Burning Man Festival
"Burning Man" (literally "burning man") is an annual eight-day event taking place in the Black Rock Desert (US, Nevada). The festival starts on the last Monday of August, at zero o'clock one minute. The last day falls on Labor Day, the official holiday, celebrated in the US on the first Monday of September, a day off for most organizations. The climax occurs on Saturday after sunset, when a huge wooden statue of a man is burned.
It all began in 1986, when several friends burned a 9-foot wooden figure of a man. This spontaneous action has become a tradition and has acquired scope. The festival has turned into the main creative attraction of Nevada, a place where you can independently touch art and freedom.
During the festival, money circulation is completely banned on its territory, as well as transportation on transport - except bicycles and mobile installations. After the termination in territory there should be nothing that would remind of it. Participants affirm that there is no such thing as a close-up event in the world.
The organizers themselves define the event as an experiment to create a community of radical self-expression, completely self-reliant, and radical self-reliance. For a week in the desert, works of modern art, often of fantastic forms, are set. Some of them are burned by the creators before the end of "Burning Man". There are hundreds of "mutated vehicles" (English mutant vehicles) of the most incredible appearance, many participants go in the costumes of the characters of art, animals, objects and so on. Arrived in the desert, artists give performances, various dances are popular.
On several dance floors around the clock work DJs. At the same time, each participant is responsible for his life support (food, water, protection from heat, wind, cold, place to sleep, etc.) and cleaning the desert from any traces of his stay; All this must be taken care of in advance.
The burning of a wooden figure, symbolizing a person, at the festival "Burning Man"
The first burning of a small wooden man was in 1986, then on one of the beaches of San Francisco, a small group of friends. Subsequently, the circle of participants expanded and moved to the current place in the desert in the state of Nevada. In 2015, 70 thousand people took part in the festival.
Principles of the festival
Visiting the event as an observer is not approved
The Burning Man Festival does not have one dedicated goal of its conduct. To a large extent, the festival is created by the Burners themselves, the ordinary participants who are called to express the community, art (in the form of so-called installations), absurdity, decommodification and general fun. Organizers call for active participation in the festival, attendance of the event as an observer is not approved.
Ten basic principles are declared:
- Radical inclusion
- Gift
- Decomodification
- Radical self-sufficiency
- Radical expression
- Public efforts
- A responsibility
- Do not Leave a Trace
- Participation
- Here and now
Russian participants
In 2013, for the first time in the history of the festival, a creative group from Russia received a grant for the construction of an art object. The team, mainly consisting of the builders of the festival "Empty Hills", built the installation "Cradle of MIR" (Cradle of Peace), which became one of the key objects of the Burning Man - 2013.
Statistics of the festival
Satellite image of the festival site in 2005
Year | Subject | Number of participants |
---|---|---|
1986 | no subject | 20 |
1987 | no subject | 80 |
1988 | no subject | 150-200 |
1989 | no subject | > 300 |
1990 | no subject | 500 |
1991 | no subject | 250 |
1992 | no subject | 600 |
1993 | no subject | 1 thousand. |
1994 | no subject | 2 thousand. |
1995 | Good and Evil ( Good and Evil ) | 4 thousand |
1996 | The Inferno ( Inferno ) | 8 thousand. |
1997 | Fertility | 10 thousand. |
1998 | Nebulous Entity | 15 thousand. |
1999 | Wheel of Time | 23 thousand |
2000 | The Body | 25 400 |
2001 | Seven Ages ( Seven Ages ) | 25 659 |
2002 | The Floating World | 28,979 |
2003 | Beyond Belief ( Beyond the Faith ) | 30 586 |
2004 | The Vault of Heaven | 35 664 |
2005 | Psyche - The Conscious, Subconscious & Unconscious ( Mind - Conscious, Subconscious and Unconscious ) |
35,567 |
2006 | Hope and Fear: The Future ( Hope and Fear: The Future ) | 38,989 |
2007 | The Green Man ( Green Man ) | 47,366 |
2008 | American Dream ( American Dream ) | 49 599 |
2009 | Evolution (Evolution) | 43 435 |
2010 | Metropolis ( Capital ) | 50,504 |
2011 | Rites of Passage ( Rites ) | 53 963 |
2012 | Fertility 2.0 ( Fertility 2.0 ) | 52 385 |
2013 | Cargo Cult ( Cult of Cargo ) | 68 000 |
2014 | Caravansary | 65,000 |
2015 | Carnival of Mirrors ( Carnival of Mirrors ) | 70 000 |
People
Tens of thousands of representatives of art of different genres, from ordinary artists and musicians to avant-garde designers, sculptors and experimental architects, come to the world of round-the-clock performances, installations and nomadic galleries. And they all look very unusual.
Art
Burning Man can not be imagined without his fantastic sculptures, which are built before the festival in the territory reserved for action. Each sculpture is symbolic and reflects the spirit of the holiday. But everything is unstable, therefore, without exception, all works of art are burned to processions, concerts of famous musicians and DJs.
Comments
When commenting on, remember that the content and tone of your message can hurt the feelings of real people, show respect and tolerance to your interlocutors even if you do not share their opinion, your behavior in the conditions of freedom of expression and anonymity provided by the Internet, changes Not only virtual, but also the real world. All comments are hidden from the index, spam is controlled.