Burning Man LIVE

This culture started in dust and ephemerality. We build metropolises of art and fire, then we leave no trace. How do we translate that inspiration into a rhythm for everyday life? What happens when a temporary autonomous zone puts down roots? The Borderland is Scandinavia's largest and longest running Burning Man Regional event. It’s "working out loud" culture fosters radical trust, allowing the community to create its own world where no one is in charge. The community also crowd-funded land that serves as the permanent home for their Regional event, and year-round collaborations of all kinds. How does the Borderland commit to the risk and reward of community buy-in? How does trusting that someone will have the answer lead to resiliency? How do the 10 Principles balance aspects of Scandinavian culture differently than US culture? Hear Andie set it up, then Stuart talk with Liselotte Norman and Hampus Lindblad. Hear about the act of letting go to stay together.

Remember that whiteout in deep playa? That prepared you for a NASA mission to space, maybe. Andie Grace talks with Samuel M. Coniglio, aka Ranger Cosmonaut, and Spaceman Sam. He isn't just a ten-year Black Rock Ranger and a veteran of the legendary Neverwas Haul (that three-story Victorian house on wheels)... He’s a writer, inventor, and futurist who worked on the Space Shuttle and the ISS. From his Zero-G cocktail glass, to his book about making offworld living worth living, he studies creature comforts in extreme environments. Stuart Mangrum opens the show with a look at the Lunar Codex, an ambitious project placing the art of 50,000 Earthlings (including Burners!) into permanent archives on the Moon. Then, Sam and Andie spacewalk into why "civilizing a barbaric situation" is a human need, whether its serving fancy tea in a mud storm, or grilling chicken on a space station. Hear about radical self-reliance, orbital infrastructure, and why—if we’re going to Mars—we’d better bring decent coffee… and a bucket. "Burning Man is just like going to Las Vegas on Mars. You have to learn how to live on Mars first before you enjoy the parties. It’s survival first, party second… The Burning Man org learned we have to have toilets, roads, and support systems. NASA probably should learn from you guys."

There’s a world of civic hacking where "making cool stuff" meets "making useful stuff." Hear tinkerers, gearheads and other makers share about the inventions that won them Burners Without Borders Civic Ignition Grants. These grants are little sparks that fire up the next level of open-source technology for all of our community, and for all the world. Colin Jemmott and MJ Brovold of YOUtopia, the San Diego Regional event, share about their low maintenance light source that’s sturdy, solar-powered, and buildable by anyone. They're also building a huge steel pop-up book! Sam Smith and Squirtle of SOAK, the Portland Regional event, share about their deployable solar shade pavilion made of star-shapes and scissor linkages. Trash eating robots are involved, and 3D printed ‘precious plastic’ art. This is not about the party. This is about practicing for a future where we won't need to poison the planet to self-express. These stories are a recipe: · One part ‘for the love of it’ spirit · One part skills we already have Blend until smooth. Enjoy what new ideas can happen when we all put our heads together.

It's absurd. It perturbs. It’s the most wonderful time of the year! (And boy has it been a year!) Following in the footsteps of show-biz luminaries like Stephen Colbert, Jon Stuart, and the cast of Star Wars, we hosted a (non-denominational) holiday show in front of a live online pseudo-studio audience in 2020. Broadcasting from their snowed-in virtual holiday cabins, Stuart and Andie entertained guests: · Santa Zero - originator of the now-infamous SantaCon phenomenon · Mrs. Claus - founder of Burning Man’s first theme camp, Christmas Camp · Tubatron and his Flaming Tuba playing a Hanukkah song (David Silverman) · Reverend Billy and Savitri D of the Stop Shopping Choir And it wouldn’t be the holiday season without Caveat Magister selling us on Decommodification. Join us for · how Krampus cramps us · how COVID is an 8-foot-tall dominatrix · how “Gifting” is so close to “Grifting” · how the Cacophony Society is sooo Kumbaya in the 5th anniversary of our Holiday Special that is indeed SPECIAL.

RootHub (aka Aloha) weaves the core values and shared struggle of building Black Rock City and his work in Hawai‘i. He draws inspiration from the Hawaiian people’s concept of kuleana (responsibility to the land and community). When he’s not building BRC with DPW, or playing music to amplify people’s stories, he’s diverting food waste from landfills and incinerators into much needed, nutrient-dense soil for growing food. He does this through his companies. The names say it all: · Full Circle Solutions Hawaii · Leftover Love Company ("We love your leftovers") Hear how ingenuity learned on the playa—along with a sense of humor—allows him to overcome hurdles and create meaningful change in BRC and in Hawai’i, even with the naive tourists. Through sweet story and song, he shares how to combine innovation with tradition, to lift the stone without lifting the weight of the stone.

“I think therefore I am.” ~Descartes John Jennifer adds: I care therefore we are… and you cannot think your way to ‘we’ He is a poet, an architect, and a cultural instigator. He helped create The Museum of No Spectators which includes Burning Man art of snark and social justice, but no velvet ropes. He’s a paradox embracer. In a world of binaries, he asserts that between black and white is not a gradient of gray; between black and white is all the conceivable colors. Hear him philosophize about different styles of art and artists, from avant garde to architecture, from Salvador Dalí to Frank Lloyd Wright. He and Stuart explore how a glittery clothespin alligator and a museum-grade sculpture both share the humanity of the giver. They explore playa art — genre-defying, genre-defining — and the value of both fine art and participatory art at Burning Man. They explore how creative expression went from being seen as a hobby to a human need, and how creative community proliferates. Listen in on their profound and playful chat. 🎙️🔥

Black Rock City has an airport, a hospital, a post office... and yes, an observatory! For a decade, the Black Rock Observatory has served as a portal to the cosmos, bringing deep space to the desert. Father-and-son Zoom and Robin Newhouse are at the helm of the observatory that houses several telescopes for viewing planets, galaxies, and even our sun. They offer a museum of meteorites that are billions of years old, and they even have custom tarot cards. The Observatory's theme camp serves as an expert nexus: It is home to Space Talks with physicists and professors who are usually only available within academic halls or behind NASA’s walls. And they even have Space Deck tarot cards! They bring these offerings to Burning Man Regional events, festivals, and eclipses worldwide, but they save the observatory structure itself for Black Rock City. Hear them share stories of science and spirituality, and how they garner shared humanity from the cosmic perspective that is viewable through this lens. They explore awe and expand perspective. It’s the hard work of building and running a theme camp made worthwhile in that single moment of cosmic connection. Listen in and look up!

Hear the stories of the art and artists. Black Rock City hosts 400 artworks from around the world. This episode features 12 of them, and this year’s Temple. This is a sonic journey of artist's recordings and chats with Burning Man Project's Director of Art, Katie Hazard. Desert Arts Preview is your chance to step behind the scenes and listen to the process of creating interactive, collaborative, community-built artworks. This episode explores: · The Sphinx Gate - Mareesa Stertz & Tania Abdul · Sinksphere - Scott (Scottysoltronic) Whitaker · Afterlife Reincarnate - Adrian (Blitzy) Tay · Resilience - Whitney Webb · Moonlight Library - James Gwertzman (Moonlight Collective) · Desert Air Oasis: BreathCore 7 - Elnara Nasirli (MXNZM) · One Tin Soldier - Mark Deem (Misfit Toy Crew) · Black Rock City Chicken Ranch - Rob Brown, Alysha Cypher, & Aviva Kinoko · Disco Snail - Alyssa Oliveira (Alpine Artists Collective) · DROP - Auli Uiboupin · Pillar of Po Tolo - Antwane Lee (Solar Shrine Collective) · Rose Wonders - Thomas Dambo · Temple of the Deep - Miguel Arraiz

Zander was the executive director of The Long Now Foundation, dedicated to long term thinking. He also helped build their library, a book club for the end of the world, with all the titles we would want to rebuild civilization, if needed. He is one of the brains behind the 10,000-Year Clock, designed to tick off the years, and chime the centuries. He’s now co-creating the future of the web at Automattic. He and his team are bringing a library to Black Rock City, to the World’s Fair pavilion under The Man. It’s a refreshing opposite. Like his theme camp inside a refrigerator truck NOT being hot, this library is about NOT being burnt. It’s an ephemeral manual for civilization. We the participants will choose what books to save from burning. Zander shares stories on the effects of books, websites, and rituals, as well as Burning Man’s past, present, and future.

Kevin Kelly is a leading thinker of the digital age. The founding editor of Wired Magazine, he helped produce the Whole Earth Catalog, and an early internet pillar called the WELL. He is a journalist, an artist, and a longtime member of the Burning Man community. He is a radical optimist. The future is a construct of the collective imagination. We see utopian stories as too pie-in-the-sky. We have a morbid curiosity for dystopian stories. What’s in between? Iterative improvement. Protopia. Delve into this conversation on cultural narratives, the transformative potential of AI, and the context shift into lifelong-learning.

Leo is a pioneering light artist, bringing teams and tech together to activate buildings, bridges, and bastions. He started Burning in 1994, founded Disorient camp, and is part of Black Rock City every year. Here he shares his journey from crafting a single beacon at his tent to leading monumental art projects that reshaped skylines. He illuminated the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, the historic bridges of London, and projects everywhere from NYC to Tokyo. Join Leo and Stuart on how the open-source innovation of BRC impacts the default world. Leo shares his process for conjuring tech, from customizing LED fixtures to coding sequences. He describes how artists can engage with their communities outside of their comfort zones. He tells stories of the convening power of photons as an artistic medium, as a digital campfire for all. Hear him flip the switch, and stay until the brilliant end.

Most people in Black Rock City live together in placed camps, aka theme camps, the most unique aspect of this unique event. BRC has 1200 camps. At the intersection of Communal Effort, Self-Expression, and Immediacy, theme camps gift a uniquely decommodified ‘third place’ of offerings and ambiance. At this annual symposium, staff and volunteers share how they gift their interactive camps to participants. There’s an art and a science to it. These highlights are about the art of it. · Bryant Tan (aka Level Placerman): head of Placement · Andie Grace: Producer in the Philosophical Center · Charlie Dolman: Director of Event Operations · DA (aka Dominic Tinio): Environmental Restoration Manager · Harley K Dubois: Founder & Chief Cultural Officer · Stuart Mangrum: Director of the Philosophical Center and a keen crew of Placement Team volunteers: · Bravo · Cosmic · Governess · Hepkitten · Huntress · KGB · Razzmatazz Hear how it started, how it’s going, and how Burners create these unique and interactive passion projects.

Explore the magic monuments of Black Rock City 2025. Katie Hazard, Director of Art, leads the selection, placement, and installation of artwork, and she leads Burning Man's art grant selection committees. The ARTery is in the center of Black Rock City, slightly offset like the human heart. It’s the epicenter of art support for nearly 400 art pieces, from towering sculptures to immersive environments. Before these art projects are sourced, crafted, and assembled with everything from hot glue to heavy equipment, they are first conceptualized by artists and engineers. Burning Man’s Honoraria project grants 76 of these art projects about half of the funding they need, a total of $1.3 million. Katie and Stuart explore how to foster accessibility and agency in artist groups. They describe some of the installations coming this summer, from interactive Sphinxes to a sphere of sinks, from a lost troll of sustainability to a fire-spinning pigeon. Some of the experiences include: · an inflatable black cloud from Ukraine · an Indigenous deer destined for ceremonial land · an Afrofuturist pillar with an ancient modern secret · a screaming booth that displays visual reactions to sound · a woman with a merry-go-round crown, jump rope dreadlocks, and swing earrings Listen in on this sonic journey of how Burner art is co-created and curated, and how BRC’s surreal skyline is taking shape.