The Story behind the evolution

The tale of how….from Matt:

Many years ago, I built a piece that was mounted high in the air, but before we installed it, we set it up in the studio on it’s side to walk through and photograph. This had always inspired me to create a triple wall of layered form, having built a piece that was a simple screen of lines years before that. Add layering color to the mix, and the mix creates new shades. Add light, and you get an amazing array of energy and form. Add interactivity and you get art that responds to its environment. Every year there has been a new layer.

When I first proposed Evolution Field, I’d been burning for years...but never on the playa. I proposed a piece even before my first trip the Black Rock City, and was told “come, participate, volunteer, learn”

So I did. Attending Burning Man in 2019 fundamentally changed Evolution Field. I learned the importance of the burner family, interaction, and light. I helped a core group of 30 burners from around the world build a camp for 150+, became a Temple Guardian, & danced unloading ice at Arctica. These moments showed me the truth of the experience, and informed change in the piece to include responding to the environment, to the family that will spend time in the piece. I even tested the lighting system on my bike (images below) and got quite a bit of attention riding around in the dark.

Prior to this, Evolution Field had been static color; now it moves in light and responds to us, as individuals and as one. The experience reflects a new international family, the dust, and the much larger world that Evolution Field is for.

In the years the pandemic had us on pause, we explored the system through other projects, including a series of 11 pieces culminating in a three-story roundabout sculpture lit with the same technology, and an interior wave series permanently installed in an art center in a nearby town.