Artists Strike Burning Man, Founding Freedom of Speech Zone

[empress]

In an ironic twist to a counter-culture event claiming self-expression
as a tenet, two artists picketed Burning Man for two days during the
festival. Armed with 2000 fliers and holding three picket signs
reading "Art on Strike," "B.M.L.L.C. Hard On Art," and "Brush Your
Teeth," Petaluma artists Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector set out to
question the event's grant structure. By picketing Burning Man, they
unexpectedly founded the Freedom of Speech Zone outside the festival.

"The Bureau of Land Management didn't know what to do with us; Burning
Man didn't know what to do with us, so the government, adhering to
legal precedent, established the zone for us," said Spector.

The name of the performance is "An Exercise in Democracy – for Under
500 Bucks." It is a response to the event's theme, "The American
Dream," as well as to the election year. "The piece started as an
attempt to see if the democratic process could work in this
'experimental' society," explained Grieve. "The lessons we learned,
however, went way beyond the Black Rock desert. The performance
became an exercise in first amendment rights of speech, assembly and
petition and our direct relationship to the democratic process. We
learned how key the law enforcement and public officials were in
protecting our civil liberties," said the artists.

Grieve has a 12-year history building art projects in the Black Rock
Desert in Nevada. He led a crew of over 70 people to build both the
"The Temple of Dreams" in 2005, "The Temple of Hope" in 2006 at
Burning Man. With Spector, a lawyer-turned artist, Grieve built "Bike
Arch" as well as other public junk bike-related art for the City of
Ventura, CA and the City of San Rafael, CA. Most recently in July,
they hosted "THE PIG," a five-star seven-course dinner collaboration
between Grieve/Spector and artist/chef Alex Steneck. (See
www.MarkGrieve.com.)

"We have yet to see if our original intentions worked. But we feel
great about the unexpected successes we have already achieved,"
remarked the artists.

[Apollonaris Zeus]

I saw much of his work at this site:

http://www.salvatore-vasapolli.com

[Toolmaker]

Is this going to be every year?
Is there a website for participation?
Is fire art allowed?
Are there art car restrictions?
Is there a shooting range?
Are fireworks of the non-moopy variety allowed?
What was the estimated population in 2008?
Was there a LNT policy?