Make:: Burning Man has begun. This week, revelers, artists, and Makers have swarmed Black Rock Desert to set up the yearly festival. Despite concerning problems like swarms of tiny insects never before seen at the event, Burning Man has kicked off without much issue. The bugs are gone, and for the first time this year, there is cell phone reception at the event. As you can see in the Live Stream above, there’s still a lot of work to do!
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Goodness, how I would LOVE to create a sculpture/installation piece for Burning Man. I've heard mixed reviews about Burning Man from multiple people-- some from those who've gone and some from those who haven't. One thing I've heard from both parties however, is the fact that regardless if you went/ever want to go/never want to step foot near it, Burning Man at the very least is extremely interesting and intriguing. When you provide creative individuals (or those who are under the influence, but hopefully the former) with a space just buzzing and pulsing to be filled with structures of immeasurable size and then incorporate the harsh, almost alien-like type landscape of Black Rock Desert, the experience of Burning Man turns into a spiritual one. I've had a very close family friend of mine tell me that "those souls who go to Burning Man will never return home the same." I think I would like to go to Burning Man someday because being in an environment such as this one puts you in touch with sculptures one never really thought could've been feasible if held in any other space. And that to me, is thrilling.
I've never heard of the Burning Man event but after reading this article I think I would go to it! The pictures of the artwork is truly stunning and the desert landscape really helps to pull it all together. I also like how all of the pieces are able to work together but also form a coherent theme of being abandoned or makeshift. The robot/future like pieces make you feel as if you are on a different planet. it almost makes me feel as if I'm looking at pictures taken from the mars rover. Its almost as if a previous civilization was destroyed or abandoned this place and this is what they have left behind for us. The other feeling I got from this was a scene from Land of the lost. The concept is that worm holes open up throughout time and transport random objects to this space graveyard. The other provoking thing about this concept is the use of energy and nature's part in the festival. Like the artwork of Theo Jansen, some of these pieces are able to work on their own and function for the audience. Like his art they live in a barren landscape and are able to preform certain tasks by using wind energy.
These art pieces seem absurd for their larger-than-life qualities, and the thought of burning any of them down causes a knee-jerk feeling of wrongness. The time, effort, and resources invested seems to great to set ablaze. But that said, burning these structures down is a truly powerful contemplation of an artwork's temporal qualities. I truly believe that many artists become bogged down in trying to create a work that will stand the tests of time, and endure the ages that they strip away much of a work's relevancy and beauty to current generations. I feel that the pieces at Burning Man created with the intent for them to be destroyed become more potent due to the brevity of their lifespan, and contain a relevancy - even if it is momentary - and accessibility that simply does not come about when one is producing work to be appreciated by future generations. This movement toward appreciating the here-and-now is vital in a world of art focused on the future.
I have wanted to go to Burning Man before I even knew what Burning Man was. Spending the whole festival out in the desert, appreciating people and their art – and hey, I hear there’s fire involved somewhere – sounds like the best few days of anyone’s life. The art featured in the article is fresh and new, it has life and creativity I never would have expected. Some of my favorites are the Totem of Confessions, The Serpent Mother, and the Pavilion Gates. Each piece has its own energy and intentions. I like the collaborative and relaxing vibe given by the Totem, but it also provides a cathartic experience for all involved because, ultimately, it will burn. The Serpent Mother is a great piece of passion and I can’t believe that it’s an interactive piece that people actually get to manipulate, making their own performance. Finally, the Pavilion Gates are quirky and definitely a great reminder of the spirit of Burning Man, with their bright colors and passionate and pleasant message.
Truly stunning. I am awe inspired by the sheer amount collective creation going on in the middle of the desert. I was particularly struck by the Totem of Confessions. The gorgeous collaborative workmanship takes the breath away. It draws on some of the peaceful quiet moments of religion, while still remaining secular enough to be universal. I think that the thing that most made me pause was the fact that the piece will eventually go up in flames. There is something gut wrenching about the image of watching hundreds of hours of work disappearing into a chemical flash, and yet, it brings a very intense feeling of Zen. The piece is ephemeral. It only was made to exist for a time, and when that time is over, it will be gone. It will only remain in the memories of those to experienced it, and felt that holy feeling of aesthetic catharsis and human connection.
One of these days, I really will go to burning man . . . and invariably I will spend the whole time thinking about how the stuff was built. But that’s a good thing, as I understand it, burning man is a place where you can go and express what you are and like and appreciate the things that you love in life. And I love fabrication. It looks like the sculptures so far run the gamut from piles of junk that are claimed to have meaning to sculptures that are inherently beautiful (to me) and need no explanation, and in fact, I would not want an explanation. Is it offensive to the artist when you appreciate their work fro reasons of your own, or is that the point of the art? The Bismuth Bivouac is my favorite of the sculptures, even though it doesn’t spew fire and light, it is geometrically interesting and complex from a fabrication standpoint.
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