Early Art, Insects and Clowns

As our esteemed “Burning Man Organizer” Mr. John Curley has communicated, evidently the insects have run their course. At least that is the official story. The billion wood-boring beetles that descended on the Man’s legs at Man Base have evidently been exterminated. Burning Man will not be brought to you by Citronella and DEET  this year. Behind us are the horrific fear-saturated nights of swarming green beetles, clouds of fluttering moths, biting flying ants, stinging noseeums and locusts so thick we had to don Hazmat suits and run in sheer terror from container to container to avoid being eaten alive.  No more do colonies of bats descend from the sky so thick that they obscure the moon and the hordes of kangaroo rats, ravens, crows, scorpions, snakes and coyotes have also moved on. There was a moth as big as a baby chicken in my camper the other night that had fangs and I finally chased it away with a machete. I haven’t seen it since.

We aren’t sure if it was the water trucks spraying vegan and gluten-free Malathion that did the trick. Or it may have been the initial deployment of our BRC Drone Bug Zappers that took out the first wave of stink bugs on Wednesday. They rose from the Depot,  all flying in formation into the incoming swarms trillions thick,  zapping blue and littering the playa with millions of twitching sizzling bug corpses. Some attribute our victory to Ranger Rico and his Roughnecks who were equipped with armor exoskeletons and flamethrowers that allowed them to capture the Brain Bug. We may never know, but somehow we prevailed. We witnessed, persevered and we survived.

With the bugs gone, Black Rock City infrastructure is going up fast.  Center Camp Cafe is framed and rigging is in place. The Man Base is coming together nicely. Everywhere you hear the happy hum of machinery and the DPW is, as always, working their asses off in the hot sun to put together the canvas for this year’s Carnival of Mirrors.

Speaking of Carnivals, this is not going to be a good year for clown fearing folks. They wander around town even now, shapes in the darkness, ducking behind containers, appearing then disappearing at meetings. They’ve applied their make-up that is becoming caked with alkaline playa dust and is slowly fading each day. Prepare for Sad Clown Town. And beware Plug and Players, the clowns have your number. Locate, Tag, Track and Acculturate. Participate or clowns will eat you. My advice is to befriend a clown as soon as possible upon arrival. They are a hive mind and they can sense your intentions and fear.

Bugpocalypse was just a warm up to our possibly most menacing problem. The clowns are waiting with painted smiles to welcome you to Black Rock City.

But enough about bugs and clowns. The ART this year is going to blow your desert addled brains. There are currently 320+ registered art pieces and with all the pestilence subsided, some of the big art protects are taking shape.

Moving out onto the playa from Center Camp you first encounter “Mazu Goddess of the Empty Sea” by The Department of Public Art and the Dream Community. Their main Temple pavilion is being finished. There is a huge lotus that will crown it, and impressive shining fire breathing dragons are all lined in a row awaiting placement. Today at their build site shingles were being added to the roof and the Temple structure was being readied for the Lotus to be placed.

Not too near Mazu stands a frame for the Trebuchet that is returning to the playa after a six year absence. I’m told they will be attempting to break the previous world record for distance hurling a flaming piano, a record I believe, that is held by them.

The playa is wide open at present, sparsely occupied by only a few projects. They are collections of freshly delivered loads of wood, odd sculptures in crates and containers full of tools and art. There are work lights and organized chaos. The installations are in various states of construction, and all are accompanied by small camps of trucks and kitchens, tents and trailers in various states of disrepair to house exhausted artists.

Near the 3 o’clock promenade you will encounter Michael Garlington’s “Totem of Confessions” that’s already impressive as hell even though it is only about half way constructed. Inside they have already begun affixing all manner of plaster facades. “Beauty and chaos of black and white photography in assemblage with salvaged and re-purposed mixed media”. Mike’s art is darkly bewitching and entirely his own unique expression. To see what he’s done this early and walk away a little overwhelmed by his vision guarantees that the finished vision is going to be amazing.

The “Life Cube Project” by Scott “Skeeter” Cohen is also near 3 o’clock and Esplanade and they are finishing up the Esplanade facing wall. It will be a structure of rooms and stairs where Black Rock City participants can inscribe their dreams on the walls .

Further out, past the Man Base, Marco Cochrane’s “R-Evolution” stands in three pieces. I was fortunate enough to visit it last night and I can only say, people will be talking about this sculpture at the event this year. It has to be seen to be believed.

The “Temple of Promise” by Dreamers Guild appears to be coming along nicely. The tail of the structure’s arches are built and heavy equipment is currently lifting the larger arches and a crew of temple builders are putting them into place. The encampment is a frenzy of activity as most Burning Man Temples are, with various activities happening all at once.

Beyond the Temple and towards 10 o’clock two projects are being built; Ardent Heavy Industries’ “Straightedge”, a 2.7 mile long edge that will be LED lit to show the curvature of the earth, and “Dreamland“, a FLUX Foundation piece “inspired by the wonder of childhood carnival rides” that will feature light and flames. Kate Raudenbush is working with FLUX to create the most sophisticated system FLUX has ever built.

As you move back toward Center Camp the beginnings of “Own Way” by Sasha Mornov and Sema Payain who built “Cradle of Mir” in 2014 is growing from the playa layer by layer. Inside the Man Base, Dana Albany, Haideen Anderson, Flash Hopkins and Tom Kennedy’s “Laffing Sal” stands all alone smiling somewhat disturbingly sweetly at the maze that will eventually be filled with all manner of Carnival of Mirrors insanity.

But now, occasional dust devils scamper. Lonely crows fly over and land to pick up the last insect carcasses from Bugpocalypse. Activity is at the installations or at the ARTery, the Depot and Commissary, or spread about as work crews erect more shade and infrastructure.

The ARTery is braced for the influx of another 310+ installations to begin arriving today from all parts, including The Generator in Reno where some fifteen artists from all over the world are putting finishing touches on their projects before a stream of trucks tow them out here.

With the City laid out, thousands of creative makers and artists, participants and pilgrims will land like so many moths drawn to a flame. Swarms of us will land to share our visions and gifts. We live in exciting times and Burning Man is a vehicle for what is good and expressive in us. So use this time to paint this canvas.  Bring your art, bring your gifts and let us all make this Carnival of Mirrors a year to remember.

And don’t worry about the bugs. Clowns are far scarier.