这个复杂的Covid-19纪念馆旨在在火焰中升起

对于那些失去家人和朋友Covid-19的人来说，过去两年的悲伤已经成长为沉重的心理负担。一个社区计划将其全部烧毁。

In Bedworth, England, 100 miles northwest of London, an elaborate temporary memorial to those lost to COVID-19 has been constructed in a public park. On Saturday, the soaring 65-foot-tall wooden structure will be set on fire intentionally.

NamedSanctuary, it’s a piece of ephemeral public art that aims to give people a place to reckon with the grief of the pandemic, and then to watch it turn to ash.

Designed by California-based artist David Best, Sanctuary is a pagoda-like temple structure made entirely out of wood. Best has specialized in artwork intended to provide space for grief and the release of setting it on fire. His so-called temples are regularly featured at the Burning Man festival, and visitors use them to commemorate the dead.

During its eight-day run, which started May 21, the COVID-19 memorial has been open to the public as a space for reflection, and visitors are invited to leave notes on the structure. Thousands have come to the site so far.

“There’s a constant pilgrimage of people,” says Helen Marriage, a cofounder ofArtichoke, which launched the project. “All the surfaces are covered and people are now bringing objects and trinkets that hold memories of people they’ve lost. They’re tucked into every nook, cranny, and crevice of the design.”

Artichoke stages large-scale public art experiences throughout the U.K., including a previous fire-based artwork by Best in Northern Ireland. Marriage says the impetus for a burnable COVID-19 memorial was to create a kind of sacred place for people to go to process their emotions.

“It is really clear that people need a space where they can say unsayable things and where they can tell their stories that they’re holding close, whether that’s grief or pain or love,” Marriage says.

She says Bedworth, a town of about 30,000 people, was chosen as the site of this flaming memorial for its ordinariness, to underscore how widespread the impacts of the pandemic have been, as well as the widespread need for ways to cope with loss.

“It’s a working-class community where public art isn’t a big deal,” Marriage says. “That’s why we’re here.”

就像他的其他可燃烧的纪念物一样，Best的庇护所设计具有复杂的雕刻木材的复杂结构，以及用CNC（计算机数值控制）切割的细节，使空间具有巨大的狗狗的感觉。由Best的12个建筑商团队建成，Sanctuary还收到了贝德福德数百名社区成员的意见，他们帮助设计了装饰建筑物的一些面板。

The structure has room for more than a dozen visitors, and is open to the public.

晚上9点星期六，这座寺庙将被编排的燃烧中降落。已经选择了几个社区成员将火炬运送到结构并开始大火，这应该持续约45分钟。婚姻预计将有10,000人参加。

Based on her previous burnable temple collaboration with Best, Marriage says the experience is likely to be a combination of emotions. In Northern Ireland, “they watched in complete silence as it started to burn. Then, as the spire structure fell, there was an enormous roar,” she says. “I would imagine it would be the same here.”