Burning Man Festival

welsh

welsh

Junkmaster
Has anyone did this yet?

This has got Ozrat written all over it.

http://www.burningman.com/

Battling with demons

Sep 22nd 2005 | BLACK ROCK CITY
From The Economist print edition

How our correspondent gave up capitalism in the desert

A DRY lakebed in the remote desert of northern Nevada is not the most inviting campsite in the world. But earlier this month 35,000 people could be found there. They had come for the week-long Burning Man Festival, which has been countering the capitalist culture for nearly two decades.

The Burning Man turned out to be a four-storey tall wooden statue which was burned to the ground on the penultimate night. While waiting for this to happen, “burners” could attend yoga classes, get a chiropractic adjustment, meet psychic healers, eat sushi at midnight, float across the desert in a wheeled pirate ship, or just sit at a bar and have a beer. For some, it was a deeply spiritual gathering; for others, the best party of the year. But, most surprisingly, it was all free.

Normally, behind any hippie event, there are various corporate sorts or hairy entrepreneurs filling their boots with cash. But at Burning Man all buying, selling or advertising was banned. The 3.75-square-mile (six-square-km) site was strictly a commerce-free zone, with two exceptions to prove the rule: first, you had to buy a ticket to get in (which could cost $300 for the whole week and paid for the site, the Portaloos and a few basic amenities); and, second, at the central camp you could buy coffee, tea and ice. Everything else had to be given away. Even bartering is discouraged.

Larry Harvey, co-founder and director of the festival, says this “gift economy” was a natural outgrowth of over-abundance. In the early years of the festival, burners brought more food and supplies than they needed, so giving and sharing was easy. Now burners compete to find niches in which to contribute, from providing a “Mercury Messenger Service” to serving macaroni and cheese at 4.00am.

Bizarrely, this much bigger version of a potluck supper worked—at least for one week. For several days, your correspondent was fed, lubricated, massaged and psychically improved by various people, including a helpful “acknowledgment angel”, with no payment sought. This rule stood even when he was “branded” at the “I'm OK, You're OK Corral”.

Can the gift economy be taken any further? Mr Harvey, whilst generously considering capitalism “a brilliant idea”, has his hopes: he wants to reform the world's economic system in a process that has to start with a “spiritual redefinition of what is value”. But another veteran burner, Michael Morris, a professor of business and psychology at Columbia University in New York, is sceptical. Non-cash exchange, he agrees, can help people to identify with a wider group. But alas, in our day-to-day lives, we prefer the “uncreative and impersonal” cash transaction.
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I thought that "festival" was an excuse for a bunch of hippies to take peyote and stare at the moon while chanting "HAIL THE MAGIC CHEESEEEEEE!!!" :shock:
 
Wait... so you don't pay for the beer you drink? Holy shit. Free beer for a week (well, ok, so you pay $300 to get in, but you can drink FOR A WEEK!)

Man, where do I sign up?
 
I think they went to this on The Simpsons once. Or something. Maybe it was a different show.
 
It was one of the earlier episodes of American Dad when Stan was trying to split up his duaghter with her slacker boyfriend. I think he came to a drug-induced hysteria and learned something about whatever.
 
I say we set up a NMA booth next year and provide classes on:

The joys of Fallout 1 and 2
How to Duck! and! Cover!
Taste testing NMAers favorite beers
Smack the Jebus
Flaws, fallacies and brilliance of the FEV virus: theory and practice
How to debate military history while avoiding the wrath of the 'NMA Deathclaw'
 
It appears Burning Man Festival is the subject of this Sunday's episode of Malcolm in the Middle, as well.
 
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