Tzu-Jung Huang
The Changing Nature of Burning Man
University College London - The Bartlett School of Architecture M. Arch Architecture / M. Arch History and Theory: Year 4 2018-2019 HT8: Eva Branscome / Architecture, Art & the City
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Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 04 CHAPTER I...................................................................................................................... 06 1.1 The emergence of Burning Man
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1.2 Digital culture in Burning Man .................................................................................. 09
CHAPTER II ..................................................................................................................... 12 2.1 The neo-tribalism in Black Rock Desert .................................................................. 12 2.2 Nostalgia for counterculture .................................................................................... 18 2.3 The inclusivity and exclusivity of Burning Man .................................................. 20 2.4 Decommodification and commodification ........................................................ 24 2.5 Burning Rock City as a heterotopia ....................................................................... 28 2.6 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 29
Reference List ............................................................................................................... 31
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Abstract In 1990s, the rapid development of digital technology formed cyberspace which is extremely democratic and resilient, providing anarchists a place to thrive.1 The focus of the essay are the relationships between one anarchist movement, Burning Man, and media, as well as how the media changes its nature. Burning Man, one of largest annual festivals, attracts 50,000 participants who help to construct an ephemeral city for nine days in Black Rock Desert.2 During the event, the participants immerse themselves in festive atmosphere through building installations and enjoying performance art together. Thanks to the creation of World Wide Web, the connection between the participants was maintained, forming a virtual Burning Man community.3 Website, social media platforms also help to establish Burning Man’s historical archives and share the news about the community, introducing it to the general public. Furthermore, different from common festivals, Burning Man publicly asserts its rejection of capitalism and consumerism in our contemporary society. It has its own doctrines such as ‘decommodification’ that aims at prohibiting any commercial consumption during the event to create a utopian society without the existence of monetary system that enslaves individuals. Thus, the event is praised as a wonderland for self-expression, exploration of individuality by its participants.4 However, as the community has expanded over the last twenty years, this communal belief is being challenged. The growth of the community makes the spending on the construction of the city more expensive, resulting in higher prices of entry tickets and expenditure during the event.5 This phenomenon entails that Burning Man is not an inclusive community which it advocates anymore. Furthermore, the dominance of certain group of people changes the overall structure of the community. This group of people, coming from homogeneous economic status and vocational background, turns Burning Man into a networking site.6 The site enables the participants not only
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Charlie Gere, Digital culture (London: Reaktion, 2002), pp.149. Michael Barbarino, Tanner Boeger, Andrew Lowe, Stuart Mangrum, Masha Oguinskaia, Silvia Stephenson, Burning Man project (2018), https://burningman.org/ [accessed 25 December 2018] 3 Dawn Ellen Aveline, Mirror and Shadow: Social Media in the Burning Man Community.” (University of California, Los Angeles, 2012), pp.3. 4 Michael Barbarino, Tanner Boeger, Andrew Lowe, Stuart Mangrum, Masha Oguinskaia, Silvia Stephenson, Burning Man project (2018), https://burningman.org/ [accessed 25 December 2018] 5 Burning Man Infographic(2010)https://laughingsquid.com/burning-man-infographic/ [accessed 25 December 2018] 6 Fred Turner, ‘Burning Man at G Burning Man: Transforming Community through Countercultural Ritual Process: A Cultural Infrastructure for New Media Production.’ New Media & Society,11:2 (2009): pp.73–94. 4 2
to meet the like-minded, but also to exhibit their professional capabilities that opens the door to new job opportunities. Moreover, an increasing number of large corporates utilise the resources in the community to build their reputation. They can realise the projects and promote them through exploiting collaborative power of the community and digital network. The novel and experimental installations are completed within few days in Black Rock City and financially supported by the community. In this sense, Burning Man has become a commercialised marketplace. The essay examines how the formation of Burning Man community is fostered and disturbed through looking into statistics and Silicon Valley culture. Based on the interview with two ‘Burners’, which are my peers, and the statistics conducted by American scholars, the essay will explore what positive and negative impacts the growth of the community has brought to Burning Man. Over the last three decades, Burning Man has not simply been a festival, instead, it has become a new typology of networking infrastructure.
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1.1 The emergence of Burning Man In the past two decades, there has been an increasing number of studies on one particular artistic event held every year since the late 1980s which is called Burning Man. The event was instigated accidentally by Larry Harvey in 1986 when he built an 8-foot-tall wooden effigy made of scrap lumber on Bakers beach, San Francisco and then burnt it with a bunch of friends.7
1. The First Man: The wooden effigy made of scape lumber was built by Larry Harvey and his friends in 1986.
When the piece of artwork was ignited, many spectators were drawn in by the flames and started dancing, drumming and raving. In the following years, Harvey decided to repeat this spectacle. Also, both the crowd and the effigy grew substantially in size. In 1990, roughly 800 participated in the construction of the effigy. However, the combustion of the forty-foot effigy was halted by the police who were concerned that the small beach was not capable of accommodating the rapidly increasing number of “Burners�, which the party-goers were by then calling themselves. Thus, they were forced to seek another more suitable location to continue holding this event. The new spot which is located approximately a hundred miles northeast of Reno, Nevada, is in the Black Rock Desert. The desert is an intensely arid environment and while this makes the controlled incineration of the effigies safer, it poses a constant threat to the Burners because they can get dehydrated more easily. Yet the harsh environment does not deter the burners from celebrating the annual festival, and over 50,000 people attended it by 2010.8 People, 7 8
Burn Life (2018), https://www.burn.life/1986--1990-the-early-days.html [accessed 4 January 2019] Michael Barbarino, Tanner Boeger, Andrew Lowe, Stuart Mangrum, Masha Oguinskaia, Silvia 6
who are enthusiastic about festivals, performance art and installation art, travel there from around the world. They often decorate or even create their vehicles to go to Black Rock Desert and dress in eccentric outfits to become themselves part of the environment of the one-week long event.
2. Modern Carriage: The modified vehicle driving to the ‘posh party’ is displaying the authors’ creativity, as well as wealth.
Stephenson, Burning Man project (2018), https://burningman.org/ [accessed 25 December 2018] 7
3. The Burner: A young woman in her alien-like outfit, Burning Man 2018.
4. The ephemeral metropolis: The aerial photos show that Black Rock City is erected and dismantled by the Burners within several days.
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5. The plan of Black Rock City: The Black Rock City even has street names, giving the participants a sense of orientation. It also contains recreational amenities, medical facilities, resembling a real city.
1.2 Digital culture in Burning Man Throughout the history of Burning Man, digital language has been a main pillar of this community. Digital network and social media play a crucial role in disseminating the information about Burning Man and supporting the community. As Charlie Gere, a British theorist focusing on media theory and history ,points out, cyberspace has fostered the ideals of counterculture as it deconstructs hierarchical structures and elevates the role of the individual.9 In the 1990s, the invention of the World Wide 9
Charlie Gere, Digital culture (London: Reaktion, 2002), pp.149. 9
Web provided the new means of connecting the Burners from different places thus establishing the virtual community by removing the difficulties in terms of time and physical distance, allowing them to communicate in an efficient way.10
6. The access to the virtual community: The digital technology enables people to escape from the geographical constraints, enhancing communication.
The Burners from around the world can therefore use web access for the preparation of the event making connections to others and designing infrastructures. And, Burning Man relies on the resources within the online community. As a non-profit organisation, it needs the funds from the public to construct the city and subsidise the selected winning projects. In 2014, a sculpture of two human figures titled Embrace, supported by Kickstarter fundraising campaign, was estimated to cost around $265,000 in total.11 Without the power of the online community, many installations would not have been possible.
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Charlie Gere, Digital culture (London: Reaktion, 2002), pp.11. Business Insider (2018) https://www.businessinsider.com/burning-man-most-expensive-festival-artinstallations-2018-8?r=US&IR=T&fbclid=IwAR1sTx2dL2MDKhqWFRA-XJz2HbTXurTRvOEIiOY87lrPlQW7W4pBp-Xqug [accessed 23 December 2018] 10 11
7. Burning Man virtual community: (A)Burning Man Journal (b) Burning Man ePlaya(c) BURN2(d)Flickr(e)Twitter(f)Instagram(g)Facebook
8. Documenting Burning Man on the Playa: Digital language plays a crucial role in establishing a digital library which records the history of Burning Man.
Furthermore, the ephemerality of the display and performance during Burning Man results in the more frequent use of social media during the event. The installations might be burned or taken away from the desert, and the performance art is very 11
dynamic and instant, but, digital technology allows the Burners to capture the exciting movements or phenomenal scenes.12 It offers them indefinite space for recording the event and lets them share the contents instantaneously. Moreover, the shared pictures, videos and blogs become the community’s archive which depicts Burning Man vividly. They might also trigger the memories of the event, reminding the Burners that they are part of community throughout the year. Growing alongside World Wide Web and social media, the Burning Man community has stored its historically significant documents in a huge digital archive. The cyberspace enables the members of it to escape from the constraints of geography, facilitating conversation and interaction between the community and outside world. Additionally, the virtual community demonstrates the paradigm of a self-regulating structure that is empowered by the participation of its members. From the large fundraising campaign to the organisation of the megacity, the community utilises collaborative power to achieve the goals without any governmental interventions.
2.1 The neo-tribalism in Black Rock Desert Richard Florida (2002), an American theorist focuses on social and economic theory, has identified a group of people doing certain kinds of jobs which involve problemsolving or creative work such as engineers, scientists, designers, artists and so on as ‘Creative Class’.13 As Florida states, people within this Creative Class bring with them the creation of new capital, resulting in prosperity in Bay Area. Furthermore, according to the participant demographics14 conducted by Burning Man organization in 2013, 82 percent of the participants are American residents and lot of them were from San Francisco Bay Area. Although the precise statistics in terms of the participants’ vocational backgrounds have not been conducted, there are some news
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Interview between author and Nai-Han Yang, one of the Burners, December 20th 2018. Florida, Richard L., The rise of the creative class: and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life (New York: Basic Books, 2002), pp.8. 14 Barbarino, Michael, Boeger, Tanner, Lowe, Andrew, Mangrum, Stuart, Oguinskaia, Masha, Stephenson, Silvia, Burning Man project (2018), https://z9hbb3mwou383x1930ve0uglwpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/BM13_BRC_Census_Report.pdf [accessed 5 January 2019] 12 13
and Burners pointing out the abundance of IT workers in Burning Man1516. At least one fifth of the Burners acquired tech vocational certifications17 which belongs to this class.
9. Burners in the United States: The map shows the distribution of the burners in America in 2013, and a lot of them are from San Francisco.
10. IT workers in Burning Man: The chart shows 20.8 per cent of burners had tech vocation qualifications in 2015.
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Patrick May, The Mercury News: Burning Man: How does tech fit in? (2016), https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/08/29/burning-man-how-does-tech-fitin/?fbclid=IwAR3DWYmVLU_4MdldlEJd8fnZE6bSvO3XBAf_vF6yYQSUbbR-Qs5fdd1uqxk [accessed 9 January 2019] 16 Keith A. Spencer, The data behind the gentrification of Burning Man (2017), https://www.salon.com/2017/09/02/the-data-behind-the-gentrification-of-burning-man/ [accessed 5 January 2019] 17 Michael Barbarino, Tanner Boeger, Andrew Lowe, Stuart Mangrum, Masha Oguinskaia, Silvia Stephenson, Burning Man project (2015), https://z9hbb3mwou383x1930ve0ugl-wpengine.netdnassl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015-Expanded-Census-Report.pdf [accessed 5 January 2019] 13
11. Map of America distorted by the Creativity: The map indicates that some areas are the centres of Creative Class. And, San Francisco is the most attracting place to the Creative Class.
12. Counting the Classes, 1999: The chart demonstrates the employee patterns and earnings in 1999, America. The Creative Class accounts for nearly a third of employees.
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13. Core Industries of the Creative Economy: The chart shows the main industries of the Creative economy in America and in the world.
Moreover, the rise of Burning Man also reflects the changes in social structure and attitude towards lifestyle in American society. As an American political scientist Ronald Inglehart observes(2002), the shift from “survival” to “self-expression” are driven by the changes in American material conditions.18 As their economic conditions get better, the Creative Class can therefore seek opportunities to fulfil their psychological needs and self-fulfilment needs rather than only surviving.
14. The structure of Classes: The graphic illustrates the Class Structure, showing the rapid growth of the Creative Class in America.
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Richard Florida, The rise of the creative class: and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life (New York: Basic Books, 2002), pp.81. 15
14. The Growth of Creative Workforce: The graphic illustrates how many people engage in IT industries in America during the past century.
However, working longer hours for the corporate companies and being slaved in the capitalistic world, their daily life can be monotonous and suffocating due to the less room for personal expression. Thus, Burning Man is a temporary antidote to it. It establishes a neo-tribal society for them to show off their professional capabilities, allowing the Creative Class to escape from structured everyday life. They can do things they normally would not do as the distant desert isolates them and provides them a grand canvas to demonstrate their bold ideas. ‘Rite of passage’ is performed during Burning Man that contributes to religious feelings some of the Burners have. The rite of passage, describes a transitional change in individual’s status in society, mainly happening during ritual and ceremonial events. Before the festival starts, Burners embark the journey from their relatively familiar places such as homes to enter a far-off land (Black Rock City). After stepping across the gate, they might experience liminality and communitas which destructs social hierarchy in the ritual settings. For instance, the Burners are obliged to behave in accordance with the customary norms such as the principles in Black Rock City during liminal period. The liminal individuals’ status, property and rank are thus homogenised.19 Also, this neo-tribalism emphasizes on design-oriented production which facilitates the sense of communitas. Peer production and interaction are highly encouraged. They might encounter obstacles in the process and meet up with other Burners that develops a sense of cohesion, in other words, communitas. And, the tangible separation from their mundane everyday life, the rite (The peer production) and the journey back to their homes can be examined as three phases during all rites of passage in Arnold Van Gennep’s theory: separation, margin and aggregation.20 Although there are still few ritual settings which are not applicable in Turner’s theoretical approach such as the dress in simple attire, most of the characteristics contributing to rite of passage can be found during the event. Furthermore, as Michel Maffesoli, a French sociologist, points out the ‘emotional community’ is the core of neo-tribalism which replaces the conventional tribal concept of physical distance and kinship between tribesmen.21 Neo-tribe members’
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Victor Witter Turner, The ritual process structure and anti-structure (New Brunswick; London: AldineTransaction, 1997), pp95-96. 20 Victor Witter Turner, The ritual process structure and anti-structure (New Brunswick; London: AldineTransaction, 1997), pp94. 21 Michel Maffesoli, ‘From Society to Tribal Communities’ The Sociological Review 11, 64:4 (2016): pp.739-747. 16
demonstration of shared traits and behaviours in the shared space is fundamental to the tribal cohesion and stability.22 This notion can also be seen in Burning Man community indeed. The homogeneity of the Burners’ background and common goals to complete the collaborative projects shorten the emotional proximity, cement emotional bonds and thus establish the neo-tribe’s social structure. And, different from traditional tribes, neo-tribes are constructed typically as fluid and temporal communities. The ephemeral existence of Black Rock City manifests the fluidity of neo-tribal identities. During the liminal period of time, the participants discard their fixed roles in everyday life to be Burners, owning the floating memberships of this neo-tribe.
15. A transformative journey: The diagram shows the components in a transformative journey. 22
Michel Maffesoli, ‘From Society to Tribal Communities’ The Sociological Review 11, 64:4 (2016): pp.744. 17
The rite of passage is performed during the journey.
As the community has grown bigger, Black Rock City LLC, which has been taken over by Burning Man Project organising Burning Man since 2014, enacted Ten principles (2004) to sustain it and promote its ethos.23 The principles include ‘Radical Inclusion’, ‘Gifting’, ‘Decommodification’, ‘Radical Self-reliance’, ‘Radical Selfexpression’, ‘Communal Effort’, ‘Civic Responsibility’, ‘Leaving No Trace’, ‘Participation’ and ‘Immediacy’. Some of the guidelines like ‘Communal Effort’ and ‘Participation’ aim at encouraging peer production. ‘Gifting’ and ‘Decommodification’ promote the sharing culture and generosity of makers. Every Burner does not expect reciprocal feedback, and what they contribute is dedicated to this neo-tribal society. This neo-tribalism not only helps them build their new identities, but also accelerates the formation of the Burning Man community.
2.2 Nostalgia for counterculture Due to the ideology, Burning Man is often seen as the iteration of American countercultural movements during 1960s and early 1970s24. Counterculture, defined by an American sociologist John Milton Yinger (1977), refers to a culture’s value and lifestyle which opposes dominant culture typically applied to the youth in 1960s.25 For instance, if the mainstream tends to promote consumerism, the members of it live a subsistence lifestyle. If being sober is the social norm, they do drugs and rave. Furthermore, music is an essential means of spreading counterculture. One quintessential example is Woodstock festival in 1969. During the four-day event, it attracted more than 400,000 participants to listen to a collection of singers and bands on a farm in Bethel, New York. Musicians such as Jimi Hendrix played the national anthem differently and some singers wrote lyrics to express the counterculture sentiment to America that they were eager to change. Although there were some problems such as overindulgence in psychedelic drugs, nudity and free sex during the four days, Woodstock festival still represented an iconic event that delivered provocative messages against power structure.
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Michael Barbarino, Tanner Boeger, Andrew Lowe, Stuart Mangrum, Masha Oguinskaia, Silvia Stephenson, Burning Man project (2018), https://burningman.org/ [accessed 25 December 2018] 24 Steven T. Jones, The Tribes of Burning Man: How an Experimental City in the Desert Is Shaping the New American Counterculture (Consortium of Collective Consciousness, 2011): pp14. 25 John Milton Yinger, American Sociological Review, 42.6 (1977), pp. 833-853. 18
16. Woodstock festival in 1969: The picture shows the spectacle of the festival on August 16,1969.
Furthermore, from 1965 to 1973, Drop City was another gathering point of counterculturalists who opposed consumerism and waste economy. To practice "live off America’s excesses", they constructed geodesic domes, inspired by an architect Buckminster Fuller’s dome building design, as places to live.26 The inhabitable places in southern Colorado in 1965 were built through using scavenged materials and vernacular techniques to minimise the waste. The members of Drop City also introduced a typology of alternative communal living. They lived with simply necessities in the small community as they scorned materialism and standarisaton in American culture. Instead of bringing the bacon home in contemporary society, the men in the community hunted for animals and prepared meals with the women. However, the attention it received from mass media led to the demise of the community. In 1967, Drop City won Fuller’s first-ever "Dymaxion Award" which brought tourists to see the dome structures that disturbed the members. Moreover, drug abuse was another problem. Some members took the communal fund themselves that made the community difficult to sustain.27 Thus, Drop City was abandoned by its residents in 1973.
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Simon Sadler, ‘Drop City Revisited’, Journal of Architectural Education,59:3 (2006): pp.5-14. Demie Kim, 7 Utopian Design Experiments, from Le Corbusier’s Radiant City to a Ghost Town in China (2017), https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-7-utopian-design-experiments-lecorbusiers-radiant-city-ghost-town-china [accessed 7 January 2019] 19 27
17. Drop City: geodesic domes are the well-known structures in Drop City. Burning Man bears some similarities to these two countercultural movements such as the Ten Principles which attempts to replicate the lifestyle. However, I would argue that Burning Man should not be categorised as a countercultural event as it has been assimilated by dominant culture. Some may think they are embracing counterculture through staying in Burning Man community. But, in fact, they are entering a world filled with mainstream elements such as mass commercialization which will be elaborated in the following chapters.
2.3 The inclusivity and exclusivity of Burning Man The Ten Principles may make Burning Man sound like an egalitarian community. Take the first principle for example, the ‘Radical Inclusion’, anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in this community (Burning Man, 201528). Yet, its ethos is altered and challenged by the current situation. According to Black Rock city census, Burning Man is a very white dominant event. Approximately 87 per cent of the Burners are white, 6 per cent identified as Asian and less than 1 per cent as black.29
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Michael Barbarino, Tanner Boeger, Andrew Lowe, Stuart Mangrum, Masha Oguinskaia, Silvia Stephenson, Burning Man project (2004), https://burningman.org/culture/philosophical-center/10principles/ [accessed 5 January 2018] 29 The Guardian (2015), https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/sep/04/burning-man-founderlarry-harvey-race-diversity-silicon-valley [accessed 25 December 2018] 20
18. The demographics of inhabitants in Black Rock City: The pie charts illustrate the demographics of the participants. The main participants are middle-aged, educated and high-income earners.
And, according to the census above conducted by Burning Man Project30in 2010, 44 per cent of the participants earn from 10,000 to 50,000 dollars annually, and 42 per cent earn more than that. Moreover, 67% of the participants’ age ranges from 21 to 40. Approximately 69 per cent of the Burners have college degrees. 31These statistics entails that Burning Man is a rather exclusive party open to certain kinds of people. Although Burning Man promotes anti-consumerism and gift economy, it does not mean it is a place everyone can go to. First and foremost, the popularity of Burning
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Michael Barbarino, Tanner Boeger, Andrew Lowe, Stuart Mangrum, Masha Oguinskaia, Silvia Stephenson, Burning Man project (2010), https://burningman.org/ [accessed 25 December 2018] 31 Michael Barbarino, Tanner Boeger, Andrew Lowe, Stuart Mangrum, Masha Oguinskaia, Silvia Stephenson, Burning Man project (2010), https://burningman.org/ [accessed 25 December 2018] 21
Man has resulted in inflated ticket prices, rising from $15 in 1991 to $425 in 2018.32 Ironically, the ticket prices in 2018 now are higher than the ones to Walt Disney World.
19. The changes in the size of the Man and ticket prices: The graphic illustrates the growth of the community, the height of the Man and the rising ticket prices from 1995 to 2010.
20. The Ticket Prices: Burning Man ticket prices are extremely high, and they are even more expensive than the ones for Disneyland.
Second, the participants should practice ‘Radical Self-reliance’ during the event which means they are supposed to bring enough food, water to survive in the sweltering hot desert. Third, accessibility is another concern to take part in Burning Man. Located in the centre of a remote desert, the site is difficult for many to reach. It takes the participants roughly 2.5 hours to get there from the nearest city, Reno,
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Michael Barbarino, Tanner Boeger, Andrew Lowe, Stuart Mangrum, Masha Oguinskaia, Silvia Stephenson, Burning Man project (2018), https://burningman.org/event/volunteering/teams/census/ [accessed 22 December 2018] 22
and 7 hours from San Francisco. Some of them might even travel by plane first which adds to the cost. Fourth, they need to get the Vehicle Pass for parking and the tent for sleeping which cost them more than $200.33 As a result, these additional costs incurred in nine days have made this event unaffordable for many. In 2016, CNBC estimated that the total cost of attending Burning man ranges from $1,300 to $20,000.34 Furthermore, in recent years, some richer participants from Silicon Valley even hire a personal cook to serve the meals 24/7 and stay in their massive and airconditioned camps.35 The lavish facilities and service form the “Billionaire’s Row”, reported by the Burners.36 Obviously, the conspicuous consumption violates the main principles and then contaminates the very nature of Burning Man. In this sense, Burning Man ultimately cannot escape from the consumerism.
21. ”Billionaire’s Row”: The wealthier participants hire chefs to serve the meal during the event, forming an exclusive place only for allowed guests.
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Michael Barbarino, Tanner Boeger, Andrew Lowe, Stuart Mangrum, Masha Oguinskaia, Silvia Stephenson, Burning Man project (2018), https://burningman.org/event/volunteering/teams/census/ [accessed 22 December 2018] 34 Ingus(2018), http://ingus.info/story-blog/how-to-become-a-burner-or-my-first-burning-manexperience [accessed 20 December 2018] 35 New York Post (2018), https://nypost.com/2018/08/21/champagne-private-chefs-and-drugs-howthe-1-percent-do-burningman/?fbclid=IwAR21kLyBZXTnFyQWWpRPEH3hfxlSdBprhbWjJV3rs_Wj730heQrTxK6I1GA [accessed 21 December 2018] 36 Interview between author and Nai-Han Yang, one of the Burners, December 20th 2018. 23
22. An approved Burner's sunset set from Burning Man: Burning Man is an expensive event to take part in. Participants are supposed to bring lots of things to survive during Burning Man.
While Burning Man advocates the open and diverse community, to some degree it favours elites, and highly educated with certain income. Larry Harvey and some Burners might argue that Burning Man embraces all from different economic, social and cultural backgrounds.37 However, many phenomena still contradict the ideology of social benevolence in reality. For instance, the high expenditure on tickets, transportation, food and accommodation has transformed this event into a one for privileged.
2.4 Decommodification and commodification Burning Man had been shaped as an anti-marketing place, supported by the two principles, ‘Decommodification’ and ‘Gifting’. In other words, any kinds of commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising are prohibited in the 37
Aneesh A, Hall Lane, Petro Patrice, Beyond globalization: making new worlds in media, art, and social practices (New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, 2012): pp.40. 24
community. 38The only two things for sale are water and coffee after entering the gate. And, how much the Burners contribute and share should not be judged. The contribution can be something physical such as food, drink, expensive stages and amenities. It can also be the demonstration of their quirky costumes, hugs, storytelling, and the sharing of live performance. Thus, for some Burners, Burning Man seems like providing space without intervention of capitalism which suppresses them in the ‘default world’.39 However, as the organizational infrastructure of Burning Man and the population have grown substantially, the original belief has been codified. Over the past decade, Burning Man has created network infrastructure in physical and digital form. But, like the Internet, the community is also commercialised. Some tech professionals from Silicon Valley flock to Black Rock City not only to get a weekoff and rave there, but also to enhance their career competitiveness.40 Throughout The Rise of The Creative Class, the words of Richard Florida indicate that the IT market has become more fluid, and the large corporates have stopped providing stability and support.41 The change of employment patterns results in the lack of loyalty to the corporates. Instead of climbing the ladder in the same companies, IT workers now tend to look for job opportunities horizontally, from company to company.42 Therefore, Burning Man, acts as an ideal platform for them to network, seeking better jobs and partners. And, since Google created the first Google doodle with a Burning Man stick figure on the homepage,43 some big entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley have frequently showed up during Burning Man in the search of new employees as well.44
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Michael Barbarino, Tanner Boeger, Andrew Lowe, Stuart Mangrum, Masha Oguinskaia, Silvia Stephenson, Burning Man project (2018), https://burningman.org/ [accessed 25 December 2018] 39 Interview between author and Nai-Han Yang, one of the Burners, December 2th 2018. 40 Patrick May, The Mercury News: Burning Man: How does tech fit in? (2016), https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/08/29/burning-man-how-does-tech-fitin/?fbclid=IwAR3DWYmVLU_4MdldlEJd8fnZE6bSvO3XBAf_vF6yYQSUbbR-Qs5fdd1uqxk [accessed 9 January 2018] 41 Richard Florida, The rise of the creative class: and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life (New York: Basic Books, 2002), pp.229. 42 Richard Florida, The rise of the creative class: and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life (New York: Basic Books, 2002), pp.104. 43 The Atlantic (2013) https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/the-first-googledoodle-was-a-burning-man-stick-figure/279416/ [accessed 20 December 2018] 44 Becky Peterson, Business Insider: Silicon Valley loves Burning Man and these tech executives are no exception (2017), https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-ceos-love-burning-man-2017-8?r=US&IR=T [accessed 25 December 2018] 25
23. The first Google doodle: The first google doodle in 1998 encouraged its employees to take part in Burning Man, advertising the event.
Furthermore, some burners argue that Burning man has become a meritocratic society. The more splendid the installations are, the more appreciations and applauses they get. They are ranked, judged and discussed by the participants.45 And, Burning Man has its own media such as broadcast, newspaper and radio to share the news about live performance and things worth visiting around the community. As a result, these installations which receive more attention and surrounded by the crowd are rendered as temporary super stars. The authors of them also get some benefits from it.
24. Meritocratic nature in Burning Man: The attractive installations receive more applauses and attention from the participants, giving some advantages to the authors in terms of the privileges in the event and CV in the workplace.
45
Interview between author and Nai-Han Yang, one of the Burners, December 2th 2018. 26
For example, the better location of their camps and the exposure of the work to the public. They have these privileges that new comers would not have. In addition, such experiences help them to build reputation and resume which competitive job candidates have.46 Burning Man has also become an experimental field for architecture and an advertising agency. In 2018, a giant reflective sphere supported by a steel mast was erected in the desert, reflecting the surroundings and showing the lively atmosphere in Black Rock City. The installation was proposed by a well-known architectural firm, BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group).47 Another example is 2018 Temple Galaxia, designed by Mamou-Mani Ltd Architects.48 The temple was situated in the centre of the city, symbolising the spiritual centre of Burning Man where Burners placed pictures of their families and friend and then commemorated them by performing the burn of the temple. The whole temple consisted of twenty triangular trusses to form a spiral shape, pointing towards the sky. Also, Galaxia was the winning design for 2018 Burning Man Temple, subsidised by the community. These two pop-ups make the most of Burning Man to showcase their technical innovations to the world. Despite banning all the commercial behaviours in Black Rock City, Burning Man still cannot prevent them from permeating into the community and being transformed into a marketplace. The ubiquitous appearance of logos, the hunt for job opportunities and the intervention of large corporates have crossed the line of decommodification. Some IT workers and entrepreneurs are there for their sake of business rather than simply attending a festival. Therefore, the Black Rock City seems like an annual exposition, providing space for them to promote their commercial goods and to build their social network.
46
Interview between author and Nai-Han Yang, one of the Burners, December 2th 2018. ArchDaily (2018), https://www.archdaily.com/901071/bigs-giant-reflective-orb-takes-shape-atburning-man2018?fbclid=IwAR3fV3m2DCxFa2aonKq8GTaapcNG9AA1lOyB6WvfTLi3zDhLT9NP5bMme14 [accessed 23 December 2018] 48 Mamou-Mani (2018), https://mamou-mani.com/project/galaxia/?fbclid=IwAR08wmsFrrXBo0mxzU6BzrTCMWK1_Nh1QSG272CLiFZ4oeV4jOKTcb_kVY [accessed 24 December 2018] 47
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25.26 Reflective ORB in Black Rock City: The installation was proposed by a well-known architectural firm, BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group).
27.28 2018 Temple Galaxia: The temple acts as a spiritual centre of Burning Man, uniting the participants from different backgrounds.
2.5 Burning Rock City as a heterotopia Black Rock City is a heterotopian site instead of a utopian one. In Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias(1985), a French philosopher Michel Foucault coins the term ‘heterotopia’ to describe unordinary social space which seems like enacted utopia in reality, highlighting limitations, failures, and weakness in everyday life.49 Contrasted with utopia which does not have physical entity, heterotopia is a real place. Burning Man exists in a barren desert for nine days every year which is a break compared with traditional time. The temporal existence and the location of the site form the ‘space of otherness’ that is distant from familiar places in everyday life. This 49
Michel Foucault, ‘”Des Espaces Autres” (Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias)’ Architecture, Mouvement, Continuité 5, 5:49 (1986): pp. 24-27. 28
feature fits in how Foucault categorises transitory heterotopias such as festivals and fairgrounds. And, in the second principle, heterotopias juxtapose in a “single real place several spaces, several sites that are in themselves incompatible.50 In the community, there are sub-cultures such as survivalists, urban primitives, artists, rocketeers, hippies, technicians forming different social sites-a microcosm of various ecosystems.51 Furthermore, the entry gate of Burning Man is a means of performing ritual ceremony which results in a both open and close system heterotopias propose. Every participant is forced to practice the Ten principles that makes them as a Burner after passing the gate. The last of the six principles defining heterotopia in his theory is the function of it in relation to the outside spaces-heterotopia of illusion or compensation.52 Burning Man belongs to the latter one as it has a utopian vision which denounces marketplace, consumerism and class structures to create a ‘perfect’ world that the group aspires it to be like. More importantly, the inconsistency in terms of its management with its ethos, makes it act as a mirror, which is the classic typology of heterotopia, reflecting contemporary society in the flawed world.
2.6 Conclusion This essay has explored the changing nature of Burning Man. Beginning in 1986, Burning Man initially intended to be a festival that welcomes all who are drawn into performance art, interactive installations and party. It was merely for festive celebration. However, the invention of World Wide Web and digital technology has resulted in the significant growth of the community that has both pros and cons to the community. On the one hand, digital technology plays an essential part in sustaining the community. It allows the Burners to be connected and enables people to keep the memories in a digital amber. The pictures, videos and posts about the event on the Internet are important archives, documenting the history and development of Burning Man. On the other hand, the growth of the population has detrimental effects to Burning Man’s communal ethos. It has become more and 50
Michel Foucault, ‘”Des Espaces Autres” (Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias)’ Architecture, Mouvement, Continuité 5, 5:49 (1986): pp. 24. 51 Fred Turner,. ‘Burning Man at G Burning Man: Transforming Community through Countercultural Ritual Process: A Cultural Infrastructure for New Media Production.’ New Media & Society ,11:2 (2009): pp.73–94. 52 Michel Foucault, ‘”Des Espaces Autres” (Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias)’ Architecture, Mouvement, Continuité 5, 5:49 (1986): pp. 27. 29
more apparent that the main members of the community are people from certain groups of people. The clustering the people seems like erecting an invisible fortress, making the Black Rock City excusive. Inside the castle, it is packed with the privileged guests, busy at exchanging information about work and networking. Despite enacting the Ten Principles in 2004, Burning Man has still become an epitome of our contemporary society, driven by capitalism and consumerism. The argument that scholars describe Burning Man as an ideal world for the celebration of creativity and art without any distractions, like money, is not convincing anymore.
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Illustration Credits
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Figure 1. ‘Burn Life’, https://www.burn.life/1986--1990-the-earlydays.html?fbclid=IwAR31KgPkDmi4ssGimpItsYmGXOFbyjMuqXXFegnJTiEdO3y8FI26bSgb_k [accessed 9 January 2019] Figure 2. ‘El Pulpo Mecanico by Duane Flatmo’, http___cdn.cnn.com_cnnnext_dam_assets_160907084704-burning-man-art-cars-5. Jpg [accessed 20 December 2018] Figure 3. ‘Nai-Han Yang’, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10216215137912336&set=a.15801763 45516&type=3&theater [accessed 20 December 2018] Figure 4. Business Insider: ’One photo reveals how insanely big Burning Man is — and how completely it disappears every year’, https://www.businessinsider.com/burning-man-leave-no-trace-photo-20178?r=US&IR=T&fbclid=IwAR1FUgIbGyy4yWRg6xwATT2BIRizpVYiKPGxbB1UnJOQBrKYQ KH4IVIy4hk [accessed 18 December 2018] Figure 5. ‘2014 MOOP Map | Burning Man’, https://burningman.org/culture/history/brc-history/event-archives/2014-eventarchive/2014-moop-map/ [accessed 20 December 2018] Figure 6. Huang, Tzu- Jung, based on: https://burningman.org/ [accessed 25 December 2018] (2018) Figure 7. Huang, Tzu- Jung, based on: Barbarino, Michael, Boeger, Tanner, Lowe, Andrew, Mangrum, Stuart, Oguinskaia, Masha, Stephenson, Silvia, Burning Man project (2018), https://burningman.org/ [accessed 25 December 2018] Figure 8.
Huang, Tzu- Jung (2018)
Figure 9. ‘2013 BLACK ROCK CITY CENSUS’, https://z9hbb3mwou383x1930ve0uglwpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/BM13_BRC_Census_Report.pdf [accessed 9 January 2019] Figure 10. ‘2015 BLACK ROCK CITY CENSUS’, https://z9hbb3mwou383x1930ve0uglwpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015-Expanded-Census-Report.pdf [accessed 9 January 2019] 35
Figure 11. Huang, Tzu- Jung, based on: Florida, Richard L., The rise of the creative class: and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life (New York: Basic Books, 2002), pp246. (2018) Figure 12. Huang, Tzu- Jung, based on: Florida, Richard L., The rise of the creative class: and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life (New York: Basic Books, 2002), pp330. (2018) Figure 13. Huang, Tzu- Jung, based on: Florida, Richard L., The rise of the creative class: and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life (New York: Basic Books, 2002), pp47. (2018) Figure 14. Huang, Tzu- Jung, based on: Florida, Richard L., The rise of the creative class: and how it's transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life (New York: Basic Books, 2002), pp47. (2018) Figure 15. Huang, Tzu- Jung, based on: Turner, Victor Witter, The ritual process structure and anti-structure (New Brunswick; London: AldineTransaction, 1997) , pp94-165. (2018) Figure 16. ‘Past Daily: August 16, 1969 – A Big Rock Festival In The Little Helpless Town Of Behtel – Woodstock’, https://pastdaily.com/2017/08/16/august-16-1969big-rock-behtel-woodstock/ [accessed 9 January 2019] Figure 17. ‘What This Utopian Artist Community Can Teach Us 50 Years After Its Downfall’, https://mic.com/articles/51167/what-this-utopian-artist-community-canteach-us-50-years-after-its-downfall#.518V0IIoi [accessed 9 January 2019]
Figure 18. Huang, Tzu- Jung, based on: https://laughingsquid.com/burning-maninfographic/ [accessed 25 December 2018] (2018) Figure 19.
Huang, Tzu- Jung, based on: https://laughingsquid.com/burning-man-
infographic/ [accessed 25 December 2018] (2018) Figure 20. Huang, Tzu- Jung, based on: https://www.google.com/search?q=Burning%20Man%20ticket&tbm=isch&source=ln 36
t&tbs=isz%3Al&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7_6HG3cHfAhUl4YUKHQZVAckQpwUIHw&biw= 1229&bih=539&dpr=1.56&fbclid=IwAR01zfcH5of5ORAl_TBq7VxyWDAFFq6WtAWnd hgi4gR0eeb4Lebnwg6CdNQ#imgrc=IidU-A9j9k6O8M: [accessed 25 December 2018] & https://nonrevtravelnews.com/2017/02/17/disney-parks-just-got-moreexpensive/: : [accessed 25 December 2018] Figure 21.
Huang, Tzu- Jung (2018)
Figure 22. Huang, Tzu- Jung, based on: https://djmag.com/news/burning-manhow-much-it-really-costsgo?fbclid=IwAR1xEyW4pcOg1i72skyqwqorq9imA8za_mUG2vtMPPInq_wpI7e43cCKj8 [accessed 23 December 2018] (2018) Figure 23. ‘The First Google Doodle Was a Burning Man Stick Figure’, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/the-first-google-doodlewas-a-burning-man-stick-figure/279416/ [accessed 20 December 2018] Figure 24.
Huang, Tzu- Jung (2018)
Figure 25.26 ‘BIG's Giant Reflective ORB Takes Shape at Burning Man’, https://www.archdaily.com/901071/bigs-giant-reflective-orb-takes-shape-at-burningman-2018?fbclid=IwAR2mXbX4IYIuIxQHoVqgq_s30wbsNC2sMCJ5S3aqLbSwIIZbT2T4-qJxmE [accessed 20 December 2018] Figure 27.28 ‘GALAXIA BURNING MAN TEMPLE 2018’, https://mamoumani.com/project/galaxia/?fbclid=IwAR08wmsFrrXBo0mxzU6BzrTCMWK1_Nh1QSG272CLiFZ4oeV4jOKTcb_kVY [accessed 20 December 2018]
Interviews Interview between author and Nai-Han Yang, one of the Burners, December 20th 2018.
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