Burning Man tree of lights inspired by world's loneliest tree

The original Tree of Ténéré was one of the loneliest trees in the world, if not the loneliest. 

It was the only Acacia tree for 250 miles, a sickly sprig of life in the remote Sahara Desert and a beloved stopover for caravans and traders until a drunken driver allegedly ran over it in the 1970s.

There is a new Tree of Ténéré, however, and it will be anything but lonely at the 68,000-person arts gathering in Northern Nevada's Black Rock Desert.  

During this year's event, Aug. 27 to Sept. 4, a group of computer programmers and LED lights artists are bringing the spirit of the legendary tree back to life. 

"There's certainly an aspect of nature that someone starts to miss when you're out on the playa," said Zachary Smith, co-creator of the project.

The Tree of Ténéré, a Burning Man honorarium grant recipient, will be a four-story tall and equally wide tree beaming with foliage comprised of 175,000 LED lights enclosed in 25,000 leaves. The steel-cut tree's trunk will have molding and painted to be as realistic as possible, and will be built to support up to 60 climbers. 

The lights will be a playful component, coded by programmers from around the world, including a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to respond to interactions with Burning Man participants. The lights will change colors and patterns based on voices and movement that will trigger sensors hidden in the tree's canopy.

More:Don't eat the gummy bear pyramid at Burning Man

More:Rare Burning Man photos, journals, artifacts coming to Nevada Museum of Art

"It's a new kind of collaborative art. The lighting depends on the vision of the particular animator's code," said Alexander Green, co-lead artist, calling it "algorithmic art." 

Green has orchestrated lighting on several past Burning Man projects, including the Sugar Cubes in 2013 and the on-playa 747 last year. The Tree of Ténéré, however, is by far his greatest undertaking so far.

"Technological art shouldn't feel nerdy and intellectual, we just want it to be transcendent," Green said. 

The crew -- about 15 core members -- has had to invent new technology just to handle the number of lights that it's dealing with. Another 20 people, and perhaps more later, are helping. 

The hardware and engineering is being designed and handled from San Francisco and New York, but the structure is being built north of San Diego. Once the piece is on-playa, more than a dozen live events with DJs, opera singers, orchestras, ballet dancers, yoga teachers and healers are planned so far at the tree. 

"Really, the technology element, we hope that it just disappears and we just want people to interact with this tree that's alive," Smith said.