The Burning Man Festival is a weeklong spasm of radical
self-expression held annually just before Labor Day since 1986. In
late August 2003, more than 33,000 participants converged in
Nevada's Black Rock Desert for this counterculture event staged as
an experiment in temporary community.
The participants gather to rid themselves of the conventional
structures of their life and to "sample" the alternatives in
hundreds of theme camps. The climax of the festival comes when
attendees erupt into cheers and applause at the burning of a
forty-foot-tall human effigy described as "part pre-technological
idol and part post-technological puppet."
"AfterBurn" contributor Erik Davis writes of the festival,
"Ironic and blasphemous, intoxicated and lewd, Burning Man's ADD
theater of the absurd might even be said to embody the slap-happy
nihilism of postmodern culture itself."
CounterCulture series editor David Farber summarizes the
significance of the event: "[Burning Man is] spiritual discovery,
utopian experiment, artistic spectacle, participatory democracy,
do-it-yourself anarchism, and communitarian adventure." "AfterBurn"
features ten essayists each addressing a specific aspect of the
festival, from the recruitment and management of volunteers, to the
artistic and cultural context of the modern conception of
Utopia.
Both Lee Gilmore and Mark Van Proyen have attended Burning Man
annually since 1996.
Contributors:
Katherine Chen (Cambridge, MA) received a PhD in sociology from
Harvard.
Erik Davis (San Francisco, CA) is an author, journalist, and
performance lecturer.
Allegra Fortunati (San Francisco, CA) serves on the curatorial
committee and board of the LAB.
JeremyHockett (Ann Arbor, MI) received his PhD from the department
of American studies, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
Robert V. Kozinets (Madison, WI) is assistant professor of
marketing, University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of
Business.
JoAnne Northrup (San Jose, CA) is senior curator at the San Jose
Museum of Art.
Sarah M. Pike (Chico, CA) is associate professor of religious
studies, California State University.
John F. Sherry, Jr. (Evanston, IL) is an anthropologist at the
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
