Ryan Burns


Beacon is an installation inspired by the Bark Exhibits of the 1800s. These exhibits consisted of giant blocks of bark cut from 1500-year-old living trees. The bark blocks were sent to NYC and reassembled to form a 30ft diameter x 80ft tall tree trunk structure that housed some kind of a music concert, where people could enter through doorways into the creepy hollow husk after they paid an entrance fee. This atmosphere, to connect with nature in such a bizarre way, must have transcended the attendants. The exhibits had such an impact that they sparked debate that lead to forming our national park system 160 years ago.

Beacon is composed of a makeshift dream machine. The flicker machine is said to induce a dreamlike state by its inventors William Burrows and Brion Gysin, and its gaudy, glittery, multi-seasonal ephemera points a finger at the shifting seasonal cycles of today.