Help us build an all new Sonic Runway for Burning Man 2024!
The Radial Sonic Runway is a corridor of light visualizing music rippling across the desert at the speed of sound. But this time we're adding a whole other dimension!
We are launching this first round fundraiser to secure the seed money we need to get started building. Thank you for your support!
We built the original version in 2003/2004, a corridor of pyramids topped with strobe lights. Every thump from the massive speakers of Sol System triggered a streak of flashes in sync with the sound waves. From the far end, you could see the sound coming at you!
In 2016/2018 we upped our game with a series of circular gates stretching out over 1000 feet in the deep playa. Art cars took turns blasting into the Sonic Runway, triggering visuals that rippled and twisted down the corridor.
Radial Sonic Runway 2024
This time we’re upping our game again! Instead of circular rings, each gate will have an inner and outer steel frame, and the LEDs will be arranged as spokes. This opens up a whole other dimension of audio visualization. Where the last Sonic Runway was basically a flat (circular) display, this one is volumetric. The corridor can expand, contract, twist, and bounce to the music.
Like before, the Runway will be
installed in deep playa, and we will be inviting participants to
“play the runway” with their sound – everything from smaller live
performances to the biggest, loudest art cars.
Help Make it Happen
The challenge about going big… is that it’s expensive! These gates require a whole new level of construction, with custom LED tubes, cables, and connectors. Each illuminated gate, including the steel, LEDs, and electronics, will cost about $3,000… and we’re hoping to build 25 of them! And that’s not yet counting the fixed costs, including the computer that drives it, workshop space to build it, transportation, shipping, etc. The project will be well over $100k by the time it's done.
We are honored to have received an Honoraria grant from Burning Man! But the truth is that will only cover a fraction of the cost. We have had success touring the last Sonic Runway around the world, and we are pouring the proceeds from that back into this project. But that still won’t get us to the finish line – we need your help! We expect to end up running another campaign in the summer, but this fundraiser will let us order the materials we need to get started with production.
Thank you!
--Rob Jensen and the Runway Crew
