A young man sporting elf ears and a pink beard danced shirtless to trance music. A crowd of people sipped Liquid Death, a new water brand marketed at festivals, as they shimmied and swayed, striking up conversations with strangers. Bystanders sat on grassy hills for a bird’s-eye view, taking in the colorful scene with intrigue. In a corner, a woman tested out a “sensory experience” chair, wearing a virtual-reality headset as her high-tech chair vibrated vigorously. Candy-scented clouds traveled from vape to mouth to air.
Welcome to Robot Heart. These parties, organized by the Robot Heart Foundation, which describes itself as a “collective of dreamers and doers,” typically lean toward a communal, countercultural brand of fun, and are normally held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert during Burning Man festivals.
On this occasion, however, the foundation was celebrating its inaugural event in New York City, billed as Fare Forward, at Wollman Rink in Central Park. The merriment was a tad more controlled in its new urban environs. Police officers monitored the scene, and all of the action began at 2 p.m. on a Saturday and Sunday and ended promptly at 10 p.m. — an acceptable bedtime.
This two-day affair, on April 30 and May 1, was a return to glory, in a sense. The pandemic put a hard pause on Robot Heart, which debuted in 2008, just as it did the much-larger Burning Man festival. The loss was acutely felt among “Burners” (passionate festival devotees).
