KURENIVKA
Ten years spellbound. One last burn.
The story of the first Ukrainian camp at Burning Man, told year by year, from the first fire to the final one.
A kurin was a Cossack encampment, a home you carried with you. Kurenivka is a neighborhood in Kyiv.
In 2017, eighty Ukrainians carried that name into the Black Rock Desert. Ten years later we are telling the whole story, from the first fire to the last one. This is what happened next.
Bring Ukraine to Burning Man, and Burning Man to Ukraine.
For ten years we did both: a Ukrainian home in Black Rock City, and Precompressions, Decompressions and a Renegade Burn back home.
2017
The First Fire
Eighty Ukrainians, most of them first-timers, built the first official Ukrainian camp at Burning Man and brought a fire sculpture and a ritual of their own.
80
campers, most on the playa for the first time
2018
Second Landing
We came back with two art projects: AI.TLants, where machine learning met art, and Sorry by Oleksiy Sai, the first project in his series.
Read the chapter →2019
Home in Kyiv
No camp in the desert. Instead we opened a home: the Kurenivka Palace of Culture, 1,200 m² in Kyiv, alive from May until the pandemic. Precompression, a stage at Atlas Weekend, Decompression.
1,300+
guests at the housewarming
2020
The Multiverse
The desert closed. We burned the effigy anyway, on the banks of the Dnipro at Kyiv River Rave in Vyshhorod.
Read the chapter →2021
Renegade
No tickets, no organizers, just the principles. Renegade Burn Ukraine in one of the most beautiful places we could find.
Read the chapter →
2022
The Pause We Didn’t Choose
In 2022 we didn’t go to the desert. Our people were somewhere else: defending, volunteering, starting over. Kurenivka kept going in a different form.
From February 24, the Ukrainian Refugee Support Initiative connected Burners worldwide with people who had to leave home. In August, Kurenivka Kids Camp in Kolochava, in the Carpathians: a free creative camp for children affected by war.
70
kids aged 4–16 at Kurenivka Kids Camp
2023
The Hedgehog Temple
Back in the desert after the war years. A temple built from anti-tank hedgehogs, the symbol of Ukrainian defense, and a memorial to the Ukrainians who will never make it to Burning Man because the war took them.
Read the chapter →
2024
How Much Is Life?
One question, asked in the middle of the desert. The piece looked back to the Kurenivka mudslide of 1961 in Kyiv and asked what a life is worth.
80
campers in Black Rock City
2025
Blue Bull
Maria Prymachenko’s bull became a two-story art car and rolled across the playa, a moving stage for the whole camp. Three more art projects came with Kurenivka that year: Merman, Point of Unity and Lightning Tower.
20+
performances, Benny Benassi among them
2026
Axis of Us
A smaller camp built around the Bull. Light, warm and close: people who knew each other before they met on the playa.
55
people around Blue Bull
10
years, 2017–2027
7
camps in Black Rock City, 2027 included
500+
people who called Kurenivka home
7
art projects on the playa
70
kids at Kurenivka Kids Camp
Kurenivka: Ten Years Spellbound
A feature documentary about Blue Bull and ten years of Kurenivka, filmed on the playa at Burning Man 2025: how a painting by Maria Prymachenko became a two-story art car, and the people who carried it there.
Now in the edit · Premiere to be announced
2027
The Last Spell
For ten years the desert held us under its spell. In 2027, the year Black Rock City calls Spellbound, we cast ours one last time: a final camp of 70 people around Blue Bull, on its last ride across the playa.
70
campers
7th
time the camp stands on the playa
10th
anniversary since Kurenivka was founded
The art car
Blue Bull on its last ride across the playa.
The lounge
Our shaded home on the playa, open to everyone who walks in.
The art
One more piece for the last burn. We will show it closer to the date.
Everyone who was Kurenivka
What people took home
Messages from the Kurenivka chats, shared with the permission of the people who wrote them.
“It’s magic again! Browsing the site feels like a journey through a mountain of treasures, made and brought by such different yet connected people. Ten years, a whole era! So far, without doubt the best years of my life. Thank you for the chance to live them!”
“These three weeks of the Burn will stay with me forever. Thank you, everyone at Kurenivka, for this legendary adventure. May the spark from the Man grow into a powerful fire inside each of you.”
“I loved EVERYTHING! Even the rain and the mud, like bonus features. I was amazed by the scale of the city and all the work done before most people arrived. I saw lots of people my age and older. I really want to come back; I already miss everything and everyone.”
“Thank you all for the best Burn of my life.”
“I want to thank the organisers of our camp for the incredible atmosphere and organisation that made our time at BM 2024 so special. Huge thanks to each of you for sharing your warmth and creating unforgettable moments that will stay in my memory forever.”
“It still feels like a dream, because it was too good to be real. Better than any retreat. Thank you all for the atmosphere.”
“Thank you for an amazing experience, and for making a celebration for us all these years. It was an incredible experience.”
“Friends, I’m so grateful for this incredible experience, and to everyone I crossed paths with and spent unforgettable time with. You’re amazing! The Benny Benassi set we somehow raised between two rainstorms, and a wild party in the playa puddles, is just one of the best stories.”
“So grateful for the amazing experience of my first Burn.”
“Thank you so much for all the warmth: a great camp, really good organisation, unbelievably tasty food, wild parties and an amazing vibe. Ukrainians are the best!”
“Thank you for a life-changing experience. I never imagined it could be so comfortable with a hundred people in camp.”
“Thank you to everyone who created such a vibe at Kurenivka. To the people who built it: a deep bow to you. Hugs to all!”
“Glad I got to share Burning Man with our community. A Wednesday morning shower shift after the flood will stay a great memory. Thanks to everyone who built the camp and the art: it was bright and meaningful. I’m taking this mood back to Ukraine!”
“Wonderful memories, nothing compares to them! Huge thanks for the site, I’ll be exploring it.”
“As a shiftpod person who lived through all three storms: I would not trade the time I spent at Kurenivka this year. Thanks for making us part of an amazing adventure. See you next year!”
“Friends, thank you for the Burn! It was my first, and I definitely want to come back.”
“Huge thanks for having the strength and energy to bring us together and to create comfort and safety. It is incredible work!”
“Kurenivka, heartfelt thanks from our team! From our brand-new family: thank you for sharing such a special moment with us!”
“Thanks, everyone, for the company! And to the camp’s founders and team: huge respect and a BIG thank you!”
“Thank you all for the Burn! You’re all incredible, talented, bright and so much fun. It was so good to share this experience with you.”
“Gorgeous! A priceless experience!”
“Friends, thank you for the incredible memories and the people I met. I wish you all joy, love and success.”
“Thanks, everyone, for burning with us and for opening up to Swiss people ;)”
“Thanks, everyone, for a cool, sunny Burn! Time to get the dreadlocks and the dust out of my brain :)”
“Kurenivka will survive! Thank you, friend! Everything was just as it should be.”
“Thank you all so much. I’ll miss you.”
“Friends! I didn’t get to say goodbye to everyone. Thank you for such an amazing experience and such amazing company!”
“Friends, thank you for such a warm, wonderful atmosphere. It was so warm and so precious.”
“Thank you all for sharing this incredible experience with me.”
“Amazing time with you guys! Thank you to everyone involved and to all the campers!”
“Thank you so much for the support and the help! Denis Rzhavskiy told me this morning: “Don’t cry, Rybka, Kurenivka is your second home.” And I feel it.”
“I’m amazed, everyone! How cool! I feel like part of not just a camp in the desert, but some huge multinational company! Thank you for taking care of us, it means a lot!”
“To everyone who built the art and the camp, and then took it all down: a huge human thank-you. You are unbelievably cool, and I admire you.”
“Thank you all, for the company and for Burning Man! It was so warm and fun with you. An astonishing, unforgettable experience.”
“You are heroes! Thank you for all the work. I’m in awe! Many of you already feel like family.”
“Thank you all again for the Burn in one of the Ukrainian camps. Special thanks to all the special people I connected with.”
“Friends of Kurenivka! I wanted to thank you all for the time together. I’m so glad I lived this amazing experience in such great company.”
“Flying back to Kyiv. Thank you all for the Burn!”
“Thank you all for an unforgettable first Burning Man! Friends, you’re all incredible. Kurenivka forever!”
“Thank you all for being part of my Burning Man. It was so good to spend time with people I already knew, and to find new kindred spirits!”
“Thank you all for the fun and the mood. Wading through the mud with you was pure joy for the soul.”
“Friends, I’m grateful to you all for being you. Thank you, every one of you.”
“You’re such sunshine, I’m so grateful: I feel human again!”
“I want to say a huge thank-you to all of you. I was so happy to meet every one of you.”
“Thank you, Yaro, Mamay and everyone in camp for helping organise it and for keeping the time unforgettable! See you next year.”
“Thank you all for an unforgettable Burn! We had a great team and a lovely vibe. So glad I got to meet each of you.”
“Thank you all for being part of Kurenivka and the 2026 Burn!”
“Thank you for an unforgettable time. I hope to see you next year.”
Add your words
Were you at Kurenivka? Tell us what you took home. Your words appear here after a quick check by the camp.
The final camp
70 places, for campers and the Build Crew. Send a short video introducing yourself.
Apply for 2027 →Fuel the last ride
Help bring Ukrainian culture to the world on the playa. Donations go to Ukrainian Burners Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and fund the final camp and Blue Bull.
Donate →Build it with us
Partners, sponsors, artists, musicians and press: write directly to Yaro Korets, the founder of Kurenivka.
Telegram · @yarokey → Instagram · @yarokorets → Email →