In the Eye of the Beholder
By Jerry E. Smith
It is a surprise to many to learn that Northern Nevada is home to
not one, but two, of the world's premiere art events. Reno's "Artown"
(formerly "Uptown, Downtown, Artown," see:
www.artown.org)
was voted the world's best downtown art festival by a European civic
association in 2000. "The Burning Man Project" on the Black
Rock Desert north of Reno, is likewise on its way to becoming one
of the great art festivals of all time. Artown runs the entire 31 days of July with over 200 events and exhibits in
more than three dozen venues around the city, making it the largest civic art
festival in the world. From Clog Dancing to Opera, from live painting demonstrations
to ensemble theater performances, Artown covers most of the spectrum of mainstream
art, both amateur and professional. For everything else there's the week long
celebration of "radical self expression" called Burning Man. Artown, with its packed schedule of open air concerts, intimate theater
presentations and wine-and-cheese gallery receptions is fairly easy
to describe; Burning Man with its art cars and fire twirlers, costumed
revelers and naked exhibitionists, massive art installations and practical
joke theme camps is equally, and oppositely, nearly impossible. Many
who have tried to describe Burning Man have compared it to Woodstock,
Mardi Gras, The Rainbow Gatherings or the Grateful Dead concert phenomena,
but such comparisons fail utterly. This festival is so truly different
that only by attending can one understand it. Burning Man takes place on a dry lake bed, a vast flat expanse of alkali salt
called a playa. In this same place in recent years American and British teams
with rocket powered cars vied to set the World Land Speed Record. The Burning
Man site, called Black Rock City, is over 100 miles from Reno, and, as one San
Francisco writer quipped, even further from civilization. The playa is both
literally and figuratively a blank canvas onto which the art of the attendees
is painted. The playa of the Black Rock Desert is a harsh, inhospitable environment. Nothing
grows there, nothing lives there; no plants, no birds, no visible insects. Summer
day time temperatures exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit for weeks on end. The dirt
beneath your feet, and soon in your hair, under your clothes and in your food,
is a pale shade of tan, fine and powdery. The least little breeze raises clouds
of it. When the wind comes up, and it can blow at hurricane velocity, white-out
conditions occur. Fault-block mountains of the Great Basin, twisted and blackened
with ancient lava flows, ring the site. The few sparse junipers on their heights
do nothing to soften the stark, sharp outlines of these crags against the pale
blue sky. Under some circumstances this strange, inhuman place could be seen
as beautiful; under others it could be life threatening. Your ticket to Burning
Man makes that clear. At the top of the ticket, in all capital letters, it reads:
"YOU VOLUNTARILY ASSUME THE RISK OF SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH BY ATTENDING." Beneath that it reads: "You must bring enough food, water, shelter, and
first aid to survive one week in a harsh desert environment. Commercial vending,
firearms, fireworks, rockets and all other explosives prohibited. You agree
to read and abide by ALL rules in the Survival Guide [handed to you at the entrance
gate and also available on the website]. You agree to follow federal, state,
and local laws. This is a LEAVE NO TRACE, Pack it in, Pack it OUT event. You
are asked to contribute 2 hours of playa clean up before departure." For the entire event in 2000 there were about 1,000 people treated for cuts
and scrapes, broken bones, dehydration, and such. All of the injuries but for
a handful were minor (two people were hit in the head by flying debris and were
flown by helicopter to local hospitals). A thousand sounds like a lot, but consider,
Burning Man was, for that week, the fifth largest city in the state! How much
action would a hospital or urgent care center get in a similar week in a regular
town of that size? Lots more! And, this was under extreme camping conditions
with extreme weather conditions (75 mile an hour winds, white out blowing dust
conditions, rain all of one night and clinging clay mud that followed). Under
such circumstances these folks performed very well in deed. Yes, these were conditions that most normal people would hate, but
these folks clearly aren't normal, and are proud of it! Many Americans,
not just Burning Man attendees, are glad that we still have a Bill
of Rights sufficiently intact to allow the nonconformist, the truly
Free American, a place to be free. The continued existence of Burning
Man says that the First Amendment, at least, is still alive and well.
Some see Burning Man as something of the sociological equivalent of
a canary in a mine – when The Burning Man Project is dead (from
the deadly fumes of censorship and religious intolerance) the Republic,
they fear, probably won't be far behind. While the Burning Man festival lasts but one week, ending Labor Day,
Black Rock City is inhabited by a handful of people for several months
before and after the event. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) controls
the land and they require that the playa be returned to a pristine
natural state after the festival. This requires an army of volunteers
to rake and sweep the site of any evidence of human presence; and
hundreds of dump truck loads to haul away ashes from the ritual burning
of dozens of works of art. Prior to the festival's official opening the Monday before Labor Day, a growing
number of artists arrive on site to begin constructing their theme camps and
installations. Installations for 2000 included a three story Buddhist Temple,
an amazingly elaborate maze, and a giant Pegasus erupting out of the desert
floor. Also, Burning Man Project staff spend weeks laying out the City's unique
ground plan, setting up port-a-potties and erecting official structures, like
Media Mecca, the gathering place for journalists covering the event. The very center of Black Rock City is where The Man, a towering wooden stick
figure with triangular head and up-raised arms, stands. A circle, a mile
or more across, is drawn around him. This space is left open for art installations.
Fringing that open circle is the curving arc of streets that make up the
camp grounds. The streets that run in parallel concentric arcs are named
for body parts. The street that fronts the circle is Head Way. Open on
one side to the playa art area and a distant view of The Man, the other
side is a miles long curving row of theme camps. For 2000 these camps
included a sexual themed miniature golf course with bar called "The
Foreplay Lounge;" "Thunder Dome," a geodesic dome wherein
amateur pugilists fought each other a la the Mad Max movie; and "Antarctica,"
a 50 foot freezer trailer that provided respite from the desert heat. The remaining streets were The Boulevard of the Brain,
Throat Road, Heart Avenue, Gut Alley, Sex Drive, Anal Avenue, Knee Lane and
the furthest from The Man, Feet Street. The radial streets that intersect these
parallel ones are named for the minutes and hours on the face of a clock. My
group, Installation 23, was on the corner of 7:30 and Brain. Center Camp, at 6:00 and Head Way, is one of three circular structures erected
by The Burning Man Project for use by festival attendees. The other two are
Community Satellite meeting areas on Brain at 9:00 and 3:00. Center Camp is
a vast circular pavilion a couple-a-hundred feet across with two small stages,
and a variety of open and sheltered seating, providing a unique meeting area.
It is the only permitted vender on the playa, selling hot coffee and cold sodas.
One attendee I met there called it "a really cool coffee house." Stretching
left and right of Center Camp, for a mile or more in either direction, the body
part named streets terminate at 2:00 and 10:00, leaving the top of the clock
face open playa. Just as a state or county fair has many events, so too has the Burning Man
Festival. Without a working time machine, it is impossible to see all of it.
With thousands of people expressing themselves through parades, stage shows,
dance parties and interactive art exhibits, spread over five square miles of
camps and open playa, hundreds of interesting things occur simultaneously -
and do so 'round the clock for over a week! The center piece, the grand culmination
the week's activity is the burning of The Man. This is no simple bon fire, but
a spectacular pyrotechnic display – one conducted as a mock religious
ceremony! The Man stands atop a 20 foot tall stepped pyramid made out of hay bales. The
Man himself is another 40-some feet tall, his outline illuminated by neon tubes
of many colors. On the final day of the festival, as sunset ignites the clouds
with dazzling reds and pinks, thousands of people begin to converge on The Man.
A circle of lights set in the playa, a safe distance from The Man, begins rhythmically
flashing, warning the attendees to stay back. Officials stand elbow to elbow
around the circle, admitting only those with "pyro passes." Those
who enter form dozens of small circles around The Man and begin a solemn chanting. When darkness has fully fallen the burning of The Man begins. A cloud burst
of fireworks erupts from his head. The chanters become acrobats twirling flaming
batons, dancing wildly about his feet. As the fire spreads to The Man's body
more and more fireworks of many types are released. Whirling wheels of fireworks
descend to The Man on wires from surrounding towers. More fireworks are shot
off from all over the festival site. A fire cannon blasts great scorching balls
of black smoke and fire into the starry night sky. On the Christian Right there are those, who have never attended Burning
Man, who say that this is a Satanic Ritual, that The Burning Man Project
is Satan worship, and, for all I know, some probably even claim that
its founder, Larry Harvey, is the Anti-Christ! This is probably nonsense.
I did not see any Satanist activities anywhere in Black Rock City,
at any time. I did, however, see a lot of pretty women wearing little
red horns - but whether those horns were indications of a religious
conviction, or just last year's Halloween costume, I will let you
decide. I have to admit, though, the fire twirlers around the base
of the Burning Man creeped me out a little. They reminded me way too
much of the fire imps dancing about the giant Devil in the "Night
on Bald Mountain" sequence of Walt Disney's film Fantasia. But,
I must add, that was just me. Burning Man truly is what each attendee brings to it. It is a blank slate,
an elaborate physical ink blot test, a kaleidoscopic Etch-a-sketch left
in the desert for those who can find it to draw onto The core philosophy of The Burning Man Project is given as "radical self
expression." Let's break that down, starting with the word "radical." Radical comes from the Latin radicalis meaning "having roots." The
first definition of radical in my Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary
is "of or from the root or roots; going to the center, foundation,
or source of something; fundamental; basic." The political definition
of radical is given, in part, as "favoring fundamental or extreme
change; very leftist." Burning Man certainly goes to the very core,
the root of what being a human means. It is also extreme, in just about
every possible sense of the word. "Leftist" on the other hand
doesn't really apply. While it is hardly a "Self" is defined as "the identity, character, or essential
qualities of any person or thing," and "the identity, personality,
individuality, etc. of a given person; one's own person as distinct from all
others." While "expression" is partially defined as "a putting
into words; a representing in language; a stating," and "a picturing,
representing, or symbolizing in art, music, etc." and "a manner of
expressing; especially, a meaningful and eloquent manner of speaking, singing,
etc." We are not talking about mere hedonist self gratification, as some
who have not attended the event have mislabled it. This is a celebration of
identity. Breaking the bondage of conformity to peer pressure and corporate
image, the individual is free to shed the three-piece suit and power tie, the
Crew Kid cap, the pants-suit and sensible shoes, and wear a wild costume, or
absolutely nothing, reveling in the nearly unlimited possibilities of self statement. In that "a stating" definition we see that Burning Man
is far more than self indulgence, it is communication. 25,000 people
are there to tell, and to listen, to who they are. As a Utopianist
I am struck to my core by what this means. Black Rock City is an ongoing
experiment in community building, and more. Unlike cities of the past,
based on mutual protection against the elements or enemies, or on
making money, Black Rock City is built to further communication. Here
we see, in all its strange glory, the missing element of the Internet:
physical communication. Black Rock City is the Internet in hard copy.
It is the first true city of the Information Age, the first metropolis
of the Twenty-First Century. Further, in "a manner of expressing; especially, a meaningful
and eloquent manner of speaking, singing, etc," we see the artistic
expression of self that is the greatness of The Burning Man Project.
For Burning Man 2000 something like 150 major art installations were
erected over the five square mile site, quite possibly making it the
world's largest art gallery. From live music to performance art, from
interactive art pieces to body painting, from a fake Post Office where
one waits in line to be yelled at by the clerk to elaborate quasi-religious
rituals, hundreds of art events happen continuously. Parades of one
sort or another were just about hourly occurrences. At other "art festivals" one encounters venders hocking alleged "arts
and crafts:" wooden name plates, Aussie hats, tole painted saw blades,
Indian beadwork made in Taiwan, and on and on. Not a speck of that at Burning
Man! Absolutely no vending, no display of corporate logos permitted. Purity
of message is thus maintained. Of course, just because its "art" doesn't mean its "good."
Some artists don't grasp that they need to communicate with their audiences.
Some art is just done for shock value. Some is done simply because it can be
done. Some is clearly the work of disturbed minds. But then, that is true of
nearly every gallery and modern art museum I have ever visited. On the other
hand, some of the pieces were impressive, moving, inspirational and/or delightful.
As a working artist I was thrilled, awed, and, yes, even made a little envious. A very high percentage of the attendees work in high tech jobs. Many techies
are frustrated artists. I was once a computer programmer. I know many of these
folks found tech jobs as a way to express their innate creativity and still
make a living. Many find building crazy artsy stuff, like turning a VW Bug into
a flying saucer, covering a bicycle in lights or building tiny robots that scuttle
about the desert performing strange feats, a much needed outlet. The quasi-religious rituals of Burning Man are another important outlet. The
religious urge is one of the great human drives. I am sure I could babble like
a pop psychologist, or a graduate student working up his doctorial thesis, on
the deeper meaning of Burning Man -- but I will spare you. Let me just say,
I felt something... Saturday night, as the last of The Man turned to ashes and the crowd began
to disperse, I felt a sudden and quite surprising feeling of release, like a
heavy burden I didn't even know I had had suddenly been removed. This was followed
instantly a joyous sense of renewal. "Release and renewal!" I said
aloud to no one. I looked around, wondering if others were feeling this. I wondered
if I were telepathically experiencing the sensations of some in the crowd around
me, or if something in me had somehow burned up with The Man. Buoyant, I returned
to camp and a wild and wonderful evening. Before I next fell asleep in my own bed back home I had already conceived of
a design for our camp at next year's Burning Man. Yes, once you go, you're
hooked. To quote one of my fellow "burners," a tall brunette
Operating Room Nurse from a major regional hospital, "Its the ultimate!
it, or from it, what they will.
"conservative" activity, Burning Man eschews politics in
any conventional sense. Indeed, one of the funniest moments for me
was when a group of "protesters" came by our camp. They
were dressed head to toe in white and carried large white "protest
signs" that were totally blank. While they went through motions
as though they were shouting or chanting slogans, they uttered not
a sound!
