CMU School of Drama


Thursday, August 30, 2018

Burning Man 2018 art installation closed after someone fell off

www.usatoday.com: Safety rangers have closed one of the most popular art installations at Burning Man after someone fell off it late Tuesday or early Wednesday morning.

Artist Dustin Weatherford on Wednesday confirmed someone fell off “Night at the Climb In.” He said he didn’t know their condition, adding, “I hope they’re OK.”

7 comments:

Annie Scheuermann said...

This article is very vague. I want to know if the person who fell off was someone viewing the attraction, and decided to climb it, or someone working on the installation. The ending states that those who build the stack of cars, did so with very little safety measures in place. I sadly am not surprised because people view creating art a little different, and won't follow OSHA regulations as much as if it were a standard construction project. I would be very concerned if the person injured was someone who was climbing on the sculpture, because not only is that clearly dangerous, but it will stop so many other people from enjoying the work. The photos are really incredible, I had heard of some of the works, but haven't seen much of them. I am intrigued on the safety aspect of creating these types of things. Do those creating really follow standards, does anyone feel the need to report hazards?

Marisa Rinchiuso said...

It is so sad to hear of someone dying from art and failures in safety. From how Burning Man was described, it seems like the festival is one for unconventional art and a week of lifestyle freedom. It is understandable why one would not see conventional safety precautions like those of theme parks or exhibits. However, it seems like the safety of this instillation was precarious at best. This article definitely lacked in specificity, which I understand it's USA Today, but I think for effective understanding of the situation and effects within safety fields, readers would need to know more information on the structure and running of the festival. I personally would love to know more about how these festivals implement safety. Because aside from the conventional safety measures of instillation, desert festivals also have an additional level of precaution needed due to the heavy use of drugs by patrons. I'd love to know the responsibilities of the festival's safety officer and how future tragedies like this can be prevented.

Vanessa Ramon said...

To start, this article does not do a sufficient job at explaining the situation, how it came to be, and the results. I am glad I know more about the festival, but I came to this article to read about how a man fell of this sculpture. Any, to the point at hand, I am interested to know how the climbing sculptures thing works in this festival. It sounds to me like its encouraged but are their any warnings or safety features the artists and patrons have to abide by or are made aware of? The article briefly mentions that people were climbing cars 20 feet in the air? I am sure that as a patron, you must guess the amount of risk you are taking here but I am interested in learning more about how much the company does to keep from being sued. Overall, it sounds like there were many precautions that could have been taken to avoid this.

Miranda Boodheshwar said...

The title of this article was extremely shocking to me, hence the reason I decided to click on it... The content however, was a tad disappointing. This article is almost like click-bait, as it has a shocking title for an article with very little information about the actual event. I have read about the Burning Man event before, and I think that the idea of having a place for artists to experiment and create with no limits is a great idea. However, if the event is going to allow anyone and everyone to climb on top of artwork with no safety precautions whatsoever -- it's an issue. If they want to promote a festival where "anything goes" they need to ensure better safety for patrons attending, to ensure that everyone can actually have a good time. My biggest question is, do they own the land that Burning Man is held on? If not, shouldn't they have to get a permit to hold the festival? If this is true, there needs to be a better inspection of what the festival actually entails to ensure the wellbeing of all attendees. For future festivals they should require more safety regulations on art installations.

Ally Hasselback said...

I agree with others who have commented in that I would like a little bit more information regarding the details of what actually happened. Without that, however, I assumed that the person who fell off was one of the many people climbing this structure as part of an interactive art exhibit. While I have never gone to Burning Man myself, I do have friends who have attended. I don't quite understand how the festival vets installations, if at all, and what safety protocols they require of their artists, if at all. From the article, it seems like the artist is given the authority and/or obligation to determine the structure's safety for themselves? Additionally, the fact that it is commonplace for the interactive sculptures not to have safety rigging or guardrails seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Overall, I think this is really unfortunate, as the concept of Burning Man as a place for creative expression and personal exploration is a wonderful thing, now if we could just be sure that people won't get hurt while they're there. More than anything, this article showed me the practical need for a TD in *every* production space.

Madeleine Evans said...

I too agree that this article is too vague with what happened--even if the Burning Man officials did not comment in time for the article, it very much feels like more investigation and context would be helpful for those of us reading and trying to understand what happened. The one bit of information that I gathered was concerning the overall safety features of the instillations of the festival. The article reports that "Like many of the interactive Burning Man sculptures, the tower had no safety rigging or guardrails for people as they clambered over the stacked cars to reach the top." If this is true, I cannot imagine how the Burning Man camp or the artist haven't opened themselves up to a large lawsuit. Do you have to sign a waiver before climbing anything? Is that enough of a protection? What is the responsibility of the artist who creates the piece knowing that people will climb it? What about the festival itself who accepts the art and allows patrons to climb? Interactive art is amazing, and having seen the Burning Man exhibit recently at the Renwick gallery in DC I was very impressed with the sense of community and interactive nature of the pieces, but community is also about safety and protection, which these instillations seemingly are without.

Sebastian A said...

Thanks to the Simpsons I actually know what Burning Man is, because otherwise I would never have heard of it. This type of festival is like my nightmares come true. But as someone else said this is probably the most vague, ambiguous, and frankly pointless article. It didn't give us any details on the victim, any information on why they were climbing on it, and who even cares. It did not seem to make that big of an effect on the overall festival, it had not opinion on if this was a serious mark agains the event, or even if something like this had ever happened before. While I would never be caught dead in that place, I do appreciate the sculptural work that goes on there. Unless the article was strongly opposed to Burning Man out of principle I see no reason to write it because it seems whatever goes on there is fair game. When I clicked on the article I thought it would be a lot more in-depth and insightful, but it was not sadly, I wanted to learn more about Burning Man