Burning Man: An Orgy of Art and Self-Expression

Originally published on Project Nuevo Mundo (projectnuevomundo.blogspot.com) on 10 September 2009. Recovered from web archives in October 2026; the text is unchanged.

Every year during the first week of September, tens of thousands of artists, healers, musicians, dancers, and individuals from all backgrounds and countries make the pilgrimage to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada for a celebration of life and love. There they erect a temporary city, Black Rock City, which has become the Mecca of the American underground art scene. Black rocks from outer space can even be found amidst the all-embracing dust, which permeates every centimeter of skin, clothing, and camping space. Gargantuan art pieces adorn the bleak white expanse, many of which are ceremonially burned at the end of the week, symbolizing the cycle of death and rebirth, destruction and renewal. We purify our spirits in the desert, exorcise our demons, our sorrows, and our pains, and leave reborn.

Although Burning Man (http://www.burningman.com) is an experiment in freedom and self-expression, there are some rules. The most important rule is that there are no monetary transactions permitted within the festival grounds. The economy runs on gifting, bartering, and love. Bars, restaurants, cafes, yoga studios, massage centers, live and electronic dance music stages, and art galleries abound, all of them completely free. The underlying philosophy at Burning Man is radical self-sufficiency, so every participant is asked to provide everything they need, and many bring more to share with others. It is truly an experiment in the Solidarity Economy, and functions beautifully for one week per year. The challenge is to bring this mentality out into the ‘default world’ when we leave the playa, and some groups are working to make this a reality. One manifestation is Permaburn (http://permaburn.org/), a permanent Burner community currently forming in the Sierra Nevadas of Northern California, 70 miles from the site of Burning Man. Another beautiful project is the Burners Without Borders (www.burnerswithoutborders.com), started as a disaster relief effort in Peru in 2005 and quickly expanded since then, participating in disaster relief efforts in New Orleans and elsewhere. Project Nuevo Mundo is now a member project of Burners Without Borders, and I anticipate a fruitful relationship to grow from this partnership in the future.

Our camp at Burning Man was called the International House of Folk Tales (iHOFT). In the mornings, we served the most delicious pancakes I have ever had the privilege to experience (cooked on our solar cooker), and the evenings were filled by folk tale performances from around the world, produced by my gorgeous camp-mates. Russian, Arabian, and Native American tales were enacted out in front of small crowds of theater-goers taking a break from the constant electronic beat witnessed 24 hours a day, all 7 days. A group of Persians camping nearby provided drums and informal percussive dance parties were held on our fortified Grid Beam stage, which was illuminated all night by solar power, channeled by our SolMan. You can learn more about these technologies at http://www.gridbeamers.com/; these materials were provided to us by a very helpful group of DIY (Do It Yourself) California engineers that will most likely be joining us next year for pancakes and folk tales at the iHOFT.

Over the week, I made many fortuitous connections with shamans, yoga instructors, massage therapists, fire dancers, and international DJ’s. One meeting of particular synchronicity was with a Danish party organizer who lives in Lago de Atitlán, Guatemala, the exact same location as the Project Nuevo Mundo site, as fate would have it. We had a mutual friend at Burning Man who introduced us, but it seems that it would have been only a matter of time until this acquaintance was made. He has a bar on the Lago de Atitlán called Freedom (http://www.thefreedombar.com/), which glows under the black light at night while multi-colored mandalas spin from the roofs and fire-dancers perform out on the lakeside.
We will be collaborating to throw the inauguration party of the Project Nuevo Mundo site on New Year’s 2010. The last surviving member of the Buena Vista Social Club will most likely be in attendance, and it will be a festival to remember, with organic food from our farm and restaurant, morning yoga classes, mid-day lectures and art workshops, evening sweat lodge and hot tub sessions, and live and electronic music. The name of the festival is Universal Dance Guatemala, and there are also Universal Dance Art and Lifestyle Festivals happening in Bolivia and Chile on New Year’s. You can find out more about the festival and concept on the Universal Dance facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15677531757). I hope to see many of you in Guatemala on New Year’s as we dance for peace, peace with each other, peace with Mother Earth, and peace within each one of ourselves.

Planetary
Elements
Acivating
Conscious
Evolution

Love and Light,
David