Burning Man LIVE – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Academics from everywhere experiment, collaborate, and even interpret our stories of "This one time at Burning Man."

In this episode, Stuart talks with people from Burning Nerds, an annual gathering of academics in Black Rock City. They keep it light, though; not too many unnecessarily fancy words. 

Dr Jukka-Pekka Heikkilä describes the technique used by the Burning Man Project that gives more power to the people. 

Bryan Yazell and Patricia Wolf of the University of Southern Denmark use Flash Fiction in BRC to develop a new subgenre of sci-fi called climate fiction (‘cli-fi’), stories that are less dystopian, even less utopian, more protopian (fancy word) — not good or bad, but progress.

Professor Matt Zook of the University of Kentucky extols Black Rock City's unique aspects, from temporality to being a place apart. He and Stuart explore the interplay between digital and physical spaces, and what about community actually makes it good.

Then Jukka-Pekka Heikkilä returns with how the Burning Stories project, now in its 6th year of tracking tales, is a cultural repository and is training a gifted AI on how Burners be Burning.

jukkapekka.com

sdu.dk/en/persons/yazell

sdu.dk/en/persons/pawo

geography.as.uky.edu/users/zook

burningman.org/programs/philosophical-center/academics

regionals.burningman.org/european-leadership-summit

burning-stories.com

kk.org/thetechnium/protopia

sdu.dk/en/publications/enacting-hopeful-climate-futures-at-burning-man-2024

Bjørn S. Cience - Founding Board Member at Institute of Performative Inquiry

LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Everywhere? 

Regional events actively align with Burning Man's 10 Principles. 85 official events happen in 30 countries, with collectively more participants and more art grants than the original Nevada event.

After 25 years, the combined regional presence is huge, diverse, and evolving, and it all started in one place: Black Rock City. Whether you're Burning in New York or New Zealand, all backroads lead back to BRC.

We called a bunch of the Regional leaders to see how things are going out in their other homes away from home. We heard from Argentina, China, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, and even the far-flung realms of Texas and Kentucky.

Play this mixtape of people sharing stories from everywhere in the world.

regionals.burningman.org

And here's a related episode from 2022: 

burningman.org/podcast/burning-man-is-not-a-place

LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

“While there are many beloved mutant vehicles out there, El Pulpo, in both of its incarnations, is the most ‘beloved.’” 

~Chef Juke, Communications lead for the Department of Mutant Vehicles

El Pulpo Magnífico is a 28-foot tall giant octopus, a demented windup toy, a mobile kinetic sculpture with articulating legs, eyes, and mouths. It spews fire from its extremities and has been stealing the limelight for a decade now, first at Black Rock City, then everywhere from LoveBurn to EDC.

It’s merely the newest and largest expression of artist Duane Flatmo and his team of engineer artists. Years ago, he gave up music to pursue art and pursued it from New York to London, China, and back again. Duane shares how his influences inspired his innovations and how his resourceful team creates surprises for people worldwide.

Hear the stories of El Pulpo’s predecessors, origins, and adventures!

www.elpulpomecanico.com

kineticgrandchampionship.com

Burning Man LIVE: Chef Juke’s Wild Art Car R.I.D.E.

LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Back by popular demand, more stories from Burning Man's oral history project, an ambitious endeavor to track down and talk with people who helped shape the culture as we now know it.

Stuart and Andie remember to remember the most memorable parts. Here’s a fresh batch:

• Chris Radcliffe, artist, con artist, prankster, and shadow founder of Burning Man (perhaps), shares stories of how the Cacophony Society would prank the media and how the Black Rock Desert drove up his fears, then dispelled them. He also hints at the larger-than-life impact of the Billboard Liberation Front.
• Candace Locklear, aka Evil Pippi, a perturber and social experimenteer (new word) shares how she helped Burning Man manage the mainstream media in the late ‘90s. She also talks about cutesy culture jamming as a scary clown.
• Summer Burkes was the DPW's media liaison. She sees the early days of Black Rock City as the love child of comically aggressive punk rockers and air-kissy techno industrialists, and she embraces their uneasy peace.
• Steve Heck brought 88 pianos to Burning Man in 1996, stacked them in a tall circular “piano bell.” People beat it into a cacophonous soundscape until he burned it. That was after he almost died wandering the desert. Then he cleaned it up, and did it the next year, and the next year, and taught the BRC teams the art of packing and moving big stuff.
• Dr. Hal Robins is a beloved Renaissance Man of stage and story, a Cacophonist, an Uber Pope of the Church of the Subgenius, and a mellifluous philosopher of sesquipedalians. He shares about the inventiveness and serendipity of Burning Man and why it matters in the world.

Part 1 of this series: burningman.org/podcast/a-peoples-history-of-burning-man

journal.burningman.org/category/philosophical-center

burningman.org/programs/philosophical-center

www.cacophony.org

The What Where When Guide is here.

The 1996 Helco commercial is here.

LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Burners from around Europe gather to teach and learn and to conjure ideas for the future. Burning Man’s 7th European Leadership Summit just happened, and we recorded some conversations for you.

Passionate people from the corners of Europe share with Stuart and kbot what they get from Burning Man culture and what they gift back to it. Hear a cultural spice drawer of stories about how they persevere through politics and pandemics to bring their flavor of Burning Man to their homeland. 

• Baroch - Israel
• Erin Kiez - Germany
• Gabriel Muscalu - Romania
• Linus Höök, Caroline Bergmann, and Britta Kronacher - Sweden
• Pille Heido - Estonia
• Vinegar Joe - Portugal

“Burning Man started with the fire. For me, that is a strong ritual. And it’s a harmonious ritual. And it’s true. And then you have the gifting, because someone built that fire, someone made it with no expectations. Someone made that fire only to warm up other people. From this idea, everything grew exponentially, but that’s the essence. Creating something for you and for others and expressing yourself through your creation. And that can be in all the directions magnified. It’s something that creates you. It’s a thing that you create and creates you. It’s like this beautiful spin.”

~Gabriel Muscalu - Romania

https://regionals.burningman.org/european-leadership-summit

https://regionals.burningman.org/regionals

LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

There are a whole lot of military veterans in Burning Man’s history and Black Rock City’s neighborhoods. Combat veterans Dr Raymond Christian (Army) and Samuel Williams (Marines) share stories with Stuart Mangrum (Air Force) about transitioning into civilian life, bringing survival skills and leadership chops to BRC, and finding tribal camaraderie… and a party.

They explore how hackneyed clichés of the military can wither in an environment of love and authenticity. PTSD, though, that’s still a thing. BRC can be like a military operation: the sights, the sounds, the smells... meeting interesting people, and finding forever friendships.

“Being in combat, you experience the worst of humanity… It pulls the veil off and you no longer care about the facade. You get raw about it because you've seen the extreme. Burning Man is the opposite of that. It is also extreme, but it is the very best that humanity has to offer. You're not going to experience anything more stimulating, more accepting, more exciting than Burning Man, because everybody there has coalesced and converged on this area to express their art and their love for the celebration of the human experience.” ~Samuel Williams

Linktr.ee/RaymondChristian

LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Robot Heart started with a simple sound system on an old double-decker bus at Black Rock City. Over the years, it has evolved into a bespoke sound system, light arrays, iconic art, and an all-star lineup of musical talent performing to massive crowds at sunrise on Playa.… all on that same old double-decker bus. 

Robot Heart also expanded its support of arts and artists beyond the playa, including New York’s Central Park, Miami’s Art Basel, and their residency program in Oakland, California. For the 2nd year, the team brings together various Burning Man camps, artists, and musicians from April 25th to May 18th.

A few years ago, Robot Heart created a 501c3 Foundation to make all this happen. Stuart talks with President Gary Mueller and Board Members Clare Laverty and Justin Shaffer. They trade tales from developing a foundation, collaborating with creatives, and taking pleasure from other people's pleasure.

robotheart.org

robotheartfoundation.org

www.theloomoakland.com

fareforward.com

www.artbasel.com/miami-beach

https://brandtbrauerfrick.de

wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudita

Lee Burridge - Robot Heart - Burning Man

Rodriguez Jr. (Live) Featuring Liset Alea  - Robot Heart - Burning Man

LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Moshe Kasher has lived many lives as a subculture vulture - a hearing child of deaf parents, an addict at 15, in recovery at 16, a raver, a culturally Jewish standup comedian, an old school Burner and a longtime Gate volunteer. 

With Andie Grace and Stuart Mangrum he explores how Burning Man is a waterboard of wonder where weirdos go to feel normal, and norms go to feel weird, and that the sweet spot is when you experience something that makes you say “Wait, What?!?”

They talk through how Black Rock City has evolved, from subcultures like the rave scene and AA meetings, to the transitional realm from the default world, the infamous Gate. Listen in on their playful tales of culture-jamming and utopia-tizing. 

Moshe Kasher (wikipedia)

Gate, Perimeter & Exodus (burningman.org)

Subculture Vulture: Penguin Random House

Subculture Vulture: New York Times Book Review

www.cacophony.org

The Endless Honeymoon Podcast

LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

This is one of those full-circle stories that makes our dusty hearts glow a little brighter. It’s the tale of big art that emerged from a fossil-filled trash heap, came to life in Black Rock City, then returned to its source as a proud symbol of what a community can accomplish together.

Tahoe Mack, a Las Vegas artist, tells the story of the Black Rock City Honoraria art piece she started when she was 15 years old. Her final Girl Scouts project became, oh, so much more. Over a few years, she learned to weld, fundraise, and work with acclaimed artists Dana Albany and Luis Varelo-Rico.

Her vision drew attention to an urban park with a rich archaeological history. Built from metal detritus that had accumulated there, “The Monumental Mammoth” dazzled Burners in Black Rock City 2019, and is now a permanent installation at a trailhead near the fossil field that inspired it all, and forged new connections between dozens of people.

https://www.tahoemariemack.com/themounumentalmammoth

https://protectorsoftulesprings.org/monumental-mammoth-project

https://www.danaalbanyart.com/mammoth

https://burningman.org/podcast/dana-albany-dreaming-in-metal-and-glass

LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

The Tip of the Iceberg is a 30-foot tall clitoris of stone, steel, and cement, fabricated to be monumental like Stonehenge, thus the nickname Clit-Henge. It aroused a lot of conversation at Black Rock City 2023. It’s the phallic symbol’s sister. It’s highly sensitive and highly talked about, and according to the artist, the more we discover about what it does, the more we can celebrate the birthright of pleasure.

Melissa Barron, a.k.a. Syn, has traveled to many places around the world that informed her lens of creativity, sustainability, and gender equality. She co-creates art, from the 2013 Temple of Whollyness, to her decade-long regeneration project Art for Trees, to this new intimate inquiry, the Tip of the Iceberg.

Journey with Syn, Andie Grace, and Stuart Mangrum through the Clit Renaissance, the rethinking of pleasure inequities, the teachings of cancer, the wisdom of aging, and the intuition of radical reciprocity. They explore these complexities, and they keep it light and bright.

Tip of the Iceberg (Burning Man 2023 Art Installations)

Tip of the Iceberg (Burning Man Gallery)

The Temple of Whollyness (Burning Man Journal)

Art for Trees (Burning Man Journal)

Syn on Social Media (Crone of Arc)

LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG