{"id":8709,"date":"2023-09-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/?p=8709"},"modified":"2023-09-14T12:21:44","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T19:21:44","slug":"getting-unstuck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/getting-unstuck\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Unstuck"},"content":{"rendered":"

I write these words from the comfort of my own home, having put off updates for fear of not having enough, or the right things to say. I was stuck and my preferred form of procrastinating, most recently, has been perusing news of events at the 2023 Burning Man arts festival, which I and most other residents of California\u2019s Bay Area (birthplace of the event) simply refer to as Burning Man.<\/p>\n

That event started in the early 90\u2019s on San Francisco\u2019s clothing optional Baker\u2019s Beach, it was essentially a bonfire made from a wooden sculpture; The Man. Taking place over the Labor Day holiday weekend it quickly outgrew the confines of what the city considered acceptable for a beach bonfire party. Forming a strategic partnership with anarchist elements of the California\u2019s \u201cmaker\u201d community the gathering of these communities would formalize into the juggernaut of a D.I.Y festival making headlines this weekend for getting stuck in the mud.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Burning Man 2001: not even the coldest or wetest.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been nearly 20 years since I was last there. I\u2019ve only been a handful of times; between the years of 1997 and 2004 but have organized my own theme camp<\/a>, been part of an art-car collective and simply shown up as a friend\u2019s +1: paying for gas and helping out at the camp which hosted us. That year is particularly salient as it may have been one the last events were cold and rain dominated the usually dry lake-bed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Burning Man 2000: dismantling a repurposed army parachute during a break in the sandstorm.<\/p>\n

News reports say that elevated desert last received significant rain in 2014, and delayed the construction of the festival\u2019s Black Rock City by a week. Black Rock City is the name of the temporary city composed of tents, Costco carports, pavilions, RV\u2019s and a plethora of art installations populated by the 70,000+ attendees, the centerpiece of which is The Man which traditionally burns on Saturday night. Well, for the first time in its history the extreme weather of the playa canceled the burn; it was rained out.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The designer of this year\u2019s Man is an old friend of mine. I was there at his first burn during that cold and rainy week of 2000. Or was it the year after, when I organized my own camp focused on the creation of interactive mandala painting? We bonded while painting recognizing, at last, the person behind the various works of art we\u2019d each done for our mutual musician friends. We\u2019d go on to collaborate on a number of projects, CD\/Album art, underground parties and other art happenings.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Burning man 2001: Camp-mates<\/p>\n

While he continued to attend Burningman, working his way up its social\/artistic hierarchy, I would opt for some world travel and time spent as a medical volunteer for festivals and events similar but not exactly Burning Man. These communities would quickly overlap with the burning man aesthetic becoming indistinguishable from every other post millennial bacchanal late-stage capitalism has been desperate to distract society with since the turn of the century.<\/p>\n

On a personal level I am certain my friend is being showered with well-earned accolades for the beautifully designed sculpture which remains standing beyond it\u2019s expiration date. I\u2019m also encouraged that this level of prestige is keeping him and those closest to him relatively safe from the worst of the perils current circumstances have brought the event. I would also hope it\u2019s occurred to someone else to tell him that his design was \u201cto good to be burned.\u201d On Sunday (when I wrote this) I predicted that The Man will see the torch on the night of the exodus (Monday 9\/4); separating the die-hard burners who will stay from those who\u2019ve got to get back to the real world.<\/p>\n

And in a way I\u2019ll morn the loss of a potential metaphor. If this man were to not be burned, could it instead serve as a avatar for the climate catastrophes which were merely theoretical when Burning man first arrived on the Playa? Has the event lived beyond its purpose? Is it still a celebration of the ephemeral nature of inspiration and a willingness to leave-no-trace.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Attendees are now free to leave all their belonging behind and walk if they want to leave the event. That\u2019s a sentiment that is 100% antithetical to one of the 10 commandments of Burningman which insists that if you pack it in, you pack it out. As is typical of the greater society which this event claims to distinguish itself from, social stratification is immediately apparent. Actor\/comedian Chris Rock was able to hike out, with the help of friends\/fans who were happy to give them a ride once they got on the only road to civilization. How many will be leaving their rentals behind? How many others will have to stay until they can drive their only vehicle home or will leave expecting to comeback for their stuff but never will? Is this the kind of apocalypse attendees have been dress-rehearsing for?<\/p>\n

Part of the reasoning behind my loss of interest in Burning Man had to with the contradiction in a LLC sustaining itself on the mission of temporary art installations. For the past couple of decades, this organization has had a significant impact on the lives of independent artists seeking to make a living in the U.S. in general and in the west coast in particular. San Francisco is not the only City which has been beautified by art projects first brought to life on the playa. Yet the costs in resources and the waste was problematic 20 years ago; before stagflation, supply-chain issues, historic wild-fires, flood and other disaster as well as a not-quite-done-with-us pandemic. So I wonder, would it be so bad if this was the final Burningman? What if that man became the centerpiece for some Burningman Museum in nearby Reno Nevada? Or simply a Burningman Resort outside of Las Vegas where every night is the night the man burns (ideally in a more sustainable fashion with fewer harmful pollutants being added to an ailing atmosphere)?<\/p>\n

And after 975 words on the subject I can at least look at these musings as a sort of breakthrough. It was a change to uncover some archival images and up into perspective the evolution of an artistic career.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was stuck having put off updates for fear of not having enough, or the right things to say. My preferred form of procrastinating, was perusing news of events at the 2023 Burning Man arts festival – let me tell you why.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21],"tags":[23,4,383,195],"class_list":["post-8709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-art","tag-blogging","tag-events","tag-musings"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/img_9256.jpg?fit=420%2C281&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3egHU-2gt","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11010,"url":"https:\/\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/gallery-shows-grant-applications\/","url_meta":{"origin":8709,"position":0},"title":"Gallery Shows & Grant Applications","author":"PLUGO","date":"July 21, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Where in I update patrons, fans & friends on a summer filled with art gallery shows (including the 10th of my career), grant applications and other artistic applications and submissions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Appearances"","block_context":{"text":"Appearances","link":"https:\/\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/category\/appearances\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cf87d7ee2a80d273927151605ba118fd.jpg?fit=820%2C552&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cf87d7ee2a80d273927151605ba118fd.jpg?fit=820%2C552&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cf87d7ee2a80d273927151605ba118fd.jpg?fit=820%2C552&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cf87d7ee2a80d273927151605ba118fd.jpg?fit=820%2C552&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1842,"url":"https:\/\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/spidey-ffh\/","url_meta":{"origin":8709,"position":1},"title":"Resurrected Review: SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME & LOOKING FOR SPIDER-FU","author":"PLUGO","date":"March 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Originally published by KungFuMagazine.com on July 2, 2019 this review of Spider-Man: Far From Home also features that time Spider-Man visited Hong Kong.","rel":"","context":"In "blog"","block_context":{"text":"blog","link":"https:\/\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Spiderman-drawing-1984.jpg?fit=999%2C586&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Spiderman-drawing-1984.jpg?fit=999%2C586&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Spiderman-drawing-1984.jpg?fit=999%2C586&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Spiderman-drawing-1984.jpg?fit=999%2C586&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10861,"url":"https:\/\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/the-imandala-project\/","url_meta":{"origin":8709,"position":2},"title":"The I’Mandala Project","author":"PLUGO","date":"June 30, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A brief retrospective on the I'Mandala: a series of art installations created over the years of 1998 \u2013 2014.","rel":"","context":"In "blog"","block_context":{"text":"blog","link":"https:\/\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/imandala-8.png?fit=459%2C551&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7749,"url":"https:\/\/plugoarts.com\/blog\/tcfs-sunday-live\/","url_meta":{"origin":8709,"position":3},"title":"TCFS SUNDAY LIVE!","author":"PLUGO","date":"January 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Celebrations for the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit continue on Sunday 1\/29 on THE COMICS FU SHOW! Our second Sunday Stream takes place at a much more reasonable hour and it filled with comics goodness. 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