GQ: Once the last of the wooden ship sculptures have been wheeled away and the Orgy Dome has been disassembled, once the dusty influencers in rave goggles have driven off and Diplo has returned to his native habitat, it's time to clean up Burning Man.
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Music festivals are not generally something that interests me very much, but I saw this article in the list and something stuck out to me. I think that part of the reason this stood out is just that Burning Man seems like such a bizarre concept to me. I am not completely sure how Burning Man works, but it seems like a lot of effort to ship and move all of the equipment necessary to run this massive festival into the desert. I think that an important lesson to take away from this for me is that oftentimes what people love about art is its uniqueness and how illogical it often is. I am normally the kind of person to sticks to a fairly traditional way of doing things, but it is important to sometimes be willing to try new things even if they don’t feel comfortable. There is a place for weird stuff in the arts.
I thought this article was very interesting because it brought my attention to something I would not have put much thought into otherwise. Regrettably, I do not think too much about the people in charge of cleaning up after big events, and how this requires more skill than just picking up trash. The thing that I admired the most about this article was the attitude that Dominic Tinio, the man in charge of the clean-up effort, put toward his work. Even though the weather this year was much more intense than it had been in the past, he approached his job with a calm demeanor and still felt fully comfortable and confident that he could complete it to the same degree of quality as he did before. I think this is an attitude that many people don't have, but it would benefit people working in nearly any field. The ability to stay calm under stress and not let unforeseen circumstances overwhelm you is incredibly important, and I believe it is one of the most important skills one can have in the theater and production industry.
I sometimes forget that “productions” extend farther than just a stage, music hall or theater. It's funny to think about music festivals as productions but they are. As a hopeful designer I often forget the amount of people it takes to actually make a production because my head is stuck in the idea of things. I loved hearing about this man’s stories and antidotes over the years of cleaning up this festival. Its ridiculous and sad to think that I never put too much thought into who cleans these things up. But this article reminded me how big of a role that is. Dominic Tinio and his team clean up 157 million square feet of territory just by walking through the desert. Its actually insane to think of what they must have to come through after a music festival, glitter, beads, trash, and who knows what else. But when I actually take the time to think about their jobs it is evident that their job is just as important as creating the festival and setting it up. I appreciated that this article reminded me of that.
I am not too familiar with music festivals and never really thought about the environmental impacts of them before this article. This article caught my eye because it made me think about something I had not been aware of before: the clean up and environmental impacts. I found it peculiar that the head of clean up crew was somewhat disguised by a nicer title: environmental restoration manager. It seems as though Dominic Tinio enjoys and values what he does though, which is all you ever hope for someone with these jobs. Working since 2000, I can reasonably say he probably has very good compensation for his work. The questions GQ asked regarding how he felt about this year's storm causing more of a nightmare for him, it was very refreshing that he did not make anything dramatic, and was very cheery about the situation. His awareness of his job and situation and risks is very mature and Burning Man is very lucky to have such a strong leader for this job.
I have always admired the festival of Burning Man because it seems to be such an out of body experience. People in the desert acting as if they are completely free from the social standards that our society puts on them. I think that it is important to see that they build this place up and completely restore it to seem as if nothing was ever there. I work at a camp and we have the same policy when we go camping. Leave No Trace is extremely important for our environment and its natural habitat. It is important to have a man in charge that is calm and knows how to handle a hard situation in a calm manner. Having the Manager be a person like that is important in all aspects of life. The weather this year at Burning Man went all over the news and it looked extremely dangerous and scary. It is important to realize that sometimes just waiting for the problem to calm down on its own is the best and only course of actions a [person can take, and that is what happened this year.
This was such an interesting read. I don’t know that much about Burning Man in general, and I guess I never thought about how festivals of that magnitude would get cleaned up, especially ones in venues that “start from ground zero” like Burning Man does each year. It was so interesting reading Dominic Tinio’s experience, and about that process. I especially found it interesting the story he told about the rocket-testers, as that’s so random and cool! But I guess that’s the kind of thing you might find when you’re closing a giant festival in the middle of the desert. I also liked reading about his ‘pride of restoration’ and the feeling he has when he sees they’ve put it back to normal and ‘left no trace’ all while knowing they just experienced this insanely large festival. I bet anyone who attends the festival would be shocked to see the restoration process afterwards, as it is probably so drastically different in the energies of the space. It really speaks to the magic of the behind-the-scenes in all manners, and how unbelievably crucial people like Dominic Tinio are to events, especially ones of this magnitude.
I love this story- here is a guy really proud and loving his job. The interviewer clearly had a nagenda- looking for this guy to complain, point fingers, be angry. But it did not go that way. Dominic Tinio is an incredible human being- he sees how much people who go to Burning Man love it. Most are committed, who return every year. He respects the fact that this is his job where he makes sure that after people enjoy themselves he brings the environment back to the way it was before. The interviewer kept on digging- wanting him to say things that were wild- weird and awful. He spoke of rocket scientists, mother and child, always mentioning that people really try hard to be good. He chooses to see the good in people- not always the negative- that is so prevalent today. What a cool dude- they are lucky to have him working there- all I hope is that they pay him well.
As well as Burning Man affecting climate change, climate change is also affecting Burning Man. Recently, there have been very powerful rainstorms and it flooded the festival. This article is about those cleanup efforts, and interviews one of the environmental restoration managers for the festival. I’ve never considered the environmental ramifications of an exhibition like Burning Man. Is burning that much wood, (which is acting as a super effective carbon sink) really a net neutral for the environment? (Update: After checking their website, it appears that the nonprofit they’re associated with donates to offset the carbon the festival produced.) It makes me think I need to be a lot more conscious of how theater, and live entertainment in general, is being produced. I recently learned how industry trends are taking us away from wood usage, but I’m very concerned that moving towards steel is not great for the environment. I want to be more conscious about how the decisions I and others are making in theater are impacting the planet we share.
I so appreciated reading Tinio’s positive outlook on his position leading the clean up crew. So often, the concept of environmentalism can seem so overwhelming and negative that efforts are simply not made. Tinio’s optimistic view proves that leaving no trace is feasible, even at the large scale that Burning Man is. Burning Man has intrigued me since I saw an exhibit on it at the Renwick Gallery when I was child. While I personally have no desire to spend weeks in the hot desert, I admire those who commit to it. I especially admire those who clean up. As engaged artist citizens, we must be cognizant of how engaging in art affects the environment both when we are the artist and spectator. Tinio proves that this is doable and his statement of, “There’s something so satisfying about leaving no trace. It’s a really beautiful time when restoration happens,” is one I will take into all outdoor art events I attend moving forward.
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