by Lorine Parks
ART IN THE DESERT
We don’t burn something to destroy it, we burn it to protect it.
Peter, who is president of the Rotary Club of San Pedro is a longtime supporter of Burning Man, a spiritual exercise in radical self-expression. Program Chair Doug Baker introduced Pete, who is related to the Zamboni clan, as “The ice man.” He is, as Doug said, “very cool.”
Cool is only the tip of the metaphorical iceberg Pete introduced us to, this remarkable experience which is so uniquely “California.” Once a remote counterculture party, Burning Man began in June of 1986 on a beach in San Francisco when Larry Harvey and Jerry James, with the help of some friends, burned an eight-foot tall figure in the shape of a man. This original act of “RADICAL SELF-EXPRESSION” marked the beginnings of the annual Burning Man festival.
The essential tenets on which the event was founded, Pete says, immediacy, participation, DECOMMODIFICATION, civic and environmental responsibility, radical self-reliance and self-expression; remain the same. But the event long ago moved from San Francisco to a spot about three hours north of Reno, Nevada, and this year over 80,000 “Burners” attended the gathering, where Pete has often participated with the Rotary Club of Reno.
WHAT IS DECOMMIDIFICATION? Pete explained it as way of thinking, designed to get away from the corporate shadow. The isolated Black Rock Desert is the place to do this, as it is a barren tabletop devoid of plant life where temperatures range from over 100 degrees in daylight to near freezing at night. Wind has been known to gust to 70 mph, and this kind of stark beauty, while open to all, does not appeal to everyone.
Besides getting away from the lures of hucksterism, participants must be both self-sufficient and collaborative. You need to bring ALL supplies, food, water and tools you will need for survival in a harsh environment. NO FOOD OR SUNDRY ITEMS ARE SOLD ANYWHERE IN BLACK ROCK CITY. No commercial enterprises or gourmet food trucks here: nothing is “sold” in Black Rock City but coffee and bags of ice, both found in Center Camp (profits from ice sales are given directly to the communities of Empire and Gerlach).
If you forget something vital, your best bet is to make friends with your neighbors.
And what you bring, you take back out. No trace remains of the 80,000 who co-existed briefly here. There is NO trash disposal, no dumpsters. You are responsible for removing all waste you bring into Black Rock City. This includes cigarette butts, boa feathers, pistachio shells and couches.
ART-MAKING AND PERFORMANCE are core components of the Burning Man festival. Each year participants at Burning Man create and perform works inspired by a given theme: recent themes have included: “Evolution,” “American Dream,” “The Green Man,” and “Hope and Fear: The Future.”
Imagine huge structures made of wood, say, a sailing ship with canvas sails, which are torched and burned on the final night. Pete had incredible pictures to show us, of pageant vehicles constructed to look like a Gila Monster, or a mechanical octopus with reticulated arms twenty feet tall, or a lamprey eel full of people; a ten-foot tall butterfly whose wings are sails which propel a four-wheeled chassis.
All these fantastical creatures have their own sound tracks, amplified music being a favored method of participation and self-expression at Burning Man. And all these things have been constructed at this remote location for the purpose of burning them, of seeing their ephemeral beauty go up in flames.
Burning Man is also AN EXPERIMENT IN TEMPORARY COMMUNITY, and one that is “radically all-inclusive,” which means “everyone is welcome.” This Labor Day Week of 2017 the event attracted 80,000 Burners, as participants are called, to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert and they formed a temporary experimental community known as Black Rock City. On this isolated alkali desert, Black Rock City became the largest temporary city in the world (excluding for the moment refugee camps).
In this pedestrian-friendly city, tents and RV’s that hold the 80,000 are set in a broad semi circle with numbered and lettered spaces in what is a bold experiment in city planning. It would take about two and one half hours to traverse the perimeter by bicycle. And while people are encouraged to decorate their transportation, you may not drive your car at the event. This is a serious safety issue in the desert: moving cars create large clouds of dust, reducing visibility dramatically.
The yearly Burning Man festival sees tens of thousands of people gather for a week of festivities that makes Glastonbury look tame, Burning Man being also ONE OF THE BIGGEST MODERN COSTUME SHOWS for adults outside Halloween. You’ll see unicorn masks, head-to-toe bird-of-prey outfits, Mylar spacesuits, glow-in-the-dark disco gear, to highlight a few. As the scene has grown in psychedelic outrageousness, so has the need among Burners for ever more inventive costumes.
This fashion show with its EXTRAVAGANT COSTUMES in the Black Rock Desert helps with another ESCAPE: FROM REALITY. A multiyear study published in 2013 looked at the psychological effect of Burning Man on its participants and found that people there were more comfortable expressing themselves, particularly positive emotions.
The costumes, said Kateri McRae, an author of the study and an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Denver, could be a reason. “The clothes may be a sort of cue that THE RULES ARE DIFFERENT HERE,” she said.
Relationships are created, neighbors meet one another; collective survival is challenged. What does Burning Man have IN COMMON WITH ROTARY? Ideals are the spirit of collaboration and cooperation; devotion to the act of giving; and participation. Attendees are expected to rely on their inner resources, but they also help each other.
THE TEMPLE is one of the main constructs. Every year it is different. Built of scrap lumber, it may resemble the skeleton of a gothic nave, an intricate pagoda, or a series of pyramids. The Temple is typically the largest participant-created art installation on the playa and a new grant program for the Temple will start in 2018. It’s an incredibly complex undertaking, with a crew in the hundreds, fundraising goals of over $100K, and a real labor of love.
People bring token gifts, which represent things they love or things they need to leave behind. Inside the Temple there is silence. And when this burns on Sunday night, the offerings made will burn with it.
Anticipation builds for the GIANT MAN-SHAPED BONFIRE that is the raison d’être of Burning Man. Constructed and erected on-site by event participants, and positioned in the desert so that the sun rises behind it, the wooden centerpiece may be up to forty feet high. On the Saturday night it is to be consumed, there is first an hour of costumed fire dancers, and then an hour of fireworks and explosions. Then, when the Man burns, there is the sense of relief, catharsis.
But tragic headlines were made this year: a 41 year old man succumbed Sunday morning to injuries suffered after breaking through a safety perimeter Saturday night and running into the fire.
Preparations for this gathering in the desert begin eleven months in advance, and then it takes three months after it concludes to return the site to the pristine condition in which it was offered by the Bureau of Land Management. For example, places where there is to be a burn are prepared with an eight-inch bed of gravel and sheeting, to protect the bedrock lava.
How much does it cost to participate? Ticket price this year was $400-$500, which has steadily increased since inception. People are free to come and go, arrive early or stay late. . But this is NOT A SPECTATOR EVENT. It is difficult to take a role in the community if you are in Black Rock City for less than 24 hours. In order to experience the true essence of Burning Man, you will want to become part of the community. Therefore, there are no day passes sold, and no discounts given based on your length of stay. Of course, it is not necessary that you come for the entire week. You are welcome to arrive early in the week and stay for just a portion of the event.
Are dogs allowed in Burning Man? Many animals have been lost each year, and PROBLEM DOGS have caused disputes between camps. Due to the numerous issues surrounding dogs at Burning Man, the organization has decided not to allow them at the event. Do not show up at the gate with your animal at Burning Man and expect to be admitted to the event.
If the experience takes a week to be absorbed, then the departure is also done in slow stages. Enabling 80,000 people to leave all at once requires a SIXTEEN LANE PROCESSION across the four miles of desert floor before the nearest highway is reached. Chartered buses back to Reno airport are available. Usually the exit is taken in stages, and while one section moves, the others shut off their engines for an hour or so to wait.
FINAL ACT, THE RESTO, or restoration to the pristine stage, is required by the BLM and it takes several months for the dedicated organizers and volunteers to achieve. That completion is part of the closure of the experience,
while The Burning Man effigy has been an iconic reminder to keep the creative “fires” burning within, long after the event has come to a close.
Thanks to Pete for introducing us to the world of Burning Man, and to Wikipedia and other on-line sources for some of these details.