Burning Man 2009 Theme

[scorpio80]

What does everyone think of next year's theme? I don't want to give it away if you guys haven't seen it, but here is the link:

http://www.burningman.com/art_of_burnin ... theme.html

[Generic Anonymity]

Ooh, I like that it doesn't have to be a direct definition, though, really.
In trying not to give it away, either, I'll say that it can be very personal. nice

[diane o'thirst]

Evolution?
Interesting. I got a chuckle when I read that.

I'm sure someone will find a way to interpret a ring of headless athletes or a rebar tree through the theme's filter, but how does it relate to bunnies, pirates and devils?

Okay, okay, /snark. Happy Burn Saturday.
What I love about this theme is that it's on everyone's tongue these days. What with McCain's Creationist VP pick, and the hard Right spinning like crazy to make her sound like a viable candidate, Creationism vs. Evolution is getting a lot of press. Personally I don't see what there is to discuss.

Evolution is quantifiable science.
Creationism is, at best, filed under Literature.
Can't wait to see what next year's BRC's artists come up with.

[diane o'thirst]

Double-post...

I just submitted the theme page to Digg. I'll let you know how it does.

Looking at the theme page and doing a bit of thinking. Impressions:

I like the pedestal/pavilion design. It looks like they're bringing it down closer to the earth instead of sticking the Man on top of a skyscraper, like this year (yuck).

Tree? Maybe this is "Green Man Take 2?"

Are the Uchronia guys involved in the pavilion this time? Looks kinda familiar... [winking]

Pond! Sounds great!

The tack of "art is humanity's next evolutionary step" is a nice one. Me liketh.

[HughMungus]

What does everyone think of next year's theme? I don't want to give it away if you guys haven't seen it, but here is the link:

http://www.burningman.com/art_of_burnin ... theme.html

Love it.

[Bob]

Creationism is, at best, filed under Literature.

OTOH in my experience some of the claims made by buhrnurz (or Larry for that matter) don't even rise to the credibility threshold of Creationism -- eg relating The Origin of Species to human social d/evolution.

Can we mention Hitler's interpretation of Darwinism yet?

Yeah, I'm seeing a forest of friggin' rebar trees next year.

[DoriumLux]

LOVE IT.

[gyre]

I think having a theme this specific is antithetical to creativity in art, and actually destructive to art and burning man.

[littleflower]

Gyre wrote:
[quote]I think having a theme this specific is antithetical to creativity in art, and actually destructive to art and burning man[/quote].


i'm curious to know why you think so?

evolution can be specific, but i don't think it has to be... i read once about a series of organisms that came to and end about a million years ago, the book was called "Wonderful Life" or something, i don't have it handy. but the point was that there are endless possibilities as to how the world could have looked. the whole survival of the fittest thing... a lot of stuff didn't make it.

so it seems to me that an artist could go just about anywhere... i'm already thinking about some kind of installation based on connections that did not happen, e.g., flower into a bug into an airplane into a crash into a BBQ hamburger ... i mean, it could get pretty damned funny.

but then, i've never actually been to burning man, so maybe i'm totally off base...

[gyre]

Creativity is a delicate thing.
Even the smallest incentive has been shown to radically restrict or eliminate creativity.
It seems especially inappropriate to have a theme at burning man, and even worse to connect it to the art and art funding.

My opinion is that something like "the Floating World" was as narrow as any theme should get.
Burning man's real success is communicating to the outside world that anything might be art, no minor accomplishment.

Themes run counter to that.

I can go to any art show if I want to see art that has been vetted.

And I particularly want to see the widest variety of ideas at each event.

I'm hardly the first to say any of this.

[diane o'thirst]

I think having a theme this specific is antithetical to creativity in art, and actually destructive to art and burning man.

"Evolution" is about as specific, themewise, as "how many grains of sand are on all the world's beaches?"

Now if the art theme were "Tic Tac Toe"...yeah, you'd have a point.

[littleflower]

i'm new here, drawn by the radical free expression ... so any suggestion of limits is a concern.

you are still allowed to bring whatever art you want, aren't you? even if it's small stuff around your camping spot? does all art have to follow the theme? i saw "theme art" and "playa art" categories and just assumed that anything goes with the latter... As for the funding, it makes sense to me that the people who have the $$$$ would want to know where it is going.

all art has to start somewhere, with some inspiration, and evolution - i think you could twist almost anything to fit that category, if you wanted to.

[unjonharley]

My art for the theme is complete for 09. I will be installing it along the 8:300 street. Plaese come by and view it

All i have to do is "drug my old ass to the playa" I have evolved into a comfortable 71 year old burner..

[Toolmaker]

i'm new here, drawn by the radical free expression ... so any suggestion of limits is a concern.

you are still allowed to bring whatever art you want, aren't you? even if it's small stuff around your camping spot? does all art have to follow the theme? i saw "theme art" and "playa art" categories and just assumed that anything goes with the latter... As for the funding, it makes sense to me that the people who have the $$$$ would want to know where it is going.

Any city the size we have become must have some limits. RTFM.. ie the website, survival guide, first timers guide etc etc

Any art you fund yourself to be placed in your camping spot is OK, flame effects gotta get looked at for safety. Funded and placed art is another thing.. gotta go through the org channels and rules to get money, get listed, and get placed. I think The Artery is the place to stop by for some one on one when ya make it home to the playa. Anything big that you want some moolah for has an application process and whatnot done beforehand. I did see some renegade art placed here and there deep playa but it IS a public event and there is always a chance of something gettin defaced or stolen. If you care about your art keep a babysitter on it ALL week long.

Oh yeah.. alot of folks completely ignore the theme and just bring their own stuff. We prefer fire so try to make you art shoot fireballs or sumthin.

[MikeVDS]

I love the theme. It's simple and seems much more broad than the themes from the last two burns. It's also less political, especially to the burningman crowd, which I'm pretty sure has a negligible if not non existent Creationism group. And if it offends them, that's another bonus.

[DoriumLux]

Creativity is a delicate thing.
Even the smallest incentive has been shown to radically restrict or eliminate creativity.
It seems especially inappropriate to have a theme at burning man, and even worse to connect it to the art and art funding.

My opinion is that something like "the Floating World" was as narrow as any theme should get.
Burning man's real success is communicating to the outside world that anything might be art, no minor accomplishment.

Themes run counter to that.

I can go to any art show if I want to see art that has been vetted.

And I particularly want to see the widest variety of ideas at each event.

I'm hardly the first to say any of this.

I always see art that has nothing to do with the theme for the year. In fact, I can name more installations that were unrelated to the "American Dream Theme" than ones that actually correlated. It's up to interpretation, but I highly doubt that the theme interferes too much. In fact, some of the greatest installations that I saw this year seemed completely unrelated. Theme may be a suggestion but it's not a rule and I know plenty of artists and creators that don't follow it.

[stringTheory]

[quote="DoriumLux"]
I always see art that has nothing to do with the theme for the year. In fact, I can name more installations that were unrelated to the "American Dream Theme" than ones that actually correlated. It's up to interpretation, but I highly doubt that the theme interferes too much. In fact, some of the greatest installations that I saw this year seemed completely unrelated. Theme may be a suggestion but it's not a rule and I know plenty of artists and creators that don't follow it.[/quote]

I definitely agree with that. The art doesn't necessarily tend to follow the theme... I don't see how a crashed spaceship connects to "The American Dream"... but I'm sure if I thought long enough, I could make something up... and in fact, one could almost always find some way to connect a piece of art, that may seem entirely unrelated, to the theme. Maybe, and this is a stretch, one could consider this just a way for viewers of the art to exercise their own creativity in connecting (or not) it's meaning to the theme.

[gyre]

Maybe, and this is a stretch, one could consider this just a way for viewers of the art to exercise their own creativity in connecting (or not) it's meaning to the theme.

You are exactly right and that is my point.
Nothing is art until someone looks at it and reacts to it.
Affecting that narrows the diversity of the event and the art.

Burning man has been extraordinarily successful in encouraging creativity and art.
I think that should continue.

[Oldguy]

I can see DNA and RNA strands , free radicals, mutations, cancer camps, home-grown evolution kits, natural selection stations, Watson and Crick Memorials, survival-o-the-fittest games, march of the extinct species, the zoo of what-ifs, creationist fight club, etc... I can see inspiration here. Party on devolutionists.

[chiefdanfox]

I see lots of Fred Flintstone garb and dino-bikes. Maybe someone will make the Flintstones bus this year...

[Oldguy]

From Wikipedia
Prehistoric extinctions (begin Holocene to 1500 AD)

American Lion Panthera leo atrox, Western USA, 8000 BC.
Ancient Bison Bison antiquus, USA, 8000 BC.
Beringian cave lion Panthera leo vereshchagini, Alaska.
Cuvieronius, Florida and Arizona, 400 AD
Dire Wolf Canis dirus, USA, 8000 BC.
Giant Beaver Castoroides ohioensis, Great Lakes region, 8000 BC.
Giant hutia Elasmodontomys obliquus, Puerto Rico, 1000 BC.
Giant Short-Faced Bear Arctodus simus, USA, 10500 BC.
Glyptodon USA, 8000 BC.
Helmeted Musk Ox Alaska, 9000 BC
Pygmy Mammoth Mammuthus exilis, Channel Islands.
Smilodon fatalis USA, 8000 BC.
Woolly Mammoth Mammuthus primigenius, Northern USA, 2000 BC.
Western Camel USA, 8000 BC.
Yukon Wild Ass Equus asinus lambei, Alaska, 11000 BC.
Antillean Cave Rat
Insular Cave Rat
Corozal Rat
Columbian Mammoth Mammuthus columb, USA, 5800 BC.
American cheetah USA
Bison occidentalis USA
Recent extinctions (1500 AD to present)

Puerto Rican Shrew Nesophontes edithae
Puerto Rican Long-nosed Bat
Puerto Rican Long-tongued Bat
Guam Flying Fox Pteropus tokudae
Lesser Puerto Rican Ground Sloth,
Penasco Chipmunk
Sherman's Pocket Gopher
Goff's Pocket Gopher Geomys pinetis goffi
Tacoma Pocket Gopher Thomomys mazama tacomensis
Chadwick Beach Cottonmouth Mouse,
Giant Deer Mouse
Pallid Beach Mouse Peromyscus polionotus decoloratus
Gull Island Vole Microtus pennsylvanicus nesophilus
Louisiana Vole
Puerto Rican Hutia
Puerto Rican Paca
Lesser Puerto Rican Agouti
Greater Puerto Rican Agouti
Sea Mink Mustela macrodon
Caribbean Monk Seal
Steller's Sea Cow
Badlands Bighorn Sheep
Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit
Arizona Wapiti
Oregon Bison
Eastern Woodland Bison
Colorado Hog-nosed Skunk
Big Thicket Hog-nosed Skunk
Smith Island Cottontail
Allen's Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel
Banks Island Wolf Canis lupus bernardi, 1920
Cascade Mountains Wolf Canis lupus fuscus, 1940
Antillean Giant Rice Rat
Eastern Elk
Arizona Jaguar Panthera onca arizonensis

Birds
Prehistoric extinctions (begin Holocene to 1500 AD)

Law's Diving-goose, California, 1800 BC.
Merriam's Teratorn, Southern USA, 8000 BC.
Moa-nalo, Hawaii.
O'ahu Petrel, Hawaii.
Nēnē-nui, Hawaii.
Pleistocenen Black Vulture, Western USA.
Saint Croix Macaw, St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
Giant Amakihi, Big Island, Hawaii
Puerto Rican Obscure Bunting , Puerto Rico
Stout-legged Finch, Kaua'i, Hawaii
Kauaʻi Finch, Kaua'i and O'ahu, Hawaii
Maui Nui Finch, Maui and Moloka'i, Hawaii
Maui Finch, Maui, Hawaii
Pila's Palila, Kaua'i, Hawaii - possibly survived until early 18th century
Scissor-billed Koa-finch, Rhodacanthis forfex-prehistoric Kaua'i, and Maui,
Hawaii

Primitive Koa-finch, O'ahu and Maui, Hawaii
Oʻahu Grosbeak, O'ahu and Maui, Hawaii
Antillean Cave Rail
Recent extinctions (1500 AD to present)

Labrador Duck,
Heath Hen,
Spectacled Cormorant,
Atitlán Grebe
Laysan Crake,
Hawaiian Crake,
Wake Island Rail,
Bermuda Night Heron,
Virgin Islands Screech-Owl,
Mauge's Parakeet,
Carolina Parakeet, Conuropsis carolinensis
Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius
Guadalupe Caracara
Bahaman Barn Owl
Brace's Emerald
Gould's Emerald
Laysan Millerbird,
Great Auk,
Guam Flycatcher,
Kama'O,
ʻĀmaui,
Grand Cayman Thrush, Turdus ravidus
Dusky Seaside Sparrow,
Kona Grosbeak,
Greater Koa-Finch,
Lesser Koa-Finch,
Oahu 'Akialoa,
Maui Nui 'Akialoa,
Kauai 'Akialoa,
Hawaiʻi ʻAkialoa,
Kioea,
Ula-'ai-hawane,
Black Mamo,
Hawai'i Mamo,
Lana'i Hookbill,
Oahu Nukupu'u,
Greater 'Amakihi,
Laysan Honeycreeper,
Oahu 'Akepa,
Molokai Creeper,
Lana'i Creeper,
ʻUla-ʻai-Hawane,
Kaua'i Palila,
O‘ahu ‘Ō‘Å

[Cassidy]

The pocket gopher is EXTINCT?????????!!!! WTF!!

Aaaannnyway... I immediately saw this theme as a way for me to express my thoughts about evolutionary pathways such as "survival of the fittest" and why/when/where things are or are not "fit enough" in any given when/where. One could get VERY creative just along that line of thinking.

Themes will only limit the those who are not creative, and I think there's an abundance of creative folks that attend Burning Man that will stretch and pull ideas related to evolution that will fascinate us once again.

[lurker]

Well, I'm thinking 'Ape City',,anyone else?

[gyre]

The pocket gopher is EXTINCT?????????!!!! WTF!!

Aaaannnyway... I immediately saw this theme as a way for me to express my thoughts about evolutionary pathways such as "survival of the fittest" and why/when/where things are or are not "fit enough" in any given when/where. One could get VERY creative just along that line of thinking.

Themes will only limit the those who are not creative, and I think there's an abundance of creative folks that attend Burning Man that will stretch and pull ideas related to evolution that will fascinate us once again.

You do know 'survival of the fittest' only refers to procreation, I hope?
Nothing else.

[diane o'thirst]

I can see DNA and RNA strands , free radicals, mutations, cancer camps, ...

Cancer camps.



I'M IN.
Who's with me?

[eigenstates]

Just wanted to fill the requisite:

It is the [best|worst] theme ever. That I [have x+1 more than you number of years attending the event|am a virgin] should prove that I know what I am talking about.

You are all a bunch of [idiots|my best friends]. See you [on the playa|burn in hell]!

[Hugs|F-Off]

Eigenstates

[littleflower]

i can't wait so see what they put in that "gene pool"...

[theCryptofishist]

.. i read once about a series of organisms that came to and end about a million years ago, the book was called "Wonderful Life" or something,

Try 500 million years ago.
Yes it was called Wonderful Life and it's by Steven Jay Gould.

I think that A, B, C, Darwin, E, F, Gould, Huxley, ... is one possible way to do street names.
Another is more like Cambrian, Ordovucian, ... Triassic, Jurassic, Cretatious,... but that's like to be even more cofusing and less memorable than cars.
Or (most likely) it will be something like A, B, C, DNA, E, Fossil, ...


I do like this theme. Fuck, I like this theme. I'm hoping that we see a lot of the Far Side out there. If it's not so fucking full of dust drifts I might actually WANT to go. This is disturbing to me.

[diane o'thirst]

.. i read once about a series of organisms that came to and end about a million years ago, the book was called "Wonderful Life" or something,

Try 500 million years ago.
Yes it was called Wonderful Life and it's by Steven Jay Gould.

I think that A, B, C, Darwin, E, F, Gould, Huxley, ... is one possible way to do street names.
Another is more like Cambrian, Ordovucian, ... Triassic, Jurassic, Cretatious,... but that's like to be even more cofusing and less memorable than cars.
Or (most likely) it will be something like A, B, C, DNA, E, Fossil,

Adaptation/Ancestor, Beagle (as in H.M.S.), Carboniferous/Cambrian/Cretaceous, DNA or Darwin, (is "Evolution" too obvious?), Fossil/Finch, Gould/Galapagos, Huxley, Inherit, Jurassic, K, Leakey/LaMarck, Mendel/Mitochondria...

[theCryptofishist]

That's some good list there.