Burnt By The Man
How copyrighting, capitalism, and lawsuit chaos disturbed the radical utopia of Burning Man.
They all burned the Man. The punk bicyclists, the drunk faeries, the people painted blue. So splendidly did Larry Harvey's 40-foot wooden hominid burst into flame that he and his friend John Law burned the Man again, each and every year since 1986, until everybody involved—last year, nearly 40,000 of them—simply became known as Burners. And the Burners built a Bedouin arts community called Black Rock City in the Nevada desert: a tent metropolis with its own "gift economy" that banned all commerce and its own government complete with a Department of Public Works. In short, they made a new Man—though maybe not a better one.
"I think it's something that needs to be skewered and mocked," says Law, Burning Man's cofounder. He quit running Burning Man a decade ago, but not before he and Harvey began selling expensive tickets to the event (last year they went for up to $350), trademarked and split ownership of the Burning Man name, and licensed it to Black Rock City llc, a for-profit, limited liability corporation run by Harvey. Law believes the corporation has become unaccountable, so he's challenging Harvey's oversight in a California court—quite literally putting the fate of Burning Man in the hands of "the Man."
Harvey, Burning Man's director cum philosopher king, has often portrayed the event as a global movement based on "bohemian principles." He has also resisted efforts to make Black Rock City llc more financially transparent and democratically accountable to the thousands of attendees who shower it each year with free art and labor (Burning Man's motto is "No Spectators"). "They keep trying to play it both ways," Law says. "Are you a movement, or are you an llc? If you are going to be both, I feel transparency is crucial."
Hence Law's lawsuit, which would compel Harvey to open Burning Man's financial books. Law thinks the corporation should give the public more say in the way it doles out $400,000 in annual arts funding. Alternately, Law would like to see the Burning Man trademark revoked, which could allow anybody to stage a Burning Man event or, to the horror of the event's staunch anticonsumerists, market Burning Man products ranging from lipstick to skin flicks.
Burning Man's attorney dismisses Law's suit as baseless and his goals as unrealistic. "We've never talked about a principle of transparency as something we should be doing on all levels," adds spokeswoman Marian Goodell, "because we are running a business." And democratizing Burning Man's arts grants "would advantage people who are members of scenes and live in cities and are personally popular," says Harvey.
So is the lawsuit just a money grab? Not at all, says Law. Burning Man was built by misfits who spent more time mocking old traditions than building new ones. In years past, Law has joined fake protests against the movie Fantasia, dressed up as a clown to ride San Francisco buses, and hopped on a cable car naked. Law's suit, he claims, is a challenge to anyone who would take Burning Man seriously. "That's my prank; that's my gift," he says. "They need to poke some fun at themselves."
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From your article Law sounds like a disgruntled muckraker. In the four times I've been to Burning Man I've met hundreds of people who've said they are having the time of their lives. Never once has anyone added the disclaimer, "The only thing keeping me from enjoying myself more is my unshakable desire for a more transparent corporate accounting process...."
Don't take yourself too seriously? Laugh at yourself? Sounds like words of wisdom to me.
uh.... what exactly are "bohemian principles" ?
Bohemian principles are for the most part, according to The Rebel Sell, principles that belong to people that deceivingly shy away from buying something during the day, but only at night. That is, when no one is looking, from a cabal of closet-shoppers.
Anyways, guys, it follows suit with the spirit of capitalism. And the whole thing is meant to be a satire. If you prefer to attend Burning Man, as opposed to going to City Hall and fighting for change in your city or your country, then this argument becomes innocuous and surely doesn't follow suit with any escapist credo.
i think the best thing to to is burn the whole city.... there is no room anymore for misfits.. terrible waste of resources..........
I went to B.M. in '05, had a great time, saw a lot of flesh, and spent a lot of money; it was much like going to the Bahamas. B.M. however did not have much of a "giving" and interactive community, and I felt weird partying around the same white liberal yuppies who treat me like crap back in the Bay Area where I'm from. At $280 to get in and no dogs, no hippies were allowed and a certain demographic was desired. B.M. should be in downtown Reno, because that is really what it has become, besides it would help loosen up Reno's scene to have a bunch of naked men gambling in casinos.
yes,,,nothing more nauseating and sad to see a bunch of "clinical", unworldly, white liberal yuppies attempting to be hip....
been to the playa four years in a row and i love it...lots of learning, lots of giving, lots of great art...many waking moments, nothing else like it in the world...if you had another experience, i guess that's that, but for me it's a glorious cosmic dr seuus lsd nuclear dream-event every time.
This year marks be my 3rd glorious time at burning man. I feel sorry for those who feel there is no "giving" at BM. I find everyone lovely and incredibly generous. I also find fault with Law's quote, "Burning Man was built by misfits who spent more time mocking old traditions than building new ones" which I feel is a personal attack on Larry Harvey instead of something rooted in truth. Burners Without Borders, their continuous desire to make things "green", their contribution to Gerlach--all things that are done to improve life, not mock it. Yes, Burning Man is a for-profit company, but there are many things I enjoy that I pay for-including burning man. However, the moment I can find Burning Man lipstick or skin flicks will be the day I stop going.
Bohemian Principles are basically reules one sets for themself that they are an "artist" and they are free to do whaterver and smoke whatever they want. The Burning man festival is nothing but a crapload of LSD freaks (or at least 91% of them are) setting a giant wikker man on fire. Really kinda dumb when you think about people prancing around on haloucinaginic drugs.
And it's important to remember the American credo, if people are having a good time, don't ask questions. Of course, some people's definition of good time is amassing tax-free wealth through exploitation, but let's not digress.
Burnouts spending big bucks to hang with other burnouts...the world is truly a strange and wondrous place. But then, who are they hurting?
Law enforcement has been placing activities such as Burning Man under surveillance. Those that visit Burning Man and other movements often get their cars searched for drugs and harassed by our gods in “law enforcement”. I have had my car searched so many times and been harassed so many times that I know that I am indeed a once free now slave of the American empire. It is time for a mass rebellion against the American government.
And, this, ladies and gentlemen, is what
happened to the Sixties. Greed wins again.
Gee, Mike. I done a lot of acid back in the day, but, thank God I never got a hold
of any of that 'haloucinaginic' [deleted]!
Oh, yeah! What are the other 9% of these burned out freaks on?
Sorry. Used a four letter word associated
with voiding bodily waste. Sorry.
I can stand proud and tell my grandchildren that I have never and will never go participate in Burning Man.
Please please the burning must stop! The nepotistic squandering of monies on the SAME people who build the same art year after year must stop! Too many precious resources wasted on ingrates! Let's go to Hawaii and witness the volcano!
burning man has too many weirdo flamers running around...
Where were all these democracy advocates when they were setting up the first burining man??
Sounds like a bunch of lazy monkeys that see something valuable and want a piece of it.
Burning Man, as a philosophical concept sounds good...but what a monumental waste of resources. I wonder what dump all that stuff ends up in. And in the same state as Yucca mountain...can you see the irony?
i piddy da fool that burns up a bunch of stuff on the beach then sells it back to you--man whats this llc stuff mixen it up w/ bohemians--kerouac wouldna writ bout it anyways--leaves of grass burn too ...whither goest thou america in the night
In all honesty, I always thought Burning Man was more about "being cool" and "Trendy" than anything else. I found it almost imposible to have an authentic conversaion there as everyone was wrapped up in fantasy-land and pretending to be someone else. That's fine I guess, but puleeeeese spare me the philosphy about it.
I'm proud that Law can be a sellout and still sue his former company because he doesn't like what they're doing with it. It was also a nice touch at the end to make it out like it's really a prank. Sure it is...
Back in 1988 my friend and I were riding our Trail 90's across the Black Rock Playa from High Rock Canyon to Gerlach when we encountered a bunch of people unloading lumber from a flatbed truck. We asked what was going on but the only thing we were able to find out was that they were going to burn a wooden man. Nobody seemed to know why this was being done. A plausible explaination for the burn seems to have remained elusive over the years. However, what was then a free event attended by maybe a hundred people has morphed into a "$350.00" a ticket" media event. If you want to know why they burn the man these days - follow the money.
My impression of Burning Man is a bunch of extroverts/druggies/sex addicts running around getting their rocks off trying to pass it off as a "spiritual event" What a bunch of crap.
You have these people and then you have the spectators.
Pretty soon, the former are all going to be in their own cages, with the spectators looking on in amazement at the decline of humanity rages on before them.
this article got most if it right (if briefly), except one thing: the steep rise in prices began immediately *after* John Law was out and the BMorg took control, not before..
resp to K. Clark: John Laws statement, "Burning Man was built by misfits who spent more time mocking old traditions than building new ones" did not say "mocking life", as you misquoted. It was a reference in part to the culture-jamming Cacophony Society, the parent non-organization of the BM festival, whose message is life-affirming at its finest.
Law and Voldal are right - BM was a Cacophony event, and Cacophony was a random network of misfits putting on bizarre urban adventures for themselves and each other. Explore Chinatown alleys, major hotels, WW2 bunkers, or your own poetic soul. You may already be a member! John Law was definitely a member, and so was I. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacophony_Society
One of the things I love about capitalism is that if you can find just ten people anywhere in the world who each care enough about your chosen work to give you $5,000 a year, then you can be in business for yourself with $50K/year of income. And try to grow from there. The BM organizers found 40,000 people who care enough to give them $250 a year -- that works too. Like any business, if they didn't serve their customers, they'd be out of business pretty soon. Who'd have suspected that dozens of people could get fulltime year-round jobs from throwing a huge BYO Everything party in the desert? They're teaching the skill to anyone who wants to learn (the "Regionals") and dozens have already set up their own BM-like event. You may already be a leader!
that's why we go, - to get some releif from your fear.
