Burning Man LIVE

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. “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

Black Rock City is a temporary metropolis of 80,000 people who inhabit 1,600 theme camps and support camps. That means nine out of 10 participants' plans are coordinated by the Placement team — a handful of dedicated staff who decide which camps go where, and why. This year-round process is an art and a science that takes many factors into consideration — from city dynamics, to campers’ Radical Self-expressions. As Burning Man Project’s Associate Director of City Planning, Bryant Tan manages the Placement team, and oversees the city’s annual planning and placement process. Naturally, questions about Burning Man lead to more questions. Let’s go behind the scenes, under the clipboard, and beyond the map, exploring opportunities and obligations to iterate in this experimental city. It’s a unique test case for urban planners and any humans who live in semi-civilized situations. “We don't want this just to be an Instagrammable bucket list thing. It's an experiment in community. We want people to show up a certain way, and so I try to just have reasonable conversations with people to help them learn what Burning Man is, and learn how to distribute leadership and responsibility, how to empower people to be their most creative selves.” BurningMan.org: Placement Team: Level BurningMan.org: Placement Process HUBS: Humans Uniting for Better Sustainability PEERS: Placement’s Exploration and Engagement Research Squad LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

It's winter where we are. What are the coldest, most teeth-chattering, brrrr-iest of all the sanctioned Burning Man events around the world? FrostBurn is one of them, and its participants make it happen in the dead of winter on purpose, annually since 2008. Subzero temperatures, rain, sleet, snow, and sometimes sunshine. Why? Because they can. When the costumes are nothing less than comfy snow pants, when everyone is on the buddy system to ensure they survive the weather, no energy is wasted on facades and FOMO. People collaborate on Radical Self-reliance, Communal Effort, and all those cultural practices that got us where we are today. Bexx is an event lead at FrostBurn, plays music in the Black Rock Philharmonic Orchestra, and writes academic papers about Black Rock City. She tells tales to kbot and Stuart of a winter wonderland happily crafted by hearty Burners. www.frostburn.org BurningMan.org: Programs: Philosophical Center: Academics Aural Substance: An Ethnographic Exploration of Regional Burn Soundscapes (ACADEMIA) LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Stories. This collection is from Burning Man’s oral history project, an ambitious endeavor to track down and record interviews with people who helped shape the culture as we now know it. Stuart and Andie “Actiongrl” Grace share some of the most memorable stories for your gratification and edification. dispatch2022.burningman.org/the-philosophical-center journal.burningman.org/category/philosophical-center burningman.org/programs/philosophical-center www.cacophony.org LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Many people are surprised to learn that Black Rock City is home to two full orchestras and a Playa Choir complete with a secular Sunday sermon. Since 2012 Madi has been organizing and arranging the choir’s harmonies and happenings, each year with more and more help. In this installment, kbot and Stuart talk with They have stories and more stories of inspiration and elevation. We get to hear many voices resonate with music, recorded live at Burning Man 2023 in the Black Rock Desert. Hallelujah! https://playachoir.com LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Some people are surprised to learn that Black Rock City is home to not just one but two full-fledged symphony orchestras. While the Black Rock Philharmonic kicks out the classical jams, the Playa Pops brings the big-ensemble sound to popular music. Both are composed (ahem) of passionate volunteer musicians – classically trained, self-trained, and otherwise – who come together once a year to perform in the dust (or mud) the songs they have practiced all year at home. In this installment, kbot and Stuart talk to members of the Playa Pops and the Black Rock Philharmonic about their process, their performances, and how the desert hates their instruments. And we get to hear some amazing live music performed by actual humans, recorded live at Burning Man 2023 in the Black Rock Desert. https://www.playapops.com https://blackrockphilharmonic.org https://www.temple2023.com https://www.michaelgarlington.com/chapel-of-babel LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Have you stumbled upon Midnight Poutine in Black Rock City? Maybe you listened to Québecois rock as you waited for some of that crispy, cheesy goodness? As with many camps on playa, Midnight Poutine is the cultural tip of the iceberg of a vast community of creativity and goings-on; this one in Montréal, Québec. Arno Robin, one of Montréal's cultural instigators, spoke with Stuart and kbot about his nine-year journey from Midnight Poutine, to co-creating Montréal's Burning Man Regional Event, to developing a bustling makerspace. It’s one of those stories we love — one that travels through Black Rock City and then keeps on going — carrying the Burning Man ethos back home to take root and sprout local mutations. Plus… Stuart learns to swear in Québecois! https://www.linkedin.com/in/arno-robin-9b903936 https://losstidburn.org/en/home/ https://www.lespacemaker.com/en/ LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Dana Albany has come a long way since her first art project in the Black Rock Desert, a scrap-wood camel that got her started making things out of found materials, from discarded metal and broken glass to sun-bleached cattle bones and deer antlers. She has built flammable targets for notorious machine-art groups, worked as the artist-in-residence at a San Francisco dump, and had her large-scale metal and mixed-media sculptures exhibited around the world, most recently at the “Radical Horizons” show at England’s Chatsworth House. She talks with Stuart about her path to becoming an artist, which began with a spur-of-the-moment trip to Burning Man in 1996, about her mentors and mentees along the way, and about the joys of working with children to create high-impact interactive art. DanaAlbanyArt.com chatsworth.org/news-media/news-blogs-press-releases/burning-man-about-the-sculptures burningman.org/programs/civic-initiatives/youth-education-spaceship LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

We committed to be carbon-negative by 2030. How will we do it? We have “Burning” right in our name. When it comes to solar, biofuels, and energy banks, we have many irons in the fire, or rather, we are planting many seeds. Hear how Black Rock City is a hotbed, or rather, a garden bed, for the innovation of clean energy. Stuart talks with George B Reed III, Associate Director of Burning Man Project’s Off Fossil Fuels program about the progress we’re making for a brighter future, or rather... yeah, a brighter future. George shares what Burning Man’s leadership has been developing to be in integrity with our principles, from composting organic waste for food cultivation, to making renewable diesel from captured carbon. He shares stories of our community preventing and reversing damage to the climate. Hear how we’re collectively rewiring reality, showing our work, and sharing what we know. Here’s how you can do it for your camp, your cohort, your city. Burning Man Project: 2030 Environmental Sustainability Roadmap burningman.org: About Us / Sustainability (updated Oct 2023) The Renewables for Artists Team The Green Theme Camp Community & BLAST Burning Man Journal: Your Checklist for LNT in BRC (2023) Burning Man Journal: Waking Dreams: Evoking Greener Burns (2022) Burning Man Journal: Sustainability Initiatives on the Road to Black Rock City (2022) Burning Man LIVE: Burning Sustainably PART 1: We Can, We Will, We Must (Aug 2022) Burning Man LIVE: Burning Sustainably PART 2: The Road to Regeneration (Aug 2022) LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

The desert seems lifeless, yet it’s home to a whole lifecycle of bugs and animals from bunnies to foxes, from lions to horses to – most dangerous of all – COWS! Hear about the hidden lives of all that’s alive around Black Rock City. Stuart talks with biologist Dr Lisa Beers aka Sciprus. When she’s not teaching in remote villages on the other side of the planet, she’s Burning Man Project’s land fellow studying the Fly Hot Springs territory. In the face of mystery, she has the surprising answers, or at least more questions, and aren’t questions as good as answers? Aren’t they? How do butterflies know to ride the jet stream from Canada to Mexico and back? What do sea monkeys have to do with Fairy Shrimp Scampi? How do feral Burners adapt from arid & dusty to moist & muddy? journal.burningman.org/author/scirpus Burning Man Live: Ep 25: Scirpus and the Majestic Fly Ranch The Black Rock Desert of Nevada (wikipedia) LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

How would you overcome shyness at BRC? How would you break people’s brains at SantaCon? How would you acculturate museum docents to Burner culture? Brody Scotland shares how she did it, and how she went from hating Black Rock City to working year round in the Burning Man Art department. Brody and Stuart delve into the uncommon common sense of self-care and “feelings” in the emo roller coaster of BRC. They explore a style of pranking where no one is the butt of the joke. And they celebrate “Shit Dave X Says.” From hand-crafting iconic costumes, to logistics-crafting “weird little odd art,” this is a string of lively stories about Brody’s bespoke approach to increasing happiness. Brody Scotland (Burning Man Journal) Brody Scotland (Burning Man Staff) No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man (Smithsonian Institution) Dave X (Burning Man Journal) & Shit Dave X Says LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Stuart and Burning Man’s Community Services head honcho Terry “Retro” Schoop riff on the streets of our fair city and the naming thereof, from the controversial to the miraculous to the misunderstood. Black Rock City has elaborate art themes, each with street names, each with curious conditions. Why does our recreational refugee camp even need street names? Were they always alphabetical around an imaginary clock face? And what’s a clock anyway? Hear this year’s art theme (ANIMALIA) express itself through cryptids (animals that no one can prove are real). Folklore and fandom brought us our new ABC street names: Afanc, Bigfoot, Chupacabra, Dingbat… and NOT the Easter Bunny, thanks to Encantados, which are were-dolphins that shape-shift into dapper dancers in search of a party. This is an episode with literature, lore, and laughter — and a pile of BRC trivia for street cred. Streets of BRC 2023: Cavalcade of Cryptids | Burning Man Journal Burning Man 2023: ANIMALIA Terry “Retro” Schoop | Burning Man Journal Burning Man Staff: Terry Schoop LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Yes, Burning Man has a Chief Technology Officer, and his name is Steven Blumenfeld. In this episode Stuart chats with “Bloom” about art, innovation, immediacy, and the power of the unexpected, with trippy side trips into AR, VR, and AI (and TLA). Yes, we have a CTO. We have all the enterprise tech needs of any not-small non-profit, with the added complications of ridiculously challenging work sites, a staff that’s mostly seasonal volunteers, and an ethos rooted in Ten Principles that don’t always line up with ideals of Big Tech or engineering efficiency. You don’t build a city of 80,000 in the desert — or a global community of dreamers and doers — without bending a few bits and bytes. Or stepping on a few tech-bro toes. Bloom shares stories from his colorful career at the intersection of art and technology, from working with Al Gore at Current Media to pioneering the “always two years away” world of virtual reality. And he does his best to reassure Stuart that AI will not be taking his job… yet. LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

Psychedelics advocate and amateur Burning Man scholar John Turner’s two passions come together in one interdimensional rabbit-hole of a website: Trippingly.net. In compiling the ultimate fan site of Burning Man history, John has captured a lot of great playa stories, and he shares some of the best in this conversation with Stuart. He explores the subjective unknowns of Burning Man events and psychedelics as same-same-but-different. Bring your neural nets to be plasticized. Bring your ego to be dissolved. It’s a trip through the past, and a trip through presence. But when an interviewer interviews another interviewer, things can get weird. Together they explore the power of story (good and bad), who remembers what, who takes credit, and the subjective nature of consciousness. It’s a reflection on memory, serendipity, and the power of not knowing. “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” ~Mark Twain (as quoted by Larry Harvey) trippingly.net John B Turner (LinkedIn) shulginresearch.net cacophony.org Cacophony Society (Wikipedia) Burning Man 2023 art theme: ANIMALIA LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

She traveled to six continents for Burning Man Regional Events, to get to the heart of an ever-evolving global culture that creates community in a disconnected world. She wrote a book about it, and we published it! It chronicles her odyssey to Hear Roxane's impressions of each wildly unique event in this audio travelog. She talks with Stuart about how she would work, Burn, write, repeat. They explore how Burning Man culture rubs up against other cultures as it spreads. As an aid worker, Roxane sees first hand how vibrant Burner networks create positive impact. Burning Man events transform people, AND some people become Burners before ever attending a Burning Man event, by resonating with the 10 Principles and crossing paths with Burners up to new good. Once Upon a Time in the Dust: Burning Man Around the World (the Book) Burning Man Journal: Books About Burning Man: Roxane Jessi Regionals Reawaken: A Blog Series by Roxane Jessi BurnersWithoutBorders.org regionals.burningman.org Roxane Jessi LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG