Paradisum Forest

Paradisum Forest by Dave Keane and the Folly Builders
Seven climbable hexagonal trees, recycled wood and lumber, 22’–30’ tall with bridges and canopies

Step into Paradisum Forest and you’ll find yourself in a grove of trees unlike any you’ve ever seen—geometric trunks tessellated in intricate wood patterns, soaring up more than 20 feet, their canopies linked by bridges, their branches inviting you to climb, explore, and rest.

San Francisco–based artist Dave Keane and his crew, the Folly Builders, brought Paradisum to Burning Man in 2022. The piece is part playground, part architectural experiment, part memorial. At its heart are five towering hexagonal trees—each clad in a skin of salvaged fence boards, cut into repeating geometric tiles and arranged with precision. Atop them, broad canopies spread another eight feet into the air, transforming scrap wood into a cathedral of pattern and light.

Sustainability is central to Keane’s process. Nearly every surface here is reclaimed—fence boards, construction waste, discarded lumber—resurrected into something alive again. “There’s so much waste in the construction business,” he says. “It just feels better to do it this way.” The result is a forest that feels both natural and futuristic: real trees reborn as interpretive, climbable sculptures.

One tree in the grove lies fallen, built as a memorial to Keane’s friend Cliff, who died in a motorcycle accident. It anchors the installation with a sense of memory and loss, a reminder that forests are made not just of what grows, but also of what falls.

At Art City, Paradisum Forest offers a shady refuge and a place of play. By day, its canopies glow with sunlit geometry. By night, the grove becomes a gathering space, where people linger, climb, and connect. It’s both hard work and joy made visible—the culmination of long days, heavy lifts, and careful engineering—and a gift to the public.

For Keane, big art like this isn’t about spectacle alone. It’s about purpose. “Bringing art into the public—we need more of it,” he says. “It beats building houses. It makes me feel like I’m doing something that matters.”