ART

“Bringing any idea to reality is an iterative process,” says wood sculptor Noah McGinley, Sanctuary’s director of art. “I did months of research and created many prototypical designs that included aesthetic stylings of cathedrals, mosques, and temples the world over.”

McGinley’s biggest question during this process was how to design a cathedral that celebrated a global array of religions in an equal way, tastefully. Since many people have strong feelings about religious symbols, incorporating them while showing respect to everyone was a challenge.

He settled on giving Sanctuary an overall shape that may seem like a Gothic cathedral, with a lot of French curves that might seem natural for such a church. Yet a closer look reveals Islamic patterns in the cut wood of the façade. Islamic patterns are also visible in Sanctuary’s numeric layout. In some places, the Islamic stylings blend directly into the French curves. Viewers familiar with both cultures are sometimes surprised to see that, because the two cultures have a history of not blending easily. “There’s a conflict that happens on its own within that aesthetic,” notes McGinley.

Just as the “Christian” shape of Sanctuary resolves itself into a global set of shapes for those who look closely, the cross on top shows symbols from many other religious systems. A Star of David is held in one small circle, while another holds the outline of a torii (the gate before a Japanese Shinto shrine). Some symbols were drawn from science.

“In alchemical symbolism there are 24 elements that make up the human body,” explains McGinley, “so I did the alchemical symbols for each of those compounds in a ring within the cross. Then there’s an index of our solar system in the center. Agnosticism and atheism are represented, too.”

Sanctuary debuted on the playa at Burning Man 2018, and the theme that year was I, Robot. McGinley says that this theme, which was announced after he began work on the project, connected to Sanctuary in a way as satisfying as it was unexpected.

“Part of why I presented symbols of the solar system and star placement was that I wanted to represent our place in the universe, both as creation of evolution and as creators,” he says.  After all, humanity creates art and science and religion, and has children, and “we are now trying to be the creators of a new intelligence — artificial intelligence.”