Burning Man
A journalist quoted at the official Burning Man web site says: “I walked through the gates, looked around, and asked myself, 'What is this place? Is it real?' The pictures, the film, the chat on the Internet paled into nothingness when compared to what I witnessed - and later participated in.”
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It is not easy to describe this unusual and original event - most say you have to see it to understand it.
In essence, Burning Man is an annual art event and an experiment in temporary community ( a city called Black Rock City that only exists for this event) dedicated to radical self-expression and radical self-reliance.
Sounds like a mouthful? It’s not actually as weird as it sounds. Not even when you know that the event takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening.
Because of the wide range of principles given expression in the event, Burning Man does not have a single focus, but celebrates a number of principles.
One of those principles, “radical self expression”, encourages attendees, also known as “burners”, to express themselves in a variety of art mediums (yes, including public nudity), while another of those principles, “radical self-reliance”, advocates that burners come prepared to be self sufficient.
Commerce is not allowed and instead participants reply on ”gift economy” to acquire goods and services they are not able to provide for themselves.
Burning Man is very much a communal event and demands participation, relying on communal effort, an unwritten code of civic responsibility that includes the “leave no trace” principal that ensures the “burners” leave no trace of their time in the desert.
Past themes of Burning Man have included Fertility, Time, Hell, Outer Space, The Body, The Floating World, Beyond Belief, Vault of Heaven, Psyche, Hope and Fear, The Green Man, and The American Dream. The theme for 2009 was Evolution.
Held in the Black Rock Desert, 120 miles north of Reno, Nevada (with the towns of Empire and Gerlach serving as guardians of the desert region) Burning Man is always held the week prior to and including Labor Day weekend.
For more information visit the Burning Man web site at http://www.burningman.com/
