On August 24, Ukraine’s Independence Day, on the first day of the Burning Man festival, the Ukrainian monumental installation “Black Cloud,” which symbolizes global threats and invisible premonitions of future catastrophes, was destroyed by the elements.
This was reported by Vitaliy Deynega, co-author of the Black Cloud project and founder of the media project Ukrainian Witness.
The work, symbolizing the global threat of a new world war, had undergone nighttime assembly, received hundreds of enthusiastic responses, and became one of the largest and most astonishing installations at this year’s festival. But within a few hours, it was destroyed by the storm.
“Black Cloud” was a monumental interactive installation, 15 meters high, 17 meters wide, and 30 meters long. The thundercloud consisted of 45 interconnected inflatable forms weighing 8 tons, fed by over 2,500 cubic meters of air. Inside the installation were 20 strobe lights flashing like lightning. Meanwhile, the desert was filled with a continuous musical composition made from real sounds of the war in Ukraine, making it clear that “Black Cloud” was not about a storm—it was about threat. The sculpture was a unique visual metaphor for the invisible yet massive threats facing humanity and was intended to be the main highlight of Ukraine’s presence at Burning Man.
“There are often sudden weather changes and strong winds here, but this one was stronger and more sudden than usual. Part of the team was literally flying in the air, trying to save the newly built camp. Even though, on paper and by calculation, the cloud was supposed to withstand such a storm, it turned out differently. It held against the wind for the first 15 minutes, then it tore in the middle, the storm hit it, and it was destroyed completely,” Deynega said.
“Black Cloud” was presented by Ukrainian artist Oleksiy Sai, general producer Vitaliy Deynega, and executive producer Mariya Moroz, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute.
Meanwhile, another Ukrainian installation, The Point of Unity, created by Mykola Kabluka, a lighting designer and founder/art director of Expolight and Kabluka Light & Digital Sculptures, survived
