This year's burning man was the most crowded and I believe the crowding eyes gave support and interest to bear the weight of the loftiest art on the playa that I have seen (at least since my first burn in 2000).
There were so many pieces, here are just a few of my favorites when I happened to have a camera on me, categorized by light and mood. Click on a picture you like to see a larger image.
Of course Burning Man had fire dancers. This dancer just happened to be in the street in front of our camp at 4:45 and Desert. Truly this dancer is painting by fire.
The most amazing display of fire dancing was a choreographed performance at Tsunami on the Esplanade, Friday night. These dancers wielded an array of fantasy medieval weapons, from axes, staves, poi to claws and butterfly wings; all of which were ablaze.
Here's a video of the same; albeit from my point-and-click camera back in the crowd.
The man's burn was anti-climatic. Although the premature immolation during the lunar eclipse had been forgotten by Saturday night, after the minute of monotonous fireworks and the gaseous explosion the Man still stood for a few minutes. Some people were so bored as to leave the spectacle of the Man who would not fall.
The temple burn, on the other hand, culminated the spiritual nexus of Burning Man's entire festival. The elegant temple of forgiveness silently and majestically blazed, as if all in attendance had a piece of their heart on the pyre. The wind rushed in to fill the air being shot up by the flames. The playa dust was tinged dark orange and showed the wind's fate as it rushed into the fire. In reversing the expected motion of wind rushing out and toward us, it seemed to me that time was moving backwards.
The steampunk treehouse was gorgeous by day and night.
The cubetron was a cylinder of lights. Technically it was a central pillar of thirty sections. Each section had a pole with about ten strands of Christmas lights. Each strand had twenty-four lights. Each LED was encased in a ping pong ball, and was capable of emitting a wide range of colors. The LEDs were programmed to enchant onlookers with radiating patterns, tree-like patterns, and chaotictransitions. This is something a student could build on a budget, with sufficient time and ingenuity.
This Crystal Buddha has LEDs on double wheels, each of which is spinning. Meanwhile the LED color is also changing. The Crystal Buddha interacts with the user. Place your finger against one of its upheld fingers and the pattern of motion and light changes from your contact.
Every year I see tori gates. This was an exquisite specimen in front of a very large playground. Tragically, the night I visited it a man high on something had climbed the top of the dome (some forty or so feet radius). Women were calling him down, "Come down! We want to dance with you." An organizer climbed the central column, but the tweaker crawled away like a cockroach. An organizer had us leave, hoping that without attention the tweaker would get down safely. Sadly, as I was told the next morning, he fell to his death instead.
Dance Dance Revolution with nine flamethrowers? Yes. Really. Two contestants compete at DDR. If they dance poorly, they get a blast of fire.
Many cars and people were out, I only caught a few on camera.
The most fantastic to me was the Chesire Cat. This catmobile prowled the desert and streets for a few good party-goers. Here, the cat smiles, obviously happy to bask in the moonlight and have someone scratch its side.
This art car was distinguished by its plumage, blue head, and no body. The head itself was a few feet tall. It's bold colors and vacant eyes pierced the night sky.
This tricycle appears to be gas powered, not foot powered. So much for environmental rhetoric of the "Green Man." But what elegance in the repetition of a segmented circle.
This robotic bird of prey perched along the esplanade waiting for some poor robotic mouse (or camera) to linger too long in the spectacle.
When I look back on this photograph of a train engine, I'm still surprised. There was a train engine at Burning Man?
What is it about green light that attracts mall rats and cowboy hats?
Hm, does shade and rest make a sculpture interactive? Moreover, does anyone care?
Icarus would have been confused.
Steampunk treehouse. I don't know whence came the inspiration; but I admit, it rocked.
Something about the consistent bygone century class caught my eye.
I ended up seeing a lot of the art on the mile-diameter playa on the stage (next to the dance pole) of Love Potion camp's flower car. This is built on top of a Toyota, at least I think that's what the rednecks who lifted its skirts called it. The driver doubled as a DJ for this party on wheels.
I stayed at Camp Contact, which truth be told was more of Club Contact, as we ate gourmet vegan meals once a day, foraged from a full kitchen, and enjoyed shade from the scorching heat and protection from the dust storms under this canopy of a parachute.
My best friend Richard became the chaperone for a couple of high school girls from Virginia.
And I spent my time watching, dancing, and walking, rather than much photo-taking. I always go to Burning Man in my sandals; I try to dress and live nomadic and low-tech. During previous years that has murdered my feet midway through the festival. This year, I finally built up a footcare regime that enabled me to walk miles a day (at a clip that kept up with the bikes) and still dance during the night.
As in previous years, Burning Man was an amazing and quasi-spiritual experience. It was more crowded than previous years (over twice as crowded as 2000), and this attracted the more casual and mainstream members, thereby diminishing the spiritual and countercultural side. For that reason, I'm wavering on whether to go back; but on the other hand, I lose myself in it and I return more aware of what technology, comforts, and conventions of the civilized world that enrich my life and which crush my spirit. Since all time at Burning Man is immediate and voluntary, one's character can shed the parasitic entrapments of civilization and thereby recognize them upon reentry.
There was too much good art and too many talented photographers for me to capture the best images. Here are some others I have seen. Did you see something spectular? Tell me about it! kennerly -+- finegamedesign -:- com
