Engineering Mythology: A Digital-Physical Framework for Culturally-Inspired Public Art

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2603.27801v1
• Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2026 18:31:33 GMT
• Title: Engineering Mythology: A Digital-Physical Framework for Culturally-Inspired Public Art
• Abstract summary: Navagunjara Reborn: The Phoenix of Odisha was built for Burning Man 2025 as both a sculpture and an experiment-a fusion of myth, craft, and computation.<n>This paper describes the digital-physical workflow developed for the project.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Navagunjara Reborn: The Phoenix of Odisha was built for Burning Man 2025 as both a sculpture and an experiment-a fusion of myth, craft, and computation. This paper describes the digital-physical workflow developed for the project: a pipeline that linked digital sculpting, distributed fabrication by artisans in Odisha (India), modular structural optimization in the U.S., iterative feedback through photogrammetry and digital twins, and finally, one-shot full assembly at the art site in Black Rock Desert, Nevada. The desert installation tested not just materials, but also systems of collaboration: between artisans and engineers, between myth and technology, between cultural specificity and global experimentation. We share the lessons learned in design, fabrication, and deployment and offer a framework for future interdisciplinary projects at the intersection of cultural heritage, STEAM education, and public art. In retrospect, this workflow can be read as a convergence of many knowledge systems-artisan practice, structural engineering, mythic narrative, and environmental constraint-rather than as execution of a single fixed blueprint.

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