Right Ear, Right Now
An interactive sculpture coming to Black Rock City, 2026.
Dear tipper, glad you’re hear👂️
Right Ear, Right Now is an interactive sculpture listening and playing back tips, secrets, and wisdom of the burners.
It invites burners to embark on a Q-Tip guided spiritual quest and open their inner worlds to the Ear, and to each other.
The sculptureÂ
The artwork is a 2.5m / 8ft tall interactive sculpture of a human ear containing audio speakers that playback sound recordings from previous participants. Each participant is invited to record a message themselves, contributing to the work.
Playfully, the recordings are initially muffled until participants clear them by using the Q-tip!
The sculpture is illuminated with pixel addressable LED lights embedded inside, providing a sound-responsive beautiful glow during the night.
If your ears are ringing, you’re on the Right path. Face your fears.
Hear the Call. Walk up. Pick up the Q‑Tip. Sweep it clean to hear the message. A confession. A wish. A bad joke. Lean in. Be vulnerable. Whisper something true into the Ear.
Why we’re building this ephemearal piece
Right Ear, Right Now is about being heard, about listening and being in the present moment. The messages live in the Ear for a moment, get passed to another tipper and then drift off into the dust.
This is our first piece on the playa as Enginears Collective. We’ve been lovingly shaping this idea into a concept and hopefully soon to a reality this year with your genearous support!
Where your money goes
We’re aiming for $7,500 to cover materials, transport, on‑playa build costs, and the unglamorous logistics of getting a sculpture from London to the Nevada desert. Every contribution gets the ear one step closer to Black Rock City.
The sculpture itself contains a fair bit of technology and complexity, with electronic components, LED lights, sensors, speakers, microphone, all wrapped into a mechanical shape designed from scratch, and built to withstand extremely high temperatures, rainfall, UV, dust ingress. Each component has to be very robust.
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Sculpture materials | $1,300 | Translucent shell, internal armature, mounting hardware, sealants for desert conditions. |
Electronics & audio | $1,100 | Custom PCBs, speakers, mic, microcontroller, LED driver, weatherproofing for dust and heat. |
Lighting & Batteries | $1,100 | Translucent glow LEDs and solar power batteries |
Transport & Logistics | $2,500 | U‑Haul to Nevada, fuel, shipping of parts that fly with us, return logistics, last‑mile assembly, packing, storage |
Build & On-playa Health & Safety | $1,000 | Tools, misc. hardware store costs, moop gadgets, workwear for the build crew volunteers |
| “Shit Day” Contingency | $500 | Because something will break, blow, or vanish in the dust. It always does. |
| Total | $7500 | You are an Ear! |
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Perks for dear tippers
These are thank‑yous from the bottom of our ears. We’re keeping rewards light on shipping so more of your contribution actually reaches the playa. Pick the one that sounds like you.
All perks are thank‑you gestures rather than goods for sale.
We’re keeping records of how every dollar is spent and we’ll share
it upon request.
The road to Black Rock City
- August 2025 — The first members of the Enginears Collective met and burned together and decided to bring art to the playa the following year.Â
- October 2025 — The seeds of Right Ear Right Now were sowed with our first gathering on the internets.
- November - December 2025 — We met regularly, brainstormed and finally landed on a concept, with which we applied to the Honorarium program.
- March 2026 — Our initial concept didn’t receive Honoraria funding and for a second, we were sad.Â
- April 2026 — But the calling of the Ear was stronger than we knew. The BM Art team invited us to bring our piece to the playa and at first, we said no. But, we could not let go of the idea just yet!Â
- May 2026 — After a few weeks of sitting on the fence, we took the leap and tweaked our idea to make it a bit humbler and decided to community-fund the project.Â
- June 2026 — We’re launching our fundraising campaign and welcoming your “tips” to bring the Ear and the Q-tip to Burning man!
- July 2026 — Design, build, organise, campaign, rinse & repeat. If we can find a space for free, we will throw a D’earsss Circle Party in London. (Tip us if you have or know of a space!)
- August 2026 — Build and prep for the dusty week and keep spreading the word!
- Last week of August — The Enginears Collective will fly to Reno to do the final assembly and packing.
- 29 August 2026 — Leave Reno, arrive at Home.
- 30–31 August — Build the Ear on the playa.
- 1–6 September — Right Ear, Right Now starts listening. We burn. A Tippers Party and many other shenanigans may follow.
- 7–10 September — Burn the man, burn the Temple. Grieve and celebrate. Strike. Pack the Ear, decompress and fly home.
About the Enginears Collective
We’re a small London and Albuquerque crew of artists, engineers and producers who could not let go of the Ear. We are into making quirky yet meaningful art together. Right Ear, Right Now is our first dedicated playa piece.
Asli Sevinc Daver - Designer and Creative Director. Wannabe Artist.
Berkay Daver - Creative Technologist. Jack of All Trades and Master of Some.
Coriolan Verchezer (Lead Artist) - New Media Artist and Creative Technologist. International Director of Puns.
Matilde Menegotto - Quantity Surveyor. Not an Artist but creative at heart, builder in practice.
Neil Mendoza - Artist. A real Artist who arts.
Ways to help, even if you are not able to contribute
- Share the campaign link with one person (or more) you think would love this.
- Follow @right.ear.right.now on Instagram and react to a post. Algorithms are listening too.
- Come to the London fundraiser party in July. Details on Instagram soon.
- If you’re a burner with reach, repost and share on your group chats and socials. If you’re a regional contact, tell your camp.
- If you want to volunteer for the build on playa and help out in London, DM us!
Thank you for listening.
Whether you pledge $10 or $1,000, share the link, or just sit with the idea for a minute, you’re part of why this Ear gets to exist. We’ll chear you in the dust.
— Asli, Berkay, Cori, Maty & Neil —
The Ear is hear for you! 👂️
Get in touch
Email: worrycreatures@gmail.com
Instagram: @right.ear.right.now
Collective: @enginears.collective
Perks
A digital thank‑you postcard from the playa, signed by the team.
Your name on the supporters’ wall on our Crowdfunder and on-site. We’ll raise a literal b’ear in your honour at the opening.
Your name (or alias) hidden inside the sculpture, sealed in before it leaves London. You’ll know it’s there. The Ear will too.
Invite to our London build day and/or party in July. Help us assemble, eat pizza, drink b’ears and see the ear before anyone else does.
Everything above, plus your name on the official build credits, and inside the Ear. You helped make this real.
All of the above, plus come hang with us on the playa! Join the build (as a spectator, no work required unless you want to) and the Tippers Party we’ll be throwing in the dust!
Highlights
See all activity3Activity
A digital thank‑you postcard from the playa, signed by the team.
Your name on the supporters’ wall on our Crowdfunder and on-site. We’ll raise a literal b’ear in your honour at the opening.
Your name (or alias) hidden inside the sculpture, sealed in before it leaves London. You’ll know it’s there. The Ear will too.
Invite to our London build day and/or party in July. Help us assemble, eat pizza, drink b’ears and see the ear before anyone else does.
Everything above, plus your name on the official build credits, and inside the Ear. You helped make this real.
All of the above, plus come hang with us on the playa! Join the build (as a spectator, no work required unless you want to) and the Tippers Party we’ll be throwing in the dust!
