Support Mebuyan Vessel's Return to Burning Man 2025

We need your help to bring Mebuyan Vessel back to Burning Man.

An Immersive, warping, spherical architectural installation, Mebuyan Vessel will take center stage as one of the largest installations on playa at Burning Man 2025, spanning 23’ (h) x 50’ (l) x 19’ (w) (or 7.1 x 15.5 x 5.6 meters).

The donations are tax-deductible and will benefit a 501(c)3 foundation supporting the project.

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About Mebuyan Vessel

Mebuyan is a goddess of Filipino mythology from southern Mindanao. She is the goddess of life and death, the afterlife, traditionally represented as a woman living underground, sitting on a wooden mortar, with breasts covering her entire body. She nourishes the dead spirits of children, guiding them into their journey to adulthood. The hope for Mebuyan Vessel is to be a conduit for nourishment and transformation for Black Rock City wanderers for their personal and collective growth.

The decorative elements also reference Leeroy New's ongoing series Aliens of Manila, which sheds light on themes of immigration and integration of service workers from the Philippines, by playfully referencing the series Humans of New York. The materials composing it (traffic cones, sponges, strainers, funnels, dusters, fly swatters) are witnesses to the life of service workers, and are recycled and repurposed to take on a new life.

About Leeroy New

Leeroy (Manila, b. 1986) is one of the most prolific and recognized contemporary artists from Southeast Asia. His works have been most recently featured at the Sydney Biennale (’22), Somerset House (London, ’22), Hawaii Triennial (’22), Palais the Tokyo (Paris, ’19), among others. Leeroy also designed the wearable sculpture donned by Lady Gaga on Marry the Night’s cover.

With his ongoing series Aliens of Manila, the artist deals with themes of immigration and integration of Philippine service workers abroad, playing on the terminology "alien" still in use in immigration law while ironically referencing the series Humans of NY. The materials composing these anthropomorphic figures (sponges, strainers, funnels, dusters, fly swatters) are a testament to the life of service workers, and are recycled and repurposed to take on a completely new life.

Over the course of a 20-year creative career, New has built more than 40 immersive and interactive installations, of which 15 were of dimensions comparable or larger than the proposed project.

These were built often in very inhospitable settings, including Chrysalis, a 40’ (h) x 60’ (w) bamboo spaceship-like structure in the sand dune desert of Paoay, Philippines, which safely hosted and supported 50+ people, and Rhizome Colony, an immersive extension of an island at Wonderfruit Festival that could support a large number of visitors passing through it daily.

About Luca Parolari

Luca Parolari (b. 1988) is the founder and director of Pintô International, a NY-based contemporary art gallery. Luca collaborated with Leeroy New on several installations and performances, gaining intimate familiarity with the artist’s themes, materials and aesthetic. He financed and built Mebuyan Vessel for Burning Man 2022, based on the project they co-developed for BM 2020.