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M.A.W.G.*s (occasional) Monday Muse...
Art, Impermanence, and the Beginnings of Burning Man
“Your desire to do what you want to do has to be greater than the world's desire to stop you.”
― Mark Pauline
*Middle-Aged White Guy
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M.A.W.G.*s (occasional) Monday Muse...
Art, Impermanence, and the Beginnings of Burning Man
“Your desire to do what you want to do has to be greater than the world's desire to stop you.”
― Mark Pauline
*Middle-Aged White Guy
1/
How attached are you to your things?
What makes something essential?
Why is “three moves as good as a fire”?
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What makes something essential?
Why is “three moves as good as a fire”?
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This being when a lot of creative folks like you would normally be heading out to Black Rock Desert to make stuff and watch it go up in flames at The Burning Man Project, it seems like a good time to muse on the ideas of art, impermanence, and the ethos of non-attachment.
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What with Covid-19 changing the ground rules of society underneath our feet many of our most cherished assumptions are wildly in flux.
Just the idea that we could have some sense of what the future might hold is no longer a baseline that we can depend on.
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Just the idea that we could have some sense of what the future might hold is no longer a baseline that we can depend on.
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So what’s a habitual optimist like me to do in a time like this? Especially when week after week my practice is to write words of support, inspiration, and encouragement to you and thousands of other readers out there on the High Frontier? Double down on presence, that’s what.
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Few things in the world give rise to anxiety more predictably than plain old uncertainty. When you don’t know which way to turn or what’s going to happen next it’s all-too-easy to start running around like a chicken with its head cut off, (as we used to say back on the ranch).
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The topic of presence is easy-pickings for gurus and self-help writers, most likely going back to the invention of the clock. “Now” is a big deal — Ram Dass said we just have to ‘Be Here…’ only to be one-upped decades later by Eckhart Tolle preaching about ‘The Power…’.
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But for all that living in the moment, we humans tend to pack around a lot of stuff. Nifty items we acquired once-upon-a-time that we will either let go of on our own one fine day in the future or leave behind for our heirs to determine their eventual fate.
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Artists exist in the crux of this conundrum. On one hand, it’s all about the moment of creation, on the other, stuff just keeps piling up. One person's priceless artifact is another’s worthless tchotchke. Without collectors, galleries, and museums to guide us, we’d be lost.
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I’ve long pondered the idea of art and impermanence. Of course, modern dance is an art form that exists only in the moment, hours of practice and rehearsal notwithstanding. Performative arts make for great documentation, which become artifacts after the fact.
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In The Painted Word, Tom Wolfe’s tour de force exposé of art and theory, the story is told of how with each successive movement after the Realists in the Renaissance theory moved further into the foreground while the art itself assumed a less important role.
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From the Impressionists to the Cubists to the Abstract Expressionists and beyond, it got to the point that without knowing the theory behind a piece, you couldn't see it at all. Consequently, the art itself became a vanishing point culminating with The Minimalists.
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Once the frame of the painting and then even the walls of the gallery were cast aside, one was left with nothing but theory. Pop Art spun that around into a realistic celebration of products and culture. Plus an embrace of celebrity that endures in the art world to this day.
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The point being, as long as Art is all about the Artifact, the mythos of the lonely long-suffering artist toiling away in the dusty attic endures. The egos, the emotions, the individual id that pins its entire value and self-worth on the approval of the masses. Bah Humbug!
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Well, back in the 80s I had the privilege of working with a crew of “Performance Artists” who said, “Let’s just put a match to all of that.” Survival Research Laboratories, led by Mark Pauline, subverted the social commentary of the art world by literally burning it all down.
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SRL shows were large scale public spectacles staged outdoors in vast empty parking lots or abandoned industrial sites. https://srl.org
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Huge remote-controlled robotic mechanical characters engaged in pitched battles with each other and elaborately constructed props and special effects devices.
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Months of buildup went into shows that lasted no more than 30-45 minutes. What wasn’t burned to the ground was blown up by explosives or ripped apart by the machines. I helped build and operate a giant flamethrower powered by a V8 from a Corvette capable of 300-foot flames.
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The first show I worked on was in Seattle, 1986. “Failure to Discriminate - Determining the Degree to which Attractive Delusions can Operate as a Substitute for Confirmation by Evidence”
Tongue-in-cheek titles were eerily prescient when viewed through today’s prism.
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Tongue-in-cheek titles were eerily prescient when viewed through today’s prism.
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What rose like a phoenix from the ashes of these early extravaganzas was a simple equation:
Fire + Art = Community.
When people get together to create an artifact destined to go up in smoke, all that’s left is the relationships that endure.
In other words, Community.
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Fire + Art = Community.
When people get together to create an artifact destined to go up in smoke, all that’s left is the relationships that endure.
In other words, Community.
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Larry Harvey, the late founder of The Burning Man Project, probably attended SRL shows at some point before he torched his first figure on Ocean Beach in 1986.
Whether he did or not matters little, the ethos of Community before Art was born out of the Zeitgeist of the era.
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Whether he did or not matters little, the ethos of Community before Art was born out of the Zeitgeist of the era.
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Our current era asks us to re-evaluate.
Deprived of most of our community interactions we’re left with our possessions to keep us company.
It’s a good time to ask what’s worth keeping and what you can shed.
The future and past have never felt so far from the present.
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Deprived of most of our community interactions we’re left with our possessions to keep us company.
It’s a good time to ask what’s worth keeping and what you can shed.
The future and past have never felt so far from the present.
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You’re like a particle of presence dancing on the head of a pin.
Every step forward in time is another moment to make the most of.
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Every step forward in time is another moment to make the most of.
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Let yourself be light and loosen up your expectations about the future and your attachments to the past.
It’s your eternal now where life happens.
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It’s your eternal now where life happens.
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And that's what counts. You've got this...
Much love till next time...
M+
And mad respect to my tweeps... @DirkSchwenk @Heidi_Cuda @ChrisANethery @TeresaCCarter2 @clearing_fog @ushadrons @wokyleeks @nmquittespas @JillEHughes @ItIsIMack @BarbaraJMay2 @Jim2Super
M.A.W.G. out /
Much love till next time...
M+
And mad respect to my tweeps... @DirkSchwenk @Heidi_Cuda @ChrisANethery @TeresaCCarter2 @clearing_fog @ushadrons @wokyleeks @nmquittespas @JillEHughes @ItIsIMack @BarbaraJMay2 @Jim2Super
M.A.W.G. out /
PS: This is one of the things I really love about the Twittisphere... I feel a real sense of kinship and connection with my small group of compatriots on here. A few I know in person, most are simply aligned in spirit. We're doing our best to make a difference. I'm here to help.
PSS: Thanks for sharing and tuning into my streams, see you tomorrow at 4pm pst for another afternoon musical decompression session! http://www.mixlr.com/dancejam
