The Hedgehog Temple

A temple built from anti-tank hedgehogs: the most meaningful thing Kurenivka ever built.

Why a memorial

What was there to say?

In the first days of the war the planning horizon was tonight. Then it stretched to a week, then to a month, and finally far enough to imagine going back to Burning Man. But going back after the war meant saying something, and what was there to say? It was all grief. The only thing Kurenivka could honestly bring was a memorial.

That year's theme was Animalia. The idea came at once: a hedgehog built from anti-tank hedgehogs, the steel crosses that became a symbol of Ukrainian defense, covered in netting like a real one. Yaro applied for a Burning Man Honorarium grant, and in March 2023 learned it had been accepted.

The Hedgehog Temple in full, its face toward the camera

Wide view of the hedgehog temple on the playa, with bicycles and art cars passing in front of distant mountains

The hedgehog temple's angular steel face seen from below, framed photos hanging from its legs and two people in costume walking beneath

Close view of netted spikes on the temple's back against a deep blue sky

A black steel anti-tank hedgehog painted with a red floral strip standing on the playa

The team

Only with Sasha

He made one condition: he would build it only with a strong team. Oleksandr (Sasha) Slobodianiuk said yes at once and became his co-artist; the temple took its final shape largely thanks to him. Dima Pavlenko said yes too, and Mitya Zinovev's team welded the frame.

The temple was dedicated to the Ukrainians who will never make it to Burning Man because the war took them, and alongside it the camp raised money for medical evacuation vehicles for the front.

Kurenivka camp group with the Ukrainian flag, 2023

A group of campers posing beneath the hedgehog temple on the playa, with a ladder at its side

Two builders working on the netted spikes of the temple, with a crane behind them

A person standing between tall netted spikes on top of the temple during the build

A group of people holding Ukrainian flags on a suburban street beside an RV

“It was a place where people came to cry for Ukraine. When the crane lowered it to the ground, all of those tears passed through me.”

Yaro Korets

After

Thousands of tears

The Hedgehog Temple was meant to be a place where people could cry for Ukraine, and they did. Thousands of tears were shed under it.

When the burn was over and a crane lowered the temple to the ground, Yaro began to shake, and then to cry like he hadn't since childhood, as if every tear left there was passing through him. Sasha Slobodianiuk held him: it's okay.