Sirsasana

Sirsasana is a 30-foot interactive sculpture — a tree inverted into a headstand (sirsasana), roots reaching skyward — created by lead artist Srikanth Guttikonda and a collaborative team for Burning Man 2022. Its trunk is a hyperboloid of interwoven wooden arcs proportioned to the golden ratio, wrapped in laser-etched stories, mushroom-shaped climbing holds, and illuminated laser-cut birds. Interactive LED and sound let the structure pulse like a breathing flow of life force from roots to leaves.

My contribution was fabrication: over several months I CNC'd the plywood that forms the interwoven trunk — translating the parametric, golden-ratio geometry into hundreds of precisely cut parts — then helped with assembly both in San Francisco and on the playa, where the piece was raised and, at the festival's close, ceremonially burned.