County Manager, Washoe County
• Yodassa Williams Writer, entrepreneur, speaker, and performing storyteller
• Zachary Coffin Artist