The Flyline path serves as a power source and a generative platform that enables artists of all media and visitors to partake in a journey infused with mindfulness and imagination, fostering Radical Self-Expression. The boardwalk’s plinths enable artists, ecologists, spiritualists, and visitors alike to enact their own performances; along the way, each can skip a chapter, slow down or fast forward. The Flyline pays homage to the celestial and natural worlds attributing indigenous ceremony to the Paiute ancestry and stars overarching Gerlach, “The Darkest Town in America.'' The proposed design is founded upon geomantic principles, conjointly channeling the first astronomers (the golden mean), mother-nature (North American Freshwater Snail), and artists.

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General Notes

The path spans 1,175 feet in length and 12 feet across. 

The total costs vary depending on the unit, labor, and technology. We have done our best to inquire about the necessary material expenses and estimate labor is three - five times the material costs.

Our calculations for the site materials’ needs and engineering have been carefully considered. However, they are not exact in their quantity.

 

Selected Programs

Fly Line Public Art Council

The Flyline design lends itself naturally to an iterative and artful enterprise, eliciting a curatorial approach. As part of the Burning Man and LAGI principals, this program includes a public art council to serve as a curatorial/advisory board composed of contemporary indigenous artists, members of the Pyramid Paiute Tribal Council, residents of neighboring Gerlach, as well as Burning Man staff. Fostering local trust in the Flyline and the neighboring community ensures its ancestry carries out long beyond the project scope.

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Proposed Flyline Features

Flyline Boardwalk

Flyline includes generative platforms designed with local and community efforts for Radical Self Expression for the active participants or passive observers. Throughout the Flyline, visitors will experience multimedia glyphs designed by tribal and visiting artists, conducive to a new form of storytelling in traditional and augmented realities. Visitors can stargaze above or “shoegaze” on the Starpath below.

 

Salutation Plinths - (Radical Self-Reliance, Radical Self-Expression, Shelter) Programmable plinths invite a sunrise salutation at the geyser or a respite under a shaded tree at dusk. The sunrise plinth serves as an “end-scene” or resets as the visitor's journey comes to an end, or as the sunrises, a new beginning.

 

Arrival Area- (Energy + Water) First impressions are regenerative at the energy{+} parking lot near the Pavillion Plinth.  The Arrival Area includes such standard necessities as EV chargers powered by dynamic solar trees, microgrid housing camouflaged with ephemeral markings, and glyphs. A water filtration system invites a refill after a long drive. 

 

Welcome Station - (Radical Inclusion, Decommodification) What you are greeted by a tarot reader, or a dancer, or a robot? What grand arrival message could you place on a sign? Inside the Arrival Area is a small reception serving as a performance platform and a versatile wayfinding station allowing retreat organizers to set the tone for the Fly Ranch experience. 

 

Paa'a Nobe/Water Plinth- (Shelter, Water, Participation, Regeneration) The largest platform is a watershed next to the large hot spring with an astronomer-friendly Star Deck for observing the dark sky, shelter, compostable toilets, recycled showers. Modular furniture built from upcycled materials will allow for visitors to shape the connection experience needed.
 

Teniddui Lab/Learning Lab- (Shelter, Food) A terrestrial observatory supported via the Star Deck attached to the Paa’a Nobe. The Flyline’s geometry takes inspiration from the North American Freshwater Snail spiral shell, a mollusk discovered by researchers Robert Hersher and Donald Sada, in the streams near the geysers. The Teniddui Lab is an educational wet/dry lab with conditioned storage and equipment to allow for continuous monitoring, stewardship, and discovery of the Fly Ranch ecosystem.

 

Resonant Gates - (Immediacy, Radical Self-Expression) Activated at the Northern and Southern nodes of The Flyline, is a guided meditation or sound ritual along the journey path. The gates opening ignites both analog and digital sounds whose melodies and rhythms can be curated and changed. The intention is to invite indigenous sound artists and musicians to compose the audio path to share a story, evoke “trans-memory,” and honor the land. 

Pavilion Plinth - (Communal Effort, Leaving No Trace, Energy, Shelter) This iterative pad will allow the Fly Ranch history and future to merge. Attributing nomadic Wachau and Burning Man ephemerality while allowing the limitless imagination of architects and artists worldwide. The plinth includes necessary tie-down, prepared surfaces, secure storage, potable water and greywater irrigation sources, and power.

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