Doesn't the new theme get posted right after the Man burn?

[Lady V]

As has been posted elsewhere, they are working to get the permit increased for 70,000 attendees by 2016 and are converting to nonprofit status. It's very unlikely this will be the last burn.

[merkin]

This was quoted in a recent SF chron article:

Although he'll never tire of promoting the principles behind Burning Man, Harvey says that the myriad tasks he's expected to perform in anticipation of each year's event have become tiresome, more like chores than labors of love. He's currently worrying about whether he'll be able to finish the text for next year's theme on time.

"That's the trouble with succeeding at something," he says. "It's one thing to accomplish something by your own drive, and it's another thing to accomplish it because people now expect it to happen. Suddenly it's thrust upon you, and in a way it doesn't feel so welcome."



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... z1XatVljvI

[wedeliver]

Oh wow, it just came to me as I turned the page. The theme for 2012 is plain as the nose on your face, unless you are wearing a bandana.

Here I will announce the theme for 2012..

are

you

ready?

Here it comes, for 2012 the theme will be..




















THE LAST BURN, BURN LIKE THIS IS THE LAST BURN.

I am so going. how 'bout you?

ok, so I thought about this and it is one of my more stupid posts, but instead of removing the offensive material, I would like to see a future type of theme. That would provide lots of art type of ideas. ..how about...

"yesterday, today and tomorrow"

[merkin]

Based on his comments, I wouldn't be surprised to see the theme "responsibility"

[theCryptofishist]

With street names: Acceptance, Back-Breaking Labor, Capable, Duty...

[hookahdude]

Next years theme-

Exodus

Everybody is required to park their cars in a line and live out of them for a week.

[Zhust]

As part of transitioning to non-profit status, 25 hippies will meet for several weeks until they collectively agree on something that does not offend any of them or anyone they can imagine existing.

They've already narrowed it down to "Happiness" and "Milquetoast" so the debate rages whether it should be "Happiness and Milquetoast" or "Milquetoast Happiness".

[TheDena]

I was hoping they would announce the 2012 theme on my birthday (9/9), which I hence could have employed as the my primary rationalization for going. I guess I'll have to find a different rationalization, but I'm pretty sure I can manage.

[Smoxalot 420]

I'm gonna go with the people who are guessing that the whole "2012 - end of the world " bunko is gonna have something to do with the theme. It just seems a natural to me.

[MyPlayaUserName]

I hope the theme somehow relates to involves a catfish.

[hookahdude]

I'm gonna go with the people who are guessing that the whole "2012 - end of the world " bunko is gonna have something to do with the theme. It just seems a natural to me.

Here is a thought - kind of the Antithesis of this idea:

Next year the LLC will not exist as they are moving it into a non-profit status. If you read the people who actually study the Maya and not ways to twist information, the date that everybody is tripping balls over is actually just the end of their "Long Count" calendar. It is more symbolic of the beginning of a new cycle of life/history/etc.

That being said - how about:

YEAR ZERO.

[graidawg]

lets start a campaign to get th theme WE want. what would come logically after a rite of passage? who really gives a shit anyway we will just go burn shit and blow stuff up anyway, then try to make it fit the theme. lets have realistic theme like american beer or absinthe throughthe ages. i would love to see lets blame the british as a theme. or things that dont explode. or sexual disfunction in the 20th century.

[junglesmacks]

I thought about this last night: There is only like.. what.. 12-14 more weeks until holiday pre-sales begin? We would need the theme soon so that ticket artwork and printing could start..?

[shroom]

How about instead of all 'the end of the world' stuff....we have the beginning?

[BBadger]

The word on the streets says it will be The Default World. But I have before and certainly I will be wrong again.

That's what I've heard as well.

[junglesmacks]

Seriously? No... seriously?

Wellllll.. I mean... this could be pretty entertaining, really. BM art caricatures of defaultia. School marms, oven mits, toasters, etc etc..

Hm...

The word on the streets says it will be The Default World. But I have before and certainly I will be wrong again.

That's what I've heard as well.

[BBadger]

Hopefully it's like 1950s "old" default world. I do have some good 1950s/1960s music for that.

[shroom]

Hopefully it's like 1950s "old" default world. I do have some good 1950s/1960s music for that.

That would be fun. Or any era for that matter. Like the 20's or the 80's. We are already glowing at night.

[wedeliver]

Next years theme-

Exodus

Everybody is required to park their cars in a line and live out of them for a week.

Next years theme-

Arrival

Everybody is required to park their cars in a line and live out of them for a week

[vargaso]

I like "The Default World" a lot as a theme. For one, lots of opportunity for creative ways to convey the default world on the playa. For another, it sort of ties into the expansion of the Burning Man ethos beyond the playa, vis a vis, brining the playa to the default world and vice versa. Whatever the case, I never meant this topic to be a conspiracy theory kind of thing, just an observation. Thanks for playing!

And of course, who gives a shit about the theme anyway?

[Bay Bridge Sue]

We kinda did the 20's with Metropolis... so yeah, the 50's would be interesting. And bring up a lot of CIT and Green Dot issues for older burners, I betcha!!! --giggles--

Do I get to bring my 52 DeSoto as an art car??

[kelizabeth]

Whatever theme is decided, I sure hope its better than "Rites of Passage". Wow. Vague theme = vague, tiny, unimpressive art. I saw a lot of boats. So that made the giant dock pretty cool. But my late night romps into deep playa were pitiful and saved only by a rousing game of bowl-o-pool.

[marck]

BM art caricatures of defaultia. School marms, oven mits, toasters, etc etc..

Hey, hey, Ixnay on the Ittmay. It is sacred.

[Lady V]

Rebirth.

[AntiM]

We kinda did the 20's with Metropolis... so yeah, the 50's would be interesting. And bring up a lot of CIT and Green Dot issues for older burners, I betcha!!! --giggles--

Do I get to bring my 52 DeSoto as an art car??

If there are gods, and if they are kind, NOT THE FUCKING 70s!!!!!!

[wedeliver]

you don't think the theme would ever be so simple as maybe "Bacon" Or "oven mitts"

How about.. "YOU"

[mudpuppy000]

Or how about dust?

[theCryptofishist]

lets start a campaign to get th theme WE want. what would come logically after a rite of passage? who really gives a shit anyway we will just go burn shit and blow stuff up anyway, then try to make it fit the theme. lets have realistic theme like american beer or absinthe throughthe ages. i would love to see lets blame the british as a theme. or things that dont explode. or sexual disfunction in the 20th century.

We have taught you well, Graidawg. I'm sure Doc deserves most of the credit, but I think that I have made some contributions as well.

[diss0nance]

How much does the yearly theme really affect what you do on the playa? I don't know anyone who changes what they plan to do based on the theme do you? I think the only people it affects are the people who want art grants, and do they fit the art to the theme or the theme to the art?

[theCryptofishist]

Art to theme, presumably, as the theme is out well before the grant applications are do. But we can all think of some work that didn't conform to the theme that got funded.
(All? maybe not. But many of us on this board can name names...)
Yeah, the theme is sort of a wash, and I am one of more than a few (is that a fuzzy enough qualifier?) who have the whole "I don't care about the theme" pose down. (Now Eric has to find a clever name for it, and Kit O'Connell has to put it in the lexicon; then I"ll know I've arrived as a trendy annoyance.) But I will admit that for some people, having the theme to work with or against gives them the grip they need to start creating.