I have been writing code for 20 years and now want to apply my skills to ?
BIO
Re: Re: burning man (tm)
Curt, your idea sounds interesting and I may want to talk to you
about. It's a bummer that you had to put it off for Pam but I am
sure it was worth it. I took a quick look at The Onion story but
frankly, I think they make things up, because I was there and there
were 30,000 attendees! They have must have a few Jason Blairs on
their staff calling stories in and having a good laugh at our
expense. The Weekly World News rarely makes these kinds of gross
errors. I spoke to the officer involved in this story after I was
pulled over for doing 15 in a 70 mph zone on the way out of Burning
Man, and he told me that not only was the alien drunk, he wasn't
even wearing pants!
http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/aliens_story.cfm?instanceidY134
--- Curt Cloninger <curt@lab404.com> wrote:
> "I was organizing this boss techno-art project called 'Off The
> Grid.'
> We were going to set up computer terminals in various parts of
> the
> playa and have people use them. Then we'd feed the binary data
> from
> those terminals into this fractals program that [Silver Lake, CA
> software designer] Ricky [Thomas-Slater] wrote. Those fractals
> would
> be sent, on the fly, to a group of exiled Buddhist monks I
> befriended
> online. The monks would transform the fractals into a temporal
> sand
> painting, the making of which we would webcast live to everyone
> on
> the playa. But I had to stop working on the monk thing to finish
> up
> this 'Pam's Country Crafts' web site I'm working on. I really
> need
> the money."
>
> http://www.theonion.com/previous_top_story.html
>
> _
> _
> + ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup
> -> post: list@rhizome.org
> -> questions: info@rhizome.org
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at
> http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>
>
>
>
about. It's a bummer that you had to put it off for Pam but I am
sure it was worth it. I took a quick look at The Onion story but
frankly, I think they make things up, because I was there and there
were 30,000 attendees! They have must have a few Jason Blairs on
their staff calling stories in and having a good laugh at our
expense. The Weekly World News rarely makes these kinds of gross
errors. I spoke to the officer involved in this story after I was
pulled over for doing 15 in a 70 mph zone on the way out of Burning
Man, and he told me that not only was the alien drunk, he wasn't
even wearing pants!
http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/features/aliens_story.cfm?instanceidY134
--- Curt Cloninger <curt@lab404.com> wrote:
> "I was organizing this boss techno-art project called 'Off The
> Grid.'
> We were going to set up computer terminals in various parts of
> the
> playa and have people use them. Then we'd feed the binary data
> from
> those terminals into this fractals program that [Silver Lake, CA
> software designer] Ricky [Thomas-Slater] wrote. Those fractals
> would
> be sent, on the fly, to a group of exiled Buddhist monks I
> befriended
> online. The monks would transform the fractals into a temporal
> sand
> painting, the making of which we would webcast live to everyone
> on
> the playa. But I had to stop working on the monk thing to finish
> up
> this 'Pam's Country Crafts' web site I'm working on. I really
> need
> the money."
>
> http://www.theonion.com/previous_top_story.html
>
> _
> _
> + ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup
> -> post: list@rhizome.org
> -> questions: info@rhizome.org
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at
> http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>
>
>
>
Re: burning man (tm)
It seems to me we are both asking if it is possible to influence
mainstream society itself or if Burning Man should be kept to
ourselves, lest it get further corrupted.
On the other hand, I wonder if that is really what my goal is. I
have been tuning into the artist channels during the last two
years, coming from a programming/engineering background, and this
has been really eye-opening for me.
No, I am not really interested in the mainstream, but connecting
with more people on the fringe outside I am interested in how the
new communications technolgies are allowing the fringe have a
greater idea exchanges and cross-pollination effects.
It is appropriate that you bring up the beatnik experiment since we
are living in similar times of conservative extremism, fear, and
paranoia. It is appropriate to revist that movement and ask where
they went wrong. My own opinion is that the beatnik/hippie movement
was destroyed by hard drugs and alcohol, but that is just my
opinion.
--- Patrick Lichty <voyd@voyd.com> wrote:
> Sure, I understand the desire for taking the Burning Man
> philosophy and
> spreading it across the world. That's definitely not the point I
> make.
> It's as if City Lights opened up a chain of alternative
> bookstores and
> coffeeshops designed to give the 'beat' experience.
>
> Make no bones about it; CL has made its dime, for sure. But is
> the logical
> progression to the success of a project to franchise/brand it? I
> think that
> there are times in which the iconic nature of an experience of a
> place or
> event lies in the singular nature of it, either geographically,
> temporally,
> or otherwise. Woodstock proved this - it couldn't work out of
> the context
> of its time.
>
> What you wind up with is an exhaustion of the symbol. WIth the
> propagation
> of the signal it loses strength. Perhaps Burning Man can become
> a movement,
> but I think that so much of it is tied to the experience of the
> place that
> this is unlikely. Having been there a few years ago, I feel this
> quite
> strongly.
>
> For instance, there's a New Orleans BM correspondant who I
> believe is trying
> to transfer it to Mardi Gras, which to me is really strange.
>
> IMO, if you have BM outside of Black Rock, it isn't really
> Burning Man, it's
> something else. BM can't exist as they want it (I believe)
> outside of its
> locational context.
>
>
> + ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup
> -> post: list@rhizome.org
> -> questions: info@rhizome.org
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at
> http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>
>
>
>
mainstream society itself or if Burning Man should be kept to
ourselves, lest it get further corrupted.
On the other hand, I wonder if that is really what my goal is. I
have been tuning into the artist channels during the last two
years, coming from a programming/engineering background, and this
has been really eye-opening for me.
No, I am not really interested in the mainstream, but connecting
with more people on the fringe outside I am interested in how the
new communications technolgies are allowing the fringe have a
greater idea exchanges and cross-pollination effects.
It is appropriate that you bring up the beatnik experiment since we
are living in similar times of conservative extremism, fear, and
paranoia. It is appropriate to revist that movement and ask where
they went wrong. My own opinion is that the beatnik/hippie movement
was destroyed by hard drugs and alcohol, but that is just my
opinion.
--- Patrick Lichty <voyd@voyd.com> wrote:
> Sure, I understand the desire for taking the Burning Man
> philosophy and
> spreading it across the world. That's definitely not the point I
> make.
> It's as if City Lights opened up a chain of alternative
> bookstores and
> coffeeshops designed to give the 'beat' experience.
>
> Make no bones about it; CL has made its dime, for sure. But is
> the logical
> progression to the success of a project to franchise/brand it? I
> think that
> there are times in which the iconic nature of an experience of a
> place or
> event lies in the singular nature of it, either geographically,
> temporally,
> or otherwise. Woodstock proved this - it couldn't work out of
> the context
> of its time.
>
> What you wind up with is an exhaustion of the symbol. WIth the
> propagation
> of the signal it loses strength. Perhaps Burning Man can become
> a movement,
> but I think that so much of it is tied to the experience of the
> place that
> this is unlikely. Having been there a few years ago, I feel this
> quite
> strongly.
>
> For instance, there's a New Orleans BM correspondant who I
> believe is trying
> to transfer it to Mardi Gras, which to me is really strange.
>
> IMO, if you have BM outside of Black Rock, it isn't really
> Burning Man, it's
> something else. BM can't exist as they want it (I believe)
> outside of its
> locational context.
>
>
> + ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup
> -> post: list@rhizome.org
> -> questions: info@rhizome.org
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at
> http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>
>
>
>
Re: burning man (tm)
This was my first time. It was a very multi-faceted/multi-channeled
experiece. I guess it depends on which channels you tune into. Most
media and about half the attendees seem to focus on the sex, drugs,
rock n' roll, and the danger of falling off an art car and getting
run over (not suprisingly, these people express concern that the
fair is not organized and regulated enough -- missing the point
completely.) I notice a lot of old timers longing for the good old
days (meaningless to me, but good for them.)
I choose to tune into the art, the caring and giving community, the
idea of living creatively instead of passively, and the possibility
of bringing all to a wider audience (why not?)
Here are my unpolished descriptions of the projects I saw, mostly
with lasers shooting over my head under the waxing moon while mars
receded from earth. This thread can be found at
http://eplaya.burningman.com/viewtopic.php?t
experiece. I guess it depends on which channels you tune into. Most
media and about half the attendees seem to focus on the sex, drugs,
rock n' roll, and the danger of falling off an art car and getting
run over (not suprisingly, these people express concern that the
fair is not organized and regulated enough -- missing the point
completely.) I notice a lot of old timers longing for the good old
days (meaningless to me, but good for them.)
I choose to tune into the art, the caring and giving community, the
idea of living creatively instead of passively, and the possibility
of bringing all to a wider audience (why not?)
Here are my unpolished descriptions of the projects I saw, mostly
with lasers shooting over my head under the waxing moon while mars
receded from earth. This thread can be found at
http://eplaya.burningman.com/viewtopic.php?t
Burning Man counterculture seeks social, political influence
DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer Monday, September 1, 2003
(09-01) 14:07 PDT BLACK ROCK DESERT, Nev. (AP) --
Burning Man, the wild counterculture festival held annually in one
of the nation's most remote areas, is coming to cities across
America.
It's time to try to influence the very culture against which this
year's record 30,500 Burning Man participants rebelled, the
phenomenon's founder and resident visionary said in an interview.
Ultimately, executive director Larry Harvey sees the festival's
values of libertarian freedom, radical artistic and
self-expression, and anti-consumerism becoming a social movement
that will influence American politics.
"We came out here to do an otherworldly thing. We came out here to
do a vision -- to do the most impractical thing imaginable,"
Harvey, 55, said as a choking dust storm whipped through the
elaborate desert city that participants built and destroyed in a
week.
"But now, in this newest phase of the development, we're going back
to the world," he said. "I don't want to be a subculture -- I want
to enter the mainstream culture, but on our terms."
The effort to spread Burning Man already has begun.
About 100 regional representatives met last week at what
participants call Black Rock City, or the Republic of Burning Man.
Two full-time employees of Black Rock City LLC are helping develop
regional spinoffs beyond those already growing in places like New
York, Seattle, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Austin, Tex., -- and making
sure they adhere to the philosophy of the original.
Internet sites and organizational tools help regional offshoots
communicate and avoid some of the mistakes the original Burning Man
made growing up.
Black Rock Arts Foundation, meanwhile, has been set up to raise
money and to bring radical art to communities nationwide.
Organizers also just distributed what they call a "Burning Man film
festival in a box," a do-it-yourself kit that they expect will
promote avant-garde cinematography.
"Many people will have the Burning Man experience and feel a part
of Burning Man without ever coming here," said Harvey, serially
smoking cigarettes and sipping iced coffee as his aviator
sunglasses turned opaque in the swirling dust. "We are growing at
an exponential rate -- just not here."
What evolved into Burning Man started when eight people torched an
eight-foot wooden figure on a San Francisco beach in 1986. The
crowd for what became an annual event soon grew to 800.
Eighty people showed up when the event moved to the remote desert
120 miles north of Reno in 1990. It grew to 8,000 by 1996, and has
nearly quadrupled since. Harvey calls those phases one and two.
Phase Three is creating regional festivals and bringing
cutting-edge art into communities nationwide.
Phase Four is turning those people into an Internet-connected
network for social and ultimately political change, in Harvey's
vision.
"I think increasingly the political parties don't matter," he said
Saturday as participants prepared the climactic torching of what
has now become a 40-foot neon-lit Burning Man affixed atop an
elaborate 40-foot Aztec-style wood and canvas pyramid.
"I think leaders will rise up in these (Burning Man) groups and a
new kind of value-based politics -- drawing renewal from rituals --
will emerge. Then you have a rebirth of democracy, but a different
kind of democracy."
Burning Man participants got their most overtly politicized event
this year, when Bill Talen of New York City assumed his persona as
the Rev. Billy and led his Church of Stop Shopping in nightly shows
of satirical songs and sermons denouncing consumerism, the nation's
energy policy, and Bush administration priorities generally.
Burning Man is a marketer's dream, attracting a preponderance of
highly educated, relatively affluent participants in their 30s and
40s, followed in order by those in their 20s and then their 60s,
Harvey said.
"If we let them, there'd be Burning Man vodka and Burning Man
everything," Harvey said.
Burning Man is rabidly anti-commercial, however. Though organizers
have taken lessons from how corporations operate, corporate logos
are banned at Burning Man. Participants are encouraged even to mask
the logos on rental trucks or RVs, and Black Rock City LLC's legal
arm aggressively targets any attempt to commercialize or capitalize
on the event.
"We're the other choice in a consumer world," Harvey said, as
extravagantly or barely costumed Burning Man participants donned
goggles and pulled up bandanas and face masks against the
talcom-fine dust that at times cut visibility to a matter of a few
yards. The wind shook the two-story wooden deck on which Harvey
sat, and threatened to sail his trademark felt Stetson off into the
surrounding desert.
"They're marketing fake authenticity," he said. "We're the real
thing. Why else would people come out to this godforsaken place?
People think the ultimate thing people want is comfort and
convenience. We've proved that's not the case."
Though Harvey inspires near reverential devotion from a cadre of
aides and hangers-on, most Burning Man participants have never met
him. But many said they also see a grass roots backlash against
rampant commercialism.
"This is the influence that needs to go into those Third World
cities, not Coca-Cola and Pepsi," said Angela Layton of Beaver
Creek, Ore.
"For sure it's going to evolve, and it's going to evolve in
society. Burning Man is a reflection of society," said Labro
Zabelis, a psychology graduate student from Union, N.J.
Harvey readily acknowledges his vision sounds grandiose.
"But I know what we can accomplish," he said, overlooking the
fleeting, illusionary city that sprang up from five square miles of
desert. "In the fullness of time, maybe this will disappear --
because it will have served its purpose. The children will have
left the nursery."
www.burningman.com
(09-01) 14:07 PDT BLACK ROCK DESERT, Nev. (AP) --
Burning Man, the wild counterculture festival held annually in one
of the nation's most remote areas, is coming to cities across
America.
It's time to try to influence the very culture against which this
year's record 30,500 Burning Man participants rebelled, the
phenomenon's founder and resident visionary said in an interview.
Ultimately, executive director Larry Harvey sees the festival's
values of libertarian freedom, radical artistic and
self-expression, and anti-consumerism becoming a social movement
that will influence American politics.
"We came out here to do an otherworldly thing. We came out here to
do a vision -- to do the most impractical thing imaginable,"
Harvey, 55, said as a choking dust storm whipped through the
elaborate desert city that participants built and destroyed in a
week.
"But now, in this newest phase of the development, we're going back
to the world," he said. "I don't want to be a subculture -- I want
to enter the mainstream culture, but on our terms."
The effort to spread Burning Man already has begun.
About 100 regional representatives met last week at what
participants call Black Rock City, or the Republic of Burning Man.
Two full-time employees of Black Rock City LLC are helping develop
regional spinoffs beyond those already growing in places like New
York, Seattle, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Austin, Tex., -- and making
sure they adhere to the philosophy of the original.
Internet sites and organizational tools help regional offshoots
communicate and avoid some of the mistakes the original Burning Man
made growing up.
Black Rock Arts Foundation, meanwhile, has been set up to raise
money and to bring radical art to communities nationwide.
Organizers also just distributed what they call a "Burning Man film
festival in a box," a do-it-yourself kit that they expect will
promote avant-garde cinematography.
"Many people will have the Burning Man experience and feel a part
of Burning Man without ever coming here," said Harvey, serially
smoking cigarettes and sipping iced coffee as his aviator
sunglasses turned opaque in the swirling dust. "We are growing at
an exponential rate -- just not here."
What evolved into Burning Man started when eight people torched an
eight-foot wooden figure on a San Francisco beach in 1986. The
crowd for what became an annual event soon grew to 800.
Eighty people showed up when the event moved to the remote desert
120 miles north of Reno in 1990. It grew to 8,000 by 1996, and has
nearly quadrupled since. Harvey calls those phases one and two.
Phase Three is creating regional festivals and bringing
cutting-edge art into communities nationwide.
Phase Four is turning those people into an Internet-connected
network for social and ultimately political change, in Harvey's
vision.
"I think increasingly the political parties don't matter," he said
Saturday as participants prepared the climactic torching of what
has now become a 40-foot neon-lit Burning Man affixed atop an
elaborate 40-foot Aztec-style wood and canvas pyramid.
"I think leaders will rise up in these (Burning Man) groups and a
new kind of value-based politics -- drawing renewal from rituals --
will emerge. Then you have a rebirth of democracy, but a different
kind of democracy."
Burning Man participants got their most overtly politicized event
this year, when Bill Talen of New York City assumed his persona as
the Rev. Billy and led his Church of Stop Shopping in nightly shows
of satirical songs and sermons denouncing consumerism, the nation's
energy policy, and Bush administration priorities generally.
Burning Man is a marketer's dream, attracting a preponderance of
highly educated, relatively affluent participants in their 30s and
40s, followed in order by those in their 20s and then their 60s,
Harvey said.
"If we let them, there'd be Burning Man vodka and Burning Man
everything," Harvey said.
Burning Man is rabidly anti-commercial, however. Though organizers
have taken lessons from how corporations operate, corporate logos
are banned at Burning Man. Participants are encouraged even to mask
the logos on rental trucks or RVs, and Black Rock City LLC's legal
arm aggressively targets any attempt to commercialize or capitalize
on the event.
"We're the other choice in a consumer world," Harvey said, as
extravagantly or barely costumed Burning Man participants donned
goggles and pulled up bandanas and face masks against the
talcom-fine dust that at times cut visibility to a matter of a few
yards. The wind shook the two-story wooden deck on which Harvey
sat, and threatened to sail his trademark felt Stetson off into the
surrounding desert.
"They're marketing fake authenticity," he said. "We're the real
thing. Why else would people come out to this godforsaken place?
People think the ultimate thing people want is comfort and
convenience. We've proved that's not the case."
Though Harvey inspires near reverential devotion from a cadre of
aides and hangers-on, most Burning Man participants have never met
him. But many said they also see a grass roots backlash against
rampant commercialism.
"This is the influence that needs to go into those Third World
cities, not Coca-Cola and Pepsi," said Angela Layton of Beaver
Creek, Ore.
"For sure it's going to evolve, and it's going to evolve in
society. Burning Man is a reflection of society," said Labro
Zabelis, a psychology graduate student from Union, N.J.
Harvey readily acknowledges his vision sounds grandiose.
"But I know what we can accomplish," he said, overlooking the
fleeting, illusionary city that sprang up from five square miles of
desert. "In the fullness of time, maybe this will disappear --
because it will have served its purpose. The children will have
left the nursery."
www.burningman.com
Burningman
Greetings all, I just returned from Burningman (www.burningman.org) in the
Nevada Desert and came away very impressed and expanded by the entire
experience, at least the first 2 days when the big crowds hadn't arrived yet
and the artists were still busy setting up.
I am fairly new to this list, this being my second post, but I would like to
start working right away on a net art type project for next year, these
projects naturally being very under-represented in the middle of the desert.
I did manage to find someone (not affiliated with the organizers) with an
Internet satellite connection (www.democracycaravan.org) and he gave me the
info on getting set up myself.
I will start working on acquiring equipment and setting up but need help on
the creative end. I am posting here so that someone may direct me to the
appropriate list or organization and/or may be interested in talking with me
directly about this.
I have some trepidation about Burningman since there are many potential
pitfalls that could ruin the experience, but I am setting a goal of trying to
do something next year.
I will share one project I enjoyed experiencing:
Mona Lisa -- A 6 foot high pole with a single row of RGB LED's representing
one scan line of a video output. An image of the Mona Lisa is output to the
pole one scan line at a time. You don't see anything except white until you
turn your head. The motion of your eyes across the pole paints a picture of
the Mona Lisa on back of your eyes very briefly. When I first approached the
project I thought I might be hallucinating the image of the Mona Lisa. I took
me a few seconds to realize what was happening.
thx
Michael Watson
www.eleanorrigby.net
Nevada Desert and came away very impressed and expanded by the entire
experience, at least the first 2 days when the big crowds hadn't arrived yet
and the artists were still busy setting up.
I am fairly new to this list, this being my second post, but I would like to
start working right away on a net art type project for next year, these
projects naturally being very under-represented in the middle of the desert.
I did manage to find someone (not affiliated with the organizers) with an
Internet satellite connection (www.democracycaravan.org) and he gave me the
info on getting set up myself.
I will start working on acquiring equipment and setting up but need help on
the creative end. I am posting here so that someone may direct me to the
appropriate list or organization and/or may be interested in talking with me
directly about this.
I have some trepidation about Burningman since there are many potential
pitfalls that could ruin the experience, but I am setting a goal of trying to
do something next year.
I will share one project I enjoyed experiencing:
Mona Lisa -- A 6 foot high pole with a single row of RGB LED's representing
one scan line of a video output. An image of the Mona Lisa is output to the
pole one scan line at a time. You don't see anything except white until you
turn your head. The motion of your eyes across the pole paints a picture of
the Mona Lisa on back of your eyes very briefly. When I first approached the
project I thought I might be hallucinating the image of the Mona Lisa. I took
me a few seconds to realize what was happening.
thx
Michael Watson
www.eleanorrigby.net