This week’s big festival…
…is the Burning Man in the Nevada desert. (What else could it be?)
No “posh washes”. No umbrella stalls. No sponsored stages. No clothes.
Instead, there is a staggering level of imagination, a need for self-sufficiency (in water and food), and a “no spectators, only participants” ethic which encourages some incredible art. I was there in 1999, and it was the most mind-altering/expanding/boggling/melting festival I’ve been at. After 21 years, it faces annual accusations that it’s sold out, but this seems to be only from the perspective of the more rarified levels of Californian hippidom.
Eight days long, it culminates in the burning of a 40ft sculpture of “the Man” (you may spot the subtle symbolism in that).
Except that an “attention whore” arsonist has set it on fire four days early. Can’t imagine what he’d do if he saw Antony Gormley’s sculpture.
