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| The Burning Man Exhibition |
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Google Earth Zoom : From Space to the Burning Man Platform Construction
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IMAGINE you are put upon a desert plain, a space which is so vast and blank that only your initiative can make of it a place.
IMAGINE it is swept by fearsome winds and scorching temperatures, and only by your effort can you make of it a home.
IMAGINE you're surrounded by thousands of other people that together you form a city, and that within this teeming city there is nothing that's for sale.
THE BLACK ROCK DESERT IS AN EMPTY VOID
Not a bird or bush or bump disturb its surface. It is a place that is no place at all apart from what we choose to make of it. The Playa is like an enormous blank canvas. The desert is a blank slate. It is empty when Burning Man begins, and it is cleaned up.
It is empty again at the end, as if it never happened.
Larry Harvey
Founder of Burning Man |
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SERPENT MOTHER : FLAMING LOTUS GIRLS >
Any description of the Serpent Mother pales in contrast to experiencing this massive burning work of art that includes welding, plumbing, hydraulics, flame effects, electronics, and interactive controls. A visitor can be in the center of this coiled skeleton and push buttons that blow out huge flames from its spine, and even open the serpent’s central egg. |
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< HOMOUROBOS : PETER HUDSON DESIGN
This moving sculpture is a huge, 26 foot tall, 30 foot diameter carousel that rotates creating a life-sized strobed animation. When operational (which is bike powered by people), it looks like 20 animated monkeys swinging from branch to branch. |
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THE BIG ROUND CUBATRON >
Imagine thousands of colored Christmas lights that are programmed to make 3D animations in a round 20 foot diameter, 10 foot tall sculpture. This brilliant sculpture allows you to walk into the animated lights for a spectacular experience. Cubatron Website > |
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< MUTANT VEHICLES
One of the most exciting things to do at Burning Man is to see – and ride on – mutant vehicles. They are as massive as several trains (which one is) and as small as motorcycle. In fact, when stationary, you would not guess that they move. Each car is a work of art often taking years of development and engineering to build. |
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| FLAMES & SMOKE : ART ON FIRE
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Burning Man is an art festival where fire is an essential element of the event. Not only does the Man eventually burn, but fire is used as an art form throughout the week. Some of the flame effects are hundreds of feet tall, with fireworks, explosions, and colored effects. Some are hand-held “poofers”. The resulting effects each evening are staggering. |
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< CRUDE AWAKENING
Next to a 99-foot-tall wooden oil derrick stands eight metal sculptured human figures, most of whose surfaces are made of connected metal rings. During its “burn”, four containers shot 900 gallons of jet fuel in the sky. Seconds later, 2,000 gallons of liquid propane shot out creating a 1,000-foot-high inferno of flame. The detonation of the piece created 2.4 gigawatts of energy. |
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| ELECTRONIC ART >
The Orb Swarm is one example that is a combination of electronics, remote control, mechanical genius, and intellectual notions. It consists of several large metal spheres that move autonomously on their own and know where they are and where to move next. They glow, make sounds, and have “intelligence”. Read more about what they've done and how they did it here. |
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< SCULPTURAL ART
Burning Man is host to 40 square miles of art, and much of it is sculptural. Many of the pieces are truly massive, and are also interactive. You can climb on the sculptures, watch them burn every night, add poetry, and make them do things. As one art curator put it, Burning Man is the largest art gallery on earth. And the art is big. |
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