Temple of Blind Being(s) looking for a suitable space.

[Peter Munthe-Kaas]

The Temple of Blind Being(s) is a participatory performance installation about divine experience in darkness.

Participants will enter the space in the role of a "blind being", a very simple character which develops through the experience. It is a very physical and sensory experience focused on meeting other beings and exploring yourself, them and the surrounding world in total darkness (all participants will be blindfolded). You can participate for 10 minutes or 4 hours depending on your mood and how much fun you have and participants can drop in as long as the performance runs.

I have just done this participatory performance piece at The Borderland (the Nordic regional burn) and now i would love to bring it to Burning Man. However…I don’t have access to a space where i can set this up and thus I am interested in finding a closed dome or some other construction, that can hold at least 20 people moving around and preferably the possibility to play music as well.

If you know of the perfect space for this, please contact me

All the best
Peter

[Token]

A long time ago there was an installation called "Mission to Mars" that incorporated in its design a section that had a similar experience, with curtains and passages that required a bit of intimacy in complete darkness.

It was fantastic! I see where you are going with this.

Now, your approach, I'm not certain you will be successful with your request.

In essence, what you are presenting here is a really cool idea that will be loads of fun, and then asking for someone else to build it. Especially this late in the game, might be too much to ask for.

What you might want to consider is incubating the idea for next year. Build interest, get organized, create a team that can build your vision with you.

Lots of folks from Europe have built elaborate installations over the years using the approach mentioned.

Good luck and hope you can find a turnkey spot where you can set up this year.

[Papa Bear]

One word of warning: I don't know how your envision your installation being structured, but spaces that offer darkness and anonymity, and especially those where some amount of physical contact between participants is expected, can become magnets for predators who use the opportunity to grope or otherwise assault people. If I recall the installation correctly, the aforementioned Mission to Mars ran into exactly that problem at times back in the day.

Best advice: think ahead about how your installation could be abused, and about how you will prevent that. At a minimum, remind people about what's acceptable before they go in, make sure you have a way of monitoring the space, etcetera.

[Token]

Eh, worked ok for Jiffy Lube and they ran strong for a long time.

[Peter Munthe-Kaas]

Thanks for the comments

My description of the idea might not have been as good as it could have been. I only intend to run the performance for around 4 hours one day of the burn and thought that it might fit into the program of a workshop-space a dome or something similar.

Regarding the concern about problematic behaviour, there will be non-blindfolded facilitators in the space at all times to lead people out if they are not feeling comfortable. This precaution has been enough to keep the space safe at previous runs.

all the best
Peter