Dana Montlack The murals are created by different artists from all over: Mark Dugally (Los Angeles),(Florida), Taylor Reinhold (Santa Cruz, California), Phillipp Aurand (Seattle), Sierra Joy and her mother Lynn McGeever (Truckee, California), Isabel Halpern (San Diego), and Lux Nieve (Spain) have all generously donated their time and talents to produce murals for this piece. Many, many more from our community in San Diego have also contributed to the vision and production of the tunnel, and the San Diego Collaborative Arts Project has been instrumental in funding and providing build space and resources. It takes a village!

What do you hope to communicate through this work?

Historically, humans have thought of the ocean as a limitless expanse and a bottomless well of resources; in 400 B.C., Clytemnestra asked: “There is the sea—who shall exhaust the sea?” But in reality, the ocean has its own serene balance that is tipped by the weight of Earth’s growing population. Our mission is to demonstrate that tipping process through artwork that really impacts the consciousness of participants that pass through.

We’re not just out to give people a scare, though! The entire process of creating this piece and presenting it to the Burning Man community is steeped in a unique flavor of Burning Man magic—just look at what’s possible when a community thinks outside the box, dreams big, and works to support its members in every way possible. The creators of Ocean Tunnel are all just regular, ocean-loving schmucks who had a fun idea; the support and empowerment we get from the Burning Man community, though, is what brought the piece to fruition. Just imagine if we could bring that same energy to the issue of climate change!

The finishing touch of Ocean Tunnel is its lounge space, where participants will be invited to write, draw, and otherwise express their reactions and ideas using charcoal on the canvas coverings of the piece. We’re out to collectively re-imagine Earth’s future—to create a shared sense of purpose in the face of a seemingly impossible problem.



