'Burning Man' is one of the most influent cultural encounters in the world. Each summer, in the middle of the Nevada dessert (EE. UU.), more than 70.000 people build a brief city based on creativity, community and transformation. In their symbolic and emotional centre it erects “the temple”, a monumental structure constructed by volunteers, conceived as a retreat, memory and emotional closure space.
Conversely to other installations of the date, the temple is burnt in absolute silence at the end of the week. In 2025, for the first time in the history of the festival, it will be designed by an Hispanic architect: the Valencian Miguel Arraiz (València, 1975). His proposal, Temple of the Deep, is inspired in the kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing with gold broken ceramic, The structure will evoke a great rock with golden cracks, that symbolise a fragmented heart after the painful experience.
The presentation of the project to a contest coincided with the DANA which destroyed the province of Valencia, as well as the announcement of the selection with the devastating fires in Los Ángeles, which provided a symbolic dimension even deeper to Arraiz’s Temple.
Traditionally, the offers to the temple will be sent through post to a centralised location. However, in this occasion, it has been established a collaboration with the project ‘Salvem les Fotos’, of the Universitat de València, an initiative dedicated to the preservation of the memory of the people affected by the DANA.
Thanks to this collaboration, until 20 July letters will be able to be delivered in person in the laboratories ‘Salvem les Fotos’ of the Universitat de València localised in the Castell d’Alaquàs, the Museu Comarcal of l’Horta Sud Josep Ferrís March in Torrent, the Centre d’Art Contemporani ESART in Algemesí, the Casa Alamanzón in Utiel and the Museu d’Història Natural of the Universitat de València. In this initiative we also count with the collaboration of Mancomunitat de l’Horta Sud.
On 21 July, the team of the temple in Valencia will collect all the letters and will travel with them to the United States, taking with them fragments of our own collective memory. To resolve any doubts or for any enquiries, we have enabled the mail account: info@2025temple.com.
The burning of the temple, expected on 31 August, will mark the closure of Burning Man and will put an end to the collective process of creation, memory and liberation of this edition.
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