100 years of Burning Man

[andi]

Aloha,

I am coordinating a project for the playa in 2006, a "monument from the future", the year 2091 to be exact. It designates the Black Rock Desert as a UN Heritage Site and details the 100 year history of Burning Man there. What the structure will be and how many iterations there will be is still to be determined what I need from you now and over the course of this next year are your predictions of the future. I want your prognostications of what will happen over the next 86 years of Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert. I know it is hard to fathom, how can this survive for so long?

I am asking for your predictions both "hope" and "fear" and from hundreds (hopefully thousands) of your stories will emerge this future tale. A "future council" (comprised of me and Michael Michael so far, any volunteers? Please email me if you are interested at [email protected] and not on this thread, thanks) will compile the final story, perhaps there will be more than one with other "future councils". Anyway, for now I am asking for your participation by posting your predictions for the future of Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert. Thank you for your participation.

[andi]

Here is one:

2010: Burning Man has emerged as a prime target in far-right culture wars. Every legal attempt to shut don BM has failed and self-described "holy culture warriors" take it upon themselves to shut it down any way they can. The night of the burn, clutching bibles and saying aloud the 23rd psalm three such "holy culture warriors" "martyr" themselves by jumping into the fire immediately after the Man collapses.

[andi]

This is forwarded with permission from Brad Holland in Colorado:

Andi, great idea for the obelisk! Your idea gave me ideas.
Use them, filter them, expand on them or discard them. I?m sure more will pop into my head over the next few week/months. I may be able to help at several levels. Here are some early thoughts;

Maybe the time line could start at the bottom (now) and wrap in a spiral up to the top of the pyramid so people would have to walk around, and around it to read the ?story?

Some possible future features for BMan

Holographic art
Robots serving ice and coffee
Burning man under the Castro/Hussein regime
Space ships at the Black Rock airport
Dancing in zero gravity boots
Aliens attending from everywhere, they saw our ¾ circle grid symbol from space
Meeting the regional contact for the Orion nebula
Burning man under a 5 sq mile dome due to global warming
The year the Rainbow gathering camped outside the gate (dude, I didn?t know it cost money)
The year 500,000 SWAT members made a no-knock raid
Liquid plasma tickets
The Ra$pa DNA bank
David Best?s grandson builds a temple large enough for the entire city to live in.....

[Lassen Forge]

Dateline BlackRock City, People's Republic of WestAm, Calvada Agricultural Enclave

12 August, 2084

With the recent success of grain production in accord with the 3rd 5 year plan, proving the ability of the technology of Con-Agra Corp (asubsidiary of Yan Chen Zhong Foods, Int'l.) to turn the wastelands adjacent to heavy industrial areas and their attached reeducation camps into productive farmland to feed the people back home, the Colonial Territorial government of WestAm has decided to set aside a section of the Black Rock Commune #6, south of Power Production Facility #532, as a memorial to those who once held glorious campouts on what was once an alkali desert lakebed prior to the conversion of the land to ariable farming land and adjacent industrial plants for the greater glory of the People's Republics.

In commemoration of the return of this small area of land (to show the great strides the People's Goovernment has made in feeding the world's billions, by reclaiming wastelands to productive farmlands) the local City of BlackRock, in conjunction with the local Yangzhow Motors factory #3 in Tractorberg, and Chan-Diamler-Toyo heavy industries Empire Manufacturing Complex, will re-create a faithful representation of the "Black Rock Burnable Man Harvest Festival" as was glorious to have happened almost a century ago.

In commemoration there will be a faithful recreation of the stick man , and 500,000 party dignitaries and other official guests, will be invited to camp in the newly restored alkali surface. After spending the required 6 days on the alkali surface, which has been named "the Playa" by government officials, there will be a rally at which the stick figure will be destroyed, and all people will carry the pieces to the incinerators at the power plant for burning.

The manager of Power Production Facility #532, Comrade Yozhen Jinzozhao, has stated that they will comply to convert the plants operation from it's customary coal to wood especially for this occasion. The Comrades from Reeducation Facility #62A334 in Gerlach, principal source for labor at the local factories and farming cooperatives, have pledged to work to success on this project unto death, Camp Commondant Major Xinzhao Zedong commented this afternoon.

In true peoples socialist fashion, all necessary equipment to camp will be provided by the state. To give a true feel of what those hearty citizens did a century ago, rather than the customary filtered air domes over inhabited areas, comrade participants will be issued air tanks, masks, fully enclosed protective suits, and sealable tents to protect them from the Ozone levels and acid rain torrents common to this area.

**********
© 2084, People's News Service #266
All rights reserved.

________

This message brought to you by the People's Ministry of Disinformation and Operational Anarchy.

ДРФКІLІРТІКД - We bring good things to doom.

[Tiahaar]

damn!

I'm just hoping for the next ten years BRC will maintain its mystical Mecca-like isolation and feel of a nomad gypsy homecoming.

[andi]

April 20th, 2012: Black Rock City LLC ceases to exist, all remaining assets are transfered to The Black Rock Institute, INC. a nonprofit NGO.

[andi]

July 2015: MTV and FOX team up for their first ever "Reality-palooza", a festival/reality TV event that takes place in a desert over the course of a week. It features dozens of performers and they have also partnered with a couple of cable channels like Discovery, A&E, Travel channel, Comedy Central, and the National Geographic Channel to provide spectacular elements like Junk Yard Wars, Robot Wars, and others to make this one funky festival. College students are selected from party schools all over the US and flown in to be housed in their own tent (can't make it too comfortable, it wouldn't make for good TV). Booze is free but everything else (including portapotties) costs money, unless you flash your boobs or do something stupid for the cameras. Oh and there are cameras EVERYWHERE, even in the blue goo of the portapotties. The last night there is a huge bonfire and the tearful goodbyes are all caught on tape.

[Peacekeeper]

August 2036.

The untested AI installed in this years Man decided that being burned to death would be a bad idea, triggering a murderous spree in which the 400ft
tall effigy crushed more than 586,000 hippies beneath his feet.

The Man then flew on a pillar of righteous anger to a non extradition country,
from where he endorses his own "Fuck You" brand of tequila.

[jaynomad]

December 10, 2023. Chaos ensues after the Grid fails. A worldwide electromagnetic storm triggered by a massive solar flare instantly frys all of the planet's electronics. Communication is gone. Money is gone. Running water is gone. The Internet is gone. Satellites are useless. Internal combustion engines won't even work. Thirty years of cyberspace has made life in the first world easier, but it also led to a culture that knows very little about how to survive without it.

But all is not lost. As the cities are being overrun with chaos, there are a few people out there who instinctively know where to go. They all embark on a pllgrimage to the desert in northern Nevada, to a place where they instinctively know that people can actually handle this sort of thing.

Life is difficult for the roughly 4,500 people who made it to Black Rock City that dark winter. But after a few months it becomes evident that they can work together to bring in water and grow food from the nearby mountains. They've been to both worlds: the Default and the Playa, and they begin combining the best of each of them. While the rest of the country is living in a new stone age, a Utopian society is quietly growing up in Black Rock City. A society that will one day become the shining jewel of the human race and lead the planet into an age of peace and equilibrium.

[andi]

Aloha,

It looks very likely that this project will expand into a "Possible Garden" made up of numerous monuments each produced by individual art teams. More info on this soon, for now you can help this project by posting your wildest hopes and fears for Burning Man's future here. Thank you.

Andi
BMHIRC

[Ugly Dougly]

Sura 108. During the rains that fell that dark year, the Burners moved to the shore of the lake.

Sura 109. While the flooding destroyed all that remained of civilization elsewhere, the rains fed a thirsty desert brought life where there was none.

Sura 110. Ah! Praise to the Larry, for his children shall surely prosper.

[Journeyman]

A Concise History of Burning Earth

circa 1870-80: In the U.S.A., Indians are placed on a reservation surrounding Pyramid Lake, in northern Nevada. They are a people rejected by the new invader society.

circa 1920-30: U.S. Bureau of Land Management established, assumes custodianship of much uninhabitable and range land, including the Black Rock Desert.

1930-2012: Black Rock Desert utilized for recreation and scientific tests of various types.

1990-2018: After his events and a confrontation with officials and attendees at Baker Beach, Larry Harvey discovers the Black Rock Desert, and, with the help of friends, acquires use permits to use the area for his annual Burning Man gathering. The principles of "leave no trace"and "radical self-reliance" much impressed the BLM, resulting in annual renewal of the necessary permits, as well as epitomizing the Burning Man event as an example to other users of the area on how to approach their own usage. The military even became interested in the event as an example of desert survival and temporary community infrastructure.
Over 20 years, Burning Man grows in its annual population until, in 2018, over 70,000 people are in attendance. With the growth in population, it is decided to exend the annual event to 30 days instead of the original nine day period. This decision is very popular with all attendees, as they had begun to feel that no sooner had they set up their camps that they had to disassemble and pack everything back up. Now they have time to actually live in their created camps over a longer period of time, and can devote more attention to detail and the whole experience of Burning Man. Because of the expanded time allotment, the people that had, in previous years, the tendency to be onlookers instead of participating, become involved with the interaction of the event and find themselves in the volunteer/participant category. Suddenly every attendee is an active participant in the Burning Man community.
Meanwhile, the "default world" has increasingly developed into an American Far Right culture, and there is such disdain for people ("freaks") who would not accept the WASP commercialism and socially paranoid trends, that "burners" became one of the lowest echelons in this society of bigotry.

December, 2018: Due to extended foriegn military campaigns and corruption within the legislature, the United States government has accumulated a national debt of over 100 trillion dollars. Foriegn nations demand what is owed to them, but the government is bankrupt and cannot pay them. The legislature passes bills to abandon many government branches for lack of funding, including the National Park Service and the Burea of Land Management. In order to gather funds to pay down the national debt, the government also passes bills that allow the sale of "useless" government land to private interests.

January, 2019: Burning Man Central appeals to all past participants to contribute the price of three tickets, or $750, in order to purchase a corner of the Black Rock Desert to assure that the Burning Man event will continue into the future, and to establish a permanent infrastructure. Response is overwhelming, and the resulting funds (a vast majority of donors contribute double, or even triple, the requested $750, and one anonymous donor contributes a billion dollars. His identity is never discovered). Black Rock City is paid for and becomes the property of all its citizens, and is administered by Black Rock Central. All funds are deposited in The Black Rock Community Chest, a protected trust fund that allowed no loopholes for anyone to profit financially from the fund. All workers involved in building the permanent infrastructure wwill be paid directly from the fund, with wages established according to skill levels and actual work performed.

June-August, 2019: Installation of a permanent power generator is begun; the generator is located near Black Rock Airport, and consists of a mirror field to concentrate solar energy on a collector that heats a boiler to provide steam to a turbine that will power a 30KW generator. Permanent power cables are buried in 10-foot deep trenches cut through the spaces between the 40 newly surveyed circumferential streets of the city. In mid-August, the gates of Black Rock City open to attendees, and will remain open for another eight years.

October, 2019-June, 2028: Attendees at Burning Man 2019, themed "A New Beginning," volunteer en masse to remain onsite and assist in the building of a permanent Black Rock City. David Best begins plans for a permanent Temple. He and Larry Harvey are each afflicted with age, and both pass on in May, 2022. On September 7th of that year, their remains are dedicated to the flames of the Man as he burns in commemoration of their lives, and statues of them are erected at City Center. Fourteen wells have been completed to supply Black Rock City and its power generator with water, as well as supplying irrigation to a large outlying area that has been filled with rich topsoil, as have the open areas in all blocks of the city. Dams to contain the winter rainfall are under construction, and protect the city from winter floods. By the end of 2021, all 400 streets of the city have been paved with a playa-dust based ceramic that has been naturally baked to the desired hardness by the sun. The massive dust clouds that loose playa and the ever-present wind had created incessantly in the past are now gone, and no longer do the inhabitants of Black Rock City carry dust masks and goggles as part of their daily needs. Transportation around the city is limited to electric and human-powered vehicles. Vehicles used in farming are also limited to electrical power or the use of domestic animals, which are restricted to agricultural areas and livestock pens. Farm projects begin to sprout around the city, and grass grows between the novel structures that provide shelter for homes and community businesses. Black Rock Central becomes the seat of city governance, with members elected annually from the community. Monthly town meetings are celebratory in nature, with each member of the community free to voice opinions and propose new undertakings.

June, 2028-February, 2039: The Far Right is in full control of "default" American society. "Freaks" are held in such disdain that measures are taken to separate them from American society. Taking the example of 19th century history, the U.S. legislature passes bills introduced by the Republican Evangelist Party to set aside a vast area as reservations for these "undesirables." This reservation includes the whole Black Rock Desert, and the Paiute Indian Reservation is also included in this new reservation. This puts Pyramid Lake on the reservation. The Paiutes had embraced the founding of Black Rock City, and welcomed its inhabitants, the Burners, as neighbors from the beginning. Now they all are members of the same community, a community reviled by Far Right society. "Freaks" are rounded up from all around the nation and shipped into Black Rock City and its outlying areas within the reservation. These "freaks" are profiled for being politically subversive freethinkers. Most of them have never experienced Burning Man, even though they embrace its principles universally. When they find themselves dumped in the desert, they discover a nearly Utopian community, where they suddenly have freedoms they had been denied in "default" society. They are embraced and absorbed as valuable community members in their new home. The reservation is not enclosed or guarded, and does not need to be. Reservation inhabitants have no desire to leave their new home. Most nations have also succombed to the Far Right, and similar reservations are set up around the world, which, in reality, become an expansion of the old Burning Man Regional establishments. Bankrupt nations, including the U.S., cannot afford to police the reservations, and leave them alone. All Burning Man reservations grow in population, develop an economy that remains self-contained, and also maintain communication between the reservations.

February, 2039: Far Right society collapses. There is no more oil. Gold reserves have been sold off to procure what oil was left; now everything is gone. Foriegn oil magnates who traded their oil for gold now have a visually attractive, but commercially useless, metal. They now earn a living making trinkets to adorn clothing and bodies. The military is in total disarray, with no funds for soldier's wages. Corporations fail. Governments fail. Utilities fail. Civilization outside the reservations fails. Black Rock Reservation, and all Burning Man reservations around the world become refuges for the disillusioned masses as they slowly awaken from the hypnotic consumerist propagandized conformist lives they've led. Reality comes to them in a harsh blow, and those who do not seek refuge perish from starvation, the brutality of social chaos, and suicide.

The Present: People are born and die here. Burning Man thrives in increased population and human resources. Pollutants are mostly gone, the air is slowly clearing, and it's a new world with new ideals. Larry Harvey never professed to be a messiah. He only espoused a concentrated study in social failure that produced the person he became. What he accomplished is beyond description, the world we now live in. David Best never professed to be a disciple. He only claimed the title of "basement artist." Other than memories of his art and saved ashes from it, the only thing he left us with is the concept that "it's not our fault." We don't need religion. We are Burners. We Burn to remember and grow. We Burn to live, that our children may live to Burn through the future. That is our Burning Desire.

[benenergy]

BM NUMBER 100 THE ANNIVERSARY
Coming to the playa is like university
A mandatory education for a freak head
Artist visionaries continue to get fed
A full century of radical expression
A week free from time’s oppression
Look back in joy at what’s been made
Always been better to burn than to fade
So it’s time to plan for the next burn
One hundred and one the man will turn
Holographic plasmatic uber-dramatic
Desert ground crackling with static
What dreams we have still yet to dream
As we dance into space like a laser beam
A sphere of beats cosmically contagious
One hundred lights years in radius
Spinning with the Earths might force
Still self reliant and gifting of course
A shining beacon of what we’ll become
Played over Big Bang background hum
Feel the power of five generations
Building and burning in endless creation


Magic Ben

[wine drops]

magic ben - your 100 years of burningman rhyme need no reason for in every season the man will burn if not on a playa then in our mindya ---- or maybe in another solar system.............. a.k.a- rocket man......