Soma - Flaming Lotus Girls

Soma magnified the microscopic world to an epic scale, translating the anatomy of neurons into metal, fire and light. (A soma is the cell body of a neuron, with branching dendrites projecting at different angles and an axon that conducts the nerve signal electrochemically to its neighboring cell.) This installation depicted two communicating neurons connected by an axon bridge that was illuminated by interactive LEDs to create a spectacular nighttime experience. Originally displayed at Burning Man in 2009, the San Francisco installation was organized by the Black Rock Arts Foundation.

Artists: Flaming Lotus Girls is a female-driven collaborative group of artists founded in 2000, who create large-scale kinetic fire art and sculptural installations at the intersection of sculpture, kinetics, robotics, pyrotechnics, and electronic technology. They built their first sculpture, Flaming Lotus Sr., for the Burning Man arts festival in Black Rock Desert, Nevada. Since that time, the group has grown to over 100 members, more than half of which are women. The group's name is a nod to the lotus flower, which can thermo-regulate heat control, and is a symbol in many Asian cultures representing feminine attributes such as elegance, beauty, perfection, purity and grace.

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