burning man anticipates dicapria's 14-foot tall gummy bear light installation

peruvian-american art creator, dicapria, is in the process of creating a 14-foot tall gummy bear light installation that will premiere at burning man 2017. the gummy bear pyramid is designed to awaken the imagination and encourage creative expression. the artist’s vision, aligning with that of burning man, is to provide a space that encourages anyone that enters to play, perform, create, share knowledge and engage with others’ creative minds. 

the translucency of the acrylic will allow the sun to illuminate the bears during the day, while LED lights will illuminate the pyramid at night

the original idea came about in 2012 when the lead artist, dicapria, began to experiment with ideas for a new light installation series. the artist, who has been influence for years by various architectural line work, tibetan buddhist sand mandalas, stained glass, crop circles, and lite-brite, turned to this unlikely medium for her then 2013 art series, ‘gummy bear mandalas in light boxes’. over 200,000 small bears will be hand casted using liquid plastic and dyed to radiate a rainbow prism of translucent hues. the bears will mimic traditional candy gummy bears in size and shape. each bear will be placed individually to form elaborate patterns on all four sides of the pyramid.

the bears will mimic traditional candy gummy bears in size and shape

a prototype of the gummy bear pyramid

lead artist dicapria with their light installation 

project info:

artistic director/lead artist: dicapria
structural designer/technical director: GD wright
architect/design coordinator: lily stephens
engineer/producer: martin taylor
production manager: kate kuaimoku
campaign manager: allison leevers

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynn chaya | designboom