{"id":2765,"date":"2016-09-17T02:54:12","date_gmt":"2016-09-17T02:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/?p=2765"},"modified":"2016-09-17T02:54:12","modified_gmt":"2016-09-17T02:54:12","slug":"burning-man-2015-in-pictures-lviii-graffiti-at-the-base-of-the-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/2016\/09\/17\/burning-man-2015-in-pictures-lviii-graffiti-at-the-base-of-the-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Burning Man 2015 in Pictures LVIII: Graffiti at the Base of the Man, Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we last saw our intrepid adventurers, they were rapidly going in circles.<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, we we follow them as night falls and they go adventuring to the base of the Man.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, there is some sort of plaza and art installation around the base of the Man, and over the years, it has become more and more elaborate, generally based on the theme of the event. This year was no exception, with the theme of ‘carnival or mirrors’, there had been setup carnival-like installations all around the base of the man, complete with banners for some typical and not-so-typical carnival characters:<\/p>\n

\"Professor<\/a>
Professor Blammo!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some fanciful pictures of the animals they might see:<\/p>\n

\"M&S<\/a>
M&S stare directly into the tiger with butterfly wings. Notice the cutouts where people have put pictures of faces.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A strange sound\/visual installation, with a projector, semi-floating heads, and some sort of almost musical instrument:<\/p>\n

\""So,<\/a>
“So, what do you guys think?” “I vote we keep making strange noises until they leave, befuddled.” “Befuddled? Why not A-fuddled?”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The players of the strange instrument looked upon the strange faces with concern.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"I<\/a>
I think this was casting pictures, but that might just be projection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Covering the maze-like structure around the Man was yard upon yard of graffiti[1]. This graffiti was sometimes sublime, sometimes random. Here, we see the semi-common statement “Fuck your Burn”. The post that I think most succinctly sums it up is thus:<\/p>\n

”
\nDon’t like billionaires coming to your party? Fuck yer burn. Air conditioned RVs ruining BM? Fuck yer burn. Hate raver bros? Fuck yer Burn. Annoyed by Hippy Drum Circles? Fuck yer Burn. Listen you fucks, radical inclusion is for YOU not them. You can’t make someone else be inclusive, you have to be.<\/p>\n

I spent my first burn manning our small bar in the suburbs trying to make people comfortable and happy. I spent my first burn in wide eyed wonderment at all of the cool shit that people built. I spent my first burn eating grilled cheese and listening to cool bands. I spent my first burn getting my beard massaged by a very nice gentleman not wearing much. I spent my first burn at classes and seminars. I volunteered at the post office. I had a popsicle that someone made for me out of maple syrup. I helped a ridiculously trashed person get out of the heat and to the safety of rampart.<\/p>\n

I met more awesome people and and had a better time than I have ever in my life. My stuff got destroyed by dust and rain, but we worked together to make it a great week.<\/p>\n

Other people ruining Burning Man for you? That’s your problem. Hey but after all, it was always better next year.<\/a>
\n”<\/p>\n

The phrase ‘Fuck yer Burn’ is an expression of some of the self-reliant ethos common at the Burn. To my understanding, people will do things that you don’t like that don’t directly affect you, and you might be bothered, irritated, angered, etc. by these things. The self-reliant ethos as expressed here suggests that your time and effort might be best spent looking inside yourself, seeing why you’re reacting this way, and figuring out how you can change your immediate environment to better enjoy yourself. Perhaps best summed up as “radical inclusion is for YOU not them. You can’t make someone else be inclusive, you have to be.”<\/p>\n

\""An<\/a>
“An eloquent statement from a differently civilized time.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On to the sublime:<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
One of the more confused graffiti artists.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And confusing #spacebetweenmeaning<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\"Now<\/a>
Now I’m confused.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This also seems to be a common (and wrong) suggestion:<\/p>\n

\"I'm<\/a>
I’m not sure what ‘worky advice’ is, but I’m guessing it’s non-optimal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next time, the graffiti gets even weirder!<\/p>\n

[1]An artist friend of mine once mentioned that you can really tell the undercurrents and character of a place by looking at its graffiti. It is the things that people want to say, but feel they are prevented from saying aloud or in respectable circles. When graffiti is punished harshly, this is all amplified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we last saw our intrepid adventurers, they were rapidly going in circles. Today, we we follow them as night falls and they go adventuring to the base of the Man. Traditionally, there is some sort of plaza and art installation around the base of the Man, and over the years, it has become more … Continue reading Burning Man 2015 in Pictures LVIII: Graffiti at the Base of the Man, Part One<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2765"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2765"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2778,"href":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2765\/revisions\/2778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nayrb.org\/~blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}