now what?

[igor47]

i've been working on a pretty ambitious art project for 2012 with 3 of my friends. we've spent countless hours brainstorming. we've reached out to the community for help and gotten a lot of people excited about the project. we've spent over a thousand dollars on parts and materials just for the initial prototype, which we hoped to complete by march. if we're going to complete this project by august, we need to be working on it pretty steadily until then...

but now a problem rears it's ugly head. of the 4 of us in the core group, only one has a ticket. of the 12 in the core group of my theme camp only 5 have tickets.

what do i do? i could:

1. continue working on my project in the hopes that we'll somehow some way score the remaining tickets
2. abandon our project until we know we have tickets
3. abandon our project altogether, and go as spectators, if we can get tickets
4. forget about burning man and move on with our lives

the way i'm feeling, i'd love to go with option d. if so, anyone want to buy my theme camp? it's pretty fun!! no? well, i guess i'm stuck with $10k worth of structural steel. maybe i'll recycle it.

i think that a lot of people who are in a similar position to me are going to go with option c instead. is this the end of epic art at burning man?

[trilobyte]

That's entirely up to you. You sound like pretty resourceful people, and should be able to work something out (between networks of friends, the ticket exchange, and the open sale). But if you feel completely defeated or that the odds are impossible or that your hearts couldn't possibly be in it… don't do it. Participate on a level you're comfortable with, or take the year off (or go find some awesome regional in a faraway location as an exotic playa-riffic adventure). Good luck with whatever you guys do.

[igor47]

should be able to work something out (between networks of friends, the ticket exchange, and the open sale). But if you feel completely defeated or that the odds are impossible or that your hearts couldn't possibly be in it… don't do it.

it's true. we can decide to not do it. but i would be very sad indeed if a large part of the community of creators who make burning man what it is end up leaving because they can't buy tickets. what a stupid reason to watch all that art whither away.

can't you envision a scenario in which ttitd becomes just a big party? where nothing original gets created? our community is strong and resourceful, but it's not a given -- we have to work to keep it what it is.

i'm ready to do my part, to participate, to create, to make a theme camp. we've been 100% on the moop map. we use sustainable, reusable materials, we're even contemplating going solar. we're happy to pay for tickets, at the highest tier. what more can we do?

what has the bmorg done to encourage me and those like me to continue attending? a ticket lottery? pshaw.