This 100-foot-tall disco ball could be the most impressive artwork at Burning Man

A giant inflatable metallic sphere is making a splash at Burning Man 2018. A giant inflatable metallic sphere is making a splash at Burning Man 2018. Photo: Twitter Screen Grab Photo: Twitter Screen Grab Image 1 of / 47 Caption Close This 100-foot-tall disco ball could be the most impressive artwork at Burning Man 1 / 47 Back to Gallery

Some are calling it a giant bulb of garlic. Others say it's the world's biggest disco ball. But really, the official name of the 100-foot-diameter reflective sphere is "the ORB."

No matter, the impressive art installation designed by a group of artists (led by the architects Bjarke Ingels and Jakob Lange of Denmark) is a focal point on the Playa at this year's annual Burning Man festival.

In aerial shots of the Black Rock Desert, it's popping out of the Playa skyline in the same way the Eiffel Tower protrudes above Paris, a wayfinder in the city.

The Epcot-esque landmark is showing up in photographs on social media. In the gallery above, we share some of those photos.

The money to build the ORB was raised through an Indiegogo campaign that brought in $34,301. In the project's description its intent is explained: "The ORB is a mirror for earth lovers — reflecting the passing daytime, evolving life & other art works beneath it."

Every summer, during the Burning Man festival, a city blooms in the dusty Nevada desert with an organized network of streets, a hospital, a post office and even an airport.

Some 70,000 people come from across the globe — arriving in buses, motorhomes, art cars and private jets — and spend a week romping around in outlandish costumes, building massive art structures, putting on fantastical performances, and zipping across the Playa on bicycles.

This year's event runs Aug. 25 to Sept. 3 with the theme "I, Robot," which focuses "on the many forms of artificial intelligence in our lives." The burning of the man — when a huge central art installation is burned to the ground — takes place Saturday.

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