BIG ART PARTNERS

Documented artwork / kinetic stone sculpture

Temple of Gravity

Zachary Coffin

Suspended granite slabs create a kinetic installation that emphasizes the mass of stone and its movement. Coffin documents the work at Burning Man in 2003 and identifies an Elberton, Georgia quarry as the stone’s source.

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Documented work. Current availability, ownership and installation requirements must be confirmed with the artist.

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Image from the project source for Temple of Gravity
Image: zacharycoffin.com ↗© Zachary Coffin | All rights reserved. (as credited at source)

At a glance

Year / version
2003
Materials
granite
Documented setting
outdoor
Dimensions
Not documented
Dimensions apply to
Not documented
Availability
Unconfirmed

Places & versions

Installation history

Historical presentations. A past installation does not establish the current location or suitability for a new site.

  1. 2003

    Burning Man

    Event
    Burning Man
    Start year
    2003

    Installation details checked 2026-10-17.

    Installation source

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Research notes for project planning

How this work was made and presented

Artist’s account of the 2003 installation

The stone’s origin remains visible in the concept

Coffin’s own account of Temple of Gravity locates the work at Burning Man in 2003 and identifies a dimensional-granite quarry in Elberton, Georgia, as the stone’s source. The artist presents suspended stone and its movement as the work’s central encounter, and the published total weight is explicitly approximate. For a prospective host, the page supports the work’s artistic and material history, while leaving an actual transport manifest and current engineered installation package unresolved.

Zachary Coffin — Temple of Gravity ↗ · Reviewed 2026-10-10

For your project brief

What current component weights, condition survey and lifting documentation would be supplied for the particular installation?

Big Art Partners planning prompt

Temple of Gravity, Black Rock City, August 2017

A documented return after fourteen years

Burning Man’s August 2017 field report describes Temple of Gravity being installed again near the event’s outer boundary, its first return since 2003. The report connects the earlier build to the event’s developing heavy-equipment operation and explains that grooves in the granite came from quarrying. This is evidence of a later reinstallation and its production context. It does not show that the 2003 and 2017 accounts provide interchangeable component weights or a current public-access specification.

Burning Man Journal — 2017 installation report ↗ · Reviewed 2026-10-10

For your project brief

How would the proposed host coordinate specialist handling, equipment access and the artist’s current visitor-interaction plan?

Big Art Partners planning prompt
Outdoor sculpture & installations ↗Art documented at Burning Man ↗Kinetic sculpture and installations ↗

Plan the next step

How to plan an outdoor sculpture loan ↗How to prepare a site brief for large-scale public art ↗

Sources