2007 ART THEME: THE GREEN MAN

[emily sparkle]

Peering outward from behind a mottled screen of vines and leaves, the Green Man does not speak or sleep; he waits. His meaning and his origins are largely lost to time -- the Green Man wasn’t named till 1939. We know, however, that this type of enigmatic figure was the work of artists, anonymous craftsman whose unsigned work adorns the crevices and walls of medieval cathedrals. This year we will appropriate the Green Man and the primeval spell he casts on our imaginations for a modern purpose. Our theme concerns humanity’s relationship to nature. Do we, as conscious beings, exist outside of nature’s sway, or does its force impel us and inform the central root of who and what we are?

Beginning with the advent of the modern age, we have regarded nature as a beast that we can tame. We have built levees to contain the rush of rivers and rebuff the ocean’s swell; we have extracted oil from the earth to fuel the engines of our cars. We have constructed dams equipped with turbines that project electric power in a skein across the globe -- our cities are cocooned in artificial light that rivals and occludes the stars. It’s very easy to presume we hold the upper hand. Yet levees break, and glaciers melt. The power of the tide when roused comes up to meet us with a challenge and a message that we can’t ignore.

Some say it’s our chief duty to preserve the natural world intact, protected from the ways of man. This is a worthy goal. And yet, if Burning Man has taught us anything, it’s that we can collaborate with nature. Only from immediate experience, not ideologies that stand outside of the created world, may we regenerate a sense of nature as it moves within us and flows through us. Quietly and patiently, the Green Man waits.

This year our art theme will express the immanence of nature in our lives in a variety of ways. The Burning Man will stand atop a structure that resembles green mountain peak. Nestled at its base, a forest will provide both shade and shelter for participants. Artists are invited to contribute to this forest by creating simulated ‘trees’ fashioned from recycled industrial materials. These artificial trees will not be burned: they will survive to subdivide the blue of other skies.

But we will do much more than this. In 2007, we will calculate the amount of climate changing gases that are released into the air by the construction and the burning of the Man and its pedestal. This is called a carbon footprint. Then we’ll sponsor projects in the outside world that will efface this imprint. Such actions might include the planting of trees or the development of non-polluting energy resources. Having played with fire, we’ll take care to cleanse its atmospheric playground.

This represents a first symbolic step aimed at redressing nature’s balance. In its sum, this maiden effort may seem small. Widespread cheatgrass and sagebrush fires annually sweep the Nevada landscape, releasing far more carbon dioxide than the entire infrastructure of Black Rock City. Yet our endeavor constitutes a kind of contemplation of our place within the natural world. Thousands of Burning Man participants, who carefully inspect their campsites for any lingering trace of litter, inevitably enhance their everyday awareness of the impact of their actions on the world. It’s difficult, upon returning home, to thoughtlessly discard one’s refuse in the street. In this spirit, we’ll encourage everyone to calculate the carbon footprint of their campsite and make efforts to redress it. To learn how you may participate, see www.burnerswithoutborders.org. For more information concerning how one can calculate a carbon footprint, see the participant-created website, www.coolingman.org.

Apart from and beyond such practical concerns, we encourage every artist to elicit nature’s power from a much more personal and primal source of consciousness. Natural variation will ensure that each such vision is unique and unpredictable, producing artwork as diverse as all the different gifts that people bring to Burning Man. Hidden behind the masks of convention, there is surely a Green Woman or Green Man in every one of us.

Burning Man’s participants take pride in being individuals. They strive to radically express themselves. Yet we are also interdependent members of a complex and emergent culture. Our culture has the power to extend itself and to create – sans any conscious plan – completely unanticipated forms of human connection. As creators and as members of a culture, we are each a vital part of this phenomenal process. Already, its expansion is occurring at a rate of natural increase, sprouting up in niches and environments that Burning Man’s society provides around the globe. The time has come to bring the Green Man home.

As always, any work of art, regardless of our theme, is welcome at our event. If you are planning to do fire art or wish to install a work of art on the open playa, please see our Art Guidelines for more information.

http://www.burningman.com/art_of_burnin ... theme.html

[hammyrandom]

i hadnt planned on making any actual art (my first year, and not being much of a visual artist)

this article is very well written though

it has inspired me to make a tree, if only one to contribut eto the pedastel

[Dustdevil]

The "Green Man" also has a very long history with fire. The text below is taken from the PGI (Pyrotechnichnic Guild Int). The Green Man is the center of the PGI logo.

http://www.pgi.org/

The "Green man" figure within the PGI emblem was selected from John Bate's 1635 fireworks treatise, "The Second Booke", to symbolize the long tradition of using fireworks as an essential part of festivals and celebrations - at that time led by so-called "Green men" appointed to head processions with a "Fire Club" shooting sparks. They were called "Green men" because they clothed themselves with fresh leaves to protect themselves from sparks produced by their hand-held fireworks.

Today, many PGI members refer to each other as "Green men".

[helitack]

The whole carbon footprint? Including the electricity to use our computers to read this? The footprint of all manufacturing processes for all the things we will buy, make and use before we get to the playa? The energy expended to get to the playa for each and every individual who will commune and work with nature to accomplish this goal while out on the playa? Let's do it.

[BigCock]

WAIT! I'm not decompressed from 2006 yet!

[unjonharley]

The whole carbon footprint? Including the electricity to use our computers to read this? The footprint of all manufacturing processes for all the things we will buy, make and use before we get to the playa? The energy expended to get to the playa for each and every individual who will commune and work with nature to accomplish this goal while out on the playa? Let's do it.

/
Please tell us on the thread Green Forward, What you have done today to to make your/our foot print smalled.

[BigCock]

Ok, now, on to 2007.



pollo verde, with a large footprint. And you know what they say about folks with large feet. They got ...

[BigCock]

HOMBRE VERDE (Man in Green Almond Sauce)

Cut man into pieces. Put into a heavy casserole with stock, bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer gently, covered, for 45 minutes, or until tender. Lift man out onto a platter and set aside. Keep the stock. Rinse and dry the casserole.

In a blender or food processor combine onion, garlic, parsley, coriander, lettuce, chillies and almonds and reduce to a coarse puree. Do not over blend as the finished sauce should have some texture, not be entirely smooth.

Heat oil or lard in a large heavy pan and pour in the puree, which will be almost paste like because of the almonds. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 3-4 minutes over moderate heat. Add the man, cover, and simmer just long enough to heat the man through.

Serve with rice, salad, beans and guacamole as you like.

(Serves 60)

[Box Burner]

Hey BC,


bet some of our ancestors would have loved this recipe!

[MattAlchemist]

Looking in to the theory of the Green man is inspiering to say the least. What it stands for all most suggests a chalange. OFF COURSE we're driven by the "analog", the natural world, this bio-sphere around us. The beauty of this lies in the "what now". If it be technological or natural, or supernatural for that matter. I for one am chalanged in carring out the essence of the Green man in what I bring to the playa. I cant wait to see how this inspires the artwork and theme camps of next year.

[BAS]

HOMBRE VERDE (Man in Green Almond Sauce)

Darn, now I am hungry again!

B.

[unjonharley]

HOMBRE VERDE (Man in Green Almond Sauce)

Darn, now I am hungry again!

B.

/
This would be a great year for Soilent Green.

[diane o'thirst]

[premonut]

Hey... I know its early to buy 2007 tickets but do any of you know when they first go on sale??? its been 3 years since Ive last been and forgot the release dates

txs.

P-Nut

[unjonharley]

Hey... I know its early to buy 2007 tickets but do any of you know when they first go on sale??? its been 3 years since Ive last been and forgot the release dates

txs.

P-Nut

/
It's so early I don't think the staff knows the target date. For us po-folk we save ours money. So's we can get in on some of the lower prices. That's right after the rich bastards with the high powered computer hog up all the low end tic's

[Oneness]

GREEN MAN, EARTH ANGEL, by Tom Cheetam, is an absolute must-read for Burning Man 2007. Creative imagination (not fantasy) is the ground where the spiritual and material worlds intermingle. This book reimagines our place in the cosmos as receivers and integraters of wholeness, and returns to art and language the vital power to transform the human soul and the Soul of the World.

Please read!!! It's a short book.

[flipper]

First: Tickets. I'd say check burningman.com weekly after new years.

The theme: I hope people don't get solely locked into emulating Alternative Energy Zone (and where are they in the release, show some love for the solar satelite dish/weenie cooker)

I hope folks look to the natural world in general as an inspiration. I am for my art bike.

And if I was doing a mid-large scale project, I'd be thinking more about the "butterfly" effect in terms of interactivity. Take it to the broader issue of how every action has it's impact. Maybe a choose-your-own-adventure sort of thing.

[Mister Jellyfish Mister]

[diane o'thirst]

I'm sure you've already read...tickets go on sale January 17.

Cue ticking clock soundbite...let the follies begin!

[firehorse]

the greenman is a really good pub in Cambridge England
could this be a art theme?

[Bob]

Do they have Greene King on tap?

[judeebooger]

this is so wrong...it's only 9 o'clock in the morning and now i am thinking of absinthe

[BigCock]

Greene King

licks beak