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BLACK ROCK CITY HONORARIA · 2027 PROPOSAL
The Lotus of Light is an art project proposal for Black Rock City 2026.
A 12-petal lotus created from reclaimed EMT conduit. Sit in a petal and it glows. Touch the flower's heart and a stranger sees your heartbeat in light.
By DP NYC. Lead artist Oliver Griffiths
AT A GLANCE
A flower that needs people to bloom
12 –petals, each one a seat
24 – people can play at once
40′ × 40′ – footprint, about 10′ high
100% – solar and battery powered
THE EXPERIENCE
How it comes alive:
Sit in a petal. Your petal wakes, shifting from soft pink-white to animated colour.
Touch an anther. At the centre, 12 stamens each end in an anther holding a finger pulse sensor. Slip a finger in and one of the petals flashes in time with your heartbeat, so whoever is sitting there sees a stranger's pulse.
Fill the flower. When all 12 seats and all 12 anthers are in use at once, the whole lotus pulses together.
Stretch goal: a transducer in each seat, so the person sitting can feel the heartbeat as well as see it.
THE IDEA
From mud to light:
"The lotus roots in mud and rises to bloom clean in the light. Its seeds can lie forgotten for centuries and still flower."
Trash to treasure:
Our lotus grows from its own mud: reclaimed EMT conduit, bent and discarded, the kind of metal that ends up in a dumpster. Nothing has to be perfect to be loved.
Light and life:
Light is the source of life, and a lotus opens only when the light arrives. Ours opens when people do. The lotus The sacred lotus warms its own blossom like a living body. It is one of the oldest images we have of beauty growing from what others overlook.
Heartbeats:
A heartbeat is the most private rhythm we have; here it is shared. Can strangers sync their hearts? For a moment, on the playa, the lotus answers yes.
THE BUILD
What it's made of:
Twelve petals, each made from bent 10′ EMT conduit (reclaimed wherever possible), form a self-standing ring about 8′ tall and 5′ wide per petal, anchored to the playa through the frame. The poles join with standard shade canopy connectors, and the base of each petal forms a seat, possibly a hanging chair.
The petals are skinned in translucent white fabric and lit from within by addressable LEDs, so by day the piece reads as a soft pink-white flower and by night as a glowing bloom visible from across the playa. At the centre rise 12 curved stamens, each topped with a 3D-printed anther that houses a pulse sensor.
Everything runs on a battery bank charged by solar panels. No generator, no amplified sound.
Renders: the concept, design and structure are our own. AI was used only to texture our 3D model and place it on a background.
THE CREW
Who's building it
A crew of five from New York who have built camp infrastructure at Black Rock City since 2022 and supported art projects including the Black Burner Project and The Gothic Folly. The team includes an architect, an LED magician and an infrastructure and logistics lead.
Oliver Griffiths – Lead artist
Neal Bakshi – Infrastructure and logistics
Nicolas Herrera – LED designer
Justin Stanton – Crew
Tim Walsh – Crew
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