Burning Man 2026 Art Project Proposal

Office Mandias depicts the remains of a solitary corner office in a post-apocalyptic corporate building. The “window” will display live webcams from around the world. Participants will use clues in the office and the computer to access the one interactive webcam to connect with other humans. 

Sitting on the edge of the Playa, Office Mandias will look like the last remains of an office building in a vast wasteland. It consists of two walls; one of which is crumbling, the other intact has a window and motivational posters hanging on either side. A desk and chair sits in the middle with a monitor, keyboard, mouse, rotary phone, and other cliched desktop decorations. Set inside the window is a monitor that will be projecting live webcam views from different places. On the floor just to the right of the window is a pair of shoes with ankle high stumps sticking out, reminiscent of Ozymandias. It will be constructed of reinforced plywood, found office equipment, computer parts retrofitted to handle the Playa, and will light up at night.

The Philosophy behind Office Mandias

The corner office with a view has long been the pinnacle of the corporate ladder. The powerful seclude themselves behind closed doors as a sign of privilege. The other office workers traditionally are segregated to high walled cube farms to minimize distraction and to keep them focused on their tasks. With the popularity of remote work, everyone could have whatever view they wanted, but physical seclusion has been further exacerbated.

The last few years, I’ve brought my laptop to the Playa and put in a few half days “at the office”. While it saved me some PTO, I was not fully present for my work or for the Playa. I hope Office Mandias will evoke a reflection on the meaning of work and what kind of connections we expect from it. Could we sit in an office on the edge of the Playa and still perform fulfilling work? The distractions of the rotating views and e-postcards might engage us for a while, but could you be Mighty for 8-hours and not Despair in the wasteland that is Office Mandias?

Ozymandias

By Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.