The giant key is festooned with LED lights for a glowing effect.

Plumas group brings art to Burning Man

Part of the installation is an interactive component where a laptop spits out “encrypted data.” Interactive art is a major component of well-received artwork at the annual Burning Man festival.

It’s not every day a giant key is made in someone’s yard. But art at the annual weeklong Burning Man festival calls for that sort of bigger than life planning.

For Zac Cogle and his friends, it was time to do something big. Together with a team from France calling itself  “Les Flans Cocos,” Cogle, of Crescent Mills, and others in the area helped build, assemble, then disassemble and transport and reassemble to the Nevada desert a giant key called “Encrypted Data.”

“Encrypted Data” left Crescent Mills for Black Rock City in the Nevada desert Aug. 23. Hundreds of Plumas County residents attend the festival each year.

To get an idea of how massive the frame of the key is, builders pose inside and on top near Crescent Mills. Photos submitted