Lightning Tower

The Lightning Tower is a large-scale neon installation created for Burning Man 2025 by Italian artist Pepemaniak, Federico Ceruso, born in Rome in 1991. It stood ten metres tall on a two-by-two-metre base: a metal column cut through with hand-blown glass neon bars in jagged formations, recreating the raw power of a lightning bolt.

Burning Man selected it as one of 76 Honoraria projects worldwide that year. It was the only one from Italy, and one of just seven by artists who had never shown work at the festival before.

Pepemaniak conceived it as a modern tribal totem, a place to gather the way people have gathered around fire since prehistory. In the playa's week it became a living space for performances, encounters and shared rituals. In an age dominated by digital isolation, he said, the tower wants to be a catalyst for real relationships and shared imagination.

The tower belongs to Folgorato, his series of works built around the lightning bolt as light, energy and message. Pepemaniak began in 2010 with tattoos and stickers, trained in Miami in the studio of artist Alex Turco, and after returning to Italy in 2016 helped shape the trap tattoo aesthetic of a generation, working with brands such as Adidas and GUIDI. In 2024 Drago Publisher released his first book, All You Can Eat.

In 2025 Kurenivka became a truly international community, with participants from 21 countries and a strong Italian presence. The Lightning Tower was created by an Italian artist and built and supported from inside that Ukrainian-led camp.

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