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2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
- Simon of the Playa
- Posts: 18762
- Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:25 pm
- Burning Since: 1996
- Camp Name: La Guilde des Hashischins
- Location: Rochester, Nevada.
- Simon of the Playa
- Posts: 18762
- Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:25 pm
- Burning Since: 1996
- Camp Name: La Guilde des Hashischins
- Location: Rochester, Nevada.
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Religion
i have never been a big fan of religion. i like to think of myself as educated, and above the silly nonsense of spirituality.
like spock, but without the haircut and ears.
and now this...
how can i reconcile my annual pilgrimage for 20 years with my distaste for the church, the temple, the shrine and the altar.
how do i let go of my hatred of all the terrible things we as a species have done to each other under the guise of spiritual salvation?
how do i justify the utter ridiculousness of all the stories and myths i know to be metaphor and lies?
i trust the dust.
let me explain...
in every religion there is a force, an entity or entities that overlook or oversee or create our world and we are the product of that.
at burning man, we arrive to nothing but dust. it is our everything. it is our nothing.
and every time we breathe in that dust, we are breathing in the molecules of our ancestors.
we are the dust, we came from it, and we will return to it.....this you can be sure of.
not much else is certain.
all religions have their rituals and practices, and to outsiders, they may seem strange, even dangerous, since we tend to fear what we don't know.
we all worship different things in different ways, and you know what?
It's Fucking Awesome.
Burning Man is the Anti-Religion......We Mock and Snark as we Tolerate and Love.
make up silly rituals....WE LOVE IT...make fun of silly rituals...WE LOVE IT
it's ok to wear your magic underwear to center cafe, or your aluminum foil kippah to the Temple of your Choice.
its really the only place in the world where i feel comfortable in my own skin, and i get that feeling the first moment i smell the dust.
i suppose for some catholics, the smell of incense may flood them with memories of high mass at christmas, or for jews, the smell of chinese food on dec 25th, and buddhists get off on sage, so whatever floats your Viking Death Boat......
for me, i get "all the feels" from literally nothing.
walking out onto the tabula rasa, the emptiness, fills me with joy.
there i said it.
i'm get all moist when i hit dirt.
so, sue me.
now again, i ask myself, am i a religious man?
it appears i am, but i have chosen to not choose.
in the dust, we are all dusty........it's actually pretty simple.
the freak in me respects the freak in you. be nice. burn shit and blow stuff up, make art.
spread the word.
or tell people it sucks.
thats the great thing about this new Religion called Burning Man.
we get to make it up as we go along and admit it.
like spock, but without the haircut and ears.
and now this...
how can i reconcile my annual pilgrimage for 20 years with my distaste for the church, the temple, the shrine and the altar.
how do i let go of my hatred of all the terrible things we as a species have done to each other under the guise of spiritual salvation?
how do i justify the utter ridiculousness of all the stories and myths i know to be metaphor and lies?
i trust the dust.
let me explain...
in every religion there is a force, an entity or entities that overlook or oversee or create our world and we are the product of that.
at burning man, we arrive to nothing but dust. it is our everything. it is our nothing.
and every time we breathe in that dust, we are breathing in the molecules of our ancestors.
we are the dust, we came from it, and we will return to it.....this you can be sure of.
not much else is certain.
all religions have their rituals and practices, and to outsiders, they may seem strange, even dangerous, since we tend to fear what we don't know.
we all worship different things in different ways, and you know what?
It's Fucking Awesome.
Burning Man is the Anti-Religion......We Mock and Snark as we Tolerate and Love.
make up silly rituals....WE LOVE IT...make fun of silly rituals...WE LOVE IT
it's ok to wear your magic underwear to center cafe, or your aluminum foil kippah to the Temple of your Choice.
its really the only place in the world where i feel comfortable in my own skin, and i get that feeling the first moment i smell the dust.
i suppose for some catholics, the smell of incense may flood them with memories of high mass at christmas, or for jews, the smell of chinese food on dec 25th, and buddhists get off on sage, so whatever floats your Viking Death Boat......
for me, i get "all the feels" from literally nothing.
walking out onto the tabula rasa, the emptiness, fills me with joy.
there i said it.
i'm get all moist when i hit dirt.
so, sue me.
now again, i ask myself, am i a religious man?
it appears i am, but i have chosen to not choose.
in the dust, we are all dusty........it's actually pretty simple.
the freak in me respects the freak in you. be nice. burn shit and blow stuff up, make art.
spread the word.
or tell people it sucks.
thats the great thing about this new Religion called Burning Man.
we get to make it up as we go along and admit it.
Frida Be You & Me
- TT120
- Posts: 1735
- Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2011 8:43 pm
- Burning Since: 2012
- Camp Name: Orphans TOO!
- Location: Sacramento, CA.
- Contact:
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
I will continue my ritual of drinking too much scotch. It's always worked for me in the past, I see no reason it won't work again.
Life's a bitch, then you go to Burning Man - Unjonharley
We welcome the stranger, but that doesn't mean we have to like them, nor they us, and that's alright. - AntiM
W6BJD
We welcome the stranger, but that doesn't mean we have to like them, nor they us, and that's alright. - AntiM
W6BJD
- AntiM
- Moderator
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- Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 5:23 am
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- Camp Name: Anti M's Home for Wayward Art
- Location: Wild, Wild West
- Contact:
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
I am ritualistically jaded. Fuck.
- forty_eight
- Posts: 1178
- Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:58 pm
- Burning Since: 2013
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
fits well with plans for my fucking up couches ritual
- forty_eight
- Posts: 1178
- Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:58 pm
- Burning Since: 2013
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
sk8 kamp desitned to be extra radical
- Elliot
- Posts: 7716
- Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2005 8:41 pm
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- Camp Name: Elliot's Bicycle Service
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
Yes, yes.Sham wrote:I asked the question directly to a key person who builds the Man pavilion. I hope it's corrected and cleared up soon, but it was clear from my questions that there will be TWO installations as they have always been in the past.Elliot wrote: Can you point us to further information?
I like the Theme plenty -- all kinds of potential. But using the word "Temple" for the Man Pavilion is surely an error? I hope, and halfway expect, this will be corrected soon.
One installation is The Man and his Man Pavilion, which burn Saturday.
An other installation is the Temple, which burns Sunday.
No worries there.
But to rename the Man Pavilion by the moniker of the Sunday-burn installation... is surely a misprint?
I trust we are not merely "hoping" this will be corrected, but that there is concrete and targeted action underway to correct this? Can we obtain confirmation of such corrective action in progress?
(I don't have time to bicycle to 660 Alabama Street with a printout of JRS; the error circled in red crayon.)
Elliot's Naked Bicycle Service, Massage Clinic, Foot Washing Salon, Body Painting Studio, & Piano Lounge
EXPANDING TO TWO LOCATIONS IN 2019. BICYCLE TECHS, BODY PAINTERS, AND OTHER TALENTS WANTED

EXPANDING TO TWO LOCATIONS IN 2019. BICYCLE TECHS, BODY PAINTERS, AND OTHER TALENTS WANTED

- Simon of the Playa
- Posts: 18762
- Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:25 pm
- Burning Since: 1996
- Camp Name: La Guilde des Hashischins
- Location: Rochester, Nevada.
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
i say we call it a Pagoda, and set up a noodle stand beneath the mans legs...
how about we name the man Abraham.
Then it will be Abe Pagoda...
my job is done here...
how about we name the man Abraham.
Then it will be Abe Pagoda...
my job is done here...
Frida Be You & Me
- Simon of the Playa
- Posts: 18762
- Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:25 pm
- Burning Since: 1996
- Camp Name: La Guilde des Hashischins
- Location: Rochester, Nevada.
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Bitching Ritual
The Day Burners STOP bitching about one aspect or another of the Project is the Day Everything Ends.
be thankful it still sucks.
be thankful it still sucks.
Frida Be You & Me
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
Nice to know the theme this early, but it may not help that much with designing a new copper pendant...
my mind is blank.
(not an unusual state of mind here.)
my mind is blank.
(not an unusual state of mind here.)

formerly, Triken
keep on triken' Mamma!
Triken' ma blues away.....
Theatre is Life
Cinema is Art
Television is Furniture
keep on triken' Mamma!
Triken' ma blues away.....
Theatre is Life
Cinema is Art
Television is Furniture
- AntiM
- Moderator
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- Contact:
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
Tabula rasa here too.
The top of the pagoda looks a lot like a penis, so dicks are on my mind. Other than that, I got nuttin'.
The top of the pagoda looks a lot like a penis, so dicks are on my mind. Other than that, I got nuttin'.
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
A penis? Really? Larry must be an alien. "I see penis' everywhere".
Those aren't buttermilk biscuits I'm lying on Savannah
Pictures or it didn't happen Greycoyote
Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Pictures or it didn't happen Greycoyote
Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.
Arthur Schopenhauer
- ecoita
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2015 8:01 am
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- Camp Name: Duane's Whirld
- Location: Huntsville, AL
- Contact:
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
I'm just glad it wasn't Sublime Skyfall or something more ambiguously abstract.
At least it will give something for the media to talk about... " See, we have proof! They Do offer sacrifices!!!"
Anyway 267 days to go...

At least it will give something for the media to talk about... " See, we have proof! They Do offer sacrifices!!!"
Anyway 267 days to go...
If people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done.
- Simon of the Playa
- Posts: 18762
- Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:25 pm
- Burning Since: 1996
- Camp Name: La Guilde des Hashischins
- Location: Rochester, Nevada.
- FlyingMonkey
- Posts: 1186
- Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 10:33 am
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
Not a fan of the Man in a box. Maybe there's symbology in that but I still don't like it visually. Perhaps the giant dildo on top is functional. Who knows?
I'll still enjoy watching it burn.
I'll still enjoy watching it burn.
In your wildest dreams you can not imagine the marvelous SURPRISES that await YOU.
- Elliot
- Posts: 7716
- Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2005 8:41 pm
- Burning Since: 2006
- Camp Name: Elliot's Bicycle Service
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
That spire looks alien, as in outer space, Ratty? It looks a bit like me, actually, and I'm only from Norway.
I second "Pagoda". It alliterates with Pavilion, for continuity. And certainly looks like a pagoda to my eyes.

I second "Pagoda". It alliterates with Pavilion, for continuity. And certainly looks like a pagoda to my eyes.
Elliot's Naked Bicycle Service, Massage Clinic, Foot Washing Salon, Body Painting Studio, & Piano Lounge
EXPANDING TO TWO LOCATIONS IN 2019. BICYCLE TECHS, BODY PAINTERS, AND OTHER TALENTS WANTED

EXPANDING TO TWO LOCATIONS IN 2019. BICYCLE TECHS, BODY PAINTERS, AND OTHER TALENTS WANTED

Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
I'm don't care much for the theme.. I don't really care, but I don hate the fact that the man will be in a pagoda. The last 3 man burns sucked. I was really hoping they'd go back to the skeleton man. Oh well.. I guess I'll just build my own and hold a competing man burn.
Can you at least admit that nuclear explosions are awesome!?
- Elliot
- Posts: 7716
- Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2005 8:41 pm
- Burning Since: 2006
- Camp Name: Elliot's Bicycle Service
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
All right... I think I have given it enough time for my mind to process. And re-read the announcement enough times. And decided. Specially about the enclosed Man, and about the appropriation of The Temple's concept for the Man Pavilion -- even describing it as a "temple".
So.... There is an old saying, which applies to these two items... "If you cannot say something nice...."
Oh... the THEME is all right. We will have fun with that. One of our campers is designing a "Man" to be built of bicycle frames, with movable arms like the real Man, and we will have arm-raising rituals at Noon when we open the Bicycle Service, and so on.
From the announcement:
"...we will disregard assertions of belief and concentrate instead on the immediate experience of play."
I'm in!
So.... There is an old saying, which applies to these two items... "If you cannot say something nice...."
Oh... the THEME is all right. We will have fun with that. One of our campers is designing a "Man" to be built of bicycle frames, with movable arms like the real Man, and we will have arm-raising rituals at Noon when we open the Bicycle Service, and so on.
From the announcement:
"...we will disregard assertions of belief and concentrate instead on the immediate experience of play."
I'm in!

Elliot's Naked Bicycle Service, Massage Clinic, Foot Washing Salon, Body Painting Studio, & Piano Lounge
EXPANDING TO TWO LOCATIONS IN 2019. BICYCLE TECHS, BODY PAINTERS, AND OTHER TALENTS WANTED

EXPANDING TO TWO LOCATIONS IN 2019. BICYCLE TECHS, BODY PAINTERS, AND OTHER TALENTS WANTED

- some seeing eye
- Posts: 2895
- Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2008 12:06 pm
- Burning Since: 1999
- Camp Name: Woo
- Location: The Oregon
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
Man Cave.
Few know the burn plan.
Few know the burn plan.
increasing the signal to noise ratio with compassion
- Simon of the Playa
- Posts: 18762
- Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:25 pm
- Burning Since: 1996
- Camp Name: La Guilde des Hashischins
- Location: Rochester, Nevada.
- FlyingMonkey
- Posts: 1186
- Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 10:33 am
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
You say "Alien" I hear "Probe".Elliot wrote:That spire looks alien, as in outer space, Ratty? It looks a bit like me, actually, and I'm only from Norway.![]()
I second "Pagoda". It alliterates with Pavilion, for continuity. And certainly looks like a pagoda to my eyes.
In your wildest dreams you can not imagine the marvelous SURPRISES that await YOU.
- forty_eight
- Posts: 1178
- Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:58 pm
- Burning Since: 2013
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
The pagoda was a design requirement to host more VIP seating for the burn.
- forty_eight
- Posts: 1178
- Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:58 pm
- Burning Since: 2013
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
We need to get our little girl potty trained for the burn.
Radical Ritual, indeed!
Radical Ritual, indeed!
- GreyCoyote
- Posts: 2138
- Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2013 8:24 am
- Burning Since: 2000
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
Dear Larry;
Stop talking. Or writing. Instead, get back to drugs. Nurture your inner monkey. Take our money and STFU.
The theme is "Burn shit/blow shit up." There will be dust, and fire, and friends. So it is written. By the People. Forever. Amen.
Transmission ends....
Stop talking. Or writing. Instead, get back to drugs. Nurture your inner monkey. Take our money and STFU.
The theme is "Burn shit/blow shit up." There will be dust, and fire, and friends. So it is written. By the People. Forever. Amen.
Transmission ends....
"To sum up my compassion level, I think we should feed the unwanted animals to the homeless. Or visa versa. Too much attention and money is spent on both."
(A Beautiful Mind)
(A Beautiful Mind)
- lucky420
- Posts: 8436
- Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:47 am
- Burning Since: 2021
- Camp Name: Dye with Dignity
- Location: Reno, NV
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
Well saidGreyCoyote wrote:Dear Larry;
Stop talking. Or writing. Instead, get back to drugs. Nurture your inner monkey. Take our money and STFU.
The theme is "Burn shit/blow shit up." There will be dust, and fire, and friends. So it is written. By the People. Forever. Amen.
Transmission ends....
Oh my god, it's HUGE!
- Simon of the Playa
- Posts: 18762
- Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:25 pm
- Burning Since: 1996
- Camp Name: La Guilde des Hashischins
- Location: Rochester, Nevada.
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
Ah Um... There is the same discussion/thread on the main BM web page. Just had 20 mins of panic attacks trying to believe that I dreamt the Larry had posted 3 responses.
Here we go again. Thought I lost my mind. I'll be looking for it on the playa. Yeh that's where I must have left it. The theme is fine and as good as any. And will get better as I work with it , for sure.
Here we go again. Thought I lost my mind. I'll be looking for it on the playa. Yeh that's where I must have left it. The theme is fine and as good as any. And will get better as I work with it , for sure.
- Simon of the Playa
- Posts: 18762
- Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 6:25 pm
- Burning Since: 1996
- Camp Name: La Guilde des Hashischins
- Location: Rochester, Nevada.
- FlyingMonkey
- Posts: 1186
- Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 10:33 am
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
Simon of the Playa wrote:1482787262596.jpeg
+100
In your wildest dreams you can not imagine the marvelous SURPRISES that await YOU.
-
- Posts: 128
- Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 11:01 pm
Re: 2017 Art Theme: Radical Ritual
Radical Ritual is pretty much what BM is every year. They need a theme name for that?
Anyone taking offence at anything in my posts - tough. It's only an internet forum. Stop being overly sensitive. you are shallow and banal. Eplayans who spend hours a day posting need to make in person friends and mentally masturbate less.