She started life as a school bus. You wouldn't know it now.

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The Rusty Iris has been welded, ground, riveted, sculpted, painted, and lit into something else entirely - a double-decker rolling art installation with towering metal iris petals, fire sculptures blooming from her sides, a full sound system, a changing art gallery, a DJ lounge on the upper deck, and a bar. She is community built and community funded, out of Charlottesville, Virginia, and she has been evolving since the day we got our hands on her.

 

We take her seriously. In 2025 we drove her cross-country to Burning Man for her playa debut - passed the Department of Mutant Vehicles inspection on the first attempt, survived a 79mph dust storm, and held our own alongside art cars from around the world. That's the standard we hold ourselves to.

 

The idea behind Rusty is that participation in something larger and more beautiful than what any one person could build alone changes people. That's what we bring to every festival we're part of.