Episodes
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Academics from everywhere experiment, collaborate, and even interpret our stories of "This one time at Burning Man."
In this episode, Stuart talks with people from Burning Nerds, an annual gathering of academics in Black Rock City. They keep it light, though; not too many unnecessarily fancy words.
Dr Jukka-Pekka Heikkilä describes the technique used by the Burning Man Project that gives more power to the people.
Bryan Yazell and Patricia Wolf of the University of Southern Denmark use Flash Fiction in BRC to develop a new subgenre of sci-fi called climate fiction (‘cli-fi’), stories that are less dystopian, even less utopian, more protopian (fancy word) — not good or bad, but progress.
Professor Matt Zook of the University of Kentucky extols Black Rock City's unique aspects, from temporality to being a place apart. He and Stuart explore the interplay between digital and physical spaces, and what about community actually makes it good.
Then Jukka-Pekka Heikkilä returns with how the Burning Stories project, now in its 6th year of tracking tales, is a cultural repository and is training a gifted AI on how Burners be Burning.
jukkapekka.com
sdu.dk/en/persons/yazell
sdu.dk/en/persons/pawo
geography.as.uky.edu/users/zook
burningman.org/programs/philosophical-center/academics
regionals.burningman.org/european-leadership-summit
burning-stories.com
kk.org/thetechnium/protopia
sdu.dk/en/publications/enacting-hopeful-climate-futures-at-burning-man-2024
Bjørn S. Cience - Founding Board Member at Institute of Performative Inquiry
LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG
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Everywhere?
Regional events actively align with Burning Man's 10 Principles. 85 official events happen in 30 countries, with collectively more participants and more art grants than the original Nevada event.
After 25 years, the combined regional presence is huge, diverse, and evolving, and it all started in one place: Black Rock City. Whether you're Burning in New York or New Zealand, all backroads lead back to BRC.
We called a bunch of the Regional leaders to see how things are going out in their other homes away from home. We heard from Argentina, China, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, and even the far-flung realms of Texas and Kentucky.
Play this mixtape of people sharing stories from everywhere in the world.
regionals.burningman.org
And here's a related episode from 2022:
burningman.org/podcast/burning-man-is-not-a-place
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Missing episodes?
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Thousands of people volunteer each year in Black Rock City, for days, weeks, or months. Add to that the volunteers at the many Regional events around the world and it’s more than can be counted on fingers and toes.
Why do we volunteer?
Is it because we feel we received a gift and we want to pay it back, or pay it forward?
Is it the meditation of hard work in a hard place adding a dimension to our experience?
Is it the chance to do something different, for a pixel pusher to build an object, an engineer to cook for artists, a project manager to manage a different kind of project?
The answer seems to be YES.
We interviewed a few longtime citizens of Black Rock City about why they volunteer with the Greeters, with DPW, and with the Man Base to hear the stories of Topless Deb, Tamsin, Ruin, Terra, and a guy named Fuckyeah.
Listen to the stories of Topless Deb, Tamsin, Ruin, Terra, and a guy named Fuckyeah.
https://burningman.org/event/participate/volunteering/teams
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Burning Man doesn't make itself. The people who share their time and treasure, they create this weird wonder. Each of these people have stories about how Burning Man influenced their lives and how their lives influenced Burning Man.
The Flaming Tuba Guy is one of these people. His name is David Silverman aka Tubatron. Andie Grace talked with him about how his animation career started, how his musical career started, how the Mansonian Institute started, how his career with The Simpsons started, and how that influenced his involvement with Burning Man and vice versa. He also volunteers at BRC with the DPW at the Man Pavilion.
They recorded this at Burning Man and you can hear in their voices the phonic patina of the playa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Silverman_(animator)
https://x.com/tubatron
David shares more of his story in Episode 27 from 2020:
https://burningman.org/podcast/holiday-special-santacon-from-home
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Allow us to introduce you to the people who called the Black Rock Desert “home” way before we did. This is your backstage pass to the original Burners of the Great Basin: The Pyramid Lake Paiute.
Strap in for a road trip that's part history lesson, part cultural exchange, and essential listening for when you wonder, "Who lived here before we showed up in tutus?"
We're not just passing through, we're digging deep with…
Billie Jean Guerrero: Director of the Pyramid Lake Museum Mervin Wright: Environmental Manager James Phoenix: Former Chairman Steven Wadsworth: Current ChairmanDean Barlese: Elder and Spiritual Leader"Double D": A tribal member at at the Golden Spike CeremonyHelpful links:
Donate your leftover, non-perishable food to the Pyramid Lake Paiute. Drop it off at Bunny’s Tacos in Nixon! Here are Google Map Directions from playa to Bunny’s.
Camp or recreate at Pyramid Lake. Buy a permit here.
Volunteer at the Pyramid Lake Visitor Center and Museum. Help build out the new medicine garden or improve the museum’s new haba (traditional Paiute shade structure). Contact Billie Jean Guerrero at [email protected]
Donate to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. Stop by the Pyramid Lake Museum and Visitor Center. You can donate in person! Gifting!
You can also write to the Tribal Secretary at [email protected] with which program, department, or tribal office you’d like to direct your donation.
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Marian Goodell, CEO of Burning Man Project, talks with a lively audience as part of Robot Heart’s Residency in Oakland, California. She is joined by Candace Locklear (aka Evil Pippi), Erin Douglas of the Black Burner Project, and Robot Heart’s Justin Schaffer and Satya Kamdar.
It’s casual. It’s layered. It’s a room of Burners.
What constitutes culture jamming? Where does Burning Man bridge the divide to bring people together? How have pillars of our culture evolved from awkward beginnings?
They swap stories about the perks of unbranding. They joke about gifting and regifting, and the spectrum between talismans and swag. They go off the rails into how mainstream culture plays with Burning Man tropes.
Then they go beyond making a party in the desert, out into the world, to the Regional Network as a living embodiment of ‘Each One Teach One.’ They show how collaboration creates the community. They explore actually active inclusivity, and the question “Who are we?”
www.theother51weeks.com
Marian Goodell: Burning Man Project Board of Directors
Black Burner Project
The Future of Burning Man (video version on youtube)
Burning Man LIVE: The Evolution of Robot Heart
Burning Man LIVE: Candace Locklear on Culture Jamming and Welcoming
LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG
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Take a trip through the puzzle of porta-potties at a free-range event, highway happenings, and the new news about prep. This is deeper than “What is MOOP?” This is the ART of Leaving No Trace.
It’s part of the Burning Man ethos, and it’s why Black Rock City is the world's largest Leave No Trace event. Now nearly 100 other Burning Man events around the globe adhere to this attitude, this mindset. It’s an ongoing quest to leave less and less of a trace. As the principle is written, it invites us to leave spaces in better shape than we found them.
The 75,000 citizens of BRC pick up after themselves. It’s miraculous. And we can do more.
Those of us who take on the challenge, we see it as a process, a practice, a stretch goal. We look at ways to get closer to that zero point. Each of us is at a different point on the LNT learning curve. The next level is to develop techniques to do it collectively. It is a set of behaviors to be cultivated.
In this episode, we talk with some of the unsung heroes:
blue: DPW Logistics & Project Manager of Recycle CampBarbarella: Resto’s Highway Clean-Up ManagerDA: Playa Restoration ManagerHazmatt: Associate Director of BRC Business OperationsWe look at what gets left behind, so we can grok our cumulative impact, and make a better choice, a better cascade of choices, to teach good citizenship. Plus, eh, there may be a few poop jokes.
There’s an old saying in Black Rock City: “It was better next year.” Let’s leave no trace so that there will be a next year.
burningman.org/about/10-principles
Recycle Camp
2023 MOOP Map
DA on Restoration Destiny (Burning Man LIVE)
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Burning Man culture brings people together across all kinds of divides, yet we’re seeing an uptick of intolerance toward art and experiences in our community. The default world is often divided by ideology, religion, and politics. Could that division seep into this culture that aspires to welcome everyone?
How can we navigate the turbulent waters between, say, Radical Self-expression and Radical Inclusion? How do we walk the line between free speech and hate speech? How do we keep our global community together in times of outright war?
Listen in on a roundtable discussion about concerns that don’t have easy solutions. A few folks explore how the act of conversation changes what might otherwise seem controversial or divisive:
• Stuart Mangrum is Burning Man Project’s Director of the Philosophical Center so he directed some philosophers to center around a microphone to discuss.
• Caveat Magister debated and discussed Burning Man philosophy, then wrote books about it.
• Kay Morrison is a veteran Black Rock City artist, active in the Global Network, and a Burning Man Project board member.
• Steven Raspa is Associate Director of Community Events for Burning Man Project, and a co-founder of the Regional Network Committee.This conversation concerns art, yes, and behavior — as participants, as people. It’s about being open-minded and open-hearted, even when it’s difficult to do. What is a safe space? What is a brave space? How can jackassery be respectful? What’s with all the questions? Tune in for the answers that lead to more questions.
burningman.org/about/10-principles
Turn Your Life Into Art with Caveat Magister (Burning Man LIVE)
Kay Morrison and the Overall Wonderment Quotient (Burning Man LIVE)
Remember How to Burning Man with Steven Raspa (Burning Man LIVE)
Stuart Mangrum’s Serious Philosophy of Shenanigans (Burning Man LIVE)
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Tony “Coyote” Perez may be the best at thriving (and not dying) at Burning Man. He is the Black Rock City Superintendent, the Burning Man OSHA Instructor, and the 26-year Burner whose job it is to put himself in harm's way and then get out of his own way!
Sit in on a chuckling conversation between Stuart and Coyote. They put the wisdom in wise-crack. It’s not because they’re so smart; it’s because they’ve made every mistake and then asked why and how.
This is not a list of tips and tricks—those are in the Survival Guide. This is a refreshing penumbra of practices held by the one who is having the most fun.
They debunk fallacies such as "The Hero Factor" and "The playa provides."
They share stories about curious topics, including:
The culture of safety (Becoming involved in your own rescue)Situational awareness (Choosing to immerse into your new world)Serious self-care (and caring for your people)You may find that the challenges of your campmates and your camp build (and camp strike) become easier, simpler, and special-er (new word). You may just find that you banish bad luck.
journal.burningman.org/author/tperez
burningman.org/news/books-about-burning-man/built-to-burn
burningman.org/about-us/staff/TonyCoyotePerez
survival.burningman.org
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400 works of art don’t just appear as if in a desert mirage. Well, they do, but not without a lot of people, tools, and funds. Planners are planning. Makers are making. Art grants are granting! Crews all over the world are creating installations for Black Rock City.
Katie Hazard, Director of Burning Man Project’s art department curates some artist's tales for us. Hear their stories in their voices.
Hold onto your headlamp:
We’ve got an interactive Man Base that looks like an octopus or a fjord or both
We’ve got a larger-than-life omniscient prankster traffic cone
We’ve got the insider intentions of this year's temple builders
We’ve got artists sharing cultural riches from China, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire and the US.Desert Arts Preview 2024 (burningman.org)
Desert Arts Preview 2024 (YouTube)
Introducing the 2024 Honoraria Burning Man Journal)
The Burning Man Theme: Curiouser & Curiouser
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“While there are many beloved mutant vehicles out there, El Pulpo, in both of its incarnations, is the most ‘beloved.’”
~Chef Juke, Communications lead for the Department of Mutant Vehicles
El Pulpo Magnífico is a 28-foot tall giant octopus, a demented windup toy, a mobile kinetic sculpture with articulating legs, eyes, and mouths. It spews fire from its extremities and has been stealing the limelight for a decade now, first at Black Rock City, then everywhere from LoveBurn to EDC.
It’s merely the newest and largest expression of artist Duane Flatmo and his team of engineer artists. Years ago, he gave up music to pursue art and pursued it from New York to London, China, and back again. Duane shares how his influences inspired his innovations and how his resourceful team creates surprises for people worldwide.Hear the stories of El Pulpo’s predecessors, origins, and adventures!
www.elpulpomecanico.com
kineticgrandchampionship.com
Burning Man LIVE: Chef Juke’s Wild Art Car R.I.D.E.
LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG
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Back by popular demand, more stories from Burning Man's oral history project, an ambitious endeavor to track down and talk with people who helped shape the culture as we now know it.
Stuart and Andie remember to remember the most memorable parts. Here’s a fresh batch:
Chris Radcliffe, artist, con artist, prankster, and shadow founder of Burning Man (perhaps), shares stories of how the Cacophony Society would prank the media and how the Black Rock Desert drove up his fears, then dispelled them. He also hints at the larger-than-life impact of the Billboard Liberation Front.Candace Locklear, aka Evil Pippi, a perturber and social experimenteer (new word) shares how she helped Burning Man manage the mainstream media in the late ‘90s. She also talks about cutesy culture jamming as a scary clown.Summer Burkes was the DPW's media liaison. She sees the early days of Black Rock City as the love child of comically aggressive punk rockers and air-kissy techno industrialists, and she embraces their uneasy peace.Steve Heck brought 88 pianos to Burning Man in 1996, stacked them in a tall circular “piano bell.” People beat it into a cacophonous soundscape until he burned it. That was after he almost died wandering the desert. Then he cleaned it up, and did it the next year, and the next year, and taught the BRC teams the art of packing and moving big stuff.Dr. Hal Robins is a beloved Renaissance Man of stage and story, a Cacophonist, an Uber Pope of the Church of the Subgenius, and a mellifluous philosopher of sesquipedalians. He shares about the inventiveness and serendipity of Burning Man and why it matters in the world.Part 1 of this series: burningman.org/podcast/a-peoples-history-of-burning-man
journal.burningman.org/category/philosophical-center
burningman.org/programs/philosophical-center
www.cacophony.org
The What Where When Guide is here.
The 1996 Helco commercial is here.
LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG
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Burners from around Europe gather to teach and learn and to conjure ideas for the future. Burning Man’s 7th European Leadership Summit just happened, and we recorded some conversations for you.
Passionate people from the corners of Europe share with Stuart and kbot what they get from Burning Man culture and what they gift back to it. Hear a cultural spice drawer of stories about how they persevere through politics and pandemics to bring their flavor of Burning Man to their homeland.
Baroch - IsraelErin Kiez - GermanyGabriel Muscalu - RomaniaLinus Höök, Caroline Bergmann, and Britta Kronacher - SwedenPille Heido - EstoniaVinegar Joe - Portugal“Burning Man started with the fire. For me, that is a strong ritual. And it’s a harmonious ritual. And it’s true. And then you have the gifting, because someone built that fire, someone made it with no expectations. Someone made that fire only to warm up other people. From this idea, everything grew exponentially, but that’s the essence. Creating something for you and for others and expressing yourself through your creation. And that can be in all the directions magnified. It’s something that creates you. It’s a thing that you create and creates you. It’s like this beautiful spin.”
~Gabriel Muscalu - Romania
https://regionals.burningman.org/european-leadership-summit
https://regionals.burningman.org/regionals
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
How do we place like-minded folks together for harmony, not monotony?How are resources shared between camps in this new era?Can you tell me how to get to Center Camp Plaza?What rules cultivate a spirit of lawlessness?Is bigger actually better?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
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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)
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