Plucked From The Desert

At the Smithsonian, the art of Burning Man charms in a new context. By James Tarmy

- James Tarmy

In a low-lit, second-floor room of a Washington gallery, a cluster of three ceiling-height plastic mushrooms glows in a shifting kaleidoscope of neon colors. At the base of each is a pad that users can press, causing the sculptures to heave, sigh, and expand in and out.

The installation, Shrumen Lumen by the FoldHaus Art Collective, was initially on view under the night sky at Burning Man, an annual weeklong festival in the Nevada desert that celebrates the various joys of communal living, 24-hour dance parties, public art, and appreciating said art while on mind-altering substances. The event, wherein a temporary 70,000-person city is erected in a week and disassembled even faster, is so singular that attempts to re- create it at other times of the year have fallen flat.

This is why organizers for the exhibit “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man” (March 30 through Jan. 21, 2019) faced a steep challenge when trying to transfer works from the desert to a museum context, specifically to the Renwick branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The show’s saving grace is that it doesn’t try to be about Burning Man; it aims simply to evoke what it’s like to interact with the festival’s art.