Announcing the Garden of Missed Connections

A new stage of life brings purity - the future is at its most uncertain, a dark tapestry of opportunities mixing excitement with fear. We commemorate beginnings to prepare for change and understand the trajectory of our lives. Some of the most important beginnings, however, are hard to predict and may only be visible in hindsight: meeting a future friend, lover, partner or guru. We invite you to commemorate first meetings, and possibly happen upon second ones, in the Garden of Missed Connections.

Did you meet someone on the playa, only to lose touch with them? Did you share a special moment with people whose names you never even asked for? Throughout the week, burners will be able to come to the garden and write a message to those they've lost touch with on playa in our Book of Missed Connections. Then, as the sun rises after the man burns, we will gather in the garden at dawn on Sunday to see that person can found again. Come back to see if you can reconnect, and if not let go of the future they represent as we burn the missed connections assembled through the week.

Rather than a temple or edifice, a garden is open to the environment, allowing a sea of strangers to pass through. The garden is demarcated by four tori gates and will be illuminated at night by wooden lanterns containing color-changing LEDs. These include an ultra-violet component, so that the white torii and wooden plants underneath the lanterns may glow at night. A microphone and other sensors will allow each lantern to change in response to music and other stimuli. The Book of Missed Connections will be presented on a pedestal in the center of the garden, ready to be filled in by visitors.