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What Is Burning Man?

By Angelina Fabbro, OP Contributor

Cae

The really amazing thing about experi-
encing Burning Man was that once | was
around people brave enough to engage
in radical self-expression, | didn’t feel as
alienated from most of society as | did in
Vancouver. Don’t get me wrong—l’m
fairly well adjusted when it comes to
social dynamics and have plenty of
friends. But going to a festival where
self-reliance and expression are the

main themes certainly evokes a sense of

cultural freedom.

The first day, | discovered camp after
camp of interactive art installations,
open-minded conversations, spiritual pil-
grimages, and all-night dance parties at
the ends of the desert. Let me tell you-
you haven't really partied until you’ve
been to a dance camp at the edge of
Black Rock and stayed until dawn.

“Trying to explain what Burning Man is to

someone who has never been to the
event is a bit like trying to explain what a

 

particular colour looks like to someone
who is blind.”—BurningMan.com

So what exactly is Burning Man?
Most people I’ve talked to have heard of
it in passing, but aren’t sure they really
“get” what it’s all about. To be honest,
I’m not sure there really is much to get
beyond the basic ideas: you go to an old
lakebed-turned-desert in the middle of
Nevada and you camp out for the last
week of August. Involve yourself by
experiencing or contributing to the event,
take care of yourself, your fellow man,
and clean up after. You leave refreshed
and revitalized with less of the jaded
edge you had about humanity before
you traveled out from your mundane job
or stressful school life. That’s all it is. A
bunch of people getting together to bust
out their otherwise hidden norms of
walking around naked, painting sculp-
tures in the streets, making music with a
trombone ensemble, or driving around a
freaky modified car to pour everyone
free drinks.

Art is part of the foundation of
Burning Man, but where does it come
from? It comes from you, the participant.
Burning Man is run entirely by volun-
teers. The few hundred dollars you
spend on a ticket goes to paying for
porta-potty and medical staff, but the
larger portion of it feeds volunteers who

stay for months after the event to revert
the desert back to it’s original condition.
Leave No Trace: another Burning Man
fundamental. Burning Man participants
are a lot like post-modern hippies: more
sensible, some to most of them less
strung out, and usually quite tech-savvy.
“There are no rules about how one must
behave or express oneself at this event
(save the rules that serve to protect the
health, safety, and experience of the
community at large); rather, it is up to
each participant to decide how they will
contribute and what they will give to this
community. ”
—BurningMan.com

It all sounds somewhat Utopian,
doesn’t it? These descriptions are exam-
ples of Burning Man at it’s finest. If life
has taught anything, it’s that nothing is
absolutely perfect. Burning Man has
become so popular over the last few
years that in 2004 it brought over 40,000
people through its gates. With numbers
that large, we have to acknowledge that
we are incorporating a more broad rep-
resentation of humanity than simply a
bunch of well-meaning hippie-types that
venture away from society to get down
with some crazy art, music, and ideolo-
gies. With a crowd that big, there are
more than a few bad apples—you simply
can’t assume everyone is on the same