Queen Cobra project from Andrea Greenlees set to wow this year’s “Burning Man” gathering

By John Freeman on February 23, 2023

Queen Cobra, an incredible-looking steel sculpture for this year’s Burning Man gathering in the US in August, is the work of British artist Andrea Greenlees, her final installation for Burning Man in August, working with a team that includes the Clockwork Watch transmedia project creator Yomi Ayeni and other incredibly talented artists and makers.

The final work is being created with steelworker Andy Tibbets (of Lost Machine Design) and artist and architect Josh Haywood. Yomi is also a member of the crew, the project supported by We Are From Dust, a non-profit art organisation he created to bring the transformative power of interactive art to public spaces.

Andrea Greenlees is a London-based multi-faceted artist and designer creating a wide range of artwork in a variety of media and materials, specialising in large-scale installations.

Queen Cobra from Yomi Ayeni, Andy Tibbets and Josh Haywood will debut at Burning Man 2023 in August

Burning Man is a network of people inspired by the values reflected in the Ten Principles and united in the pursuit of a more creative and connected existence in the world. Throughout the year they work to build Black Rock City, home of the largest annual Burning Man gathering, and nurture the distinctive culture emerging from that experience. The hub of this global network is the non-profit Burning Man Project, headquartered in San Francisco, California.

The Queen Cobra sculpt will first feature at Burning Man (27th August – 4th September 2023), then elsewhere.

“As with the Chicken (2017), Bebot (2018), and Bee Dance (2019, I am working with the awesome steelworker Andy and artist and architect Josh Haywood create this installation,” Yomi, whose Clockwork Watch transmedia project will be showcased at the Bdtiish Library later this year, enthuses.

“Queen Cobra is a very large art installation made of gleaming powder-coated tubular steel and hand-beaten copper. It takes the form of a huge rearing cobra with a coiled body, a beautiful copper-scaled head topped with a magnificent crown, and a spreading hood. Her body is a hooped structure that invites climbing and play, appealing to the child in us all.

“Queen Cobra references the ancient shared mythologies of many diverse cultures. Specifically she represents the awakening of Kundalini, a form of divine feminine energy, which is visualised as a serpent uncoiling from the base of the spine and ascending through different levels of mystical experience until it reaches the top of the head, leading to a profound transformation of consciousness.

“We can’t wait to bring Queen Cobra to the playa for you to enjoy!”

The project looks utterly amazing and you can follow Andy @lostmachineandy on Instagram to watch all the exciting stages of construction between now and August.

Yomi Ayeni is an award-winning Transmedia creator, producer, ﬁlmmaker, and storyteller. His current project, Clockwork Watch, is a retro-futurist Steampunk / Victoriana story told across graphic novels, interactive theatre, online, and ﬁlm. The story has so far spawned three tangential threads, immersive live events, exhibitions at the Royal Observatory, Scottsdale Civic Library (Arizona), National Maritime Museum, The Asylum in Lincoln, and a ﬁctional online newspaper.

He is one of a few writers engaged in bringing a multicultural slant to the Steampunk genre, by exploring Victoriana outside Great Britain.

A patron of the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, he lectures Transmedia Storytelling at the Royal College of Arts, and believes mapping stories to everyday life, creates experiences that bring audiences closer to the heart of a narrative. Yomi has developed several reality TV formats, including Global E-Missions (ITV), winner of the 2002 Broadcast Award for “Best Use of New Media ”.

His 2009 project Breathe was one of the ﬁrst interactive participatory stories to explore how an ongoing narrative offered the audience a chance to become characters in a ﬁlm, and help solve a ﬁctional murder mystery.

Yomi worked as a Broadcast Journalist in the BBC newsroom, was an active part of the Burning Man Festival media team, and was a founding member of the European Burning Man Regional event, “Nowhere” in Spain. He owned and produced music on the seminal drum and bass label Tone Def Records.

In 2015, Yomi created We Are From Dust, a non-proﬁt dedicated to the proliferation of participatory and interactive art in public places. The project manages two sculpture parks, one in California, and the other in Bristol.

• Andrea Greenlees is online at andreagreenlees.com

• Yomi is online at: yomster.com

• Andy Tibbets is online at lostmachine.com | Follow on Instagram

• Josh Heywood is online at hylemo.com | Follow on Instagram

• Burning Man

• Clockwork Watch transmedia project in the spotlight at the British Library

• The British Library is online at bl.uk

• Check out Clockwork Watch at clockworkwatch.org

• All the Clockwork Watch books are available through the Clockwork Watch online shopand select comic shops such as Page Forty Five

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.