Burning Man 2002

[Andrew]

I spent the last week at the Burning Man festival in Nevada. I've started writing an essay, to try and give friends and family a better idea of what the festival is all about. Here it is, if you're interested: (btw - the images are hosted on my computer. If they're not showing up, then it's shut off)

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I arrived home, this morning, after a 20 hour commute from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. My hair, skin, clothes, and gear were covered in a week's worth of dust from the dried up Playa lake bed: home to the annual Burning Man festival. The festival is a unique celebration of art, expression, and counter-culture, in harmony with the extreme desert elements. It was my first time attending the event, but my amazing experience, over the past week, will surely bring me back.

Above all, the week long Burning Man festival is an exercise in survival. There are no in-out privileges, no food or water for sale, no showers, and no shelters setup. Porta-potties are provided, and well maintained, but all else must be brought in. Participants prepare for temperatures ranging from 10-40 degrees throughout a given 24 hour day. Further to this are the possibility of sudden dust and thunderstorms. While the conditions are adverse, they are integral to the strong sense of community shared among the temporary residents of "Black Rock City".

3 of my camp-mates enjoying the storm

This year, a week of hot days, and clear skies culminated in a Friday evening dust, and then thunderstorm as the sun set. Strong winds carried the lake bed's alkaline dust, that had been loosened up over the course of the five previous days by festival's 28 000 participants and their vehicles. I enjoyed the hour long dust storm from behind the comfort of my ski goggles, with a bandanna over my mouth and nose. At its worst, visibility was limited to 15 feet. The dust storm gave way to light rains, as foreboding thunder, lightning, and clouds threatened much worse. Drums beat, people cheered and danced, as the clouds dispersed beneath the setting sun. In the place of lightning a different electricity prevailed, as Friday night celebrations encompassed a sense of victory of a test endured.

Same 3 taking pictures afterwards

to be continued...

[Roggy]

Keep the essay coming, and more pics would be great. I've always been interested in going to Burning Man, and a good first hand account would be excellent.

Thanks

[MPLABBE]

wow, the sky in that 2nd picture looks like one from a movie.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

Really nice job, Andrew. Like Roggy said, keep 'em coming. Cheers and thanks.

[Andrew]

Thanks all. Glad you're enjoying it. I'm having alot of fun writing and reminiscing. All of the shots so far are from my digital camera. Later on I'll have some scanned photo's. Yeah, Marc: the sky was beautiful that night. Here's another shot of it:

Above: A neighboring camp parties at sunset in the wake of the storm

Aside from the harsh conditions, the underlying principles of the event bring the community together. There is a prevalent anti-consumerism, anti-corporate attitude associated with the festival. The only things that may be purchased are ice (for coolers), and coffee, at the Center Camp Café. Anyone selling goods other than those is asked to leave. What results are barter, and gift based economies. People bartering make it known that they would like something in exchange for their goods or service. The customer makes an offering, and negotiations ensue. One afternoon I bartered for a hotdog at a trader’s portable stand - parked next to the “Critical Tits Bike Ride”. Far more prevalent, however, is the gift-based economy. People put amazing amounts of energy into crafting souvenir’s, theme camps, and art installations: eager to share their creations with the rest of the populace. The exuberant reaction, to offerings, is far more satisfying than any monetary return. It’s an infectious attitude that defines the community.

Another important principle of the Burning Man festival is that of: Leave No Trace. In the winter season, one can travel to the Black Rock Desert and see no sign, that for a week in August it was home to 28000 people. There are no garbage cans, or dumpsters at Burning Man. Residents are expected to leave with everything they brought in. Our camp had a sorting system for our refuse. Wet garbage was put into mesh bags, and hung out to dry, while bottles, cans, and paper products each had their own bags. At the end of the trip we divided the garbage up for disposal at home. Smokers carry film canisters for their butts. I honestly can’t recall seeing one butt, on the desert floor, all week. Litter that does hit the ground seldom stays there, as another participant will pick it up. It’s inspiring that such a large group of strangers can show such respect for their environment, and one another.

I'll talk about the art and people later...

[Andrew]

Art is a definite focal point of burning man. Everyone contribues in some way, be it with their writing, music, performance, exhibits, or theme camps.

One of the more fun theme camps was Costco. The Costco camp is a tongue and cheek reference to the multi-national wholesaling giant: only at Burning Man it is the "Soul Mate Trading Outlet". Burners line up, when Costco opens at 11am playa time (which means give or take half an hour - nothing ever happens on schedule). Upon entering, residents wait in a line to have their digital picture taken, and recieve a questionnaire to fill out. If one is in a hurry, bribes are accepted to move up in line. After recieving the questionnaire, participants enjoy a drink at their bar, whilst chatting with others, and answering the questions. The completed forms are collected, and Costco matches up the individual with a soul mate - for which they recieve the mates form, with their playa address. From there, the challenge is to find one's soul mate. As it turned out I had little in common with mine, but what I enjoyed most about the Costco camp is its history.

Costco is a camp that's been around for five years now. It was founded by a group of Americans. In the Burning Man spirit, they liked to periodically engage in corporate takeovers of other theme camps. They'd show up at a theme camp, and claim it as a Costco subsidiary. The victim camps would happily comply. Durning Burning Man 2000, word got out that Costco were going to take over Canada at 12 midnight on a particuar evening. My fellow Victorians decided to do something about it. They met up with some Vancouver burners, and devised a plan to prevent the takover, and take it one step further. At 2pm that afternoon, a group of 25 people from BC marched into Costco, and interrupted all soul trading activities. They promptly started handing out BC Ferries playing cards, and announced that they were, in fact, taking over Costco. The Costco organizers were impressed, and handed over operations to Canada. Ever since Costco has been a Canadian camp, with the maple leaf hanging proudly outside its tent.

[Roggy]

Ha! I love it! This is the kind of stuff you don't see in news stories and other articles. Keep this essay coming, and thanks a bunch Andrew.

[Andrew]

Costco is but one hundreds of theme camps, which range in theme and purpose: funny, spiritual, strange, educational, artistic. One thing most theme camps have in common, however, is an incredible investment of time and resources on behalf of their creators. Here are a few more examples of theme camps I came across:

Antarctica: A huge refrigeration truck: a great place to escape the mid-day heat. Upon entering I discovered a nightclub environment complete with live DJ's, a bar, and a packed dance floor. Drinks, of course, were on the house (as seemed to be the case at all theme camp bars).

BRC Animal Control: They have cars patrolling the Playa's streets in search of stray animals. Burning Man residents, dressed as animals, are captured and brought back to their camp's cages. The animals are offered food and drink while they await sunset: at which point they are auctioned off to burners through a barter based auction. The animals decide on the most attractive offer, and are free to go, with their owner.

Xara: An electronica dance club, open from about 11pm until sunrise. There are many such clubs throughout Burning Man. The unique aspect to this one is that it contains a lawn, with live grass - on which it felt great to walk barefoot.

Disturbia: This is a clown theme camp, which was kind of creepy in an evil-clown way. What's funny is that the clown is the nemesis of Santa. There is an annual pub-crawl in several North American cities (Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Seattle, San Francisco, and others...) known as Santacon. Santacon involves a bunch of people dressed as Santa’s going on a pub-crawl. At Burning Man Santa’s from all over unite for a Santacon in the desert - unless the clowns can stop it. I didn't see it, but apparently about 50 Santa’s staged a raid upon the Disturbia clown camp. They raided their clown coolers, and drank their clown beer. Some harsh words, and play fighting ensued, before they all united, hopped on the Disturbia busses, and staged a raid on Thunderdome.

Thunderdome: The Thunderdome camp is run by a group that call themselves "Deathguild": a bunch of goth / industrial-rocker types from San Francisco. They've built a replica of Thunderdome from the "Mad Max" film. Nightly they host battles, in which two contestants are strapped into harnesses, and slung-shot towards each other. In the style of jousting, they each have a whack at each other with foam bats on the way by. After a minute or two the battle stops, and the judge declares a winner. The outside of the dome is adorned with a hundred or so screaming spectators. As in the movie, spectators climb up the sides of the dome, and can choose their preferred vantage point.

In contrast with the party camps, mentioned above, there are plenty devoted to the arts, environment, and spirituality. The Earth Guardian Camp scheduled desert nature walks, and had Yoga classes in the mornings. There were also meditation and message camps. One evening I discovered a camp in the midst of a 45-minute, choreographed, live performance involving stilt walkers and fire dancers. It culminated in a man having a cinder block placed on his abdomen and smashed, with a sledgehammer, while lying on a pedestal of nails. It's impossible to experience all of what the 400+ Burning Man theme camps have to offer, but there's definitely something for everyone, depending on their preference.

[MPLABBE]

nice work Andrew!