Tag: Burning Man

05 SEP 2011 – 05:16 PDT – Gate Road, Black Rock City

In 2010, I couldn’t wait to leave the playa to get relief from my stinging hands — though I also knew I’d be back for more. Now in 2011, idling in the queue to exit, I have a longing to stay. I felt comfortable here this week, and I’m afraid that I’m developing a strong sense of home for this place.

Standing in the crowd after the Temple burn last night, I was trying to puzzle it out. To figure out in my head space why, among all the diverse cacophony, I felt as if I knew all of these people. Realizing my folly in venturing into head space, I’m content to sink back into heart space and simply smile. Smile in recognition of the unity that makes us one.

Last year I posted the Keep Calm And Burn On posters around Black Rock City as my personal art project for Burning Man 2010. In a similar vein, I’m going to be posting this notice on the public bulletin boards around Black Rock City for Burning Man 2011.

I got the inspiration to post this sign from a snapshot on the wall of the cubicle next to mine in my default world job. It’s a picture of a sign in front of the Woolworth Building in New York City.

photo by Gene Han

I’m amused at how the meaning of the sign shifts depending on it’s physical context. Outside of a building in New York City, it’s an off-putting warning to the innocently curious. Within the city limits of Black Rock City, it’s a sly reminder of the principle of Participation (one of the ten principles of Burning Man).

Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.

There are no tourists in Black Rock City — only participants. Though sometimes we all need a reminder.