It's come to my understanding lately that there are people in my life who fundamentally do not understand some of the things I do. This is totally fair – I have no expectations of such. But as I'm in the midst of a wild art project that will only succeed with the support of our friends and family, I'm finding there may be more of a need to explain why we're begging people for money to create a mobile satirical art piece with a 16 ft. wheel base for an art festival in the desert. So here goes.
If you aren't familiar with Burning Man, you don't need to be! You're reading this, so you're familiar with me. You'll understand why spending a week in a dried up lake bed in Nevada has become such an inspirational part of my life, and why projects and ideals from the week have seeped into my everyday life. In the simplest way I can put it, Burning Man is an indescribable and ephemeral experience that is conceptualized, built, and destroyed by creatives from every possible field and background who share a passion for expression, creation and interaction, and chose to execute it for a fleeting moment in the most extravagant celebration in the most impossible environment (simple, right?). Every year, Black Rock City exists for only a week, and contains artwork on a scale that will blow your mind, over and over – artistically, architecturally, technologically, emotionally, impossibly. The feeling of walking through the desert and being able to interact with the most incredible art you've ever even imagined is indescribable... and it's nonstop. Burning Man is created by people who want nothing more that to blow your mind, and the real magic is that nothing is expected in return. No one pays the artists, no one profits from the artwork. This city in the desert is created simply to exist for one week, and to give people an experience that can only be equated to "explaining a color to a blind person." And I'm a part of creating it.
This year, beyond running our camp that will provide infrastructure and a home to about 50 camp mates, we're creating an art car for the greater community at Burning Man. In order to drive any type of vehicle on the playa, it must be completely indistinguishable as a regular vehicle, and needs to instead be an interactive art piece that is used as public transportation in the best possible way. Burning Man is HUGE - probably bigger than the city you live in. So art cars are a MUST. We were gifted a PT Cruiser (so long as we promised to use it for this purpose) and are turning it into an outrageous form of transport for the Burning Man community: we're creating a gaudy-as-hell, over-the-top satirical tribute to the wildly extravagant nature of Burning Man, utilizing a 1990's radio rap theme that exactly contrasts the decommodification of the city. If you've been to the playa, you probably get exactly what we're doing here, and hope you'll appreciate it out there! And if you haven't been, what you need to know is that we're intentionally appealing to a community who loves snark, encourages absurdity, and pushes originality. We are celebrating a major theme of Burning Man - extravagance – as absurdly as we could think of – utilizing the grotesque gaudiness of 1990s radio rap. How absurd will this bijoux buggy's excessive bling look rolling through a dust storm in a completely uninhabitable environment? How random will the 90's rap blaring out of an oversized boombox be when accompanied by a full-light-up dance floor and pyrotechnics? What better way to push the boundaries of absurdity than to cruise through a completely decommodified society as a live performance of excessive wealth and material obsession? The burning man community is going to love it for these reasons, and that's exactly what we're going for. We want to give this community a ride around the city to remember, not only embracing but flaunting the overtly excessive nature of the burn while poking the "decommodified bear" with a stick... as ridiculously as we can. We're being funny, you guys!
So this is why we're asking for help funding the remainder of this project. For me personally, this is my latest weird art project, and you know I get into some weird ones. But it's what I love. We are not trying to profit, we're not even trying to break even. We're just looking for a little support from the people who love us and what we're about. We are what makes Burning Man happen, even if you dont go or don't want to go, you can understand why we're so passionate about contributing to this community! And we are so close to our goal. Please donate to our kickstarter if you're picking up what I'm putting down on any level. And if you're just playing absolutely not at all... come to Burning Man ;)
At the very least, enjoy how bad we are at making a kickstarter video.