Jan 2008
American Dream
Burning Man 2008
Burning Man 2008
Jan/27/08 | getting
ready | permalink
Illustration by Jack Haye and Rod Garrett
The theme for Burning Man 2008 is
"American Dream" -- it was announced a while ago, while the embers
of the 2007 man were still warm on the ground. The theme has
spawned all kinds of heated debate about whether it's a good one or
not, whether it is to inward-looking or narcissistic, whether it is
inclusive for the thousands of burners who come to Black Rock
Desert from dozens of other countries, whether it is too specific
and therefore limiting artistic expression, on and on and on. If
there's one thing Burners seem to excel at, especially the ones
plugged in to BM culture as it exists on the web, it is endlessly
debating and protesting and arguing and microanalyzing. This might
simply be representative of the wildly diverse perspectives,
attitudes, beliefs and persuasions that the collective mass of
Burners represent. Sometimes it is interesting, other times
tedious, often it depends on the subject under debate.
Anyways, I love the American Dream meme and think it will inspire an assload of really thoughtful, topical, sacrilegious art and music. There are many different ways to approach this theme -- reinterpreting American history and symbols, recasting current events and giving us new ways to look at the nation and its peoples, dreaming up a new course that could lead America to an as-yet-undreamed future -- and I think the artistic results could potentially have great meaning and usefulness. But the artistic response can (and should) also include irreverence, satire, anger, goofiness and hilarity. It's rich territory.
Here's how the BMorg is thinking about it:
"Today, Americans appear to live amid the tarnished squalor of a second Gilded Age. By nearly every measure, America has become a more unequal society. A mere one percent of the population now controls a third of the nation's wealth. Education, health care and home ownership – these now escape the reach of those who thought they were the middle class. Forty years of heedless mass-consumption have turned dreams into delusions. America's awash in debt. Embroiled in a wayward war, its citizens are told to shop.
Many feel that the United States is now adrift. Its allies, once so numerous, begin to fall away and chart an independent course. Its citizens, more tellingly, have lost their faith in progress. Polls indicate they now believe their children can't expect a better future. They distrust the institutions of government, of finance, and the corrupting power of large corporations. And yet, the native traits of any culture are deep-rooted. Freedom, opportunity, inventiveness, the power to transform oneself: these values and a love of self-expression still endure.
Perhaps, it's time Americans began to face themselves. Maybe, it's also time that they began to listen to other countries of the world. All of us are immigrants to Black Rock City. What can we dream America to be?"
Read more about it here. If you have a feeling one way or another about the "American Dream" theme, speak up in the "comments" page.
And hot damn, tickets are already on sale!
Anyways, I love the American Dream meme and think it will inspire an assload of really thoughtful, topical, sacrilegious art and music. There are many different ways to approach this theme -- reinterpreting American history and symbols, recasting current events and giving us new ways to look at the nation and its peoples, dreaming up a new course that could lead America to an as-yet-undreamed future -- and I think the artistic results could potentially have great meaning and usefulness. But the artistic response can (and should) also include irreverence, satire, anger, goofiness and hilarity. It's rich territory.
Here's how the BMorg is thinking about it:
"Today, Americans appear to live amid the tarnished squalor of a second Gilded Age. By nearly every measure, America has become a more unequal society. A mere one percent of the population now controls a third of the nation's wealth. Education, health care and home ownership – these now escape the reach of those who thought they were the middle class. Forty years of heedless mass-consumption have turned dreams into delusions. America's awash in debt. Embroiled in a wayward war, its citizens are told to shop.
Many feel that the United States is now adrift. Its allies, once so numerous, begin to fall away and chart an independent course. Its citizens, more tellingly, have lost their faith in progress. Polls indicate they now believe their children can't expect a better future. They distrust the institutions of government, of finance, and the corrupting power of large corporations. And yet, the native traits of any culture are deep-rooted. Freedom, opportunity, inventiveness, the power to transform oneself: these values and a love of self-expression still endure.
Perhaps, it's time Americans began to face themselves. Maybe, it's also time that they began to listen to other countries of the world. All of us are immigrants to Black Rock City. What can we dream America to be?"
Read more about it here. If you have a feeling one way or another about the "American Dream" theme, speak up in the "comments" page.
And hot damn, tickets are already on sale!
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moontroll & ramona mayhem's 2007
reports now online
Check out the latest additions to the What is Burning Man page : Field reports from Burning Man 2007 as told by Ramona Mayhem and Moontroll. You can grok them right here...
