Today, we launched an initiative that invites the Burning Man community and wider creative world to join in co-creating a sustainable and awe-inspiring year-round rural center at Fly Ranch, Burning Man Project’s 3,800-acre high desert property.

Burning Man Project and the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) have partnered together to run a multi-disciplinary design challenge — LAGI 2020 Fly Ranch — that will create the foundational infrastructure for Fly Ranch and the building blocks for future activities like events, residencies, art builds, and large-scale projects. This design challenge is an invitation to artists, architects, designers, builders, scientists and Burners of all kinds to come together and create a collective project that lasts well beyond a week in August.

Through art, technology, and innovation, LAGI 2020 Fly Ranch will bring together sustainable and scalable solutions for power, water, shelter, food, and regeneration in the Black Rock Desert. You are invited to propose your regenerative artwork for this stunning landscape.

Registration is free and open to everyone. The design challenge closes on May 31 and the selection process will run through August. A minimum of $150,000 in honoraria grants will be distributed across selected teams to build functional prototypes on-site at Fly Ranch in 2021.

You’ll find design guidelines and everything you need to get started at lagi2020flyranch.org.

“There has never before been a time in human history when we stood at a crossroads the likes of which we confront today. The actions we take in the next few years will have resonance across centuries…

Fly Ranch provides the perfect context in which to experiment with new systems for human thriving and to tackle the hard problem of net-zero sustainable infrastructure with circular design thinking. The outcomes of LAGI 2020 Fly Ranch will offer the world a portfolio of solutions for energy, water, food, shelter, and zero waste that incorporate the latest technologies available as media for awe-inspiring works of infrastructural art in the landscape.

The goal is to conceive of a place that can serve as a fertile ground for exchanging ideas, innovating, experimenting, art making, and healing ­— a place that sets the highest standards of excellence, providing for its own sustainable operations, and also giving back generously to help other places reduce carbon….

As designers and creatives you hold the keys to a successful transition to a culture of stewardship and conservation of nature. By painting a clear and beautiful picture of human settlement in harmony with the planet  —  a glimpse into a post-carbon world that is attractive and desirable, you can inspire the world to the actions needed to achieve these ends on a global scale.”

From the LAGI 2020 Fly Ranch Open Statement
By Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry
LAGI Founding Directors

For more about LAGI’s directors and history, check out this piece.