(continued from here)
Nothing Else Like It
Burning Man is the evolution of a beast. This event evolves with time. Once a beach party with eleven friends, it has evolved into a city of 35,000 that understands it’s business agenda, but also understands how it was founded and it tries to accept both. There is only so much the event organizers can do when they invite anyone and everyone to come out to the desert to do what ever they want. However, the predominant attitude at Burning Man is that you can walk down a street at any time in any section and feel safe. Most of the crime that occurs is innocent, consisting mainly of people too “confused” about which bike is which and wander off with the wrong one.
Larry Harvey started this event because he and his friends
wanted to find a time and place to do what ever they wanted to do. The week
was for doing drugs or shooting a gun because they never did those things
in normally. Now there are no guns or dogs, but it is still a place where
any one and everyone can come to be naked or dress however they want to and
not be judged from it. In fact, you have a better chance not being judged
if you do have a costume.
The money discussions will continue to be an issue as long as the event grows.
It seems people always need something to complain about, but its good to know
Larry Harvey and the other organizers are not about to budge with corporate
sponsors or other means of “selling out”. The amount of chaos
the organizers have to contend with is enormous so to have an event happen
every year of this scale that basically goes off without a hitch is amazing.
Whenever you think curating a show is tough, think about this and you might feel a little better. With every successful year of Burning Man, greater numbers of people can come together and, for a while, shed some of the monetary habits for the sake of building better communities. Paying a tax to live this way so I can learn the lessons a gift economy can teach me is worth every cent.
Gabriel is involved with Brooklyn-based Glowlab and Providence-based PIPS in exploring the rift between art culture and general popular culture. Gabriel’s essays often pursue insights upon this rift while his performances in the streets engage directly study social constructs regarding these inquiries. Although he works with these East Coast groups, he is strongly interested in west coast culture and geography.
