Festivalization: the Boom in Events

Festivalization: the boom in events

Platform for change, outli ne of a new in dustry

Par ti ci pa ti on, iden ti fi ca ti on, re a li za ti on and trans for ma ti on as the core pa ra me ters of per ma nent or tem po ra ry au to no- mous zones.

The need for physi cal contact, anony mous freedom, commu ni ty and trans for ma ti on, fu e led by cy ber- iso la ti on gi ves rise to new models of toge ther ness and au tono my. Expres sed in fes ti vals, com mu ni ties, free cul tu ral spa ces and tribes, these influ en ce in turn our states of mind, bring new ide as, in no va ti on and help change our world view.

Luc Sala with Aja Waalw ijk, Britta Lillesøe, Wolfgang Sterneck, Ferry Maidman, Peter H. Rosen

1 Publishe r: Boekencoöperatie Nederland u.a. Imprint: Artscience Ó All rights. also dig ital reser ved by Mindlift and L. Sala con tact: [email protected] Cover: Tomas Sala, pic ture: An-Jes Kriyana Wagemans Pic tures: au thors & friends, Margreet Bakker, An-Jes Kriyana Wagemans, Peter Rosen, Firetribe-Kyer Wiltshire, Corel, PhotoDisc, Wikipedia, Mindlift Beeldbankiers. Dis tri bu tion: Boekencoöperatie Nederland u.a., [email protected] www.boekcoop.nl www.boekenroute.nl (webshop) ISBN 9789492079107 NUR 740 first edition: Sept. 2015, enhance d sec ond edition March 2016 We like to go to fes tivals, more than ever. Is it to play, to meet, to expe ri ence or just to es cape the norm al, the orga nize d, the suffo ca - tion of daily routines and cyberspace isola tion? This book deals with the roots, background and mecha nism s of what is now a global trend, turning into an industry. What do auton o m ous zones like fes tivals or free cul tural spaces, com muni ties and urban tribes bring beyond the lei sure and enter - tain ment? Are they also a tool to ex pe ri ence and shape a dif fer ent para digm , changing our per sonal world view and polit i cal conscious ness? Festivalization is not only an econom ic trend, it is a socia l phenom - enon that seems to compen sate for a lack of phys i cal con tact in modern life and cyberspace, but also the loss of meaning in an overly ma te rial world. Com mer cial, cul tural, ar tis tic, al ter na tive, re li gious, spir i tual or tribal, transformati onal, every body can find something of his or her liking in the festivalscape, for a day, a weekend or longer. It makes us feel connect ed, tol erant and inclined to share. In a world of stress, fear, eco log i cal threats and ed u cation al co er - cion there is a need to es cape to places and events where the ‘nor - mality ’ is shelved. Places where we can still play, have fun, make mistake s, and thus learn and grow, even as this might entail a dark side. Fes tivals fit in with the expe ri ence econom y and eventification of soci ety, but they also offer anchor points for an expanded identity for the fes ti val-goers. They of fer en ter tain ment, cul ture, par tic i pa - tion, mean ing and iden ti fi ca tion, and the more al ter na tive events are a platform for per sonal and social transformation. The perspec tive of this book concer ns the transformative quali ties : how au ton o mous zones fa cil i tate the al ter na tive and of fer trans formation. It is about under sta nding why people flock to events that offer something extra. It looks into what that extra is; how that brings inno va tion and personal growth and under what condi tions. Mani fes ting change is what the world needs to under sta nd. The book is less about com mercia l and enter tain m ent ori ented cat ego - ries of fes ti vals or about event management, which are well covered elsewhere. Con tri bu tions by dif fer ent au thors give back ground in for ma tion and his tor i cal per spec tives.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 11 Ex pe ri ence econ omy and eventification 2 Festivalization: a new boom 15 Towards a wider definition of festival 18 Classification of festivals 21 Themes, authenticity and dynamics 22 Dif fer ent sub cul tures, back stage Understanding Festivals 23 Focus on the alternative 24 The new ethics, value devel op ment In no va tion, coy ote mind Security and red tape 28 Festivals are the business of the future? 29 Tribal Revival 31 Ur ban en Cyberspace tribes: bonding or super fi cial escape? Ecology, the green angle 33 Social and political impact of festivals 33 Festivals as a lifestyle 34 Fan-community 35 3 Eventification 36 Festivalscape Festival and event science 37 Trendification Crowd read ing and crowd control In ter dis ci plin ary event sci ence Event organizing talent, flexible and meticulous 43 So cial cen ters Po lit i cal an gle; squat ters, so cial cen ters Audience diversity, target groups 48 Se cu rity and drugs 4 The real potential of festivals 51 Transformational efficacy 53 5 The perspective of the organizers/producers 54 Why, For Whom, What, Where Re strict ing pol i cies Talent 59 Ambitions 59 Image counts 60 Event Im pact

5 Volunteers 63 Af ter-Care Internet as a ma jor tool Opportunities, sponsors, partnering 65 6 The role of the government 67 Op por tu ni ties to boost this in dus try Sil i con Val ley re makes don’t work Po lit i cal choices, gov ern ment stance Creative cities, culture as snake oil 71 The chang ing function of a city Competition 72 7 Needs, motivation, incentives and values 74 Mo ti va tion: seek ing and es cap ing The need to be free 79 The freedom to fail, in anonymity 80 And the practical? 81 8 Group Mind 82 The hunting group model Group Mind, Groupthink Social identi f ica tion Collec ti ve memory The effect of Group Mind on per sonal and social transfor ma tion The power of the orga nizers and sponsors Group mind dan gers The mag i cal ig nored 9 The dark side, morality 92 En force ment Bikers and drug trade 92 Mo ral ity Dif fer ent kind of cap i tal 10 Contact and interaction: the basics 97 Con tact stim u la tion Contact needs vary 101 The circle Sharing 102 Spatiality, routing, mini mood climates 103 Multi-culturality, pluralization 104 Diversity philosophically 105 Diversity practically; the Nescafe Model 105 Segregation, the rich and the poor 107

6 11 Autonomous zones: freedom to change the paradigm 109 Change agents, political stamcells 110 Identity, persona 111 Pe ter Lamborn Wil son Cyberspace as au ton o mous zone Freedom, the ultimate task of the state, not of your provider 115 TAZ in a broad perspective 117 12 Classification and parameters of autonomous zones 119 A mir ror of diver sity Partic i pa t ion, contri bu t ion Iden ti fi ca tion Re al iza tion Trans for ma tion in ner and outer cre ativ ity Community parameters 123 13 The secret of the TAZ 124 14 Play, transformation, innovation models 128 The mechanisms of change 128 Play 129 Play at the festi val Play and perfor mance Mech a nisms of play Innovation MATTERS or not? 135 Mistakes and error, but also successes are essen tial in learning A model & reso nance Set and setting, liminality McLuhan Tetrads 15 Meaning and ritual angle 146 Looking for meaning, high and low 147 Meaning is a process The Sacred 149 The ritual angle 151 The stages of a ritual 16 Festivals & Computer Games 157 TAZ in games; immer sion Transformative gaming 161 Design and Gestalt 161 Tet rads MDA game de sign De cons truc tion and prim ing

7 17 Social media and festivalization 170 Convergence of media 171 Extended range and coverage 172 18 Size of events 174 Group size and social platform, Dunbar’s number 176 The influence of alcohol and drugs on group mind 178 Offline and online, fan & tribe building 179 Serving all or just you Festival in festival, differentiation 180 19 Utopia, intentional communities 182 Origins in history 183 Lim i ta tions Utopia models 188 Tribalism 189 Tribes of magic Sustainable reality 189 Us and them Energy is the key 191 Sustain able in the face of scarcity Conflict Resolution 193 De ci sion mak ing Com mit ment Re ality grounding: last stop for heaven 20 Christiania, the greatest victory of the squatting movement in the world 197 by Britta Lillesøe The beginning 197 Peo ple Experimental Zone 201 21Amsterdam Ruigoord 204 Community, urban tribe and feeling real 204 Landjuweel festival 205 Feeling the connectedness 2008 Two Ur ban Tribes Meet ing, Christi ania welcomes Ruigoord. A manifesto of celebration 210 What and how Why 22 The central place of fire 213 23 Burning Man: communitas and transformational fun 216 Burn ing Man and cyberspace

8 Burning Man as a pagan or cybergnostic event 220 Temporary Autonomous Zone 222 My view Ten Princi ples of Burning Man The energy on the playa 234 24 FireDance, a modern ritual festival format 237 A new blend 240 My FireDance song Fire cir cle ar chi tec ture In stal la tions and lo ca tions The ritual elements of FireDance 246 Alchemical phases 247 Closing the FireDance Set, setting and magi cal 25 Drugs at festivals, raves, parties, clubbing scene. 252 Individual effects, group mind effects 252 Making contact 253 Psy che delic fes ti vals Why are people using? 257 What scenes, discos and places? 260 Hitchhik ing and contact with nature Sex: nice but beware of dark waters 261 Kundalini: the in ner snake Legalization or/and decriminalization 262 26 Analog and digital: a fundamental dichotomy 266 27 The future: extended identification, immersion, pervasive games, flash mobs & cyberspace escape 271 Mi cro-pay ments & re al ity min ing Se cu rity and safety Im mer sion Transformational 274 Diversity is the key 276 From work to festival 277 Alternate reality games, pervasive games, 278 Modern public ritual: Flash Mobs & Coyote Mind 279 Different kind of events 280 28 Free Cultural Spaces: Utopian enclaves of freedom 282 Free Cultural Spaces (FCS) Futurological Symposium 283

9 Collective Aims within Free Cultural Spaces. 287 29 Cybertribes, Goa and Psytrance: the Subversive Underground 289 by Wolfgang Sterneck Techno & Goa 289 Music, Mind and Poli tics Cybertribe 291 Tranceformations 292 ISLANDS The political challenge 293 Rhythms of change 294 Mani festo on Music, Mind and Poli tics Some history, Connecta 295 30 The Emerging Network of Autonomous Zones 298 By Aja Waalwijk Counter-culture 302 Mo bil ity Permanent Autonomous Zones and Festival Culture 305 From tem po ral to per ma nent Boom Creating an Autonomous Network 310 Goa con nec tion Free dom and co op er a tion Symbolic and Actual Linkages 315 Ec stasy and the Lim its of Freedom A Few Fi nal Thoughts 31 OpenUp, an alternative festival and community 322 MUSU, or ga ni za tional model 32 Creativity Café 325 A venue to nurture creativity; a mechanism for social change 325 By Peter H. Rosen V.A.R.I.O.U.S. Media Ink 326 Creativity Café; A New School for the New Millennium 328 Cre ativ ity Café Ven ues as Net work ing places 33 Literature 333 Other download able books by Luc Sala Index 338

10 1 Introduction

Many of us want and seek free dom, play, fun and personal growth. Attend ing fes tivals or join com muni ties and tribes seem to provide this and is be com ing very popu lar. This trend is rele vant and the subjec t of this book becaus e, apart from the leisure and enter tain - ment, such au ton o mous spaces are po ten tially lab o ra to ries of change. Looking at what happens in Free Cul tural Spaces (FCS), perm anent or more short-lived like festi vals , is rele vant in a psy cholog i cal, eco nomic, social and political perspective.

Un der stand ing the pro cesses, pre con di tions and con straints of events like Burning Man or in com muni ties like Christi ania or the Am sterdam Ruigoord com munity may well hold keys to better appre hend how change hap pens. Iden ti fi ca tion, par tic i pa tion, re al iza - tion and trans for ma tion are pa ram e ters in this pro cess, rel e vant not only to un dersta nd how we can create a wonder ful weekend event, but es sential in the much broader process of changing our world. Un der stand ing change, po lit i cal tran si tion, in no va tion, per sonal and socia l transfor m ation is what the world needs. Fes tivals have be come a boom, a business and an indus try. The im - pact of this trend may be as im por tant as what Sili con Valley brought to us, a FestiVal ley phe nom e non. Re gions like around Am - ster dam, are be com ing fes ti val hot beds, and in flu ence world wide trends, fashions and staging of festivals elsewhere. There are all kinds of festi vals , identi fy ing them is not easy. La bels like au then tic, re li gious, com mer cial or al ter na tive, participative, or inten tional are used but not really distinc tive. Conform ing or auton - om ous is a dichot om y that com es closer to what is discuss ed in this book. Are fes tivals only used to confirm what we are, support ing the sta tus quo, the socia l order and our egos, or do they of fer a way out, an es cape from what we pretend to be? The dis tinction in mask affirm ing or mask breaking (in the context of trans form ation) thus makes sense. I will focus on the conform ing versus the transformative quali ties , ac cept ing that this is only one way to look at this broad field.

11 Festivalization is an eco nomic trend, fitting in what is called eventification, but even more a socia l phenom enon, and it reflec ts how soci ety is changing. Our lives are virtualized, emptied of meaning, we are data, not hum ans, consum ers, not cocreators. People there fore seek engag ing, live enter tain m ent, but also contac t with oth ers, par tic i pa tion and identification. There emerged a class of ‘al ter na tive’ fes ti vals, that fo cus on bring - ing some thing ‘ex tra’ be yond the purely com mer cial en ter tain ment many large fes ti vals of fers. That ex tra can be ide al is tic, a mes sage to the world, transfor m ation or personal growth, but it re quires more than manag ing a crowd and selling tickets . It asks a specia l focus and an inten tion that goes beyond the materialistic. Their popu lar ity grows. The succes s is maybe re lated to what we miss in our Facebook, Twit ter and Netflix digi tal world. How we want to use our mobil ity and free leisure time to find contac ts and meaning. Seeking an escape from the stress and contin u ous presence of our cyberage virtual and often lifeles s connec tions. More and more people attend festi vals , feel being part of tribes in real, tangi - ble en vi ron ments; it seems this bal ances and coun ter act the emp ti - ness of internet presence , allows the ano nym ity and freedom we need to learn and offers an escape from the invasive privacy breakdown. Such festi vals are what this book is about. It’s not an overview of what is available or merely a de scription of spe cific festi vals, just a few are mentioned. The book is about looking for what makes the al ter na tive, spir i tual or mag i cal fes ti vals dif fer ent. How they of fer authen tic ity and what Peter Lamborn Wilson (Hakim Bey) called ‘auton o m ous zones’, or what in anthro po log i cal terms is called ‘the magic circle’. Such events range from small meet ings to large fes tivals and com - muni ties which are pockets in time and space where the control of ‘norm al’ soci ety doesn’t matter much, and the tribal, the magical and the sa cred can be ex pe ri enced. They are tempo rary or more per - manent places where one can exper i m ent with deci sion making, re - lation ships , art, sex, drugs and music. What makes this ‘spe cial’ or ‘mag i cal’, how ever, is not very clear, ex cept that the ex pe ri ence is there. Many ex pe ri ence a feel ing of hap pi ness, ex al ta tion, con nec tion; things are different.

12 Experience economy and eventification One of the trends in econom y and market ing is recog niz ing, along with the emotional drives, the im portanc e of expe ri ence s. In the emerging expe ri ence econom y, seen as the next stage in consum er be hav ior, the pro duc tion, buy ing and con sump tion of ser vices, products and places is no longer based on consum ption, but geared towards pro duc ing events, spec ta cle, im pres sion, per for mances, theater; all to wards cre at ing sub jec tive emo tions. The fes ti val and eventification trend (event consum ption) is an obvi ous part of this, the changed attitude concerning ‘shopping’ another. The festivalization trend im pacts not only the events as such, but has many effec ts. It requires allo ca tion of public funds, urban planning and in flu ences time al lo cation of the cit i zens. It ef fects many other ar eas, like tour ist fa cil i ties, se cu rity, law&or der, health, and even edu ca tion as new kinds of jobs appear , and ‘Event Manage m ent’ becomes part of the curriculum. Events are not only econom ic endeav ors, they are com plex cultural products , com bina tions of many fields. It involves econom y, marketing, se curity, arts, music , theate r and of course applied psy chology and soci ol ogy, not to forget ecology. The coop er a tion of many par ties and dis ci pline spe cial ists is nec es sary, both lo cal stake - holders and in ter na tional art ists, cer e mo nial man ag ers and mood ex- perts. The need for in te grated event and ex pe ri ence managemant, staging and planning studies, also at an academic level, is obvious. This book, however , is not a study about fes tival manage m ent or festi val tour ism, it is an attem pt to iden tify the major di men sions and at trac tion of the auton o m ous zones that we descr ibe as al terna - tive festi vals , group meet ings, com munes or free cultural spaces. The focus of this book is to clarify why there is such a boom in fes - tivals, espe cially of the ‘al terna tive’ kind and why is there also such an in ter est in in ten tional com mu ni ties and free cul tural spaces (FCS). Why do people go there, what are they looking for? To study this, we have to look at what history, the notion of Utopia and modern psy cholog i cal and socia l insights have to say about this. Among the perspec tives are needs, meaning, group mind and the res o nance with play, rit ual, so cial media and even comput er games. Exist ing models like Maslow’s pyra m id and McLuhan’s tetrad are used, but also new models and graphic representations.

13 The approac h in this book is criti cal . The idea is also to identify how the par tic i pa tion, iden ti fi ca tion, re al iza tion and trans for ma tion these more engag ing events and places of fer can counter act or com ple- ment short com ings in ed u ca tion, so ci ety and cul ture. The pur pose is not ranking or com paring them with events of a more com mercia l char acter, where pas sive consumption and entertainment prevail. The 5th Futurological Sympo sium in Christi ania (Denm ark) in Sep- tem ber 2015 was the inspi ra tion for this book, which also contains con tri bu tions from par tic i pants of that conference.

Per son ally speak ing, look ing at fes ti vals and com mu ni ties, with an eye open to modern technol ogy, fits my in terest in ritu als , cyberspace, the con nected city and al tered stated of consciousness. It is like a logi cal step in my life path, coming closer and closer to what I am as a hum an. Still honor ing the technol ogy and science that were so much part of my ear lier ca reer, but more and more drawn to the otherworld phenom ena and the intan gi ble that shape my and every body’s life. Are beauty, happi ness , com munity, connection, peace, so obvi ously the true goal of fes tivals and inten tional com mu ni ties, not worth our at ten tion? Mod ern econ o mists ac knowledge that emotions and these intan gi ble notions play an im portant role in our deci sions and behav ior, more than the ra tional utili tar ian consid er ations . I go one step fur ther, I want to ac knowledge the sa - cred, the magi cal or spir itual di mension(s ) too, as those do influ ence our sense of belonging, our happiness and thus our decisions and actions. My personal fas cina tion with the subjec t is not only my partic i pa - tion in many festi vals all over the world, from the massive Kumba Melas in India to small neighbor hood events, but also how fes tivals are an expres sion of how hum ans find a balance betwe en the indi - vidual and the socia l. The way soci ety works, the law and govern - ment are al ways a compro mise be tween the in ter ests of the one ver - sus the many. In the festivalization trend I sense a playful way to ex- peri m ent with new bridges betwe en the I and the we, new models of living and enjoying together. Luc Sala, 2015, 2016.

14 2 Festivalization: a new boom

More and more people attend festi vals , of all kinds. It has becom e a big business , a grow ing indus try. Every weekend millions of youn - ger and older people travel to events, for enter tain m ent or amusement, in pursuit of happi ness , lei sure, diver sion or maybe just to es - cape from their tedious or dull daily rou tines. They are looking for fun, go for the music , the scene, the drugs, the group mind, identi fi - ca tion, con tacts and maybe par tic i pa tion and trans for ma tion. They usually don’t go alone, but with a partner or a group of friends and also enjoy feel ing part of a tribe that shares a common interest. Festi vals are of all times, the word come s from the Latin ‘festal’, but more and more they be come a major socia l and thus econom ic phe - nom enon. More and more people gather for such events, in all kinds of venues but usually in the outdoors and in weekends or holi days times. It sur passes the village fairs and reli gious events of old, the larger events have become a market place by them selves. Fes ti vals are a melting pot where the money econ omy meets, ex changes and mixes with the cul tural, symbolic econ omy (art), the atten tion/vis i - bility/fas hion business and the expe ri ence econom y. There has been an explo sion of festi vals , the size has expanded and the term is used as a flag for all kinds of events. The word festivalization, mentioned since 2006 (B. Quinn), tries to descr ibe this trend, as it seems to be a broad movem ent, an under - current that is begin ning to have seri ous econom ic and socia l conse - quences. Festivalization descr ibes the rapid expan sion of the festi val concept . The word refers , in a somewhat narrow sense (Négrier), to the proces s by which cultural activ ity, previ ously present ed in a regular, on-going pattern or sea son, is recon fig ured to form a ‘new’ event, a festival.

There fun da men tal ques tions con cern ing this trend. Are fes ti vals a vi a ble in dus try or just so cial com pen sa tion, are they con sum er ism or a help and plat form for self-dis cov ery? Are they a way to es cape in ano nym ity, rekin dle some privacy and the right to make mistake s? However you see them it’s certainl y about fun and games, but also about identi fi ca tion and trans form ation. We want to belong to something, fol low an ideal, seek meaning. Grouping around an event, a

15 movem ent, a hobby, a band or music style makes sense. The boy scouts, the unions, the football club, the paro chia l events, they are now traded for events where we meet like-minded people but in a less for mal set ting, be fit ting the in di vid u al ist ten den cies of the 21th century. We can hook up with anybody via the social media, but meeting in the flesh has its benefits too. The con cen trated ex pe ri ence of a fes ti val, where the den sity and di - versity is so high and so im medi ate , makes for easy im mersion and even flow, going with the tide. The new tribal ism and virtual com - muni ties on the internet don’t offer this, even as socia l media and internet are also a fac tor in the boom in fes tivals and meet ings. We seek a com pen sa tion for the lack of phys i cal in ter action ; maybe fes - tivals are an incen tive to go out and meet those web-friends, while exper i m enting with identity, food, clothing and taste. We want to ex pe ri ence the dif fer ence, and are will ing to be dif fer ent our selves, but within lim its and maybe a bit anonymously, being part of the crowd and still private. Escap ing the need to owe things, rather us ing and sharing the ac- commo da tion and fa cili ties, fits also well with the no tion of an ‘ex - pe ri ence’ econ omy. We are suf fo cated by what we owe and have to main tain, the ma te rial and im ma te rial; James Wallman talks about ‘stuffocation’. Escap ing that burden by joining pilgrim age or festivals makes sense. The live meet ings and fes tivals are becom ing an indus try and this goes well with the cyberage trends, using and sharing technol ogy without dei fy ing it, us ing the socia l media and internet service s to connect to the festivalscape. New technol ogy is used, dem onstra ted and shared, the need for dis tinctive ness , for ever more pene trat ing expe ri ence s has brought ever larger screens, ever louder sound systems, more impres sive props and ef fects to the fes ti val stages. A per for mance now is very dif fer ent from what we saw a few decades

16 ago, and as incom e for talent has shifted from distrib uted carri ers like CDs to per for mance fees, stage acts have evolved and changed with it. Emma n uel Négrier in di cated (see illustration) how festivals have changed over time. What jumps out is that festi vals are more and more platform s for change, anti dotes to sta sis, bot in soci ety, in groups and in indi vid u - als. The world is changing, the balance betwe en indi vid ual and social inter est is shifting, and fes tivals are focal points for this. There so cial in ter action peaks, ‘pres ence’ is dis played and the con cen tra - tion of acts and audi ence is cost effec tive. Accord ing to Owe Ronström this means not only maxi mi zing produc ers income , but fa cil i tat ing the ex change pro cess of cul tural cap i tal, at ten tion value and money. He points at the make-over of local events towards global atten tion grabbers and tourist attrac tions. Distinc - tiveness, vis ibil ity, uniqueness is what makes a fes tival, and yet global iza tion forces the same format s. The large public festi vals of ten have the same acts, the tal ent trav els from event to event. The fes ti val scape seems liquid and zappable; in re ality there is not much differ ence between the big commercial music festivals. Ronström states: “Raised density, homogeneity and distinctiveness are thus aspects on one and the same reification process that produce festivals. Tourists are the main targets for the process, their presence complete and confirm the transformation from concrete place to abstract destination. The ra tional ity which one dictate d how festi vals were to be run, dis - ap pears, we have to ac cept that fes ti vals are non-ra tio nal cul tural ex - pres sions. This means the tradi tional models and cul tural program s have to adapt and change. This is another aspect of festivalization, it forces the old cultural power-brokers to adapt. Ac cord ing to Négrier;

17 “Festivalisation also describes the process by which cultural institutions, such as a cinema, theater, arts centre or gallery orients part of their programme around one or more themes or events, concentrated in space and time. Festivalisation therefore results in part from the explosion of festivals, but also from some eventalisation of regular, cultural offers.“ Fes tivals , once a more or more obliga tory, the church or state de- manded pres ence, are now more a mat ter of choice, and the or ga niz - ers and prom oters have to nego ti ate betwe en the old model of fixed and often subsi dize d standard event and the new, wild and fluid scene. The expres sive action, once only at the stage and often only instru m ental, now is every wher e, the public is as much expres sing them selves in dance, in singing, shout ing, in clothing (or non-clothing), socia l media messaging. The producer and the consum er roles are no lon ger clearly de lin eated, they mix and reverse, the fes ti val goer has becom e prosumer, an active participant. Towards a wider definition of festival Fredrick Barth described a fes ti val as a ‘ves sel of mean ing’ and al - though that is true in an anthro po log i cal sense, these days festi vals are more than a cul tural phenom enon, they are mani fes tations of grass roots movem ents as well as gigan tic money making enter prise s and tourist traps. They are very local and very global at the same time, the range of fes tivals has expanded and differentiated.

Wikipedia, that medi o cre truth by com mission and utterl y entropic me dium, de fines: a festival or gala as an event ordinarily staged by a community, centering on and celebrating some unique aspect of that community and its traditions, often marked as a local or national holiday, mela (India) or eid (Muslim). Not a very inspir ing and tradi tional ency clope dic bit, not looking at what else happens in the festi val world.

Don ald Getz, who re searched fes ti val trends in depth, iden ti fies fes - tivals as ‘themed, public cele bra tions’ and highlights them as:

18 ‘unique leisure and cultural experiences, powerful travel motivators, and facilitators of community pride and development’. Festivals and events provide authenticity and uniqueness, especially with events based on inherent indigenous values.’ Fes tival are be com ing more com plex, the com bina tion of more perform ances, stages, the whole ‘carni val’ of support ing acts, scenery, stalls selling clothes and food, the sepa ra tion in activ ity and re laxed loung ing, the fa cil i ties, sup port sys tems, lo gis tics, camp ing makes for a ‘poly-system of linked sub-fes ti vals‘ (Tem ple Hauptfleisch). A fes tival has becom e a network of activ i ties , a pool of ener gies , with many actors, but we should not forget that the core is the fa cili ta tion play. Tem ple Hauptfleisch, says about arts and cultural fes tivals (2007): “a festival is a cultural event which in its own way eventifies elements and issues of the particular society in which it is taking place.” and “Festivals are not only where the work is; it is where the artistic output of the actor, director, choreographer, etc. is eventified. It is where the everyday life event (performing a play, a concerto, a dance, exhibiting a painting, a sculpture, an installation) is turned into a significant Cultural Event, framed and made meaningful by the presence of an audience and reviewers who will respond to the celebrated event.” A fes ti val is more than just a con cert, per for mance or play, it in - volves com bining and fram ing a num ber of aspect s and actors, ideas and acts in a theat ri cal way, a super-play or meta-play. The whole is more like a multi-ring cir cus, with a moving audi ence . There are many parties , consid er ations and constra int that play a role, the complex ity of certainly the larger fes tivals and pub lic events is im - mense, hence the need for event sci ence. Many uni ver si ties are now offer ing studies and do research concerning festivals. There were ini tia tives like the EFRP (Eu ro pean Fes ti vals Re search Pro ject) an in ter na tional re search con sor tium, set up to an a lyze the con tem po rary dy nam ics of ar tis tic fes ti vals in Eu rope and their im - plica tions and perspec tives and deliver conclu sions , trends and recom menda tions. EFRP emerged from a belief that festi vals have be -

19 come em blem atic for the issues , problem s and contra dic tions of the current cultural prac tices in Europe, marked by glob aliza tion, Euro - pean in te gra tion, in sti tu tional fa tigue, dom i nance of cul tural industry and shrinking public subsidies. EFRP noted that: • Festivals are reshaping the public space in Europe, assert new focal points beyond the traditional cultural centers and have a potential to forge new alliances and partnerships and further the intercultural competence of all parties involved. • Festivals are intensive, logistically complex undertakings that rely on multiple stakeholders, creating divergent and sometimes mutually excluding expectations. • Festivals achieve much media exposure, are closely watched by the professionals, appeal to the sponsors and are funded by the public authorities for the reason that are not exclusively related to the arts and culture. Those circumstances make festivals rather visible, even prominent, but also vulnerable and prone to be caught in turbulence and public controversy. • And yet, the complex dynamics affecting the functions and the impact of festivals in Europe is rarely systematically researched, especially in a longitudinal and comparative manner and in a European perspective, and thus widely misunderstood.

People go to festi vals for many rea sons, to sat isfy all kinds of needs, seek happi ness , contac ts or just to kill time. But to what kinds of fes tivals would you go, and why? Do you go to play, to be enter - tained, thrilled, to get stoned, to meet new friends or share with old? The question how festi vals are staged, managed and orga nize d and how they in fluence culture and soci ety has spawned librar ies of arti - cles. books (See Donald Getz, The Na ture And Scope Of Fes ti val Studies 2010) and jour nals like Event Manage m ent and the In ter na - tional Journal Of Event Manage m ent Resea rch (www.ijemr.org), but why there are festi vals is still more of an enigma, which with this book tries to deal.

Just to bring some re alism , a quote from Hope Tschopik Schnei der, pro ducer of The Olympic Arts Fes tival in 1984:

20 “Festivals are not necessarily “good” things nor are they always very good parties or great communal celebrations. Indeed, most festivals are awful. They present local artists under bad performance conditions, on temporary stages, using rented sound systems. This to a bemused audience unsure of who is performing, who sit in the sun on rented folding chairs with children who are uncomfortable and restless, surrounded by a sea of people who are milling about, looking for food, shopping amidst assembled street fare items, inhaling the delicate smell of fried food mingled with the even more exotic fragrance of porta-potty chemicals.” … Classification of festivals There are all kinds of fes ti vals, small and large, pub lic, commer cial and free, more tribal or more commer cial, commu nity based, for mem bers or as soci ate s only or for every body, with a strict for profit set-up or based on sponsors and dona tions. Fes tivals can be lim ited to one loca tion and mom ent, or spread out over more places and different mom ent. They can be spec tac ular or very hum bly. Take your pick, there are the no-logo events without com mercia ls, festi val models where money is re - placed by giving or sharing or events very much about making money. They can use cul - tural per for mances, mu sic or art as the main at trac tion or con cen trate on sem i nars and workshops. They can happen in the city, in nature or in some venue, with a reli gious or spir i tual char ac ter or just for fun, be music oriente d or with another focus like sport, cre ativ ity, net work ing or partnering; with or without limits on food, drugs, drinks, the way we dress and express.

21 It is not easy to define the es sential dim ensions of fes tivals and to cre ate graphs to iden tify and dif fer en ti ate the di ver sity . Many pa rame ters play a role, like • Size (in number of attendees, area, stages, status) • Attendance modality (camping, sitting, standing, fluid) • Participation model (volunteers) • Contact opportunities • Business model (money orientation or idealistic) • Main focus (art, music, contact, transformation, participation) • Music, what kind, what talent, lineup, live, DJ, VJ. • Target audiences (age, interest, tribal, ethnic) • Ecology and event impact • Location, scenery and setting • Spiritual ambition • Ritual focus In this book many aspect s are touched, but not all as there is a focus on the psy cho log i cal and the al ter na tive, no ta bly on autonomy. Themes, authenticity and dynamics Fes ti vals have themes, and try to dif fer en ti ate them selves this way, at tract specific au di ences. There are many themes, and find ing a catchy one that res onate s well with the target group may be the key to success. The theme may man i fest in just the choice of mu sic, but can go as far as more or less obliging the visi tors to dress up like at some her i tage fes ti vals or at a ‘steampunk’ (Jules Verne im ita tion) event, and at the Star Trek festi vals speaking Klingon means really immersing in the theme. Themes and thus festi vals are fairly dy namic, things change. Burn- ing Man in 2016 is quite differ ent from the ones a de cade ago. The mu sic, the dec o ra tions at a Goa Trance fes ti val change over time, the drugs change, the audi ence too. The dem ograph ics change, the fans of the Rolling Stones are aged with their stars, the ‘Big Ride Home’ for 100 years Harley Davidson was more a se nior cit i zen event than a hot bikers fest. Fes ti vals may be named af ter the lo cation , af ter the activ ity like Burn ing Man or FireDance, but the smaller and spe cial ized one have catching names, indi cat ing what the theme is. Even when there is a gen eral name, the sub ti tle ex plains the theme. The Psy-fi fes ti val in

22 the Nether lands is obvi ously a psyche delic event, but the subti tle is ‘Holo graphic Univers e’ and the Ger man Fusion fes ti val uses Kulturcosmos to explain the focus and theme. The authenticity of events is often an issue. Espe cially if the events have cul tural value or are re lated to lo cal and of ten en dan gered tra - ditions, keeping the ‘tourists ’ out is a concer n. The massive inter est of tourists in this or that fes tival has been the end of authen tic ity, money takes over and it may be come a ‘show’, a commodity to be markete d outside the origi nal inter est group. This is an endur ing theme, not only for the indig e nous events, but fes tivals like Burning Man also suffer from the influx of just onlook ers , tourists com ing to see the ‘spectacle’ rather than participate. Different subcultures, backstage The larger fes ti vals are not all the same all over, there are sub cul - tures, more active and more pas sive parts, where dif fer ent fa cil i ties, dif fer ent mu sic and décor in vite dif fer ent ex pe ri ences. Danc ing in front of the main stage is dif ferent from chill ing out at a more quiet spot. Com mer cial fes ti vals of ten mon e tize this need to ex pe ri ence a dif fer ent sphere by of fer ing VIP-passes or back stage passes, at a price, or just for special guests. Exclu siv ity is then what matters, not so much the free drinks or the option of sharing in some ‘special’ treats. One of the most desired spaces is the backstage, where the art ists hang out, and the real action happens, imagined or real. Scor ing a back stage pass is the ul ti mate reward for many, the see the back - stage space as the realm of au then tic ex pe ri ences, as the spot where one can best expe ri ence being part of the tribe. Understanding Festivals There is a need to under sta nd and manage this trend, and the old ways of dealing with it like in the Harvard Business Model looking at prof its and risks seems inad e quate or only partial ly appli ca ble. As it is all about people, psy chology is proba bly the first base, soci ol - ogy fol lows and anthro pol ogy may offer insights in how the vari ous cultures deal with this. Only when we under sta nd the needs and mo - tiva tional mech anisms of all the stakeholders, the cus tomer, partic i - pants, cocreators or atten dees can we start to look into econom ic models, in educational trajectories etc.

23 The need to study the phenom enon of festi vals has a num ber of di - men sions: • Psychological needs and motivation • Tribal and social structures (networks, interaction models) • Marketing approaches • Management structures • Business models • Artistic models • Entertainment/leisure models • Tourism (location promotion) • City planning In this book I concen trat e on festi vals that of fer more than an exten - sion of the ‘norm al’ cul tural, music and arts routines . I mean festi - vals that of fer something more, something ‘extra’ than business as usual, with their com mercia l offer ings and enter tain m ent for money. I will try to identify the ‘ex tra’ these spiri tual or creative festi vals and com muni ties offer along the three dim ensions : • realization • participation/contribution • identification which influ ence each other and in turn influ ence the trans for mation poten tial , see the chapter on trans form ation. Such places and events are com monly re ferred to as ‘al ter na tive’ or ‘extende d’, but that term is a bit too broad and not very specifi c. The festi vals discuss ed here offer a set ting that is of ten so differ ent from ‘norm al’ life that the phrase or moni ker ‘Tem porary Auton o - mous Zone’ or TAZ coined by Hakim Bey (Pe ter Lamborn Wilson) seems appro pri ate. See the chapter about this. Focus on the alternative I will try to deal with that part of what is very broadly iden tified as the festi val trend and festi val in dus try, that doesn’t fit into what 20th century thinking would call business as usual. That means mostly looking at profit maxi m iza tion, budgets , shareholder value and mea- surable (digital) results. In the TAZ-festi val perspec tive the much wider and mostly ana log con cepts like stake holder in ter ests, ecol ogy, event impact,

24 sustainability, trust, hap pi ness, mean ing, free dom, sanc tu ary, au- thentic ity and connec tiv ity play a role. In the ‘norm al world’ these val ues are su per fi cially pro fessed, but we need some steps away, some isola tion, some auton om y to really explore them. Fes ti vals are an an ti dote for the stress of ev ery day life, of fer en ter - tain ment, lei sure, op por tu ni ties for self-ex plo ra tion and growth and real-life con tact with peo ple. We need to bal ance the sometimes empty ‘always on’ virtu alit y of the socia l media and the phone. The fes ti val scene adds physi cali ty and ex pe ri en tial di ver sity to what in cyberspace was called web 2.0 or 3.0, the com munity, sharing and the new tribalism. The un der ly ing mech a nisms, like connectivity, group mind, the sense of be long ing and iden ti fi ca tion, the rit u al iza tion, the in tan gi - ble meta-senses (for beauty, justice , kinship) and the sharing and gifting econ omy, are not re ally part of what sci ence ac cept as pro - ductive concept s. Econom y, psy chology and for a large part soci ol - ogy have cov ered the su per fi cial mech a nisms, only the an thro pol o - gists have taken an inter est in how festi vals and rit uals help shape and balance the individual psyche and society. The sages of old had some notion of this, the Confu cia n ritu al ist XunZi stresses the im por tance of ritual, rules and pomp to the keep the masses in line. But even he did n’t re ally accept the mag i cal re al ity of the group mind and the power of the masses, like Al bert Speer mani - fested at the Nuremberg Nazi rallies. Events like Woodstock have changed the world. There is the belief or hope that from the fes ti val scene a new ‘Zeit - geist’ emerges, more pow er ful than what sci ence or religion In the days of Chinese can bring. Confucianism ritual and public Looking into the wide im pact festival was seen as a way to and ef fects of fes ti vals is not manipulate the people. just an idle game of specu la - tion, as the value of fes tivals for the econ omy, the so cio log i cal

25 sta bility (or re newal) and the mental and phys ical health of people is considerable. Enjoy ing a happy summ er event can mean mental happi ness and health, a way to fight the op pressive stress of ‘nor mal’ life, let ting go of frus trations, an oppor tu nity to broaden one’s scope, make new contac ts and feel connect ed to others , nature and the heavens. But what are the root bene fits of a festi val when we look beyond the money? Let’s look at values. The new ethics, value development In the modern Western World, moral ity and ethics have be come ra - tional ize d, otherworld moral influ ence s like the reve la tions in Koran and Bi ble are only paid lip-ser vice. The West ern in di vid u al is tic paradigm that is rigged as Univer sal Hum an Rights with the em phasis on rights and ignor ing duties , has replac ed consci ousness , meaning and faith. Yet in older cultures and out side the mate ri al is tic world view, morality, values, virtues have deep roots, in the faith, in the deeply felt connec tion with nature, in notions like karma, bhakti (de votion) and so cial re spon si bil ity. Ecology, dealing with the other in the widest sense, is not a hallm ark of the Christian ethics (the Ten Com mand- ments lack ecol ogy) and here the impor tance of fes ti vals as change agents be comes vis i ble. At many fes ti vals new ap proaches and rules concer ning the en vi ron ment are tried and exe cute d, like the notion to leave no traces, no debris, no damage to nature. But also other values are challenged, with gifting for insta nce the notion of rec iproc ity, with nudity and free sex the moral ity of decenc y, with drugs the concept of freedom to ingest and influ ence one’s state of mind, with peer level deci sion making the grand idea of tiered de- mocrac y, with hugging the size of private personal space, with sharing, the idea ownership.

26 Expe riments with new forms At fes ti vals, es pe cially as a new and in de pend ent au ton omy is achieved, moral ity can be defined and explored in new ways and this is exact ly one of the great quali ties of many of the modern alter - na tive fes ti vals. The way we deal with in ter per sonal re la tion ships, with issues like sex, owner ship, power, face and fa vor games, democ racy, co or di na tion, man age ment styles, etc. can be mod i fies, ex - peri m ented with and even the threaten ing perspec tive of a privacy-less soci ety is something that one can play with. Not be cause the outcom e is always pos itive, things go wrong often, but becaus e we have to think and act out of the box sometimes, to find out what works and what doesn’t. Such exper i m ents and expe ri ence can happen at fes tivals and in the new tribal commu ni ties where the nor mal rules, laws and mor als can be shifted. There we can exper i m ent, go forwar d to sci-fi kind of so- ciet ies or back to the Confucian Chinese Ren-Yi-Li (urging that everybody should follow ethi cal norms for differ ent socia l rules in order to obtain ade quate resourc es of life with the prim ary consid er - ation of main tain ing so cial or der) or the Aus tra lian Ab orig i nal Ngarra law systems (no personal ownership). Think about ex per i ment ing with dif fer ent modes of so cial hi er ar chy, ways to distrib ute re sources, differ ent hier ar chie s of needs (like the choices be tween in ter per sonal har mony or in di vid ual goals), dif ferent val u a tions and re spect mod els for ver ti cal in-group, hor i zon tal in-group, hor izon tal out-group re lations (see Kwang-Kuo Hwang’s theo ret i cal model of “Face and favor: Chi nese power game”(1987)) beyond the preva lent equality ideals of the West ern world. Multi ple lev els of mo ral ity (pub lic stance, pri vate ac tion) are then ac cept able ways of resolving conflicts without open adversity. All this is possi ble only in sit u ations where the lo cal auton omy is in the hands of partic i pants and not forced upon them by so ciety, tra dition or cus tom. Non-hi er ar chi cal ties, in-group ties, in stru men tal and even ex pres sive or af fec tive ties be tween par tic i pants and stake - holders can create new com munity struc tures, think about the link betwe en adepts and a guru, where love and devo tion over rules many equality or utilitarian considerations. In many fes ti vals there emerge court-like structures, where the founders or orga niz ers and their in-group cre ate their own rules and struc tures, hire the talent they like and hand out favors. Not always

27 with opti m al re sults, but all depends on what yardstic k is used for the results. The dollar, the inde pend ent self and hum an rights of the Westerne r are not the only way to define one’s indi vid u al ity, socia l role, boundarie s and rela tion ships . On the other hand, try to define meaning, sustainability or even happi ness , not very easy. Innovation, coyote mind The role of festi vals and auton o m ous zones as socia l and polit i cal in no va tion hot beds is im por tant and de serves more at ten tion from edu ca tion, science and govern m ent, if not from business . Walk around at fes tivals like Burning Man and see how creativ ity finds ex pres sion and so lu tions, how new trends in dec o ra tion, re lax ation, trans port, fashion, music and co-oper a tive thinking emerge from the fes ti val floor. To have such places where the ‘coy ote’ en ergy can expres s itsel f, where one can live and think different, is important. These are events and places where the hidden under sta nding of social and eco log i cal mech a nism as car ried by in dig e nous peo ple, but also by minor i ties and outcas t groups like the English ‘New Travel - ers’, come to the surfac e. Inno va tion, as shown at the many festi - vals, not only by erecting the most fantas tic structures and art-pieces, but by ways of dealing with each other, orga niz ing the events, de ci sion mak ing and de vel op ing po lit i cal po si tions, state- ments and dec lara tions. Fes tivals are very produc tive in this respec t. It is the coy ote mind appre ci a tion and the out of the box possi bil i ties that inspire people to come up with new, better, alternative and often fantastic ideas. Security and red tape Just gath er ing a bunch of people and having fun, a fire and some music was how it all started, but time have changed. These days a fes ti val re quires a lot of pa per work, per mis sions, con- Boom in Portugal is a no-logo festival

28 trols and deal ing with au thor i ties. Fa cil i ties, se cu rity guards, au - dio-level limit ers, drugs-con trol, first aid, med ical emergency units, control of the food quality, and not to forget the issue of taxa tion of conces sions, workers , tal ent, their visa and work perm its; the list is end less and grows. Now ter ror ist at tacks are a new dan ger, mean ing even more con trol, frisk ing, more se cu rity at the gate, more cameras etc. etc. When for insta nce secu rity guards have to be hired and need to be present 24/7 this bears heavily on the budget, makes festivals more expensive and limits new initiatives. The days that one has to regis ter in advance and be checked by the author i ties before issued a ticket are not far off. Much of this is so expen sive and cum bersom e, that many initia tives don’t make it and only the large and profes sional oper a tors have the resourc es to com - ply, it be comes a regu lated indus try with limited competition. Of course the author ities want to elim inate all risks, don’t want to be respon si ble if something goes wrong, but are all these regu la tions really ef fec tive? When things go wrong, like the stam pede at Duisburg in 2010 or when re ally bad weather hits like in 2014 at Pinkpop, more secu rity people didn’t make a differ ence . Of course such acci dents lead to more regu la tions, higher cost and in the end stifling red tape and less inno va tion. Risk, however , is part of prog - ress, to make something totally safe will kill it. Festivals are the business of the future? A new era is emerging, where produc tion and work are slowly disappear ing and age-old questions around meaning and happi ness need new answe rs. New soci ety and busi ness models appear , old ones fade away, and ev ery where gov ern ments, pol i ti cian, busi ness- men and inves tors are looking for the next big thing. Technol ogy is old hat, the smart city, smart home and smart care is on the way, auton o m ous transport, drones and robots ready to roll, no big surprise s there. Although technol ogy and new (socia l) media will play a role, the devel op m ents there are kind of pre dictable , it is in other fields where real needs appear and thus oppor tu ni ties arise. Enough Sili con Valleys, we need a FestiValley! In this book I point at the oppor tu ni ties opening up in the field of meaning ful enter tain m ent, but also at the need for some freedom , away from Big Brother and GoogleWatch. Counter act ing the trend towar ds virtu alit y and digi tal online we as hum ans need a way to phys i cally ex pe ri ence and meet oth ers. We also need to es cape from

29 the attac k on our freedom and right to make mistake s, from the loss of privacy that makes us vulner a ble, de fensive and closed. Fes tivals are where we can be pri vate, dif fer ent, ex per i ment and make mis - takes, at least as long as the data and images are kept out of the hands of the NSA, Home land Se cu rity and big cor po ra tions. Hu- mans need to play, without mistake s and risks we don’t learn. Being online and super vise d all the time and without the privacy to fail our sense of ini tiative is stifling, numbing. Socia l and techni cal innovation are often a result of friction not of comfort. Most things can be done online now, like working, edu ca tion, govern ment in ter ac tion, even sex be comes a vir tual ac tiv ity. Ro bots and drones will take over many jobs, auto m ate our lives even more. Meeting people how ever, rem ains a real need, and even technol ogy like vir tual real ity and immersive gam ing is not cop ing with that need. Close phys ical contac t offers more and differ ent modes of inter action , hu mans are so cial be ing af ter all. To ca ter for this need will shape soci ety, a juxta po si tion with technol ogy, but for insta nce the purpose of a city will shift towar ds offer ing physi cal contac t, meet ing others , expe ri enc ing ‘live’ music, food, shopping, art. Events like festi vals , meet ings, raves, indoors and outdoors are great ways to meet and ex pe ri ence phys i cal con tact, with mu sic, food, ad - venture, gene pool mixing and much of what Maslow descr ibed in his pyra m id of hum an needs and maybe even more, the contac t with an other re al ity re li gion ca tered for in ear lier times. The need to meet is of all times, and events like the Kumba Mela or pil grim ages were also massive events, but the rise of the festi vals like Glastonbury, Boom, Burning Man, Black Cross, Rainbow that started in the last decade s of the 20th century is now be com ing a major econom ic factor. Side by side with the rise of the social media and internet the physi cal festi val and meeting in dus try is on the rise. I will use the term festi val to cover all events, from large to small, from cre ative to purely consuming, from artistic to just recreational. A new business , in fact a whole indus try is emerging. The moni ker FestiValley is a play on the somewhat silly at tempt by many to recre ate an other Sil i con Val ley, mostly fo cus ing on tech nol ogy and appli cations of ICT. FestiValley is not about technol ogy, it is about cre ating an indus try serving the less mate rial needs of the people, using the resourc es available to cre ate meaning, purpose and hope- fully some hap pi ness with activ ities that are sustainable, entertaining and divers.

30 The festi val business has alrea dy grown to be an econom ic factor of some im portanc e. From the very small gather ings to the mega festi - vals like Burning Man, Boom, Fusion, Glastonbury, etc. etc. people seem to es cape the mate ri al is tic prison of daily stress and wor ries to join in dance, mu sic and creative activities. This maybe her alds a par adigm shift in the wider soci ety, moving towar ds a more shared, more socia l and yet more indi vid ual expe ri - ence. This is not unique to the festi val (party, meet, com munity) trend, but shines through in many fields and apps like AirBnB, Uber, Facebook, us ing new media to incre ase the mobil ity and flexi - bility by sharing, connect ing, creat ing new ways to turn scarcity into abundance. Tribal Revival For some time, the notion of technol ogy as the great econom y driver has shaped so ci ety, cre ated places like sil i con val ley and the end less me-too copies of that center of inno va tion and business emergence . However , there are signs that we are over the hill concer ning this. Moore’s Law, de scribing the enorm ous progres s in sili con technol - ogy, runs out of nanometers, there are still advance s but more and more this is just de velop m ent. The funda m ental resea rch is less and doesn’t yield the great discov er ies of the last century. The ICT industry stabi lize s, the new mega-corpo ra tions like Google are build - ing a semi-monop o lis tic power base; the medium term future is more or less predict able and without surprise s. Robot ics , augm ented real ity, big data, AI, un less Ray Kurzweil’s singularity hap pens (silicon consci ousness ) things are more or less predict able . The down - side of this is that the entropic na ture of cyberspace, ef fi ciency and science will eat away at work, diversity, privacy and meaning. One of the most poignant phrases to descr ibe the trend towar ds extended fes tivals and meet ings of like-minded folks is also ‘Tribal revival’, a term used by writ ers like Terence McKenna and songwriters like Rainbow’s Fantuzzi. Many of the events are tribal, with people sharing ideals , a way of living, eating, smoking (or dope), recre ation, a means of transport like motor bikes , a passion for something, and the notion of a tribe is quite appropriate.

31 Urban en Cyberspace tribes: bonding or superficial escape? New socia l media like Facebook and Google give the im pres sion, that the cyberspace gen er ation is more con nected and so cial than be - fore. Com mu ni ca tion is faster, of ten in stan ta neous, knows no boundarie s and you have “friends” all over. The real ity is that loneli ness, iso la tion, ad dic tion and de pres sion are ram pant, cyberfriends don’t replac e real people in your life. How does this relate to the fam ily and tribal connec tions we had in the old days, and in urban tribes like the Ruigoord com munity? Now I believe , that tribal aware ness and kinship recog ni tion are part of our pri mal (meta-)senses. These are senses deeply hid den in the subcon sci ous, where we can also touch dim ensions like beauty, intent, balance and jus tice, and also can reach be yond the norm al lim i- ta tions of time and space like with ESP. These senses, thwarted and fil tered as they are when they reach daily con scious ness, in flu ence our lives far more than the ra tional re ality of the nor mal senses. Our likes and dis likes, our do’s and don’ts are mostly driven by these meta-senses, which I call primes. A concept that needs some explanation. These in tu itive other (prime) senses for the in tan gi ble are hardly rec og nized but es sential in di - rect phys i cal con tact and thus in tribal rela tion ships and group mind proces ses, where a com mon past (expe - rience , genes) and a com mon direc tion or goal, amidst an envi ron - ment that is percei ved as danger ous or hos tile, unite. Togeth er ness , toler ance , a shared vision are the building blocks. In the past ritu als , fes tivals , in genera l a com mon platform to addres s the otherworld was the ce ment of a tribal commu nity . The new (social) media of fer, like other tools and media, the possi bil ity for contac t and com muni - cation . They are, in the Mar shall McLuhan sense, exten sions of our

32 senses. Whether they are or will (with time and ex pe ri ence) also be - come exten sions of the meta-senses or primes, essential for group mind and tribal bonding, is not (yet) clear. For the mo ment, most so cial media are too su per fi cial, more an es - cape than a real out reach, a mask that’s easy and un commit ted, but there is poten tial . The challenge we face, being part of urban tribes and groups that still have real roots and physi cal contac t, is to use the new media and contac t poten tial there to nurture and develop the feeling of belong ing and close ness. Not by partic i pat ing in stupid junk com mu ni ca tion, but by en er giz ing our con tri bu tions on line. Maybe we will learn to deeply con nect via cyberspace, as the cyberpa gans believe we can. For the mo ment, fes ti vals and di rect contac t are a sure way of bringing back the magic, the intan gi ble that we deny in science and ra tional ity, but rules our lives, as humans, as fam ily, as tribe and as part of the resonating consciousness we call reality. Ecology, the green angle The green wave is ev ery where, there is hardly a fes ti val with out ecol ogy in the program . There are festi vals and com muni ties totall y dedi cat ed to ecology, the Ecovillage Net work (gen.ecovillage.org) links eco-ini tiatives worldwide . Such places and events try to live and im plem ent the message that the envi ron m ent, healthy living and sustainability are es sen tial. This mes sage how ever, has spread to many other events, nota bly the more spiri tual and inten tional happenings have adopted more or less stringent ecolog i cal guidelines . A com mon creed now is that a place should be left af ter an event just as it was found, na ture and the ecology should not be burdened unnecessary. Social and political impact of festivals The econom ic im portanc e of festi vals or the festi val indus try is now widely rec og nized, but fes ti vals, free cul tural spaces (FCS) and in - tentional com muni ties also play a role in changing the way soci ety looks at is sues like ecol ogy, ex pres sion, per for mance, di ver sity and many other things. Fes ti vals, es pe cially if they are re ally tempo rary au ton o mous zones, can ex per i ment with the pre vail ing cul tural and polit i cal notions, rules, laws and morals , and the effec ts can spread, they can be come change agents. Fes ti vals are becom ing places where po lit i cal and cul tural cri tique can man i fest, in of ten pow er ful ways. They be come more and more ve hicle s for cohe sion and for

33 the mobi li za tion and cem enta tion of new tribal, local and global com muni ties and movem ents. Woodstock opened the eyes of the world to the youth-culture we now call the sixties and got the message across, that times were changing, Burning Man shows that an al ter na tive so ci ety is pos si ble, that the ma te rial and neo-lib eral fix a- tion is not the only op tion for a soci ety. The im pact of such messages is often larger than what results from polit i cal meetings or even dem onstra tions, as the message is ‘em bodied’ in the sense that the talk is walked, that the words in the manifestos, charters and creeds are actually lived and manifested. Fes ti vals were tra di tion ally the place, where peo ple were of ten phys i cally (the travel, the dance, the rit ual, the con tact) ex pe ri enc ing the culture, the ide olo gies , stories and myths, sharing the values and tra di tions of their tribe, coun try, as so ci a tion or move ment. Fes ti vals were not intende d for transfor m ation, but for conser vation, bonding, cohe sion and sta tus quo re inforce ment. It feels as if festi vals are now more and more the place, where socia l change happens, where people gain new insights , reframe their notions about soci ety and their own roles in so ciety, and in this way festivalization is a political trend too. So cially the old pattern of meeting friends, po tential mates and form ing in-groups is shift ing from the local bars, parish venues, town halls and sports facil i ties to the festi val grounds. There one can expect to meet like-minded people, but there is also the possi bil ity to es cape from the soci eta l lockup of one’s town or group, enter new circle s and find socia l mobil ity. One can climbing differ ent ladders than what is available in one’s nor mal life, engage in new discus - sions and top ics, ex per i ment with dif fer ent be hav ior and iden ti ties, dress dif fer ent, feel different and maybe change and transform. Festivals as a lifestyle For those who are unhappy with their norm al life a fes tival can be an anchor point, a link to another lifestyle. They extend their norm al life style and person al ity with be ing a festi val-goer, adding a touch of the nom adic, the cosm opol i tan, the dar ing, to their per sona. They maybe dance dif fer ent at fes ti vals, act more com mu ni ca tive, use drugs, try this or that, take on a new ava tar profile , but this makes them also less likely to change their ‘normal’ life. Of course this is also why govern m ents (and churches) have al ways accepted and used fes ti vals, fairs and carnivals, allow ing some ‘ex -

34 cur sions’ and so cial/be hav ioral in ver sions, mostly as re pres sive toler ance. Let them play out there, as long as they come back to the fold af terwar ds, is the motto. Al low for the Gay Pride, Queer Marches and other exu ber ant festi vals and outings, even praise them as pro mot ing tol er ance and accep tance and profit from in creased tour ism and traffic, but restrict this to specific timing and places! There are now people who spend the whole sum mer and maybe even the whole year trekking from fes tival to festi val. They made fes tivals their mode of be ing, their lifestyle. What used to be a neces sity for the more or less homeless and des ti tute ‘trav el ers’ in the UK in the twenti eth century, has be come a way of living. Not out of neces sity, but as an inter est ing way of spending time, meet ing friends and be com ing part of a new com munity, fes tival nom ads. Often they find some kind of business to sus tain this kind of life, peddling some wares, dealing some substa nces, doing massage, healing, etc. Fan-community A festi val, free cultural space or an inten tional commu nity these days is more than the physi cal or even spatio-tem poral entity, it is the focal point of a web of people networks , of sites, emails, tweets, facebook pages, tradi tional and socia l media, of a com munity that is per manent or at least ex ists for half a year to a year. The fan-community , with fan-zines, emails, blogs, dis cus sions, eval u a tions, trans port options, local meet ings and all kind of exchange s, is a vital part of the for mula. Without internet things would be much harder to orga nize , ticket sales would involve re sellers , bookings would be a nightm are, com muni ca tion slow and cum bersom e and the cohe - sion among the stake holders would be less. Building a fan-site, connect ing with sup port ing and sym pa thetic or ga ni za tions, po ten tial sponsors , it all starts long before the event actually starts and goes on long after the grounds are deserted. A good fan-community with both online and off-line contac ts is essential for suc cess and repeat events, but requires a lot of energy and cre ative in put to keep the po ten tial at ten dees interested.

35 3 Eventification

The size, scope and cultural im pact of fes tivals has grown. Indi vid - ual perfor m ance, plays, shows and arts events becom e em bedded in festi val for mats, are promoted in that context. Often the tradi tional theate r and arts season is condense d and brought under a single ban - ner, like the Dutch ‘Holland Festi val’, the ‘Edin burgh Fes tival’, etc. The label ‘festi val’ is at tached to ut terly comme rcial events, like fashion festi vals or film festi vals; there is a crossover be tween tradi - tional fairs and exhibitions and festivals. Those cater ing for the tra di tional cul tural elite are try ing to at tract an in ter na tional au di ence by con cen trat ing and com bin ing the sep a - rate events. The problem s is that now every town or even village has their fes tivals , the of fering and the form at has so expanded with stalls, eating drinking and prom enad ing, that dis tinctive ness is hard to achieve. All starts to look the same, the same vari ety not only in music, but in food, conces sions, market, the ‘colour locale’ disap pears , a some what po lit i cal cor rect multi cul tur al ism in what is of fered also has becom e part of the standard. And outside the tradi tional scene a new class of festi vals has emerged, the large and small festi vals out in the open, the music festi vals and the events that cater for specific groups and markets, like the al terna tive and cultural creative scenes. Festivalscape These trends, in line with the genera l trend of isolat ing inten si fy ing ex pe ri ences (eventification) are chang ing the cul tural land scape, a festivalscape has emerged. The festivalization of cul ture in the world today is taking over the tra dition expres sions of culture. As Temple Hauptfleisch, who coined the word eventification in 1999, stated (2007): Festivals are not only where the work is; it is where the artistic output of the actor, director, choreographer, etc. is eventified. It is where the everyday life event (performing a play, a concerto, a dance, exhibiting a painting, a sculpture, an installation) is turned into a significant Cultural Event, framed and made meaningful by the presence of an audience and reviewers who will respond to the celebrated event. Festivals thus become a means of retaining the event in the cultural memory of the particular society.

36 Even as al ter na tive fes ti vals and com muni ties are the main topic of this book, the wider trends and the econom ic re ali ties cannot be ignored. Commoditizing festi vals as part of eventification is such a trend. The same fes ti val con cepts and for mats are now trans ferred, ex - ported, franchis ed, artist are booked for se ries of fes tivals , there developed a kind of fes tival subcul ture, a festivalscape of global dimensions. The large mu sic fes ti vals are al ready more or less commoditized, maybe the names are dif fer ent, but for an ex tra ter res trial ob server making a dis tinction betwe en the one mass-event or the other would be nearly im possi ble; of ten the acts, the DJ’s, the kind of music are inter change able. The produc ers (some use the term publishe r, as fes - ti vals are, af ter all, media events) fol low the same rules, of ten are linked to the same owner or produc tion com pany, and the results are pre dict able and sim i lar. Screaming fans in front of a stage are a uni - versal identifier of the festivalization trend. Festivalization, turning places or sea sons into a consta nt fes tival mode, has becom e a polit i cal fashion becaus e of the PR value, the cul tural cap i tal and the eco nomic im pact, es pe cially at the ur ban level. It has becom e a popu lar strat egy with urban planners and polit i cal lead ers. Fes ti vals are, maybe over op ti mistic, seen as a so lu - tion for all kinds of urban problems. But this is done every wher e. A global com peti tion emerged betwe en venues and cities to attrac t the best events, biggest stars and have the best im age as a fes ti val en vi ron ment or party city. This can lead to skewed sit u ation s. Econ o mies of places like Ibiza, where party and fes tival tour ism is ram pant in sum mer time, rely very much on the income generated. Festival and event science The im por tance of a fes ti val econ omy is well rec og nized, and as ex - peri ence and exper tise in staging fes tivals has grown, a body of knowl edge evolved, a fes ti val sci ence. There are many very ra tio nal aspect s concer ning fes tivals , like money, profit, the econo m ies of scale, ecology, market ing and sales, where also tradi tional insights are used and useful. It is big business , not only the festi val turnover as such, the sponsor - ing (subsi dies ), ticket prize and the conces sions, but the whole deal

37 of housing, transport, secu rity, food, etc. A main fes ti val can draw hundreds of thousands and the large public events like Sail Am sterdam even millions of peo ple. How ever, the business model at the floor level, the in stalla - tions, toi let fa cil i ties, sales of food, drinks, cloths, drugs and what not, is ba sically the same on all fes ti vals and the standard models and economic insights apply. So the emergent sci ence of how to or ganize events follows the tradi - tional route. Data are Massive public festivals like Sail ob tained, stud ies made Amsterdam can draw millions (M. Bakker) and these days questions like how many toi lets are needed, the lo gis tics, power needs, and cost es ti mates are text - book issues . The question why there are festi vals , why some are suc cess ful and oth ers not, the deeper me chan ics and psy cho log i cal roots of fes tival popu lar ity are less studied and under stood. Maybe this book helps in this respect.. Trendification It is fashion able to label devel op ments in so ciety as trends, this in it - self could be labele d as trendification. A num ber of rele vant trends in soci ety and econom y have been identi fied in recent years, like gamification, diversity and segre ga tion (rich/poor, ethnic), the emo - tional econom y, and experience marketing. Eventification is a broad term and re fers more to the trend towar ds a con stant ‘hap pen ing’ and the ex pe ri ence of par tak ing in some thing ‘worthy’ or ‘new’ than to just identi fy ing the oc currenc e of musi cal ,

38 cultural , sports and polit i cal events. An event is something spe cial, something worth remembering. In the psy che it is not a chrono log i cal ly bounded entity but a high - light, an occur renc e that disrupts tradi tional notions of value and tem poral ity. It’s about making things ‘spe cial; and ‘unique’, not just stacking events in a row, too much sim ilar ‘events’ turns into routine and become boring. Eventificat ion fits well into the notion of an expe ri ence econom y, which re fers to ”a so cio eco nomic sys tem where aes thetic ex pe ri - ences, rather than goods or ser vices, form the ba sis for gener at ing value” (Johansson and Kociatkiewicz, 2011). The notion of the expe ri ence econom y has changed the estab lishe d and de cons truct ed (iso lat ing in flu ences) the o ries of the cul ture and event value econom y, in tegrat ing also the emotional value. It is bringing back the focus on what the consum er wants, beyond mere product pushing. It means rec ogniz ing that place, com pany and mood by themself have value (which can be converte d in econom ic value} and quality and need to be assessed as such. Also the role of the perform er/actor ver sus that of the audi ence has changed, the producer and consum er mingle, the prosumer emerges. They can ex change places, the spec ta tor becomes the spec ta cle. Be - ing in the crowd, danc ing and inter act ing with each other is what often matters more than what happens on stage, the same goes for sports and demonstrations. Lo cal ta lent Expe ri en tial staging has a strong local aspect , the home-team, the local bands are well known and liked and may provide the distinc - tive ness the large and look-alike fes ti vals lack. This makes smaller fes tivals thus less de pendent on big names or acts, the local networks and art ists can, to gether with the au di ence, be very ef fec tive in providing value. Au then tic ity in this per spec tive can be a real value, being rec og - nized as local s and ‘real’ people and hitting a nerve with the audi - ence can be more im portant than a big name line-up. Certainl y now that the choice in events is so big, the local input and terri to rial dy - nam ics be come more im por tant, cre at ing iden ti fi ca tion and distinctiveness.

39 Others values like the possi bil ity to make a contri bu tion to the group mind state, the gen eral emo tional state and the wel fare of the peo ple and the envi ron m ent are what obvi ously matters but rem ains hard to de fine or assess. An event that matters is something that’s com pelling enough for people to leave their homes, buy a ticket and go there. The motives to do so can vary; what matters is that enough people join, have fun, want to come back and gener ate not only money in come but pos i- tive feel ings. Happy peo ple are an in cred i ble as set, they be come un - paid ambas sa dors, at tract oth ers, cause less prob lems, have less health issues and contribute more. The econom ic and socia l im pact of these trends and the influ ence on ur ban plan ning, city pro mo tion, brand ing and ur ban com pe ti tion are sub stantial. Cities like Am sterdam strive to be come global cen ters of fes ti val knowl edge; a fes ti val in dus try hot bed, a true FestiValley. One aims at making the own city or re gion a good place for fes tivals to happen, but ul tim ately looks at com petenc e and maybe global leader ship in an industry that grows and grows. Here a warning is in place. This is an in dus try that impacts the local economy, but also the ed u cational sys tem, will attract the hip and rich, but also the crimi nal ele me nts asso ciated with this in dus try, the druggies , the gangs, the crooks, the bikers . The darker side doesn’t make it into the pro motional mate rial or pro ject plans, is seldom mentioned publicl y, but is a real ity. Maybe it helps mention ing the cruise indus try. It is another darling of city offi cia ls, but less recog - nized as also be ing a broad tax-evasion scam; it makes and white- washes money mostly on the off shore and tax-free liquor and gam - bling, with working conditions not acceptable on shore.

Eventification is not a static phenom enon, it is very dy namic and aim ing for ever more en gag ing ex pe ri ence op por tu ni ties. What today seems like daring and excit ing, tom orrow is old hat, a festi val in the desert will give ways to festi vals in the jungle, on high mountain tops. An Ever est Base Camp fes tival with every body wearing oxy - gen masks may be a hit. Un der wa ter or para chute events are likely, na ked ness al ready a sta tion passed, swing ers have their fes ti vals, and what about a fes tival for people over 2m tall, D cups, only bold ones, million aire s, transgender folks, whatever we can dream up is a possibility.

40 How crazy and weird can we make it? The SciFi mov ies show us what can be imagined and technol ogy will find ways to make that a real ity. This raises ques tions about sustainability, about the lev els of diver sity that are accept able, about segre ga tion and how much transform ation and im pact ing of soci ety, the nor mal living, is acceptable. In cit ies like Amster dam, where tour ism and eventification are tak - ing over nor mal oper a tion, the people start com plaining; are we un - paid perform ers in a Disney land-like space, part of the staged expe - rience for the bene fit of the tourist indus try? Event consum ption and expe ri ence market ing sound great and may be the wave of the fu - ture, but do we want our kids to live in such a world or city? And how many times do we go to sim ilar events, and how long before another event just irritates? Are we rais ing a gener a tion with EDHD symptom s, the Event Defi - cit Hy per ac tiv ity Dis or der, kids look ing for con stant grat i fi ca tion of their need to be enter taine d, kept busy, and lacking the mental tools to be happy without external stimulation? Keeping the ‘plebs’ enter taine d by bread and circuse s was what the ancie nt Romans did then, but aren’t we heading in the same direc - tion, keeping every body en tertaine d and busy, but weaken ing the in - di vid u al ity, the en tre pre neur ial spirit, sac ri fic ing all on the new al tar of shared ‘expe ri ence ’ which is distrib uted and supported by the ut- terly entropic and flattening social media. Events that bring togethe r people and allow real contac t are the anti - dote for the isolat ing trend of the always ‘be ing on’ in the socia l media phys i cal iso la tion. Within the ex pe ri ence econ omy, the pro duction and consum ption of prod ucts and places is transform ed from use and util ity into all encom pass ing sensorial stim u lation, into immersive events, into to tal theater or specta cle. With technol ogy like vir tual re al ity even more in ten sive im mer sion is pos si ble, one can reach a ‘flow’ state. How ever, the con tact with the ‘other‘ re - mains the cru cial fac tor for the so cial be ings we are and festivals are fairly effective in that sense. Mar ket ing is shift ing from push ing prod uct to push ing ex pe ri ences, and it‘s most econom ical to push the same expe ri ence s to many, scal ing up to mass events, where peo ple are treated as cat tle, and us - ing those events to also push the products , the fashion, the im age of things that we need outside the festi vals . Using fes tivals (as a sponsor or vendor) to push one’s brand is now quite com mon, think

41 about the trend in sports events where prom otion and adver tis ing col ors the pub lic space. The com mer cial iza tion of large in ter na tional fes tivals highlights that trend; produc ers and market ers of all kinds of products and service s includ ing the cultural sec tor use eventification to advance their market positions and establish branding. Crowd reading and crowd control Reading an audi ence , respond ing and controling the mood and group mind is something most artists do, to some degree , but it can be hardly called a sci ence. It is where ex pe ri ence and sen si tiv ity count, some MC’s (master of cer emony ) are very good at it. The term ‘Crowd Reading’ is used in the DJ-scene, where ‘feeling’ the mood of the audi ence at the dance floor is very im portant. DJ’s watch the dance movem ents very carefully, know to inter pret body language, facia l expres sions, know how to sequence the tracks, and use lighting and even groups of as sis tants on the dance floor to change the mood, get people dancing a dif ferent way, etc. Skills that are valu able at fes ti vals too. Crowd read ing is a tal ent that comes handy in many situations. I have been pres ent, as a camera man, at many a demon stra tion, some very vi olent, and noted the inter play betwe en the ‘leaders ’, the people, a crowd that of ten be haved like cattle, and the (riot) police . There were some incre di ble good ‘crowd readers ’ in the police force, and some very stupid ones too, sending in the riot police at the wrong mom ents and of ten in ten tion- ally cause a panic (and be ing praised for their heroic acts by the mayor afterwards). Crowd control can be used to manip u - late sit u a tions, but in emer gency sit u ation it can be es sen tial to dis perse a crowd in an orderly manner, not overload ing exits, prevent ing a panic and stam - pede situ ations. These are dy namic situ ations and there is little science involved, every situ a tion is differ ent. The laws of fluid dynam - ics don’t apply to people dynamics.

42 Crowd control is as old as the first mass events in the ancie nt cultures, only today we incre asingly use modern technol ogy and applied psy chology to control the audi ence and manip u late the mood and group-mind. This is what DJ’s do, not only with music but these days we have video, smoke, and smartphones, tweets and apps open a whole new per spec tive. Us ing in fra red im ag ing, tem per a ture sensors, all the data mo bile devices and wearables con vey, the art of crowd reading may evolve into a science . The use of ultra sound and specia l fre quencie s are options in crowd control, but not much is known about it, there are rum ors that the East ern bloc has been using this at some scale. Interdisciplinary event science Of course the knowledge and art of staging big or small events is not new, all through the ages meet ings took place, perfor m ances, the ater, con certs, re li gious fes ti vals, pil grim ages and sports events. There must have been a body of knowledge and skills, proba bly not far rem oved from mili tary science , things like pilgrim ages, holy year and cru sades were sometimes massive events. Things can be handled in a much wider perspec tive now. It is only recent ly that dis ciplines like theate r, music , crowd control, prom o - tion, mar ket ing, spon sor ship han dling, mar ket ing, pro duc tion, con- tract and le gal, guest list man age ment, con ces sion manage ment, pro - gram ming, post-event nur tur ing, fan-com mu nity build ing, and all those other as pects of a fes ti val are combin ed un der a gen eral and very in ter dis ci plin ary ‘event manage m ent’ um brella and seek help from the psy chol o gists, so ci ol o gist and an thro pol o gists. It is a very wide field, of course with spe cializa tions and sub-dis ciplines , but the whole is impressively broad and interconnected. Event organizing talent, flexible and meticulous There are caree r oppor tu ni ties in this field. People who can under - stand, oversee and inno vate in this field are in high dem and. Be yond the level of actual imple me n tation and re aliza tion of the of ten me tic- ulous projec t plans, a seri ous ‘event science ’ is devel op ing. This is a field that will attract both gen eral ists and special ists, and offers great job possibilities. Es pe cially at large fes ti vals there is a kind of sep ara tion be tween the planners , the prepa ra tion staff, and the folks out there, at the gates,

43 in the art ists quar ters and back stage ar eas, the vol un teers, se cu rity people and the disas ter team. Two worlds, the hand-on folks and the hands-off manage m ent and planners , that need to coop er ate but often clash. Handling the sometim es large num bers of unpaid volun - teers, dur ing, before and after the event can be a nightmare. One can, like in any field, be working in the line or in the staff, but becaus e of the broad inter ac tion, no doubt good team work will be required. And flexi bil ity, people skills, on top of any aca dem ic of ed u ca tional qual i fi ca tions. Of course there is the possi bil ity or better prob abil ity that the truly great orga niz ers , program mers, tal ent and MCs are without a PhD in event sci ence. It re mains an art, as the whole ‘per sona’ or ‘ges talt’ of a festi val is hard to de fine in rules, budgets and matri ces . This requires specia l tal ents and am bition, running a major event ‘off the cuff’ is not given to many. The talent of the program mers, the sensi tiv ity of the produc ers for trends in ‘Gestalting’, the quality of the perform ers and acts, those are impor tant factors, but what about the weather, the ap pear ance of a bad drug, the trains or planes that don’t arrive, the ‘stars’ that do as they please, the local hoods that appear , the bomb or terrorist alarm? Usually there is one or a small group of fixers , people who are deep and high enough in the or gani za tion to know the genera l machin ery, but who can take ac tion and solve problem s on the floor (or in the field, the playa, etc.). Flex i ble peo ple man ag ers with an overview , de ci sion mak ers with ex pe ri ence are nearly al ways there, they are the kingpins in the ac tual run ning of things, the hands-on guys or girls that can swim the muddy wa ters of a fes ti - Fire at opening ceremony (Eigentijds Festival )

44 val where egos, money, booze and drugs run rampant.

Part of in te grated event sci ence is con cerned with the eco nom ics, the money side of things, but psychol ogy, so ciol ogy are always needed. They are often de cisive , it’s a people business . The technol - ogy de velops fast, not only how to construc ts podia, domes, tents, set up lighting, music and video, connect every body and every thing, but using the technol ogy of internet, socia l media and the new Internet of Things and sensors to guide and enhance the projec t. Big data, available becaus e of internet booking, tracking and tracing of mo bile de vices, mo bil ity pat terns, vis i tor pro files, com mu ni ca tion on the pre mises and all what the smart technol ogy will bring, can and will be used to figure out trends, predict be havior, conces sion incom e, appre ci a tion of services and acts and help solve problems before they happen. Of course much of the modern manage m ent techniques , helped by for ever better in for ma tion sys tems and com mu ni ca tion have found their way into event sci ence and event manage ment ex per tise. There are great suc cesses, big profits, but now and then a fes tival fails mis- er a bly, and disappears. This book will not go much into genera l event market ing and manage ment of large com mercial and pub lic events, as these are fairly ra tio nal op er a tions fol low ing es tab lished best prac tices and busi ness models, dealt with exten sively in lit era ture about this field. The word ‘Festivalization’ (festivalisation) is fairly new. In the nine ties it was noted (P. Kaptein 1996 festivalisering) that the arts fes ti val cir cuit came to rep re sent the the at ri cal “sea son” like with the Dutch ‘Holland Festival’, but of course the music fes tival and the Eng lish Free Fes ti val tradi tion was there before and re li gious fes ti - vals are of all ages. The large fes ti vals are usu ally well or ga nized, well fi nanced and stick to the rules concer ning se curity, health, sound and the thousands of rules im posed on them, even as they often claim these are suf fo cat ing the events,. They are in that sense pre dict able, there is ade quate account ing and manage m ent structures ; this is where the in sights of all the con trib ut ing dis ciplines are inte grated into a smooth machine. There is stiff com peti tion. It’s not every body’s turf and there are high en try bar ri ers. Al ready there are main play ers, with the ex pe ri -

45 ence and knowl edge, the track record and finan cia l sta bility that local govern m ents now re quire, but they are obvi ously not the most flexi ble. Inno va tion can come from their co creators , the artists and stage direc tors, but they mostly oper ate within the borders of a fairly strict business model. Even as the large and usu ally fairly commer cial and strictly ra tio nal festi vals now attract the most atten tion, it is usu ally in the small and mid-size events and in the overlap with the more spiri tual and trans - formational events that the de velop m ent of the whole indus try happens. Smaller events are usu ally more cre ative, more free, more ex per i - men tal. In no va tion co mes with chal lenges and ben e fits from some struggle and oppo si tion, forcing the people be hind it to come up with new solutions. Social centers Solu tions with im pact, socia l inno va tion, new uses for old loca tions, spots of al ter na tive ac tiv i ties, gen tri fi ca tion and cul tural re newal. Fes ti vals and al ter na tive com mu ni ties, but also the art ist ac tiv i ties at the neighbor hood level can influ ence the whole atm ospher e of a street, quarter, and even a city. Places like Ruigoord and Christian ia are obvi ously part of what attracts visi tors and citi zens to Am sterdam and Co pen ha gen. The cru cial con tri bu tion of such lo cal ar tis tic and cul tural ini tia tives to wards gentrification and thus urban devel - op ment and even in vest ment strat egies is clear. What starts as squat - ting will turn into lo cal urban activ ism, lo calism and social engagement, spreading and ‘infecting’ the wider community. Smaller events and local initia tives often add so much value to a neigh bor hood, that real es tate prices rise; gen tri fi ca tion of ten starts when event produc ers (and artists are often event produc ers ) cre ate an ex pe ri en tial and ex per i mental scene. The sad part is that these change initi a tors then are driven away by high prices and usually don’t ben efit from the value they cre ated. The so cial ef fects will turn into profits for specu la tors, the initiators usually don’t benefit. Political angle; squatters, social centers The most fa mous cre ative commu ni ties started in squat ter places, where money played a minor role. The po lit i cal drive, a cer tain anarchistic or ‘autonomous’ pro test against cap ital ism , but also the shortage in afford able housing led to occu pa tion of empty houses,

46 fa cil i ties, aban doned in dus trial and cul tural com plexes. Shar ing, social action, the old ‘commune’ idea found en thu si as tic sup port, squat ted places be came so cial cen ters, as such with much impact in no ta bly It aly. So cial cen ters that are open to the gen eral pub lic are also part of the genera l third place movem ent in com munity building. Third places include small com mercia l or non-recla imed urban spaces (or re claimed from commer cial ac tiv ity towards cooperative use) such as community coffee houses. The squat ter move ment be came even a po lit i cal force, an in spi ra tion for mostly small local polit i cal initia tives with some success like in Am ster dam (Provo) and in flu enc ing the larger po lit i cal land scape in the lasts de cades of the last cen tury (no ta bly the left and the green). Those ‘left wing’ and somewhat an ar chis tic ideas re sur faced when the West-Eu ro pean wel fare state started to crumble and the fi nan cial (euro-)cri sis led to broader polit i cal and mass-protes t movem ents like the ‘ Pi rates’ and ‘Podemos’, Syriza and the Five Star Movement. Squatters joined with extrem e left, mani fes ted them selves in dem on - stra tions and espe cia lly the often very vi olent eviction struggles made headlines and se cured support from left-oriente d citi zens . The idea of so cial cen ters, where the ‘free’ squat ter lo cation s of fered so - cial help, ed u ca tion, eco log i cal ini tia tives and ref uge for ‘no-papiers’ has made a dif fer ence. A whole-sub cul ture emerged, mostly in big cit ies, and joined forces with po liti cal anti-author itar - ian movem ents but also initi ate d new uses, cultural hot spots and stamcell reju ve na tion of the surrounding buildings and streets. Not to the linking of the author i ties , home-owners and conser vative pol i ti cians. Those lo ca tions and ac tiv i ties were of ten too eas ily closed or driven away, as the real es tate value in creased because of the at trac tive ness. These days most for mer squats are legit i mized, rent pay ing or owned by the aging squatters and lost the origi nal en - ergy, even as the myths of the glori ous and auton o m ous past are kept alive. Local govern m ent did see the value of such bottom -up lo cal ini tia tives, but of ten com mer cial ized and or ga nized the new ‘free-havens’ into art- or business incubators. Free dom sac rifice d for profit, a trend also very ob vious in festi vals . The ini tial suc cess, based on par tic i pa tion, vol un teers, and build ing identi fi ca tion, gave and gives way to money inter est s, stream lining,

47 com mer cial iza tion and even tu ally de cline. The con tri bu tion in this book by Aja Waalwijk illustrates how this developed. The ‘old school’ squatters deplore how their ‘movem ent’ is taken over by ‘norm ality’ and tend to mythologize their past and polit i cal achievem ents, often a bit too ide alis tic and ignor ing most squatters just enjoyed low/no rent and the freedom to smoke a joint. Soci ety and the polit i cal powers have, at times, fought but also em - braced the squat ter move ment and the so cial cen ters (It aly), us ing their energy and popu lar support to serve their inter est s, left or right. Man ag ing the cy cle of cre ative, so cial or oth er wise en tre pre neur ial ini tiatives is lim ited, most we can do is ob serve and see there are stages and even tu ally de cline. Very few com pa nies, cit ies or com- muni ties survive in the long run, even as one of ten attem pt to re vive or refo cus, but rekin dling the original energy and drive is very hard. Of course cre ative peo ple, art ists and en tre pre neurs are a market pull as well as a product push, but here polit i cal choices are to be made. The gen tri fi ca tion of in ner city neigh bor hoods for in stance, driv ing out the lower incom es and with that often the artis tic and com mu - nity ini tiatives that started the quality lift that led to the attrac tive image can lead to en claves that look very lively and creative, but of - fer little more than trendy cof fee shops and res taurant, the lifeblood disappeared with the people. Audience diversity, target groups Are fes tivals only something for specifi c groups, like the young 15-25 or young adults in the 25-25 year bracket? Those are obvi - ously the tar get for the large mu sic fes ti vals, even as there are clear de mar ca tions in in come and eth nic ity. But here su per fi cial ob ser vations may be mis lead ing. The less af flu ent seem to save all year in order to attend their events of choice. So it is hard to specify target au di ences and use tra di tional mar ket ing strat e gies, the internet and so cial media of fer a better way to reach the crowds. But for al terna tive and pub lic festi vals, is there a differ ent age group? Are they tar geting the creative folks, are they for middle class, all ethnic groups, for people with money or do all people like them and at tend? An im portant question, as much public money and effort goes towar ds festi vals , and who bene fits from this, or can we expect that the bene fits eventu ally will seep through? Many ‘cultural’ festi vals paid for with public money only target an upmarket au di ence, like those for op era or clas si cal music, dance or bal let.

48 This was supposed to bene fit all, be cause of the extra turnover in hotels and horeca, but since the 2008 finan cia l cri sis there is less money for such elite-festivals. One of ten looks at the cre ative class or the cul tural creatives as the main audi ence for al terna tive festi vals . In 2000, the book ‘The Cul- tural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World" by Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Ander son pointed at a group they be lieved to be as large as a quar ter of the North Amer i can and W. Euro pean pop u la tion, but that notion has faded a bit, also becaus e of the fi nan cial cri sis. It now seems in come and ed u cation al back - ground are ad e quate iden ti fi ers and pre dic tors of real be hav ior. The notion of Ray and Ander son that “values are the best single pre dic- tor of real behav ior” is re placed by the idea that emotions drive most of our de cisions and ac tions, the emotional econom y. The values that dic tate a ‘Cul tural Cre ative’s’ be hav ior like au then tic ity, en - gaged world view, ide alism and ac tivism , global ism and ecology and the sta tus of women, al tru ism, self-ac tu al iza tion, and spir i tu al ity are still there and cer tainly play a role in staging and marketing events, but mostly in the alternative festivals. The idea that the cultural creatives, the ones oftem mentioned but hard to iso late in po liti cal and market ing terms, are a main factor in the fes ti val econ omy is not very prac ti cal or specific. They are ob vi - ously often the consum ers but proba bly not the creative minds driv - ing the ‘cre ative city’ devel op ment as was sug gested by Rich ard Florida in his 2002 book “The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Trans form ing Work, Lei sure, Com mu nity and Ev ery day Life”. His ideas have some value, but are these days most mid dle class and well to do peo ple not more in di vid u al is tic, less con form ing and more looking for expres sion in ways that elude the old target market ideas; with consta nt shifting preferences and spending patterns. Al ter na tive or in spi ra tional fes ti vals are not spe cif i cally for the creative folks, there is also the pull of the bored, the need for diver sion, the less ide al is tic and high brow re al ity of the ma nip u la tion of the con sumer, the McFestival idea of franchised amusement. Although there is thus a tendency to see festi vals as part of the cre - ative culture, the wide va riety in festi vals , the kinds of venues and pric ing makes clear, that fes ti vals or events are there for all, by all and with all. They at tract the overly ac tive in di vid u als, but also the bored ones, the sensa tion seekers and those who want to escape the

49 stress of the city and work, they are there for the old and the young, the smart indi vid u als and the cattle that just follows the signposts. The consum er needs can be met by the push of the creative artists and event orga niz ers , but more likely the ‘percei ved’ needs are the re sult of smart mar ket ing and emo tional ma nip u la tion. Is Lady Gaga the re sult of quality in perfor m ance or of clever market ing, using emotions rather than values? Is staging ‘health food’ or ‘fair trade’ events in big malls a creative inno va tion (push), or just follow ing changing inter est s in the custom er base (pull). Again looking a bit beyond the obvi ous and into what drives the real ‘owners ’ and deci sion makers in the festivalscape may help to dis- cern what in ter ests are re ally at stake. There is a ten dency to use this trend to manip u late the masses, keep them enter taine d and content by ‘bread and circuses’. Security and drugs Keeping drugs away from fes tivals requires a lot of secu rity, and seems to be in ef fec tive nev er the less. These days go ing to a fes ti val means ac cept ing security measures that re semble air port or cus toms secu rity. The fear for terror ist attac ks, the war on drugs and prevent - ing acci dents goes very far and is in many ways eat ing at the free - dom and auton om y that once was the root quality of fes tivals . The auton o m ous zones are degrade d to safe zone, but only in the per - spec tive of the author i ties , and this is often backed by the orga niz ers and their insur ance poli cie s. The real ity is that the or ganiz ers know very well that drugs are part of the form ula, and that allow ing alocohol may lead to more vio lenc e and problem s that some weed or XTC. So there is a certain amount of the ater, of bow ing to the rules but in fact allowing the true formula to happen out of sight. In genera l, to obtain perm its for events is harder and harder, more and more condi tions are placed on hygiene , drugs control, the fa cili - ties, ca tering quality, the working condi tions of the staff, adm inis tra - tive integ rity (to pre vent black money, laundering), sound levels and ecology. All these measures are un der stand able from the per spec tive of re - sponsi bil ity of the parties involved, but the trend to elim inate all risks is coun ter pro ductive in the per spec tive of trans for ma tion, learning and innovation.

50 4 The real potential of festivals

This book is not about the business models of fes tivals or the practi - cal aspect s of staging events or setting up com muni ties . It looks into the socia l and psy cholog i cal im pact of fes tivals . This can range from just enter tain m ent or leisure via personal growth, contac t oppor tu - nity, building group aware ness, com mu nity re sil ience to broad trans form ation and even a paradigm shift. No doubt much of what is mentioned in this context can be useful for prom oters , produc ers , orga niz ers and all those who see festivalization as an indus tria l trend and a new branch of econom ic activ ity, but my fo cus is on something different. • Can festivals, and especially transformative festivals, be used as a tool to initiate, in individuals and in groups, as tools for transformation? • Can we address the problems caused by an educational system and an economy mainly aiming at individual gains and not at social cohesion by attending such events?

Given the fact, that our soci ety suffers from a deepen ing rift between the have’ and have nots, a lack of eco log i cal aware ness and a neo-lib eral fo cus on profit and in di vid u al ity, might fes ti vals and such of fer a way out of the di lemmas we are facing ? This also means that we may have to look at the festi vals and rit uals of old as pri mar ily ways to re-ed u cate or ini ti ate the peo ple, en hanc ing their level of consci ousness , social adaptation and happiness. The ini tia tions of old, like helping ado les cents to be come adult and respon si ble mem ber of a tribe or people, were obvi ously more than super sti tious primitivity, they had a socia l function. Many an thro- polo gist have pointed at the lack of (rites of) initi a tion in our modern curric ula and how this leads to im mature and irre spon si ble adults, with costly re sults for so ci ety as they be come ego cen tric and maybe antisocial citizens. One of my deeper ques tions is if we can see fes ti vals as an ef fec tive and even neces sar y tool to addres s the shortcom ing of our edu ca -

51 tional sys tem, and ma te ri al is tic world view. Can we see them as po - tential initi a tion (transformative tools) even as we accept that such ritu als can also have the oppo site effec t, contain ing the mask, forti - fy ing the ego, just as psy chedel ics and all transformative tools and therapies. I

This approac h might be an illu sion, but as I person ally expe ri ence d one of the more transformative fes ti vals (FireDance) as an ini ti ation and mind-blow ing expe ri ence , that started me on a path of appre ci a - tion of the tribal and group consci ousness , it is a valid ques tion for me. I have spoken to many, for whom fes tivals like Boom or Burn- ing man opened their eyes and made them aware of their own psy - che and the way we tend to live our ego rather than our true self. Not only the po si ti ve, the re is symp to ma tic fixing In the var i ous per spec tives con cern ing fes ti vals and com mu ni ties the focus is on how they can contrib ute to trans form ation, change, inno va tion and socia l cohe sion. This is, alas, not the only effec t we can ex pect form festi vals. Like with any tools or me dia, there are other out comes too. The psy cho log i cal trans for ma tion, broadly the collaps e of the false identity or mask of people and the emergence of a better inte grated iden tity (closer to the whole self), may not happen, the reverse effect can result. Partak ing in a festi val can lead to preser va tion or collaps e of the old iden tity. This dis tinc tion be tween pre serv ing or break ing the ego-mask (changing the deeper belief system ) is also what makes

52 par tak ing in psy che del ics drugs events, psy cho ther apy and in fact most edu ca tional projec ts often so inef fec tive. If we just do that and fortify our masks, maybe fix a bit in the way we behave, but not re - ally go for the root problem s and the core of our selves, we gain little. The im age of the self-states illus trates this and may clar ify, why much of what we think is healing, in fact is no more than fixing our ego-state or as sumed self-state. The results may look posi tive, but in fact may pre vent us from look ing at the deeper level where the real problem s re side. This symptom atic approac h, which we all know very well from the accepted medical approach, is the danger. In the fes ti val per spec tive, we can make vis i tors fairly happy, feed their ego and pam per for their super fi cia l needs, and call it a success ful event. If we want to change peo ple and so ci ety, we may need to look deeper into what drives people and how we can change them for the better. For trans form ation, how lofty it may sound, can also lead to a self state and be lief sys tem that is even worse. Transformational efficacy To answe r this question, in this book a num ber of perspec tives is dealt with. It is clear that there is no easy an swer, the var i ous an gles may help to out line the under ly ing problem s, which lies at the core of our pres ent par a digm or ra tio nal sci ence and ex treme in di vid u alism. The final answe r to the question of transformational effi cac y will no doubt depend on a new synthe sis , and may require a para - digm shift of enorm ous propor tions, like re-insta ting the sacre d. That is not a new message, many have warned against the limit ing scope of mate ri al is tic ra tio nal ity, but maybe the alarm - ing re al i ties of ex - treme di ver sity, eco - log i cal di sas ter en economic crisis will help to change our priorities.

Community festivals can be small, but still have international recognition (Ruigoord)

53 5 The perspective of the organizers/producers

Here we first look at the incen tives and motives of the or ganiz ers , publish ers , produc ers etc. of events small and large. For the larger event maybe we should say produc ers and include the econom ic back ers, au thor i ties and lo cal com mu ni ties be hind them, as this becomes, cer tainly for the large music and pub lic fes ti vals, more and more a regulated sector. All the parties in the wider ecosystem of a fes ti val, from par tic i pants to pro mot ers, me dia-part ners (lo cal or na tional broad cast ers, mag a- zines, websites, por tals), me dia in gen eral, or ga niz ers, fi nan cial back ers, spon sors, con trac tors, sub-con trac tors, mer chan diser, IP rights or ga ni za tions (mu sic, video), re tail ers, ca ter ers, se cu rity ser - vices, the talent pool (art ists), the local author ities, the neigh bors, the local poli ti cia ns and who not are part and stakeholder in such events, should be consulte d, consid ere d and include d in the planning and exe cu tion. The author i ties do have an im portant role and re- sponsi bil ity, the job of a City Chief Event Manager is emerging.

While there is the forma l dis tinction be tween no-logo, no-money, not-for-profit, gov ern ment and pri vate en tre pre neur ial fes ti vals, in re al ity in come has al ways to cover costs and meet the risks car ried. The market ing of non-com mercia l events has to fol low the same approach as profit oper a tions. Maybe the im age of an event will play some role in defin ing the target group, in ac tual ity at the larger fes tivals a beer will cost roughly the same. The ticket price of a fes ti val tends to go up with size and popu lar ity, even for the non- commercial ones. Or ga niz ing a small event can still be done by ama teurs, in ter ested cit i zens, host com muni ties or hobby groups, with internet as an ef - fec tive tool. The indus try at the other end of the line has becom e profes sional, uses profes sional tools, and needs to conside r eco - nomic, eco log i cal and so cial im pact, in clud ing di sas ter planning. Places or cit ies where larger fes ti vals hap pen or where one con sid ers attrac ting such events, should there fore consult profes sional help. A fes ti val des ti na tion will im pact the iden tity, me dia and tour ism im-

54 Statistics of Glastonbury, one of the mega-events (source BBC) age, city-market ing (for other pur poses too), pros perity, culture, city plan ning, zon ing, road-maps and fa cil i ties. Fes ti vals can be come iden ti fi ers (think about Woodstock, Glastonbury), at trac tions and markers in the tourism system.

Publicl y funded Fes tivals (art, music , sports) are incre asingly used as socia l market ing tools, to market and im plem ent public- sec tor poli cie s. The govern m ent wants to incre ase the cultural or socia l cap i tal of a lo ca tion, pro mote ur ban im age mak ing and revitalization, pro tect the sta tus quo (of ten of a se lect elite) or a spe - cific genre, of fer an al ter na tive to a pri vate event (compet ing or just re fus ing per mits) or in flu ence vot ers. Why, For Whom, What, Where Hope Tschopik Schnei der, pro ducer of The Olympic Arts Fes ti - val in 1984 said: “I do think it is possible to create a Festival, a festival of value, distinction and purpose. To do so requires real integrity of purpose (WHY?), real definition and intimate understanding of its audience (FOR WHOM?), a real commitment to the

55 uniqueness and quality of the artists to be presented (WHAT?), and a real sense of the magic of place (WHERE?). It also requires enormous hard work in both planning and implementation. In essence, because a festival is a series of one-time, unique events with new combinations of people, there is no room for error and no time for refinement. It takes enormous resources to do a festival well, either in the form of a highly motivated and involved community or in the form of large sponsorship/funding commitments. Festivals, once the definition of who, what and why is set, are exercises in precise technical and production planning. There are endless details to run down and nail to the floor. There are fund-raising, accounting and cash flow problems to solve. There are production problems to solve. There are audience amenity problems to solve. There are public assemblage and flow problems to solve. There are political problems to solve. There are huge marketing and public relations problems to solve.” Many fes ti vals were started by well-mean ing am a- teurs with a mission and great ideals, and let’s hope many more will emerge, but these days the larger event re quire a pro fes sional staff, fi nan cial re serves, and solid business and event plans to convince the author i ties, back ers, spon sors, part ners and the artists that Event planning can be small or very extensive

56 things will go smoothly. The transi tion from small and non-profit events to commer cial has not al ways been easy, the ini tial peo ple were of ten not ca pa ble to scale up, and were sidetracked or ousted. The orig inals ideals are maybe still there, but the re ality kicked in, even an orga ni za tion with high am bitions and lofty goals has to at least run even, and maybe need a lit tle profit to build up reser ves. So the norm al econom ic consid er ations do play a role, be yond the very small and am ateur events, dealing with money, market ing, workers and regu la tions and taxes is a necessity. The pro cess of growth is of ten neces si tated because there are more

and more costs like for per mis sions, secu rity, toilet facil i ties, elec - tric ity and such and local govern m ents do require these, even for small events. The risks grow as the size grows, for events like Glastonbury, with over 175.000 visi tors, the costs are enorm ous and thus the risks. Of course one tries to make people buy tick ets in advance, but the profit is al ways in the last bit, and not every thing is sold out. Some risks can be insure d, but as the weather is a fairly in- secure fac tor and insur ing against rain is prohib i tivel y costly, not all events can do this. The same goes for talent, when big name stars don’t show up, people may want their money back. The usual approac h to save on costs is to use volun tee rs, and this is a common prac tice for the more ide al is tic events. There is much va - riety in how the volun tee rs are com pensat ed for their work. They

57 may get free adm ission, a lowere d fee, free food or lodging, but the problem is that the govern m ent tends to see free food and board as pay ment and wants her share (in come tax, social security). Also the is sue of work-perm its for foreign ers is be com ing more and more a problem . The red tape to get perm ission to perform s is becoming a night mare, espe cially if it con cerns peo ple from far away. The orga ni za tion has to vouch for their insur ance or as sume re spon- sibil ity in case they don’t leave the country or fall ill. Smaller orga - niza tions are unable to deal with this, don’t have the le gal status nec es sary or the fi nan cial back bone to make such ar rangements. This is seen as a seri ous limi ta tion of the possi bil ities to orga nize meetings, limiting the freedom of assembly. Es pe cially for ide al is tic events, where more and more sha mans, spir - itual teachers , priests, monks and assorte d holymen are invited, the visa problem s are nearly insur m ountable . The required guaran tee s and ad min is tra tive pro ce dures, the for mal lim i ta tions of tour ist vi sas (no allow ance to work; giving lec tures is more and more consid ere d working for money) are felt as unduly restri cting even the freedom of reli gion. The measure s to keep out jihadist preachers , ter rorists and fortune-s eekers are often equally re stricted for the people that come to share their insights and talents. Restricting policies The na tional and local regu la tions are suppos edly there to pre vent ac ci dents, crim i nal ity, tax eva sion, pro tect the lo cal in dus try and workers , ensure safety and orderly proces s and much more, but in prac tice this is often felt as undue re pres sion and abuse of power, for the bene fit of the larger oper a tors and as a way to keep the ‘alternative’ away. The smaller and new fes ti vals are facing se ri ous bar ri ers, they may get away a few times with an ama teur ap proach, but then the au thor - ities show up and make de mands. The re quirem ents are then so restricting, re quire money, phys ical facil i ties and changes in the setup, that people have to give up. In the con text of pro moting festivalization it feels that the re strictive regu la tions that mostly hurt be ginning and smaller events ignores that all festi vals started small. Like elsewhere, inno vation and ini tiative starts from the bottom and a more le nient pol icy towar ds new festi val ini tiatives helps to grow the whole industry.

58 Talent All the creative people, the per form ers, the de signers and much of staff are of ten re ferred to as ‘tal ent’. They are the blood and life of a fes tival, the build the stages and dec ora tion, perform on stage, create the atm ospher e and inter act with the public. The big acts, the global lum inar ies and super sta rs are hard to contrac t, have something outra geous de mands and are costly. They do act as big au di ence at trac - tions, but this is only afford able for the really large events and comes with a high ticket price. Such acts need to be booked years in ad vance, se ri ous fi nan cial com mit ment are nec es sary, but they can make or brake the success. Some vis i tors come for spe cific acts or art ists, oth ers come for the whole lineup, the com bina tion of perfor m ances offere d. The big bands and artist these days earn less from their record ings, the live per for mances and tours are a ma jor source of in come and produc ers fight for them. The smaller and less presti gious festi vals do tend to look for less expen sive acts, often with a clearly differ ent sound or charac ter like Afri can percus sion ist or singers , and re sort more to local talent. For the inten tional and al terna tive festi vals the big name bands are less im portant, it’s not all about the music , but good MC’s (master of cere m ony) can de mand a high fee. Their job, in opening and closing ritu als , is im portant, they can set the mood for the whole event. Ambitions Is it all about money and power or are there other motives to orga - nize fes tivals ? Profits are im portant, but often the oppor tu nity to influence the crowd plays a role. This can have com mercia l grounds, brand (and band) awareness will eventu ally means cashing in, but there are po lit i cal move ments and re li gious or ga ni za tions too, that use fes ti vals to steer their adherents. The support of sponsors and govern m ent support ing events with money, ser vices, free secu rity is a way of buy ing sym pathy, brand rec og ni tion, at ten dee data, ac cess to peo ple in a dif fer ent state of awareness (and easily brainwas hed with sugges tions) . This is one of the dangers of the whole trend, situ a tions and condi tions are create d where influ enc ing the crowd is rela tivel y easy and pos itive, but also danger ous message s can be planted in the uncon sci ous. The group-mind mech a nisms and po ten tial for ma nip u la tion are not (yet)

59 well under stood by sci ence, but there are enough people who are intu itively masters of per sua sion. Their message may be po lit i cal cor - rect or in cor rect, left, right, lib eral, an ar chis tic, lead ing to peace or vio lenc e, the one on the stage has the power to swing opinions, votes and behavior. The mo tives may be less ma te ri al is tic and more friendly, from seeing fes tivals as a way to keep the peace, prom ote cohe sion and inte - gration, spreading culture, prom oting ecology and other lofty stories. The angles are varied and differ ent, but the do-gooder style is often unmistakable. Many ‘al terna tive’ fes tivals claim to have no ties with big in dus try and call them selves ‘no-logo’ fes ti vals, al ter na tive, eco log i cal, gifting, equal oppor tu nity. But be ware, opening addres ses are full of this and the amount of BS dished out by the orga niz ers and their spokes persons is enorm ous, not much short of what poli ti cia ns on the cam paign trail and CEOs try ing to sell IPO-shares will tell their listen ers . Of course all this backed up with brochure s, videos and books that under scor e the message . Events like Boom or Burning Man have PR-machine s that equal those of large cor pora tions and do sail with the tide, building support and followers (potential attendees). Image counts It’s how the (po ten tial) au di ence sees a fes ti val that de cides its suc - cess. So try to look ‘good’, em phasiz e how healthy, vege tar ian, drug free, smoke free and support ive an event is, in addi tion of course to what is of fered as en ter tain ment, the mu sic, stars and scen ery. In - vest ing in im age pays off, the prom otion and market ing of festi vals is all about that, using internet and socia l media, but also old fash - ioned ways like flyering cars on parking lots at the end of a festival. Fes ti val or ga niz ers and producers have to reckon with the per ception of people at differ ent mom ents. There is the ‘appre ci a tion’ and ‘meaning’ at a dis tance (in re la tion to the image of the event) and the immediate drives and emotions of the moment, where also the tal ent, the acts and per form ers of course are the di rect link and the group mind happens. In the mom ent one can be hilar i ous, in over- drive, but also shortsighte d. Going for this chick or that joint is what drives peo ple and gives immediate grat i fi ca tion and thus meaning, a sense of scoring.

60 As an ex ample, the in ter est in encoun ters la beled ‘tantra’ is of ten enormous and it’s a very profit able label to carry. People flock to op por tu ni ties that transcend the norm al, and then of course sex, drugs and rock&roll score, before tran scen dence or the mystical. Is that the soul-level and ‘other worldly’ deep meaning Viktor Frankl talks about or just our ani ma lis tic and at a vis tic side? Maybe a tantra work shop doesn’t bring you buddhahood, but a new partner or some good sex, for many that’s meaning enough. Apart from the three di men sions par tic i pa tion, trans for ma tion and iden ti fi cation that I use to de marcate the field a bit and sep arate the more active and engag ing events and places from the merely con- sump tive fes ti vals and en ter tain ment/lei sure/theme parks there are of course many more practi cal consid er ations and motives to attend or join as volunteer. The very mundane consid er ations like money, hidden addi tional costs, tim ing, the holi day period of the children, can we bring an an - im al, what is the food regim e, what kind of music is there, how far do I have to travel, what kind of people of what age at tend, these are all im portant, but for different people. Fes tival or com munity orga niz ers have to look at these fac tors, but the more or less basic econom ic thinking and market ing applies here. What is the target group, what do they want, how do we reach them, what tal ent (act) do we hire, how do we and cre ate in ter est, desire and ac tion to join, how to com bine push and pull forces, what genera l atten dant-pr ofile s can be dis cerned in the fes tival World, with what specific demands and teas ers, mu sic style and profit potential for the producers. In genera l this is covere d in ‘norm al edu ca tion and liter a ture’ about event manage m ent and we will skip that in order to focus on alter na - tive ways to dis cern the needs of poten tial participants. There are a num ber of issues that are real, but not above board and can only be dealt with out side the public sphere. The availabil ity of drugs for insta nce, for many atten dees that is an issue. Will there be ‘house-dealers ’, strict control or torpidness and noncha lanc e, when is the police called in, what are the conse quence s in overdose situ a - tions for those report ing problem s. Smoking is another, form ally forbid den indoors, but at festi vals perm itted (not always). This has been in di cated as a fac tor in the dis ap pear ance of much of the disco and dance venues in many cities , many people don’t want to go to a

61 place where they have to go outside to have a smoke. Other is sues like segre ga tion, do we want minor i ties , gays, gang mem bers, bikers, se niors, poor people, travel ers , etc. to be part of the crowd and how do we exclude them, are also dealt with behind the curtain. And what about the age-control, minors usually find ways to get booze or ciga rett es, how much of that is allowe d? Naked ness , sexual miscon - duct, gam bling, dealing, is all this clear and above board, communicated in a proper way or left to improvisation in the moment. The rules of conduct and whether and how they are com muni cat ed or enforce d are im portant. Even as it looks like total openness and commu ni cation is the best strat egy, in real ity many choices are made. At many fes ti vals, steal ing hap pens and can become a real pest, as orga nize d gangs start to oper ate . But sometim es, in order not to dam age the ‘friendly, per missive and spiri tual atm ospher e’ in- cidents are not made public, appar ently nothing is wrong, every body happy, but this means the bad elements will have a field day.

62 Event Impact A grow ing concer n is the im pact fes tivals and ‘alter na tive’ com mu - nities can have and this im plies much more than the ecolog i cal dam - age, the waste and damage to na ture. Many fes ti vals call them selves ‘green’, even claim they leave the place as they found it, but the long term im pact of any ac tivity needs to be consid ere d. Nature reserves turned into fes tival grounds, will they have the re silienc e to re cu per ate? Not all life forms will come back once the place has been used, not all waste can be removed. The so cial, eco nomic and in fra structural impact of fes ti vals can last for years. Woodstock has becom e a landm ark and tourist attrac tion, the eco nomic long term impact is clear there. The city of Am ster - dam and sur roundings, where not only many festi vals are held, but a real fes ti val in dus try de vel oped, made a name for her self as ‘fes ti val city’. It attracts many fes tival tour ists, but many are just backpack bud get young sters, at tract ing dope deal ers, ir ri tat ing the cit i zens and not fill ing the more expensive hotels and facilities. Con sid er ing all the pos i tive and neg a tive as pects of fes ti vals, in cluding long term effec ts, should be part of the regu la tions and perm ission procedures. Volunteers Many fes ti vals have vol un teers, peo ple that help build, fa cil i tate, control or perform . There are volun tee rs manning the ticket-booth, coping with internet, medi cal or drug-abuse support, they are often essen tial to make the event happen and show black figures . For non-commer cial fes ti vals maybe all are vol un teers, but even very large events use them, in re turn for a free or dis counted tickets , food stamps, ac cess to fa cil i ties, back-stage passes, etc. For many act ing or pre tend ing as vol un teers is what par tic i pa tion makes pos si ble, the fees of fes ti - vals are of ten pretty steep (and the pop u lar ones sell out months or a year in advance

63 or can only be had via a lottery). The problem s with volun tee rs are many; how to manage them, sepa - rate the hard work ers from the lazy prof i teers (some esti mate 35% or more), prevent abuse, drug smuggling or dealing, crim inal inten - tions, steal ing, etc.? There are many ways of deal ing with this, and often the volun tee rs or co-cre ators are the core of the whole set-up, but there is also a trend not to use volun tee rs and hire paid person nel and staff from reliable contractors only. The is sue of work ing per mits, work ing con di tions and tax able com - pensa tions (food, shelter etc.) for volun tee rs is a grow ing concer n. Govern m ents like the incom e, fear all this gifting and shar ing makes them miss out on VAT or sales-tax, want to pre vent il legal work ers and in genera l will do anything to pre vent them from being held ac- countable if things do get out of hand. The money issue plays a role here too. Trusting volun tee rs with money is asking for trouble. Very often there are to kens or fes ti val coins to prevent the use of cash, conces sion oper a tors are not sup - posed to accept money, but this is hard to enforce . The idea is to prevent stealing or hiding incom e from the orga ni za tion (who might want a per cent age of the sales) but elec tronic money, credit cards use etc. make this hard to enforce. After-Care A fes ti vals ends at a cer tain moemnt, but the at ten dants may need some care af ter - wards. The need to take care of peo ple that went through se ri ous trans for ma tion or OD’d or need help other wis e is obvi ous, but often ignored and not a main worry. It should be, anyway! Internet as a major tool To plan, prom ote and orga nize events these days of course re quires internet and com puters . Cyber-pro mo tion, fan-sites, loy alty pro- grams, on line ticket sales, so cial media, with out internet things would be nearly im pos si ble. Ad e quate pro ject man age ment and event man age ment soft ware, ded i cated apps, book ing ser vices, etc. etc. are es sen tial. There is a host of compa nies of fer ing spe cial ized or gen eral soft ware for spe cial ized fes ti val pro ject plan ning and event manage m ent. Dedi cat ed apps for prom otion or on-site guid -

64 ance are a neces sity these days and serve for loy alty pro grams too. There is a ten dency to use profiling, at tendance history and such to fil ter par tic i pa tion. With con cen tra tion of fes ti val op er a tors and glob aliza tion of the in dus try with large play ers like ID&T (now part of US owned SFX/Live Nation) this is a pos sibil ity, even as those orga ni za tions claim visi tor data are not stored. However , big data tech niques and anony mous profiling can lead to very focused promotion and pricing strategies. Opportunities, sponsors, partnering ‘Eventification’ can mean growth – for the publish ers , sponsors , the city. That is, if one succee ds, but it’s a tough business . There are many com peting events taking place and of ten sim ulta neousl y. An events propo si tion, certainl y at the prom otional level, re ally needs to cap ture the imag i na tion rather than it er ate what com pet i tors are already doing. It is a matter of com bining and mixing more or less fixed ele m ents into an at trac tive prop o si tion. At trac tive to the po ten tial vis i tors, these days mostly ad dressed by email and so cial media. Us ing fan-sites, blogs, LinkedIn groups, twitter and Facebook and support - ing infor m al exchange s to adver tise events is an im portant marketing avenue. The sponsors are a main source of incom e. Differ ent from media ex - posure like tele vision the sponsors are offere d direc t physi cal contact and feed back op por tu ni ties, us ing offline, face-to-face re la tionships. This can be used for im age building, but also direc t lead gener a tion with im me di ate con ver sion pos si bil i ties. The con nec tion with me dia-part ners, like ra dio-sta tions, mag a zines, web-por tals or news papers , can not only be used to as sure public ity, but also on-prem ise (VIP) sub-events and trans mis sions. Cross- li cens ing the use of logos and names can maximize effect. The event produc ers have a role sim ilar to that of publish ers in the old model. Edit ing an event, shifting and co-ordinating the acts, re - sources, tim ing, mood set ting, it is more than just making a line-up of acts. They need to make sure to get the neces sar y buy-in from the outsid ers , sponsors , the artists , local govern m ents and venue owners but also from their teams, espe cially the ed i to rial team where the pre pa ra tory de ci sion-mak ing pro cess is con cen trated with of ten me- ticu lous planning and a time hori zon spanning years. A clear vision and am bition should be defined (by the top people) and em bedded

65 in the culture of the business , to ensure everybody walks in the same direction. Part nerships and joint ventures at or around fes tivals , with trans port compa nies, ho tels, camp sites,, pizza ser vices, ven dors and ser vice provid ers , in that way of fering addi tional ser vices, can boost succes s and incom e. The list runs endles s, like charging telephones, lockers , showers , rent als, bikes or other on-site transport options, drugs-tests, OD-fa cil i ties, ded i cated con tact ser vices (like lo cal Tin der or Twit - ter) and taking care of kids or ani m als. Farm ing out such things or working with partners makes sense, and sometim es the addi tional ser vices turn out to be a main as sets, like the “heal ing fields” in al - ter na tive fes ti val set tings. The va ri ety in fi nan cial or bar ter deals in this respect is a chal lenge and a science per se, but also a minefield of potential problems. The technol ogy to track and trace the audi ence , who goes where and at what time, which artists make people move, when does one go for food and drinks, these are the data that help ana lyze the event and plan the next one. Internet, smartphones and sensors , NFC and Bluetooth, all can be used. Which source is trigger ing the most reg - istra tions? Where are the best results com ing from? Which prom o - tional ave nues are the most effec tive, which act the most popu lar, what food sells best at what time? Under sta nding where re sults are com ing from by tracking every response will help to spot where the most effec tive marketing opportunities lie.

66 6 The role of the government

The author i ties and the govern m ent are an im portant factor in the festivalscape. Fes ti vals are more than the re sult of commer cial push and pull, of provid ers of a service and cus tom ers try ing to make a buck or push their ideals . They im pact the wider soci ety and have to follow certain rules concer ning securityand law and order. The au- thori ties are involved as regu la tors, but also as facil i ta tors and as the impor tance of festivalization is more and more rec og nized cit ies see it as a way to attract business, tourism and status. Govern m ents also use festi vals as a way to control people, not nec- essar ily in a neg ative way. Fes tivals are good tools to ‘vent off steam’, unite the peo ple, create co he sion, over come cul tural or eth - nic diver sity, breed a com mon vibe or dispers e the ‘correc t’ morals . This is of course not new, most cultures and tra ditions used festi vals and rit ual gather ings to give meaning and order to public and private life, or to unite the so cial and the sa cred. Of ten these events were rooted in natu ral sequence s, the weather, the seasons and plane tary move ments, su per im posed with oth er worldly (religious) considerations, imagery and myths. It is good to note that many in dig e nous cultures would spend up to 70% of their time on ritual. The circum - stances of life were of - ten so good, that just little time was spent on food and safety. Fes ti vals are great ways to keep the people in line. The Romans pro - vided ‘bread and circuses’ to keep their mid dle classes happy, we face the same chal - lenge in the 21th century.

67 Fes ti vals are cul tural and creative impul ses and may be also motors for the econom y.They are also a risk as things can get out of hands, acci dents and even disas ters happen and the role of the govern m ent, mostly the local author i ties , is thus im portant. They can regu late and limit and the choices, like betwe en qual ity and quantity, are not easy. As Monica Sassatelli remarked at the Boekman con fer ence about festi vals in Am sterdam in 2013, cities have to com prom ise between in no va tion and McFestivalization. Cities can stim u late, but also limit the scope of festi vals. This by im - posing such strict rules and dem ands that things don’t work any - more, that new ini tiatives are stifled or just ‘trusted’ part ners are allowed to run things in what then be comes a regu late d indus try. A closed shop, with large oper a tors and little control and much oppor - tunity for cor ruption, there is as yet no such thing as a ‘Federa l Fes - tival Au thor ity’; things are mostly left to the lo cal author ities like the mayor, fire de part ment and the se cu rity au thor i ties. These can have much influ ence on what is actu ally happen ing, the rules and regu la tions can be used to prom ote the one and close down the other event, condone this, allow that. Most event orga niz ers com plain about the suffo cat ing red tape, the control and asso ci ate d costs, but the disas ter like the staqmpede at the 2010 Love Pa rade elec tronic dance music fes tival in Duisburg kind of reinforced the regulation trend. That reg u la tions, fire pro tec tion, sound level lim its, se cu rity, health, perm its and in genera l red tape are ham pering the evolu tion of ini - tiatives is the down side. Cities with an am bi tion to grown to wards “FestiValley” cen ters of the fes ti val and event in dus try have to com - prom ise here, and sometim es these com prom ises mean condon ing and al lowing a certain perm issive ness in drugs, sex and secu rity. Not always openly, most festi vals pub licly call themselves ‘drugs free’, but or ga niz ers and po lice know the re al ity and act accord - ingly. The eco nomic re al i ties are there; no drugs, no vis itors. At- tempts to curb things like sex and drugs in Am sterdam have back- fired, tainted the attrac tion value of the city, the branding of what was known as the most magical city of the world. Opportunities to boost this industry Pol i ti cians and no ta bly ur ban pol i ti cians see big po ten tial in fes tivals and large events to bring business , visi tors and work to their city and maybe see the long term ne ces sity to of fer their cit i zens

68 something to do, some kind of oc cupa tional therapy. For cities like Am sterdam , Copen ha gen, Berlin the festivalization trend offers op - portu ni ties , new ways to use the infra struc ture, resourc es, cultural and hu man cap i tal. Al ready the fes ti val busi ness is rec og nized as an im portant econom ic factor, but to turn this into a real ‘motor’, creat - ing a new focus and source of inno va tion, requires more than just allowing events to happen. To become a FestiValley, a leader in the worldwide festi val busi - ness, se rious study and an open atti tude are neces sar y. Ed uca tional and scien tific resourc es should be made available , financ ing options and planning of public places direc ted towar ds opti m izing direc t phys i cal con tact op por tu ni ties. The rules and reg u la tions need to become more flexi ble, allow ing scaling of events and elastic management rather than strict planning. Event manage m ent is more than just making and approv ing a budget, in terms of city gov ernance the idea of a Chief Event Manager re spon si ble for co or di nat ing all those city and gov ern ment branches involved in events, seems like a logical step. Silicon Valley remakes don’t work Fes tivals are the indus try of the future, espe cia lly in the context of a partial ly work-less soci ety model with more auto m ation, robots and Internet of Things. Unles s some kind of pill (like Huxley’s Soma in ‘Island’ will be used to sedate and control us all, we need some kind of pas time, some form of enter tain m ent, prefer a ble some meaning to fill our lives. There looms a future where work will not only be different, but the pre roga tive of a few talente d ones, with maybe many at the bottom of the food/money/power chain. We need, to keep the masses happy and to prevent upris ing and neo-Luddite movem ents, some kind of activ ity, and just more socia l media won’t really work, or not for all. For what do you do when there is less and less work and less meaning? Watch TV, Netflix, surf, e-date or game, or go to the gym? Given the speed of techno log i cal im plem enta tion of what we now regard as basic includ ing internet, smartphones and govern m ent con trolled se cu rity (sac ri fic ing pri vacy in the pro cess) we need to look at what the people and soci ety need a few decade s from now. Or ga niz ing meaning ful events like fes ti vals may be a so cial ne ces - sity, just like cre ating more oppor tu ni ties for permanent education, art, sports etc.

69 Festivalization is becom ing a socia l and econom ic phe nom enon, and most likely a long term trend. It is somewhat un fair to label this trend as just something to keep the people happy or accuse the status quo of seeing it an expe di ent means of pac ify ing discon tent and di- verting atten tion from real problem s. That may be a consid er ation for some, but in general the posi tive ben efits are clear, it is felt as a great way to spend the time. Political choices, government stance As the festivalization takes hold, many cit ies and regions are try ing to get a share of that business , by ur ban planning, fa cili ties , adding event manage m ent and event studies to the curric u lum of their univer si ties en ed u ca tion, of fer ing sup port and ben e fits for or ga niz ers, changing zoning laws, and sometim es bending the rules to ac com - modate what they see as a growth industry. What is inter est ing in the perspec tive of try ing to find out what defines and makes a good festi val, or a good festi val creation atm o - sphere, is how polit i cal choices influ ence the local or regional festivalization. How do fes tivals fit into govern m ent policy, in long term urban devel op m ent and how can the eventification of soci ety be managed? How much influ ence of the sponsors , how much com - modi fi ca tion, loss of lo cal iden tity and con sum er ism is ac cept able? Will in no va tion and ex per i men ta tion be con doned, sup ported or does one stick to old tried and tested rules and concept s? Where is the inno va tion com ing from? Is a Ferris wheel the most daring or does one allow the use of deser ted under ground sta tions, fac tories and an occasional submarine as a festival or party venue. As poten tial orga niz ers line up to ask for slots to orga nize events, all wanting the best time, the best place and at the lowest cost, it is in fact at the city level (and not very open to public scrutiny) where things are de cided. A clear policy and vision concer ning eventification is es sen tial. City coun cils, may ors and maybe Chief Event of fi cials or ex ecu tives are the key play ers here. They need to un der - stand the conse quence s of their poli cie s. How do those relate with con sid er ations of se cu rity, city plan ning, seg re ga tion, di ver sity man- agem ent, protec tion of local merchant s and or ganiz ers and the inte - gration in the whole of the urban stakeholder community. Festivalization is often driven not so much by the de mand of the consum ers, but by the am bition of the poli ti cia ns, who in turn are driven by the voters , the lobby of corpo ra tions and business men

70 and, alas, often their own inter est . Using ‘creative ’ and more and more ‘cul tural’ strat e gies (of ten just out bid ding com pet i tors and gam bling with public money to stage prom otional events) cities strive to be distinc tive in or der to attract ‘mo bile’ cit izens and tourists with time and money to spend. Cultural fes tivals are popu lar as a means for branding cit ies and at - tracting people, but slowly one has mixed in the notion of a ‘cre - ative city’ with culture. Now this confus ing mix emerged, culture as cre ativ ity and in no va tion in stru ment with fes ti vals as ex pres sion. One sees them as a means to at tract cre ative in di vid u als to make things happen, hoping to transform cities , neighbor hoods and cultural quarters into thriving experience spaces. Creative cities, culture as snake oil Cre ative, per mis sive and cul tur ally ac tive cit ies have at tracted en - ergy and entre pre neur ial people all through the ages, it’s the ba sis of succes s of places like Am sterdam , Paris and London in the past. More recently cit ies like Bar celon a and Berlin at tract the pi o neers and cul tural creatives. What makes a city suc cess ful in this re spects is not to tally clear. Real es tate prices, availabil ity of slum and un - der de vel oped neigh bor hoods, tol er ance, multiculturality, many angles are mentioned but there is, as yet, not a magic formula. Cit ies com pete to at tract the new and fash ion able, there are end less lists and rankings of cities accord ing to all kind of pa ram eters , but no clear model to predict the next hotspot. The use of ‘culture’ in stead of empha siz ing more eco nomic mark ers is a trend. It’s a nice sticker, culture can be used to cover or suggest all kinds of aims. The ‘cre ative city’ now is even relabeled as ‘cul ture city’ but to what effec t? Culture has, in this view, becom e as an econom ic com modity with its own market, de mand and supply sides, not a psy cho log i cal and so cial ne ces sity. Cul ture then as high brow, elite, for the happy few; the op era, dance and ballet scene. When only the very rich can at tend such posh cultural fes tivals so many cit ies stage, with op era, dance and bal let way be yond what the nor mal peo ple could af ford, what iden ti fi ca tion, con nec tiv ity and joy for the other citi zens can one expect? With as a re sult that the real ‘cul tural’ needs, which are more psy - cho log i cal like mean ing, iden ti fi ca tion, trans for ma tion, es cape, will find new expres sions, new artis tic im pulses and new forms. New

71 car ri ers of cul ture ap pear, also in fes ti val land, like at the al ter na tive fes tivals , where one can identify, contrib ute and find what very broadly can be called ‘meaning’. The changing function of a city With the dis ap pear ance of pro duc tion from the ur ban en vi ron ment and the sep a ra tion of work, ed u ca tion and gov ern ment in ter ac tion from phys i cal pres ence, the a city is more and more be coming an off-line place to live and inter act . Manag ing things, manu fac turing and data proces sing can be done else where. Provid ing contac t op- portu ni ties is the charter of tomorrow’s city. I have explaine d the conse quence s of this in a book “de Verbonden stad /Connect ed City (2015)” with a.o. Luud Schimmelpennink (the white bike - Provo of Am sterdam ). The eventification of a city econom y is obvi ously connect ed with this need to change the econom ic models , but the question is whether this should be seen as more than an econom ic activ ity. Calling startup and comme rcial initia tives ‘creative’ in stead of ‘en - trepre neur ial’ as was done in the past, is now com mon in urban planning and poli cie s. It doesn’t however change the re ality, just the name. The val ues pro duced are still measured in mon etary terms, not as incre ased happi ness or other intan gi ble values. How much money, incom e and profit will this or that fes tival, pa rade, event, cham pion ship, museum or venue bring the city, is what is asked, not what it brings in contac t, per missive ness, love or happi ness . One tries to identify these intan gi bles , in the vari ous rankings and the branding of a city, an events or place, but only to relate that to future profits. Competition A city that offers a wide ar ray of service s and mixes in things like tax-breaks and ano nym ity can attrac t not only the artists , but their busi ness es tab lish ments, of fices, agents and stu dios. Me dia own ers (music and movie studios, game design ers , art ist) often do not pos - sess the right skills, know-how, time and budget to stage and run suc cess ful events. The con cen trated avail abil ity of re sources like mar ket ing knowl edge, fi nan cial in stru ments, cap i tal, spe cial ized op - er ators and pure ‘play event or ga niz ers’ can be an efficient way to close that capability gap.

72 As mention ed be fore, the ea ger ness of some cit ies to at tract fes ti vals makes one think of simi lar efforts to create me-too Sil icon Valleys. Some suc ceed, some fail. One hopes that such FestiValley compe - tence cen ters are bring ing cre ative peo ple to town, at tract tour ists and en hance the at trac tive ness of a city or region. Amster dam for in stance, one of the big fes ti val places, is very active and recog nize s the fes tival indus try as an econom ic motor. One see gains not only for tourism , but recog nize s the bene fits of such an indus try for ed u ca tion, city plan ning, the cre ative in dus try, at tract ing ex pats and cor po rate head quar ters, stim u lat ing gen tri fi ca tion and changing indus tria l com plexes in free ha vens and cre ative set tle- ments (Free Cultural Spaces) of all kinds. The approac h is not always totall y above board, free sex and drugs are not explici t mentioned in the prom otion. Places like Am sterdam and Ibiza use their im age as a drug-friendly envi ron m ent in this inter-urban com peti tion, the red light distric t and perm issive atm o - sphere are at trac tions too. Like in the Enbossa part of Ibiza where the police , in the inter est of the tourism indus try, looks the other way as the dis cos of fer festivalized enter tain m ent for large groups of young sters, obvi ously using stim ulat ing substances at a large scale.

73 7 Needs, motivation, incentives and values

Why do we go to festi vals ? No longer be cause the church or state makes us go. Festi vals are no longer cultural , reli gious, seasonal or his tor i cal events within lo cal com mu ni ties, re li gious groups and with a limit on at tendance , but have becom e a popu lar and accept ed means through which the people of all walks of life consum e and ex pe ri ence com mu nity, culture, art and music. But are there more incen tives , like ‘tribal’ cohe sion and identi fi ca - tion, and what about a need for transfor m ation? Why are there fes tivals any way? A ques tion that can be answe red from many perspec - tives and will come back later in this book. What needs are met and what corre spond ing values, what meaning is offere d? This again can be looked at from the perspec tive of attendees , of orga nize r/produc ers and that of the government. Beyond the needs and the goals of the orga niz ers or oper a tors (and the talent, sponsors , concessioners) and the govern m ent, which might be purely ma te ri al is tic but can be ide al is tic and philo soph i cal, there are the needs of the peo ple, at ten dees and potential attendees. What one needs or per- ceives as a need can eas ily be come a goal if the need is not met, and we tend to rank our needs as val ues, for oursel ves or projec ted onto others . Needs, goals and values and es pe cially the pri or - ity (rank ing) dif fer between in di vid u als, are de pend ent on cul ture, the mood of the mo -

74 ment, the group mind or group mood, and the situation. A widely used way to look at needs and thus what is meaning ful and im portant for people, the val ues that we have and how they decide our pri or i ties is Abra ham Maslow’s hi er ar chy, a pyr a mid that ranks hu man needs in a cer tain way. His rank ing re flects a cer tain ‘West - ern’ and in di vid u al is tic bias, the so cial is less prom i nent and otherworld connections kind of ignored. In the context of modern festi vals we can as sume that physi cal needs like for se cu rity, shel ter and food are well catered for. This is not al ways the case in tradi tional sit u ations. Other cul tures have different hier ar chie s, often the socia l means more then the indi vid ual goals, es pe cially in sit u a tions where re li gion or cul ture is im por tant. For the Indian Kumba Mela millions of people travel to the Holy River dip forgoing those physical essentials. Let me list some goals/needs (there are many more) that are rel evant in the festi val con text: • The need for entertainment and leisure, fun • The need to be free • The need to meet and mix • The need to belong, to identify • The need to participate and contribute (help) • The need to be seen (as special, different, as desirable, as good, as individual) • The need to know (the music, the texts, the bands, the VIPS) • The need to be secure (of position, body, health, status) • The need to grow, transform oneself, to feel real • The need to act, to do (manifest) • The need to hide, to be anonymous • The need to be there, out of the fear of missing out (FOMO) • The need to see (fashion, people, trends) • The need to play (and learn and realize). Fes tivals do offer more than just an alter na tive to stay ing at home and some fun, they are no doubt es capes from norm ality, but with the pos si bil ity of meet ing new peo ple and of seek ing iden ti fi ca tion, par tic i pa tion, re al iza tion and trans for ma tion. Not for all and all the time, but it’s not hard to find a fitting festival, choice enough.

75 All those needs do fit in an indi vid ual hierarchy, as not every body ranks them in the same order (a uncon sci ous proces s anyway) and to compli cate things, not even stable in time. We vac il late be tween pri - or i ties, some needs have a pe ri od ic ity, dy namic pat ters and can be more or less dom inant in a cer tain situ a tion. Just think about our need for sex or food. We are not hungry when we just ate. Opti m ally an event offers exact ly what every indi vid ual in the audi - ence needs, aligned with what the per form ers ex pect and even satifying the or ganis ers . This of course is an illu sion, but it makes sense to try getting there. A good step is to look at the vari ous levels of devel op m ent and consci ousness of the stake holders and identify where an event stands, and where the event goals are aligned or not with what the partic i pants (or talent) deem impor tant. Richard Barret’s Value Model is a helpful tool. If the music offere d only aims at con form ing, but the au di ence ex pects trans for ma tion, then things are not likely to work out. From needs to moti va tion (to attend, or not to at tend in some cases) we have to see how needs can be met and becom e goals and moti va - tions. There are a num ber of theo ries , but none goes very deep. Motivation: seeking and escaping Seppo Iso-Ahola’s ‘seek ing and es cap ing’ mo ti va tion the ory as serts that ‘per sonal es cape, per sonal seek ing, in ter per sonal es cape, and in - ter per sonal seek ing’ mo ti vate tour ism and rec re ation and thus fes ti-

76 val atten dance. Nov elty seek ing is part of this, as is social iza tion, but usu ally multi ple moti va tions are at play for attendance at a festival. A some what the o ret i cal ap proach used by ‘be hav ioral school’ so cial scien tists identi fied two pri mary goals of so cial meetings. These are proces s goals and outcom e goals. Proces s goals are about the im medi ate ex pe ri ences like com fort, in ter ac tions, emo tions, that what happens on-site. Outcom e goals are about what one takes home, the les sons, personal growth, im proved socia l skills. Transformational events obvi ous focus more on the latter goals, but usually there is a mix of the two. We are all diffe rent, but somew hat alike I think needs and moti va tions are very in divid ual and divers e, just tally ing how many of the visi tors want this or that will give a gen - eral, but not very specifi c im age. Much re search into the moti va - tions of people to partic i pate in events doesn’t honor the indi vid ual profile , the dynam ics in pref erence s and the ‘group mind’. The re - sults are aggre gate d and ignore the personal differences. The market ing people know this and work with target groups, split up their custom ers into all kinds of subgroups, differ en ti ate their approach accord ingly and of course this works for fes tivals too. The problem is that people change so much, are not the same at home or as part of a group or an au di ence and es pe cially at fes ti vals become un pre dict able and of ten ex change their in di vid ual pref er ences for those of the crowd. Maybe it makes sense to look for some more basic ways to clas sify or profile the fes ti val au di ence. There are fun da men tal sim i lar i ties in how we deal with the world, with chal lenges and oppor tu ni ties ; that can help to find handles in how to deal with the variety. Differ en ti a tion in type and need pri or ity is es sential if we want to get meaning ful re sults. The lack of ade quate profiling, for that is what iden ti fi ca tion and clas si fy ing in di vid u als and au di ences en tails, is what renders most re search into fes tivals , but also in com puter games and much psy cho log i cal re search fairly use less. Just tal ly ing (online or offline) how many people find an event ‘challeng ing’, ‘engag ing’ and such is what most studies do, but the results are often just platitudes.

77 Psy chology and person al ity type models can help to identify the values, prefer ence s and their ranking for an indi vid ual or a group. There are rel ative ma ture sys tems like the ‘Enneagram’, ‘Big Five’

or Myers-Briggs typology that can help here, and the market ing world has many more schemes and typologies. Here the issue of privacy is a seri ous concer n, but profil ing and crowd read ing is pos si ble with out sin gling out in di vid u als. Us ing those typologies and au di ence dif fer en ti a tion tools, look ing at how one be haves and makes choices can be a great tool in staging and running a festi val or event. Not only in attrac ting the right people, but tuning into how they behave and change, form groups and realte to what is offere d, in music , am biance , mood, dec ora tion, sub - stances (drugs, alcohol). Fes tivals tend to cater only for cer tain needs, for certain groups, for cer tain per son al ity types. This is where the or ga nizer makes choices, in setting, in acts, in at mospher e. To of fer all for every body is possi - ble but even then there is a need to diver sify in what is offered. Or ga ni zation like Dis ney land are masters at this and at Burn ing Man many subgroups have their own camp, most festi vals offer multi ple stages now. Di ver sity manage ment (as in ca ter ing for dif fer ent needs and val ues) is the real secret of success!

78 The dan ger of try ing to be all for all is that is that it makes things flat and medi o cre , and a rea son for people to shop for something else. The need to be free One of the most rele vant needs is freedom , certainl y in the context of fes tivals . Hum ans needs free dom, not as an empty phrase, but as a re ality, in order to learn, grow and find meaning. Freedom is thus a lot more than giving some leeway to pre vent mutual conflic t (as with rats in a cage). It is funda m ental for hum ans, relate d to our self-consci ousness and search for meaning. A fes ti val needs to of fer some free dom. These days there is a ten - dency to trade free dom for secu rity, but this is a fallacy. Free dom is not on the same axis as se cu rity, even as that model is used all the time, to take away more free dom (civic rights etc.) in promis - ing more secu rity. Freedom and se cu rity are dif fer ent di - mensions , also in our mind. Al ready Plato points (in the Phaedrus dia logue) at the tedious task of the psy che to control both the tame and the wild horse, which are also the socia l (safe) and the indi vid - ual, creative (free) side in us. His model can be applied to so ci ety; there the lead er ship (ruler, boss, judge) has to steer both horses (socia l and in di vid ual) in the di rec tion the stake holders want or need. Soci ety tends to focus on the good, white, obedi ent one of Plato’s twin horses and denies the wild, black one, that wants to go its own

79 way. The “wild” black horse of Plato is neces sar y to have progres s, to pre vent stag nation. This hap pens in so ciet ies that tried to limit in - di vi d u al ity in or der to pro mote the col lec tive like the com mu nist ones. Crim i nal be hav ior in that sense is of ten en tre pre neur ship crossing the line and philosophically thus necessary for progress. We need this kind of freedom more and more to escape the techno - logi cal and privacy crunch of internet, big data and mobile connec - tiv ity. The al ways on-al ways con nected- al ways quasi-safe se da tion and numbing of the under ly ing fears is really becom ing an anti-de - pres sant that flat tens our ex pe ri ence of re al ity. Also sci ence and the cod i fi ca tion and can on iza tion of knowl edge be comes like a blinder, limited perception and creativity. People are looking for free dom, for places and events were they can be free, pri vate, not identi fi able . The para dox is of course that they will use their smartphones and apps to mail pictures and re cordings of the event all around. They thus annul and spoil their new found free dom. Fes tivals banning smartphones and cam eras are on the rise! The freedom to fail, in anonymity We need some free dom to make mis takes and ex per i ment, it’s es - sential for learning and personal growth, but where are we not moni - tored, followe d, obser ved all the time these days. Fes ti vals are free in the sense that one can ex per i ment more or less anon y mous or at least with out re per cus sions with one’s in di vid u ality, expres sion and behavior. The larger and al ter na tive fes ti vals of fer an op por tu nity to dis ap pear in the crowd, be come in vis i ble, free to be have dif fer ent, ex per i ment and make mistake s. The same goes for com muni ties outside the ‘norm al’. Modern life makes it harder and harder to do this, we are followe d from crib to grave by moni tor ing system s, and we willingly oblige by putting all and every thing on Facebook. Mistake s, flunks, every thing is recorde d and may show up some time. No space for er rors, flaws, mis takes, and thus little chance to play and learn. Free dom is what breeds inno va tion, and as even com puter game playing is now moni tored and used to com pile profile s and big data files, festi vals and auton o m ous zones are a way out.

80 I would even go so far as to state that the whole festivalization trend is a logi cal devel op m ent, the people are looking for a sanc tuary, a place to be free. Not for fun only, but be cause it is a ba sic hum an need. If per sonal growth (learning) is not only a form al right, but a neces sity for meaning ful life, then we need places and events to do so. Schools (and business es) allow lesser and lesser freedom in this respect, the ‘sys tem’ fol lows you there ev ery step and mis takes are costly and caree r risks, so you adapt and fit the mold. A festi val is a way out, and if we limit the free dom there, people find other ways, go un der ground. Hu mans need free dom, in clud ing pri vacy, oth er- wise we be come like cat tle, and progress stops. Fes tivals offer a new bridge be tween the indi vid ual and com mon inter ests in a world where cyberspace seems to of fer in di vid u al ity and identity but incre asingly eats away at privacy and pushes towar ds an entropic mediocrity. And the practical? This book is not about all the prac ti cal and nec es sary prep a- rations for the fes ti val vis i tor, but there is much to be found on the internet. Lists of all kinds, good ad vice about what to take, warn ings about the ef fects of drugs, any search will yield useful and practi cal infor - mation.

81 8 Group Mind

In a group we will sacri fice some of our indi vid u al ity to the com - mon cause, this is the root of any so cial sys tem. We will ac cept hi er - ar chy, spe cial iza tion and even sac ri fice of some kind, as we know that dealing with the dangers and challenge s of the world out side makes this a ne ces sity. This so cial be hav ior has bi o log i cal roots, most animals live in groups. There is of course a whole sci ence, so ci ol ogy, that deals with so cial proces ses, like how we behave in groups, de cision models , etc. etc. Collec tive be havior reso nate s with the idea of a group mind. That in a group some kind of new identity emerges, that a group mind of its own takes over, has been obser ved, but in the context of a festi val or free auton o m ous zone it can becom e a major factor, worth looking into. The hunting group model Going out to a fes tival has some re sem blance with the hunt ing groups of old. Form ing a group to go out for adven ture is nearly an univer sal theme, part of the Monmouth (Joseph Campbell) and ide - alize d in many books and movies like ‘Lord of the Rings’. It has deep roots, in hunter-gathere r soci et ies of old, (mostly) men would as sem ble, pre pare (of ten with rit u als of div i na tion, in gest ing stim u - lating substa nces) and venture out for game, horses, cat tle, women, slaves and loot. This was out of ne ces sity, for food, but the hunting party also served to estab lish leader ship, status, and expan sion of the gene pool. In the old times war wasn’t so much for territorial purposes, but to obtain slaves. The great myth of the ‘No ble Sav age’ (Rous seau) is mostly an il lu - sion. Slavery and slaughter was com mon, The Viking econom y was based on thralls, slaves raided from England and Ireland, sold to Byzantine and Islam ic buyers . The North Ameri can Indi ans had a slave-based econ omy, there was cannibalism, while in South Amer- ica the Az tec, Maya and Inca cul tures were cruel and bru tal. Trad ing slaves was com mon in Africa , long before the West engaged in shipping slaves to the Ameri cas . In fact in the seven tee nth century the English shipped hundreds of thousands Irish slaves to the Americas.

82 A hunting or raiding party had to follow certain proce dures , to ensure suc cess co or di na tion and lead er ship was es sen tial, just like in the an i mal world. These pro cedur es were rit u al ized to some de gree, includ ing the feast and cele bra tion af ter coming home successfully. The hunting group model has sur vived, is more or less genet i cal ly ingraine d, and is cer tainly part of the fes tival culture. Going to a festival alone is less com mon than joining with some friends and form - ing a small group. This, however , means that such group may have a dif fer ent agenda, ex pec ta tions and dis play aberrant behavior. Group Mind, Groupthink Looking at trans form ation or learning proces ses, the notion of a group-mind has received rela tively limited atten tion. Yet in multi-person envi ron m ents, in real life or on internet, these are an im por tant fac tor in learn ing and in no va tion. We in flu ence each other, a great team or group produces better results. We all are not only our indi vid ual self or selves, but part of something larger; a fam ily, a group, a nation. We are socia l beings and have a social identity, we act altru istic as well as egois tic. This di - chotom y is very funda m ental, in our psyche but also in our physi cal ex is tence, and not al ways con scious. With out in ter ac tions with others we would not sur vive, We com muni cat e with those around in many ways, the copy ing of behav ior and feel ings of others by way of mirror neurons being discovered only fairly recently. To eluci date the im portanc e of group mind, also in re lation to collec tive be havior we need some his tory and how philos o phers and so cial sci en tists have seen this. There is much re search into in di vid ual psy cho log i cal phe nom ena, for groups there is less mate rial and usually concer ns the nega tive side. So cial psy chol o gist Gustave Le Bon identi fied the crowd and revo lu tion ary movem ents with the exces ses of the French Revo lu - tion and psy cholo gist Boris Sidis noted the re sem blance of crowd behaviour to mental disorder. These early the o ries de scribed col lec tive be hav ior as an at a vism, in which hum ans regres sed (Freud) to an earlier stage of de velop m ent, los ing evo lu tion ary ac com plish ments of civilization. Wil liam McDougall in Group Mind (1920) tackled the issue, more in the vein of un der stand ing na tion al ism and na tional ide al ism, he treated indi vid ual hum an behav ior as the re sult of a conflic t, or an

83 inte gra tion, of a few root tenden cie s. McDougall’s notion goes beyond the “partic i pa tion in group life de grades the indi vid ual,” and poses that “only by par tici pa tion in group life does man becom e fully man.” He shows how group organization: “counteracts degrading tendencies; and how the better kinds of organization render group life the great ennobling influence by aid of which alone man rises a little above the animals and may even aspire to fellowship with the angels.”. Floyd H. Allport’s criti cised Le Bon and William McDougall for their concept of “group mind,” and for their appar ent assum ption that collec tive be haviour makes people do things to which they are not predis posed. Allport posed that collec tive be haviour involves merely a group of people doing what they pre viously wanted to do but for which they lacked the oc casion and the support of like- minded. But is group behav ior not more than the sum of indi vid ual tenden - cies? These days we can look at collec tive be havior and group moods and even crowd control with new tools and instru m ents. Things like deep psy cho log i cal ma nip u la tion, fre quency fol low ing re sponse (going with the beat) and subcon sci ous ef fects, mirror neuron copy- cat be hav ior (cir cu lar re ac tion) are rec og nized now. Re search ers look into groupthink, hive mind and how birds swarm, but this is not all very prac ti cal and the combin ed ef fects of for in stance danc - ing, drugs and music have not been evaluated very much. The concept of Groupthink, mostly influ ence s by Irving Janis and center ing on the ethi cal and the influ ence of group cohe sive ness describes a psycho log i cal phenom enon that oc curs within a group of people, in which the de sire for har mony or confor m ity in the group re sults in an ir ra tio nal or dys func tional de ci sion-mak ing out come. Group mem bers try to mini m ize conflic t and reach a consen sus de cision with out crit i cal eval u a tion of al ter na tive view points, by actively sup press ing dis sent ing view points, and by iso lat ing them - selves from outside influ ence s. This is a nega tive approac h and not very rel evant for fes tivals , unles s they have the wrong goals like in some polit i cal events. It also turns out, that predic tion of groupthink results is very hard. Crowd/group ho mo ge ne ity and group in su la tion

84 (the idea of autonomous zone pops up) are generally supported as factors predictive of groupthink. Rev o lu tion ary the o rists such as Frantz Fanon see vari ous forms of crowd and rev o lu tion ary move ments as lib er at ing man’s cre ative self-as ser tion from so cial imprisonment. Erich Fromm related the appeal of crowds to the es cape they of fer from the per sonal iso la tion and pow er less ness that peo ple ex pe ri ence in the anonimity and burea u- cra cies of modern life. Some group in ter ac tion theo ries try to ex plain why a group of people feel and act unan i - mously, intens ely, and dif fer ently from the manner in which they cus tom arily act. They are in di cated as con ta - gion and conver gence theo ries . The first assum es a conta gious spread of mood and behav - ior; the sec ond conver gence of a large num ber of people with similar predispositions. The nec es sary con di tions for the de vel op ment of col lec tive be hav ior were spec i fied by Neil Smelser. • (1) the social structure must be peculiarly conducive to the collective behaviour in question; • (2) a group of people must experience strain; • (3) a distinctive type of belief must be present to interpret the situation; • (4) there must be a precipitating event; • (5) the group of people must be mobilized for action on the basis of the belief; • (6) there must be an appropriate interaction between the mobilized group and agencies of social control.

85 There are a few fa mous group exper i m ents like Zimbardo’s Stan ford Prison Exper i m ent (loss of moral ity and confor m ity in groups), there is the By stander ef fect (less peo ple, more help), the Asch Con- form ity Exper i m ent (group pres sure), the Bobo Doll Exper i - ment about learned aggres sion, there are Group Mind Exper i m ents on the internet, random num ber gener a tors are used to gauge re - sponses to global events by Dean Radin, but there is little true insight in how a Group Mind emerges and affec ts us. Wars and large socia l conflic ts, but also sports events are of course heavenly influ - enced by the Group Mind pres ent, and propa ganda seems a major tool to influ ence this, but then isn’t adver tiz ing a facet of Group Mind manipulation? In manage m ent studies team work and self manag ing by workers is often de scribed as leading to im proved quality and produc tion, like in the notion of ‘concertive con trol’ (James Barker). In co op er at ing, however , there is also the effec t of a medi o cre com mon denom ina tor or entropy effect, like in Wikipedia. At festi vals and in com muni ties there often emerges something which is larger than the indi vid ual or even the collec tive of indi vid - uals , a group identity or group mind. An or ga ni za tion/group/com mu nity/fes ti val crowd usu ally has an identity; the distinc tive, en dur ing and es sential charac ter of it. We can distin guish two parts of that identity, one subcon sci ous and one overt identity. The subcon sci ous part can be indi cat ed as the group mind, while the more vis ible group im age or identity is more or less per ceived by the participants. Social identification To under sta nd how group mind evolves, we have to look at some mecha nism s concer ning the notion of self. We have a personal and a so cial identity, and maybe more. This iden tity is what we assume to be our self in a group or socia l context. Socia l identi fi ca tion is a per ception of one ness with the group, stems from the cat e go ri za tion of in di vid u als, the group im age, the percep tion of out groups and other group form ation proces ses, and leads to congru ence in ac tions, percep tions and opinions. The indi - vidual adapts to the group. Such identi fi ca tion has an ef fect both on the group (orga ni za tion, party, mob) and the individual.

86 Socia l Identity Theory (SIT) as devel oped by H. Taifel and J. C. Turner in the 80’s (and as Group Iden ti fi ca tion by Ed ward Tolman -1943) points at the pro cess of self-iden ti fi ca tion and clas si fi ca tion, one feels to belon g to a cat egor y, like race, age, gen der, af fil i ation , activ ity, likes or dislikes. The iden tifi ca tion with a group can vary in degree (and appre ci a tion), it is a proces s and involves also giving up a prior identification or identity. One’s socia l classi fi ca tion and identity not only defines one-self, but also the others , the in-group and the out-groups and serves as a ref- erent or anchor in the socia l envi ron m ent, it defines who one is in the world. There are often multi ple so cial identi ties, one adapts to a situ a tion, is influ ence d by the group mind (the subcon sci ous group identity and the personal self-state (ego-mask) one is in. The socia l rela tion of a child with the mother is obvi ously differ ent from that with a hobby club. Identi fi ca tion is a cogni tive construc t, an idea in the mind, and not nec es sar ily re lated to be hav ior. I can feel to be a so cial ist, and never join a party or vote for them. Affec t and be havior are re sults and con se quences of identification and the desire to emu late, re in forced by mech a nisms like mir ror neu ron res o nance and em bod ied cog ni- tion, we mimic what we perceive in others. Identi fi ca tion means feeling what happens to the group, and often in creases in sit u ation s of (per ceived or ex pected) suc cess and suf fer - ing. Iden ti fi ca tion is not in ter nal iza tion, it does n’t mean em brac ing the group values and atti tudes as core ethi cal princi ples . Socia l identi fi ca tion is dif fer ent from per sonal iden ti fi ca tion, but some times com plem entary; be ing a fan of a person, hero, guru means involves joining a group, being an Apple user may help to see Jobs as a hero. Or ga ni za tional Iden ti fi ca tion is a form of So cial Iden ti fi ca tion, one can identify with a com pany or a unit in a com pany, a party, a union, a com munity, a re ligion, but in vary ing degree s and for differ - ent reasons. Identi fi ca tion in this sense follows needs, one will iden - tify more easily with whatever or whoever fulfills those needs. In a Maslow or chakra kind of hier ar chy (of needs) we can distin guish not only mate rial and practi cal needs but self-es teem, re spect, meaning, empow er ment, self-realization). ‘Whose bread one eats, etc.’. Collective memory The group mind has a group mem ory, things that are rem em bered and shared, not neces sar ily truth ful, sometimes even fab ri cated and

87 ma nip u lated, but serv ing the col lec tive iden tity and com mu ni ca tion mode. Of ten myths and rit ual serve as anchor for such an im age, and such stories are mostly favor able for the victors and those in power. Often the begin nings of a com munity or event are somewhat pol- ished stories , if not out right falsi fi ca tions of what really happened, often used as propa ganda and in market ing. This is then picked up by sincer e but gull ible histo ri ans and sci entist s, and shows up thwarted in studies and books. As an exam ple; the his tory of the New Edge movem ent and Mondo 2000, of which I was part of, has been de scribed as cybergnostic and inspi ra tional for Burning Man. I was there, and don’t recog nize what really happened in what the dissertations and studies describe. Collec tive mem ory refers to the shared pool of infor m ation held in the mem ories of mem bers of a group. Collec tive mem ory can be shared, passed on and construc ted by small and larger groups. The mech a nism of col lec tive mem ory par al lels in di vid ual mem ory like with better recal l for pic tures and sym bols than for words), but also has spe cial fea tures like cross-cueing, the en hance ment of re call during group dis cussion when1+1=3 situations emerge. Col lec tive be hav ior is com monly seen by so ci ol o gists as a nor mal ac com pa ni ment and me dium for so cial change. The effect of Group Mind on personal and social transformation The whole idea is that in a Group 1+1>2 or that there is an effec t that brings more than what the indi vid u als could cause. This can be seen as a practi cal ef fect of co op er ation , as peo ple may bring com - plem entary pieces of a puz zle. The one knows this, the other that, togethe r they know the whole. It can also be seen as an im mate rial in tan gi ble ef fect, as in Mat thew 18:20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.". This more or less magi cal dim ension of group mind is of course ignored in the ‘scien tific ’ world, but may hold the key to how and why it works. In the context of socia l change, Stephan Schwartz iden ti fied eight laws of change that help to achieve more wellness and life-af firming changes, in the group but also throughout soci ety. These laws are rele vant for group proces ses and com muni ties , he states that the results and influ ence of the group depends on:

88 • The individuals and the group must share a common intention. • Though they have a goal, the group shouldn’t have a cherished outcome. • The individuals and the group must accept that their goal may not be reached in their lifetime. • The individuals in the group must accept that they may not get either credit or acknowledgment for what they have done, and be authentically O.K. about this • Each person in the group must enjoy fundamental equality, even while respecting hierarchical roles. • The individuals must forswear violence in word, act, or thought. • The individuals must make their private selves consistent with their public postures. • The individuals in the group, and the group collectively, must always act from the “beingness” of integrity. These are im por tant guide lines for am bi tious com mu ni ties or move- ments or for staging events like festi vals , but also for virtual meet - ings via socia l media or in com puter game setting. The power of the organizers and sponsors Fes ti vals can change the agenda of the par tic i pants, manip u late their belief s and be used for propa ganda. Becaus e of the density and inten sity of the ex pe ri ence they are ef fec tive mind-chang ers and there lies a dan ger. They can take over the role of tra di tional media, the press and tele vision and even internet and push socia l, polit i cal and ethical agendas. The econ o mies of scale lead to larger and larger events and less and less play ers able to fi nance and deal with such a scale. There is al - ready a trend towar ds coop er a tion among the large play ers and mo - nopo lis tic tenden cie s, the genera l form at and even the artist line-up of the very large music fes tivals is alrea dy more or less hom oge - nized and glob al ized. The or ga niz ers and tal ent-agen cies, also serv - ing the inter est s of the larger sponsors behind this, have a pre dom i- nant influ ence on the style, the content and the message s. Even as at the sur face dif fer ence and dis tinc tive ness are em pha sized, in re al ity a few major play ers set the tone and the cul tural iden ti ties. Their

89 choices, pricing and public ity define content, atm ospher e and messages, with results not only in what people wear and buy, but how they think. Group mind dangers There are clear dan gers as so ci ated with group mind ef fects, en - hanced by isola tion and identi fi ca tion, one of them the fascis tic ten- dencie s of in-groups to create us-them dichotomies. We have to re alize that of course identi fi ca tion with a group, ideals or person is not by itsel f a pos itive thing, or at least not appre ci ate d as such by the envi ron m ent. A ‘Hells Angel’ biker may feel sup - ported and power ful in his club, the outside world is not so happy with motor clubs. Apple us ers feel part of ‘the oth ers’, dif fer ent and supe rior to those without Eve’s apple as a hypnotic rem inder and anchor. Adepts and follow ers of any movem ent run the risk of over-iden ti fi ca tion, deifying their prac tice, leader, symbol s, ra tio nal - izing their emotional attach me nt. Here the no tion ap plies, that of ten a superiority en viron m ent is used, joined or construc ted to cover up inferiority complexe s, as becom es clear in the thinking of Wilhelm Reich about fascism. Can we control group mind? Under sta nding ways and means to control collec tive be havior (either to change or sta bilize it) or in prac tical sense crowd control are of in ter est to fes ti val or ga niz ers. In fact all per for mances, speeches or events intend to control the crowd. To do so, one must start by establish ing or reading what mood of the group is, crowd reading is what is be com ing a kind a sci ence for enter tain ers and DJ’s and new technol ogy ex pands the possi bil i ties to do so. This involves profil - ing, using facia l expres sions, body language etc. but as far as the group mind is concer ned, this is less easy. And yet, the group mind is what drives the emotions, and is what makes crowds and espe - cially mobs and agi tate d folks so vola tile and unpre dict able . Prob- lems arise often without an appar ent reason, based on some inci dent or inter ac tion, but they spread like a virus, trans form ation a doc ile in an ac tive, fearful or even aggres sive crowd. To spot the pre cipi tat ing inci dent is the most im portant, but very diffi cult. To cre ate such an inci dent, from the stage or in the audi ence , is an art. Who can initi - ate a wave, a round of applaus e, booing? Once a crowd gets into a mood, it re quires force or very tacti cal signals , and under sta nding that such signals are part of nego ti at ing with the crowd, that for

90 instance police activity or just showing weapons and riot-gear can fire up the mood or cause a panic. Once fully es calated there is hardly any con trol tech nique avail able except massive suppres sion. Sometim es it just needs to run its course, inter ven tion makes it worse. This is one of the reasons why better under sta nding of group mind mecha nism s deser ves attention. The magical ignored Groups and col lec tive be hav ior can be dra matic, un pre dict able, and fright en ing. Hooligans, but also sol diers in war, po liti cal rallies, bik - ers, lynch mobs and gangs, there are many exam ples, while the pos i- tive side, like in peace ful congre ga tions is less noted. Not all revo lu - tions are bad. Mostly one sees col lec tive be havior as a patholog i cal man i fes ta tion re sult ing from so cial dis or ga ni za tion and cul tural or econom ic conflic t. The idea, that group mind can be a pos itive influ - ence, that it is the basis of our so cial conscious ness, is historically not very much appreciated. And yet, I be lieve that gather ings of likeminded people, like festi - vals, can have a pos i tive (as well as a neg ative) in flu ence of group and indi vid ual be havior. The study of how group mind emerges and can be in flu enced deserves much more sci en tific at ten tion, as it is at the root of most conflic ts in the world. I happen to be lieve that the mag i cal di men sion, to tally ig nored in sci en tific stud ies, plays a ma - jor role in how the group mind works.

91 9 The dark side, morality

Amidst the many posi tive effec ts and rem arks about festi vals , free cultural zones and inten tional com muni ties , the dangers and nega - tive aspect s need to be mentioned too. The free dom com es with the pos si bil ity of abuse, crim i nal ac tiv i ties, tax-eva sion and anti-social behavior. Enforcement Auton o m ous zones oper ate more or less outside the norm al le gal order, have their own legit i m acy but this might be at odds with what’s consid ere d accept able in the nor mal world. Even if the rules, charter and by laws of an event or place are very clear, the lack of some kind of a law and or der force and a le gal sys tem will make it hard to en - force them. Very of ten a group or subgroup will take over, create some kind of im posed secu rity or blackm ail allow ing them to do as they please. They can use all kinds of power, not only the physi cal and vio lenc e, but money, acces s and psychological pressure. The use of drugs like canna bis is an obvi ous exam ple. Offi cia lly festi val or ga niz ers may strive for drug-free events, the re al ity is dif fer - ent and problem s arise. In al ter na tive com mu ni ties and squats the sit u a tion is even more com plex, as ac cept ing the use of soft drugs is often part of the culture or even a princi ple. But these substa nces are to be grown, im - ported, sold and often a whole subcul ture de velops, like in Christiania or Ruigoord, with less desirable effects. This kind of sym biotic em brace of certain ‘dark’ ac tivi ties in ‘dis - obedi ent’ com muni ties is so com mon, that it seems a nor mal side effect of auton om y. Of course it is a matter of conven tion, why do we call the trade in weed and hash, the as sis tance of re jected ref u gees and ‘no-papiers’ ille gal and accept and conside r posi tive the also very com mon lo cal bike-in dus try, re cy cling, ar tis tic and me dia projects? Again the notion of inno va tion and socia l change has to include the accep tanc e of oper a tion on and across the borders of con- vention, pushing the envelope. Not always with positive results. Bikers and drug trade The stories how many festi vals were taken over by groups with less or no respec t for the norm al laws, like bikers and crim inal groups

92 us ing ter ror, ex tor tion, black mail and out right vi o lence are many. Places like Christi ania, with al their nearly myth ical stories about well in tended free dom and ex per i men ta tion with com mu nity mor als, have seen hor ri ble law less ness, crime scenes, even murder at times. Christiana has been dom inate d by bik ers in the 80’s and 90’s. The drug-scene and the ‘pusher street’ pres ence has al ways been a prob - lems, with peri ods where hard drugs poi soned the whole com mu - nity, and even now the trade in mari huana products is a very visible part of the culture.

Pusher street Christiania (picture Steffen Hildebrand)

The ‘pusher-street’ in Chris tiania has not only attrac ted the wrong scene and crim inal involve m ent, but devel oped into a sub-auton - omy, largely out side the juris dic tion and author ity of the non-involved Christi ania res idents , with frequent police raids and has sle. The com munity has partly becom e depend ent on the drug-money or relate d trades, pusher money went into rebuild ing and reno va tion, fes tivals and events. For many Copen ha gen citi zens and even inter - nation ally the place is a well known drug-haven of sorts. This repu - tation by itself attract many visi tors, which in turn sup port the lo cal drug-econom y and this has im pacted the polit i cal sta tus of the place,

93 even as nearly every body tries to cover up this darker side and support the myth of a happy alternative heaven. Kids growing up in Christiania were confronte d with the drug-scene, with ram pant alco hol ism , and many fell victim to this them selves. Not a nice place to live, most of the time. The under ly - ing ter ror and vio lenc e was mostly kept out of the public eye in order to keep up the myth of a happy go lucky com munity, but the lack of enforce ment of the com munity rules and laws is obvi ous. The dif ference betwe en those profit ing from the drug trade, living luxu ri ously in the nicest houses and dis playing their wealth and those try ing to live a decent life is very visi ble for any body walking around in the community. The sale and use of drugs, not only mari huana but psy chedel ics and hard drugs is quite com mon in ‘al terna tive’ com muni ties . It provides incom e for those wanting to live off the grid, but attrac t many addicts and los ers and brings about a crim inal or half-crim inal sub - culture and underground economy. Morality Fes ti vals and al ter na tive com mu ni ties of ten boast be ing ‘free’, meaning that the ‘nor mal’ moral ity and norms don’t apply. One is ar tis tic, in volved, po lit i cally aware, au ton o mous, rad i cal, an ar chis - tic, eco log i cal re spon si ble, there are many la bels. This iden ti fi ca tion with be ing differ ent from the ‘bour geois’ com mon folks has often becom e like a hallm ark, one proudly em phasiz es how much more per missive and tol er ant one is. Free sex, poly-am o rous re la tion ships, dif fer ent fam ily con stel la tions, more ac cep tance of les bian, gay, bi - sexual, and transgender (LGBT), it is often part of the im age, suggest ing a better soci ety, less constra ined by the moral ity of churches and the ‘square’ so ci ety. One of ten claims that the so cial con trol mecha nism s in the com munity or in the fes tival culture will pre vent exces ses or abuse, re ality shows other wis e. The socia l control works the other way and keeps abuse hidden; snitching is seen as treason. Of ten mis de mean ors and even fel o nies or se ri ous transgressions like theft or abuse are kept hidden from the audience, in order to keep appearances up. The downsiz e re mains hidden behind the facade . One ignores or denies, that the re lation ships inside the com munity are often thwarted, dys functional and not very child-friendly, that there is hier ar chy, that there are have’s and have-not’s, that some are more equal than

94 others , that there is abuse of many kinds. All this is mostly covere d, hidden from sight, ignored or denied, but known by the leaders or insid ers and com ing out only in crisis or by whistle blowers. The real econom y, the real power in such com muni ties is often in the hands of power brokers that keep out of sight and of ten for good rea sons. Quite a few commu ni ties have rather dark pasts, they were an es cape vehi cle for the founders and thus attrac t like-minded folks. My personal expe ri ence after be ing involved with many com - muni ties and events is that rarely things are totally OK. I would say that only a very few and then often monas tic and truly inten tional com muni ties seem to be above sus picion. The ‘holy’ often turn out to be very ‘hu man’, the gurus falls for money, sex and power, the leaders are more ‘equal’ than the others , but this is not news, power corrupts! Different kind of capital The money issue is what often corrupts an orga ni za tion. The owner - ship, the ac countabil ity, the fi nal de cision power is norm ally in the hnads of those who control the money, but in the alter na tive world this is not al ways the case. There is spiri tual power, which might be abused concer ning money, but more often there is psy cholog i cal , sex ual, so cial abuse. The hi er ar chy is a spir i tual commu nity , even if equal ity is what is preached, can be sti fling, with mas ters and slaves, with real vic tims who believe they sac ri fice themselves for the greater good. But there are many other pow ers, that play a role and where the power-base can be seen as a kind of capi tal and could be misused. . There is the ar tis tic and cul tural cap i tal, the power of the headliners and the backsta ge folks and the possi bil ity of abuse there. The power of transfor m ation is less well known. Initi a tions, seen as steps up in the spiri tual hi erar chy, can be used to manip u late too. The story of Osho (Baghwan) who sometim es indi cat e, as a joke, some of his devo tee s to be ‘enlight ened’ and then re tract this a few days later, is well known. The pos sibil ity to set an agenda, for the group or reaching out in the world, is polit i cal power. As festi vals more and more are focal points for change, and history tells us how power ful this can be, they can turn into po liti cal instruments. Owe Ronström in 2011 posed:

95 “Festivals can produce desirable visibility and attention capital at the same time as they can contribute to rapidly devaluing and even consuming the capital for those who have partaken of it. Festivals are instruments for control of musical and cultural resources, as well of the aesthetics, ethics, values, symbols, representations, etc. of the presented musics. Festival organizers thereby become controllers of political and ideological power.” Such an in flu ence can be pos i tive, pro mot ing ecol ogy, tol er ance, diver sity, but there is the dan ger that the econ o mies of scale lead to a more me di o cre ap proach, serv ing the hid den in ter ests, the pro mot ers and sponsors behind the scenes and their agenda. The owners of the fes tivals may have more power than what we think, they may use this power in pos itive or nega tive di rec tions. As media owner ship and es pe cially cross media owner ship has been a polit i cal issue in the old days, today’s inte gra tion and com bina tion of influ ence in the festivalscape would deserve some kind of regulation. The light comes with the dark It seems un avoid able, with the pos si bil ity of trans for ma tion, change and growth there nearly al ways seems to come a fas ci na tion with the dark side too. In every orga ni za tion, in every com munity, at every fes ti val there are al ways the hid den cor ners, the se cret self-serv ing manip u la tion, the siphoned off funds, the abuse of power. Maybe there is conso la tion in the theodice that we need the shadow to see the light.

a fire, for kids a touch of the magical

96 10 Contact and interaction: the basics

Fes tivals are now a mainstre am way to spend time, but what do peo - ple ex pect to find, what needs or drives are taken care of? En ter tain - ment, leisure , fun, identi fi ca tion, I listed some needs in the previ ous chapter, but how about meet ing the other? Feeling togethe r, safe in ano nym ity, aligning with the group mind and the ‘vibes’ is great, but what about making meaningful contacts? Con tact is es sential for hu man be ings. as is illus trated in a maca bre way when in the thirtee nth century Freder ick II had a group of infants raised who were cut off from hum an inter ac tion, other than the most ba sic care and food. He wanted to see what language would spon ta ne ously arise in the ab sence of any com mu ni ca tion prompts. However , the result of this noto ri ous exper i m ent was that the infants all died before the age of 7, being deprived of any human discourse or affection. We are socia l beings, a bio log i cal need not only to procre ate, for survival we needed to pool resourc es and develop specia lize d skills. But to do so and feel com fortable with others , we need to com muni - cate and in the old days this neces si tates phys i cal meeting , and some travel. We need con tact, we seek con tact and this is where par ties, meet ings and fes ti vals of fer con tact-op por tu ni ties. This is a crucial drive, a social instinct. The need for contac t led to com muni ca tion media like the tele phone, and ore recent ly to the rise of socia l media, like Facebook, Skype, Twitter, but sur prisingly this has not resulted in less travel. Obvi - ously we like and need phys i cal con tact and as cyberspace has wid - ened our scope, we can eas ily and cheaply commu ni cate with peo ple in other countrie s or even conti nents , we seem to travel even more to ac tu ally meet this wider cir cle of friends. The ex pected global eco log i cal and fi nan cial sav ings in travel cost have not materialized.

We like to meet other people, maybe reso nate with them, bond with them, es tab lish last ing re la tion ships be yond the tweets and Instagrams. Contac t oppor tu ni ties are thus one of the pa ram eters for a fes ti val, a way to iden tify the type and at trac tion of an event for

97 98 Event size A small event makes it eas ier to meet and make con tact, es pe - cially if it last lon ger, Large fes ti vals and mass-events are en - ter tain ing, en joy able and offer the best art - ists and per for- mances, sometimes the group mind reaches high peaks, but there seems to be an in verse re la tion - ship be tween size and the pos sibil i ties making contac t. This is of course the chal lenge for the orga niz ers , how can one stim ulate and cre ate con tact-mo ments, even in large events. Events like Burning Man or Boom obvi ously succee ded here, while equally large events and mega-music fes tivals are nothing more than a big crowd of uncon nect ed people. Most are sticking to their partner or friends they know and not reaching out. Be ing exposed to the mu sic, the fa cil i ties and the at mo sphere the fes ti val at ten dees do in - ter act a lit tle,, look at each other, make oc casion al eye con tact. But is further con tact left to indi vid ual ini tiative, or is the whole set-up in some way geared to con nect people, to create deeper links? What role does this play in the fes tival? Are ‘staged’ contac t oppor - tuni ties one of the succes s factors or do we leave this to the empathogens (drugs, alco hol) and the bonding force of music , dance and ex cite ment? What made Woodstock such a mem ora ble and even his toric event? It was ob vi ously a ‘tem po rary au ton o mous zone’ were the rules of norm ality could be broken, a polit i cal statem ent emerged (‘we count’) and the hip pies re al ized a new level of iden - tity. It was the start of the modern festi val trend, but it was also somethin g spe cial in that there was this great sense of connected - ness, of expe ri enc ing the ups and down, the bad weather and the great perfor m ances and happen ings all over the lot. Maybe the adversity of the situ ation is what made it easier to make contact with others and share?

99 Un doubt edly new friendships were forged there, while walking around na ked or sliding in the mud, sharing a dry spot or some acid, but how much contac t op por tu nity does a fes tival offer when the conditions are more ‘regular’. Decision making, a group exercise and It seems related to the size and the par tic i pa- contact moment tion level, but also to the way it is made part of the festi val curric u lum . Are contac t mom ents part of the deal, or is it all left to indi vid ual initiative? Are there workshops, sharings, cir cles, or smaller events where more in ti mate con tacts emerge, does the event start with a wel come proce dure (welcom ing home), a parade , a meet ing court, a Tantric dance event, are there nametags or wrist bands with addi tional info, are mod ern so cial media used to forge con tacts, are there special teams on the dance floor to an ima te? The pos sibil ities to actively pro mote contacts are endless. In the posi tion ing of an event this is an im portant choice; do we actively stimu late indi vid ual con tacts or are we happy with what will emerge nat u rally. This choice ef fects the whole or ga ni zation , the phys ical layout, the routing, the choice of concessions, ca ter ing, it’s a fun da mental one. The matrix of a fes ti val, the com plex of acts, fa - cil i ties, ser vices and messages needs to be geared to wards this. Events like Burning Man, where shar ing and contac t are basic s, offer more contac t oppor tu ni ties than massive music festivals with more or less isolated attendees. One could say that the norma l situ ation at larger festi vals in tentional and in many ways ef fec tively has been inverte d by fo cusing on contact op por tu ni ties, rit u als and par tic i pa tion. Work ing on some thing togethe r, even very mundane tasks like cleaning, bring com munity, con tact, so cial con trol and a sense of mean ing. It’s a game where the consum ers becom e produc ers too, using all kind of sym bols to identify them selves or to indi cat e who they are or what they want. Of ten

100 the reg u lar festivallers wear the wrist bands of ear lier events, to show they are part of the scene. Clothing, hair, food, dance styles, what kind of tent one has, choice of drugs, music prefer - ences, what camp one belongs too, all this not only as partic i - pants in the ‘meat Sharing at a festival (M.Bakker) market’ and dating game, but to meet new in-group people and enhance the tribal feeling of ‘belonging’. Contact needs vary Meeting the other is a prior ity for some, others are happy to be alone, with some friends or a partner. There are people that move towards others , ignore them or more away from others , that is a basic psy cho log i cal char ac ter is tic. In a fes ti val set ting, how ever, such an atti tude can shift, and one can shed maybe the nor mal ‘mask’ and exper i m ent with low ering the de fenses and thus the contac t-thresh old. It’s part of the socia l nature of hum ans, in a group things get eas ier and in ritualized set ting like at a fes tival one go ing with the flow is the natu ral thing to do. If the group mind turns towar d making eye con tact, greeting each other, touch, hug or have sex, it’s easy to follow. This doesn’t always happen, and the whole set ting of an event is condu cive to this, or not. When joining a festi val starts with a welcome proce dure that involves hugging, con tact and hooking up with some others , that colors the whole event. Not always so sincer e, there are alter na tive events where every body hugs and touches, but hate each other’s guts, gossip and scheme. You can have fun at tending an event with just a partner or some close friends, but it’s nice to make new contac ts, meet old friends and people you rec ognize from other events. Meeting others , for inti m ate contac t or just to net work and share is what many people like. A party or event that allowe d you to meet

101 new people, en gage with them in some way and in that way offere d you an expan sion of your world, was a succes s. It is always nice, com ing home from a party, to have met some new people, made a signif i cant contac t, but this does n’t always happen. Part of the secre t of a good event is that one can let go of one’s (norm al person al ity) mask, or exper i m ent with different ‘personalities’. This has to do with how the safety of the group is ensure d, the free - dom of ano nym ity, but also with the sense of am bigu ity or disori en - tation, of be ing without sta tus that com es with stepping in another zone, the liminality Vic tor Turner talks about. Here again the issue of trans form ation pops up, not every body wants this. Just consum - ing the ‘communitas’ is enough for many, and this is what the more com mer cial events usu ally of fer. The trans for ma tion hap pens in a differ ent setting and needs a differ ent festi val for mula, but of course individual experiences vary enormously. The circle Con tact works best when we are on equal terms. Peer level meeting s and deci sion pro cesses need a form and the cir cle has been the tra di - tional way to achieve at least some equal ity. Cir cles form more or less auto mati cally, the fire in the middle makes it the log ical way to gather. Cir cles, in all sizes and for all pur poses, form natu rall y dur - ing large events, and are a great start for peer deci sion making and conflict resolution. Sharing The meet ing and con tact as pect of a fes ti val can be a major goal and can have much em phasis in the whole set ting and program ming. Cre ating cir cles to dis cuss things and share expe ri ence s, using dating event and speed dating, random ized links, meet ing ritu als , workshops, and socia l media hook ups can be part of such a form ula. The persona or ‘ges talt’ of an event of course will at tract people that res o nate with the for mula. <$I[]con tact op por tu ni ties>Con tact op - portu ni ties can have many forms, but for inti m ate exchange s smaller groups are more ef fec tive, es pe cially if clear rules ex ist about how the conver sa tion goes, how and when one can interrupt, how time is shared. Sharing, dis cuss ing one’s expe ri ence s and feel ings in small groups of up to 8 peo ple can be very ef fec tive to form alli ances, meet new friends and feel part of the events. Such sharings, when held for a

102 few days with the same group, are of ten cited as a main at traction and reason to attend. Spatiality, routing, mini mood climates The Spanish ‘Ramblas’, bou levards used for strolling, making contact and ob serv ing are a great ex ample of con tact-ori ented spatiality. On the fes tivals grounds rout ing is also im portant. These days festi - vals usu ally have more than one stage. Large fes ti vals may have many, from a massive main stage down to small tents or camp fires where a few people enjoy pro grammed or sponta ne ous acts, workshops etc.. The spatial set-up then be comes im portant, also when the event goes on for days. Are there quiet spaces, chill-out fa cil i ties, lounges, first-aid and medi cal , lost & found, the drugs-care, how are the cater ing units placed, where can there be open fires? Where are the sleeping quarters , are there camps for kids or fam ilies , for people that want a quiet night time, where are the shower and toilet facil i - ties lo cated, how far to the park ing lots, etc. etc.? The ter rain of course has lim ita tions and constra ints, but the spatial arrange ment of the festi val activ i ties , and this concer ns not only the acts, can be a im portant factor in the atm ospher e and the success of an event. Predict ing and guiding the movem ent patterns of the crowd, syn - chro niz ing per for mances and acts, here ex pe ri ence mat ters. Peo ple do move, part of what one does at a large festi vals is walking around, sam pling the atm ospher e here and there, alter nat ing between lis tening to an act, joining a group, workshop or circle , and just am bulate the grounds, maybe shopping, eating some, at a lei- surely pace go ing around. The mood at dif ferent places and at differ ent times dur ing a fes ti vals can change and of ten one cre ates spe - cific local mood- clima tes with an emo tional iden tity by spe cific en- tourage , props and set ting. Such mini-clim ates are im portant and don’t have to be per manent, the guitar player at the breakfas t is there just for that, the camp fire ritual circle starts late, in the afternoon a large tent is reserved for siesta. The enorm ous Glastonbury festi val site has dis tinct socio-geographic re gions, ca ter ing for com mer cial and non-com mer cial ac tiv - ities , quiet areas and camping for specifi c groups.

103 Multi-culturality, pluralization Cultures of old were often fairly closed, but these days global iza - tion, mobil ity and influx of foreign newcom ers has led to plural iza - tion of culture and fes tivals are part of this trend. There are more or less cul turally closed events, but most public festi vals are becom ing multi cultural. Maybe the at tendees are still from a specific group or layer in soci ety, but the music , food and culture of fered is often very global. Cul tural dif fer ences are seen as part of the ex pe ri ence, but can also help to repre sent minor i ties or cultures maybe other wis e seen as threaten ing to the local s. Festi vals offer a great opportunity to link the local and the global. Having just the usual local bands, DJ’s, food stalls and drinks is not very ex citing, not much of an ‘event’, but to offer exotic cooking, differ ent kinds of music and a cultural and global mix of films, perform ances and mood-cli mates makes for a more sensu ous and sensa tional experience. As the diver sity in ethnic and cultural back ground incre ases and the ‘diver sity-is sue’ and the xeno pho bic fears for the ‘others ’ grows, multi cultural festi vals or even ethnic festi vals open to all are a great way to get ac quainted with each other. They can be a great mix ing bowl, of culture per se, but also of people. Usu ally there are spe cific groups tar geted as at ten dees of a fes ti val, and this lim its di versity. But this focus can be broken and many festi vals add multi cul tural ac cents. Al low ing a cos mo pol i tan touch with dif fer ent mu sic, dif fer ent per for mances and cul tures par tic i pating makes fes tivals not only more inter est ing, it helps com muni ca - tion betwe en groups, minoritie s and the general public. Festi vals are a great way to achieve what in daily life is diffi cult, bridging cultures , cre ate cohe sion, dispers e the ‘party line’. They can be an anti dote to polar iza tion and margina liza tion, help manag - ing diver sity. By offer ing minor i ties a chance to show off, they can in crease self-con fi dence and thus peace ful co-ex is tence. To be proud of one self, of the com munity or of the culture is easy when the con tact be tween dif fer ent cul tures, also ex pressed in mu sic styles, food and clothing, is more fluent and congenial in a festival atmosphere.

104 Diversity philosophically Fes ti vals are en ter tain ing, but also places of con tact, of ex pe ri enc ing group mind. In the twen ti eth cen tury phi los o phers and an thro pol o - gists have looked into the hum an need to have contac t. From Durkheim’s ‘ef fer ves cence’ to Vic tor Turner’s ‘liminality’ and ‘communitas’ and Peter Sloterdijk’s ‘bubbles ’, the socia l inter ac - tion, the po lar ity be tween in di vid u al ity and com mu nity has been a topic in a world ex per i ment ing with var i ous com pro mises, rang ing from out right in di vid u al is tic cap i tal ism to com mu nism, alas with lit - tle respect for the earth we live on. Earlier things like reli gious fes ti - vals, World Fairs, theme parks and mega-attrac tions like the Olympics did and do attrac t large crowds, but miss the sense of freedom of adven ture. Being outside the confines of the nor mal city and phys ical order is thus one aspect , being outside the confines of ‘society’ is another defining factor in the festival trend. With the rise of internet and the es sen tial entropic cyberspace it felt that the in di vid ual would be the great win ner, but it is clear that the new monop o lies , big data, AI and robot ics will eat away at privacy, in di vid u al ity and flat ten our in tel lec tual world. Wikipedia is the great equalize r of truth. Diver sity, the anti-entropic or even syntropic driver of life and change, is under attac k. Manag ing diver - sity, the quint es sen tial task of gov ern ment, bal anc ing the in di vid ual and the com munal, is a hot topic, but even people like Thomas Piketty (Cap ital in the 21th Cen tury) have done lit tle more than point at the extrem es and the dangers of oscil la tions (revo lu tions) . At the grass roots level, however , the rise of the festi val model seems to be a sus tainable and human way to deal with and enjoy our differences. Diversity practically; the Nescafe Model Diver sity is not only nega tive, differ ence s are the life blood of change, of prog ress, the es sence of life. No market place of ideas or goods can exist without it. Diver sity is thus not something to be afraid of, but something to be used. To under sta nd this, I have drawn a genera l diver sity-ef fect curve. This shows that diver sity does have pos itive effec ts, and only when there is no dif ference (stagna tion) or when the diver sity is too much, the ef fect is neg ative. This curve is fairly uni ver sal, ap plies to many situ a tions, also in biol ogy, and helps to under sta nd how manag ing di ver sity, aim ing at the op ti mum in pos i tive re sults, is pos si ble and

105 desir able . Not only in govern m ent, but in all kinds of situ a tions, like on festi vals. The right kind of di versity will bring life to the situ a- tion, stimu lates, but too much will lead to chaos, a crisis. This, in some situ a tions, can lead to a transfor m ation, but is not what we normally consider acceptable. Bringing people togethe r means mixing, with confron ta tions of different skin color, dress, atti tude, wealth, cul tural background. This is what we of ten try to escape in daily life, living with ‘our kind of peo ple’ in spe cific neigh bor hoods, vis it ing spe cific res tau rants, the- aters and schools. The problem is that this also ignores the positive effects. The art of manag ing diver sity, for it’s not easy to find the right mix, can bene fit from looking at what I call the Nescafe Model of mixing. When pouring wa ter in cup of Nescafe (or soup or sauce) pow - der, it’s better to just add a lit tle bit of hot wa ter, stir first and only them add the rest of the water. This prevents clogging and lumps, any body who cooks knows this. It is a meta phor, an im age that shows that dealing with diver sity requires a certain tempo and

106 stages, Starting with intro duc ing a small amount of dif ferent people (water) and mixing that first, and only later expose that to more people (the rest of the water). The Nescafe Model can be ap plied to many situ a tions, like how to deal with kid of dif ferent ca pa bil i ties in school, in in tro duc ing mi- nor i ties in so ci ety (in clud ing very rich peo ple) and sug gest that a little dilu tion first might work better than just throw ing the lot together. In fes ti val sit u a tions, the same ap plies. Al low ing a lim ited amount of di versity will work better than brute dilu tion. Fes tivals are great places for mixing and exchange , the opti m um there allows far more diver sity than in norm al soci ety, but there is the same danger for overkill and chaos.

From a so cio log i cal perspec tive, fes ti vals are great meeting places, of fer a path to more in te gra tion and deal ing with di ver sity. The meet ing of others is not only an indi vid ual need, so - ci ety needs places where con tact is pos si ble, where cultures are mixed and po - tential conflicts are miti - gated by the spirit of the fes tival and the relaxed group-mind. Segregation, the rich and the poor To ca ter for all and every body is im possi ble, festi vals need a focus, a target-gr oup or groups approac h, in that respec t it is business as usual, not very dif ferent from what is valid for malls, amusem ent parks, hotels muse um s or sports events. So there are festi vals that target young adults, others look for the creative middle class, and cer tainly in com mer cial sit u a tion one aims at at tract ing dis pos able incom e, if neces sar y by cre ating subgroups among the audi ence . The VIP-rooms and VIP-tickets with specia l privi lege s for those who can spend more are a com mon phenom enon, are nearly a necessity to have a healthy bottom line.

107 Venlo Parkfeest 2015: picture Peter H. Rosen

Even where the offi cia l policy is equality, every body is nom inally the same like at Burning Man, but there are back doors. Very rich people smuggle in paid workers to ca ter for them, these ‘servants ’ come in as norm al partic i pants , but work for those who are ‘more equal’ than others . The great openness and free for all mottos sound great, but what if a fes tivals is too expen sive , so the poor and the ‘them’ stay outside . In events like Burning Man that require expen - sive resourc es like mobile homes that have to be rented, the audi - ence tends to becom e middle- or high incom e people with similar values and interests.

108 11 Autonomous zones: freedom to change the paradigm

In the world of al ter na tive com mu ni ties, fes ti vals and coun ter cul ture movem ents, the concept of the ‘autonomous zone’, either tem porary (TAZ) or per manent (PAZ) has gained popu lar ity and deser ves ac- knowledg m ent as an inspir ing meta phor and maybe even a major socia l indi ca tor. The notion re fers to zones or places at the border of soci ety, non-conform ist, free, color ful, cultural in their own right, in a sense icons of what free dom and auton om y could entail . It re sem - bles the term ‘magic circle ’ as used by peo ple like Johan Huizinga in the context of games, but TAZ origi nally had a more anar chis tic flavor. Games and play have much in com mon with festivals and will be dealt with in later chapters. Beyond the postwar anar chis ts like the beat poets , hippy com muni - ties from the six ties and the reli gious en claves of all times, the idea of a more or less isolate d and auton o m ous ‘bubble’ of activ ity, think ing and ex per i ment ing in new di rec tions, emerged. Be yond a so cial ‘col lec tiv ist’ con cept it in volved an in di vid ual pro cess. It made sense for these ba sical ly anti-author i tar ian folks who cherish what Isa iah Berlin has called ‘neg ative free dom’, a some what libertarian escape from rules and structure. It was the post-anar chis t and Sufi thinker Peter Lamborn Wilson (Hakim Bey) who came up with the term ‘Tem porary Auton o m ous Zone’ (the book with that ti tle is from 1991). The book descr ibes, in the con text of ‘On to log i cal An ar chism’, the socio-po lit i cal tac tic of cre ating tem porary spaces that elude for mal structures of control, for structural sys tems in his view stifle creativity. On to log i cal An ar chy implies that no “state” can “ex ist” in chaos, that all on to log i cal claims are spu ri ous ex cept the claim of chaos (which however is unde ter m ined) and there fore that gover nance of any sort is im possi ble. “Chaos never died.” His fo cus was to cre ate a non-hi er ar chi cal sys tem of so cial re la tion - ships by con centrat ing on the present and on relea sing the control - ling mecha nism s, for new infor m ation emerges at the boundary

109 lines. He was looking for em power m ent mecha nism s In the formation of a TAZ. Hakim Bey later ex panded the con cept beyond the ‘tem porary’ to also cover ‘per ma nent’ au ton o mous zones (PAZ). Autonomy is a broad socio-polit i cal no - tion and covers a spectrum from self-man aged or self-ruled via femi nism Hakim Bey (P.L. Wilson) to the more po lit i cal self-val o ri za tion or ‘going beyond the contrac t’ and squatting, ‘disobe di ent spaces’ and even a re fusal to ne go ti ate with au thor i ties. Al though usu ally seen as a leftish or even anar chis tic concept , auton om y does not pre clude very hi er ar chic and con ser va tive mod els. It is less iso lat ing than striving for autarky, being self-suffi cie nt, inde pend ent from the outside, ‘off the grid’ (energy, wa ter, food, com muni ca tion). Auton om y and inte gra tion are somewhat at odds, note the idea of com monsing or opening spaces for public com mon use like in squatting or creating open door projects and freehavens. The term TAZ is fairly re cent, but the con cept of a spe cial place, outside the for mal structures of control (or with its own) is age-old. Think of com munes, mon as ter ies, pil grim ages and in deed, fes ti vals. Even mod ern phi los o phers like Pe ter Sloterdijk, influ ence d by the Osho thinking, talk about ‘bubbles ’, which are spheres of influ ence with de marca tions. An auton o m ous zone is a more collec tive bubble than Sloterdijk’s personal spheres, but as modern technol ogy makes it harder and harder to isolate onesel f, the im portanc e of under sta nd - ing and protecting privacy sphere, grows. Change agents, political stamcells Life is change. Soci ety needs change, not so much growth but some kind of movem ent towar ds a tele o log i cal goal. This is proba bly not the tech no log i cal sin gu lar ity of yield ing all pur pose and mean ing to machine s and robots, but more likely a de velop m ent towar ds consciousness . As I have argued elsewher e, cyberspace is growing towards en tropy, flat ten ing and lev el ing ev ery thing to wards a com mu - nal medi oc rity. I may seem to favor change, but exchange is entropic, anti-life, dulling towar ds the equilib rium of death. Change is the result of po larity and di versity. It is fired by a third factor, the anti-entropic univer sal force G. Gurdjieff and J. Bennett discer ned in all phenom ena and is hidden behind notions of karma, univer sal

110 consci ousness , chi, and love: the stuff philosophers and cosmologist battle about. So where do we find change, what spawns inno va tion, who and what are change agents? Here the role of isolate d and auton o m ous agents (people, movem ents, places, events) is unde ni able . Science and profit are supposed to be major factors in inno va tion, but time and time again the real breakthroughs emerge in a dif ferent way. The change agent is of ten like the cells in a pupa of the cat er pil lar that ‘decide ’ to becom e the butter fly. Epigenetic re searcher Bruce Lipton talks about the butter fly gen and assum es that the phenom e- non also exist in some hum ans, (or in some com bina tions of us) and that this is a change agent. Finding and support ing such change agents is what brings progres s, but also advers e ef fects as not every - thing new or dif fer ent is ben efi cial. As the world faces in creas ing chal lenges, pre cisely becaus e not all progres s turns out so pos itive and ecolog i cal sounds, we are in dire need of inno va tion (or redis - covery of old and univer sal truths) to save the day. More and more the notion is supported that the ‘out of the box’ solu tions require ‘out-of-the-box’ condi tions. This is not lim ited to the pos itive, as neces sity is the fa ther of invention. Autonomous zones of any kind are a great cultivator and incubator. Change in soci ety and inno va tion thus often spawns from a more or less isolate d people, movem ents or projec ts, where the rul ing para - digm has less valid ity and exper i m ents with values, deci sion models and re la tional pat terns. Tech nol ogy, ecol ogy and econ omy also yield new insights. As these insights are not always feasi ble, many such projec ts dis appear . Yet once in a while the spark ignites a wider fire and things change. The succes sful re ligions are good ex - am ples, often the result of what a small and inspired group can achieve. Identity, persona One of the de fining fac tors of a TAZ or PAZ is the identity and the mir ror phe nom e non, the identificat ion. Be ing a ‘Burner’ at Burning Man, a ‘Boom er’ at Boom, mem ber of the ‘Amsterdams Ballon - gezelschap’ for a Ruigoorder has meaning, gives identity, a feeling of be long ing and in sti gates so cial be hav ior, shar ing and participation. We all adapt to our envi ron m ent, we have a socia l identity (shown self) somewhat differ ent from the pri vate identity or as sumed self

111 (ego) but we give up more of our sepa rate ness and auton om y in situ - ation with a strong signa ture, we join the group mind to some degree, we start to iden tify with the group spirit. Fes tivals, sport events and com muni ties , but also broadcas t and media events are situ a tions where the group mind (group mood) can becom e stronger and take over in di vid ual judg ment, par tic i pants can feel syn chro nized and even act in unity. This reso nance is not acci den tal, it’s partly the goal and attrac tion of such events and media practice s, propaganda and marketing use this on purpose.

Peter Lamborn Wilson In an inter view with him (still on YouTube) in Am sterdam in the late nine ties I ques tioned his ideas in a crit i cal way. He sees his work, many books and perfor m ances as ‘am bula tory schizophre - nia’ meaning there is no consis tent theme, no aim at syn thesis , things de velop as they go. “Bridging schools like Sapphism and Anar chis m is not my goal, they are just things I am in terested in. I de cided to be schizophrenic inste ad of label ing my work or me as one or the other, and then the things came together anyway.” One of the main themes of Pe ter Lamborn Wilsons work is the TAZ: Tem porary Au- tono m ous Zone, the notion that ‘A place in time can be somethin g else than just a place in time.’ He does how ever not ac knowl- edges cyberspace as a TAZ, but sees the po - tential of internet to help TAZ’s emerge and happen.’ Pe ter: ‘TAZ is a phys i cal place in time. Cyberspace is not a phys i - cal place (…) usu ally only the eyes are there. There is interactivity but no com munity, the isola tion of just a single or a few senses is po ten tially sick en ing, es pe cially on the social level’ ‘It (TAZ) is still a rele vant idea. I did not in vent TAZ, I am not the father of the TAZ. I just no ticed it. (…) It is something that hap - pens. The thing that happens is that no matter how much oppres - sion there is from the State or how much monocul ture there is

112 Cyberspace as autonomous zone Internet and dig i tal al ways-on com mu ni ca tion has be come an au ton- om ous zone of sorts, without much le gal structure, ethics or restri c- tions of use, but growing on us. Cyberspace has opened new ways of identi fi ca tion, new ways of construc ting masks and identi ties , allowing new ava tars and identi ties to play with or to hide behind. It from corpo rate global capi tal, no matter how much bore dom, no matter how much slavery, somehow magi cal com munity happens. I don’t know how else to call it.’ Peter: ‘It’s not an ordi nary com munity, it’s a com munity where the extra thing happens, where a new state is entere d. In study ing this I tried to come up with a socia l idea about it, see something in com mon in all those dif ferent commu ni ties and also real iz ing this was a tem - porary thing. It depends on a specia l spirit, it depends on a very high state that every one gets in togethe r. The problem is that such a state is hard to sustain in hum an life, we don’t have that many moments of exaltation." The inter est ing thing here is that he refers to the magi cal , not to some thing ra tio nal or log i cal, some thing psy chol o gist could ex plain. When two peo ple meet, there is al ways a third force there, he re fers to the French philos o pher Michel Serres who notes that Her mes appears as a third, magi cal person in any con versa tion, he is the third, he is the secre t, he is the guest, this mys teri ous force. This is the un- invited guest that brings the magic to a TAZ. He hints at all the com ponents that make up such a TAZ expe ri ence and situ a tion, isola tion being part of it. ‘Isola tion helps. You can plan for sponta ne ity to emerge when you have some isola tion‘ (…) The problem is that the com bina tion of corpo rate power and the Nation State makes the idea of polit i cal isola tion ques tionable . Someone is going to blow you out of the wa ter sooner or later.’(…) ‘If you are auton o m ous long enough you get notice d and trouble starts. (…) You cannot be isolated by your own fiat.’ The now more popu lar idea of a Perm anent Auton o m ous Zone is not what he sees as an essen tial transformative im pulse. ‘The big or vio - lent TAZ’s (…) tend to last 18 months to 2 years. This seems to be an organic time limit.’e schizophrenic inste ad of la beling my work or me as one or the other, and then the things came togethe r anyway.

113 seems to offer flexi bil ity in how we show our selves to the world, but this is a two way pro cess. The system , the por tals, provid ers and so cial media ser vices also cre ate an iden tity for you, often beyond one’s control. One wants to be specia l, but our Facebook pages are very much alike, our tweets and chats becom e flat and unin ter est ing. Finding or cre at ing a new, safe and ‘orig i nal’ iden tity seems easy in Cyberspace, but is in creas ingly hard This is where real-life events, phys ical contac ts and auton o m ous zones can bring some re lief, an escape from the oppres sing entropy of internet exchange. Our identity is up for grabs in cyberspace, used as a market - ing tool and sold to the highest bidder. Joel Farb makes this clear with his ‘Per sona Shown Gra tis’, a play on the words Persona Non Grata. Privacy, for many, is a thing of the past, even if this has severe neg a tive con se quences for our well-being and for progres s, as I have ar gued else where. We need the com munal and supportive structure, but also the Music is a great way to express cre ative, the in di vid ual ex pres- freedom sion and appreciation. The two are com plem entary, the socia l is not oppos ing the indi vid - ual. Both are nec es sary and the dan ger is that cyberspace con spic u - ously ignores the need for indi vid u al ity and iden tity. We are offere d a hollow freedom to expres s, com muni cat e and share, but within the confines of correc tness and medi o cre peer review like on Wikipedia.

The age-old di lemma of a balance betwe en the two, confirm ing cor- rectness and wild cre ativity, also in the context of ethics and karma is brilliantly depicted in the image of the two horses in Plato’s Phae - drus. The dark, free, cre ative horse is next to the white, tamed, obe - dient one, but both are essen tial to get towar ds the common goal.

114 Freedom, the ultimate task of the state, not of your provider The small pock ets of in de pend ent, au ton o mous think ing and act ing are the anti dote against the seri ous at tacks on our freedom and liber - ties, the ‘brave new world’ that is not far away. Big Brother co mes as many little brothers or disguise d as a helpful ‘connect ed’ Big Sis- ter care giver or medic, all justi fied in a limited perspec tive, but to - gether elim i nat ing our free dom. The default power of the new super - powers like Facebook or Google to change the rules, form ats, rights and profiling methods without consent of their mass audi ence consti tutes cyber slavery. Us ers are both cus tomer and producer of their own data. The com muni ties and tribes that try to escape this slavery, in au ton o mous zones, are like the escaped slaves from an earlier era.

Things are moving fast and our digi tal identi ties take over from ourselves. We have to add a digi tal self to our line of subjec tive selves, even as we have little control over it. Our dig ital self is not free, it is made up of bits and bytes we provided willingly and unwill ingly. These are turned in profile s and search fil ters we can not al ter or even percei ve, but we do del egate our (re)search options, influ ence our credit status, our job oppor tu ni ties and our socia l life. We think socia l networks and search engines are “open”, but in re ality they are only pub lic to those who have backdoor acces s. In 2006 the Ippolita Collec tive published “’Open’ doesn’t mean ‘free’.” “In other words, open source and free software are not the same thing. Freedom carries a cost, whereas opening up to the market can bring in rich monetary rewards.” They were wit ness ing: “a major paradigm shift: from the era of episte mology into that of ontology in digital worlds. The ‘who’ (what you are) was fast being replaced by the ‘what’ (what you know). Put differently, the management of knowledge was morphing into the management (and creation) of identity.” In yet other words, what Google and Facebook make of me (de - scribe of me) is what I am in cyberspace and in creas ingly in the real world.

115 Our in ter face op tions are, in re al ity, lim ited, even as we can now touch screens or speak rather than type. We are prison ers of the ho- moge nize d monocul ture of internet, as Rasmus Fleischer noted at the 2014 Berlin Transmediale: ”Today’s undead internet has a universal interface based on only two functions: the search and the feed.” You have to be on internet, other wis e you are out of the game, a cog ni tive dis so nance mes sage con stantly her alded by gov ern ment, in dus try and science. There is a paral lel with the way the Catho lic Church monop o lize d and hom oge nize d the infor m ation flow to the faithful in the Middle Ages, using ritual and lim iting ac cess to texts. Using Facebook and Google is slowly becom ing a ritual, our email chores replac ing the Agnihotra or Angelus prayer of old. But even here we can feel the im per ti nence of this imposed cyber slavery and the supported ritu al is tic be havior. How long will it take be fore a new Luther stands up and de clares Facebook, Twit ter and Wikipedia empty and evil and advo cat es a new reli gious stance of “back to re al ity”, a new anti-mag i cal and anti-rit u al is tic ‘Info the istic’ re ligion, as close to ma teri al ism and mathe ma tics as the ‘book of digital science’ allows? People like Jaron Lanier are point ing in that di rection, tell ing us to take back our rights to our own infor m ation. In 1996, John Perry Barlow tried to make cyberspace a realm of its own with the Cyberspace In de pend ence Dec - la ra tion, a com munity outside the con - trol of the ‘haves’. His ide al is tic stance failed, big corpo ra - tions took over and gov ern ments used cyberspace to con - trol and take away in di vid u al ism. Per- The freedom to be different (Zombie festival haps Hakim Bey (P. Dusseldorf) 116 L. Wilson) with his TAZ did indeed see a new perspec tive. The question is, do we have to extend his space-time concept to a vir tual autonomous zone in cyberspace? The French sit u a tionist and Marxist Guy Debord also pointed at the need to cre ate ‘free’ and auton o m ous events and places. The proletarian revolution is that critique of human geography through which individuals and communities will begin constructing places and events suitable for the re-appropriation not only of their labor, but also of their total history. By virtue of the resulting mobile spaces of play, and by virtue of freely chosen variations in the rules of the game, the autonomy of place and the authenticity of life will be discovered. Guy Debord, The So ci ety of the Spec ta cle. TAZ in a broad perspective A tem porary auton o m ous zone is not lim ited to a physi cal place or event and even Cyberspace can be seen as an auton o m ous place, but virtual. The im portanc e of a TAZ is the psy cholog i cal (and then social) ef fect, it is a safe and maybe even sa cred place that al lows us to step away from the norm al law and para digm and to enter a space where new laws and ideas can emerge. This is an in ner space, a realm in our minds, part of our imagi na tion, not neces sar ily relate d to the physi cal real ity. In this context, reading a book, day dream ing or psy che delic trip ping also con sti tutes a tem po rary au ton o mous zone, in the mind. In fact most of our activ i ties are relate d to our abil ity to tran scend the tan gi ble and as sume that we are somewhere else. Going to the theate r, per form ing a ritual, watching a movie, having sex, even working in a building that we than equate with a corpo ra tion means that we enter into an imagi nary zone, what differs is the free dom and auton om y we have or as sume we have. The artist going to his or her studio does n’t see that as work, but as enter ing a cre ative free-ha ven. The 9-5 worker in a fac tory might see work as slav ery, as un free. Some pris on ers do see their cell as the ultimate free autonomous zone, most see it as the end of freedom. If we thus in ter pret a TAZ as a psy cho log i cal con struct, es sen tially a mind-state, and the free dom of a TAZ to exper i m ent as a psy cholog - i cal pro cess, we can link it to a wide ar ray of con cepts and cat ego - ries. What is the influ ence of a TAZ and the inner auton om y that ideally co mes with it, on creativ ity, eth ics, law, inno vation, growth,

117 learning? What is the rela tion of a free and auton o m ous envi ron - ment with happi ness , fun and the devel op m ent of hum ans as cogni - tive, spiri tual and socia l beings? As such the notion of a TAZ ap - plies to many of our daily activ i ties and is on par with concept s like cogni tive disso nance . When we enter a shop for insta nce, we assume or are coaxed into having the free dom to buy whatever , give way to what our ‘ava tar’ might want to have or to be, we are tem po - rary master of our fu ture. If we read a novel we are trans ported into another world, where we are more or less auton o m ous in how we create and imagine and sculpt a world based on the words we read. In a sepa rate chapter I will look into com puter gam ing, a great example of a TAZ.

118 12 Classification and parameters of autonomous zones

There are many differ ent kinds of fes tivals , the econom ic and cultural di versity of so ciety is mirrored in the va riety and diver sity of the festi vals. There are Alter na tive / Art / Carni val / Comedy / Cul - ture / Electronic / Folk / Hip Hop / R&B / Indie / Music / Pop / Reg- gae / Rock / Ska / Theater/ Spiri tual/ Sha man istic/ Po etry/ Healing/ Fem i nine/ New Age/ Re li gious/ Po lit i cal/ Eco/ Rain bow/ Fringe and a host of other types of festi vals. Wikipedia iden tifies bird festi vals, re li gious fes ti vals, arts Fes ti vals, food and drink fes ti vals, sea sonal and har vest fes ti vals. But there are also fes ti vals for hack ers, swing - ers, bikers , veter ans and gays, in fact nearly every group and subgroup in society has festivals, gatherings, feasts or meetings. A mirror of diversity Try ing to classify and identify the trend in the festi val world, espe - cially the boom of the past de cades is there fore compa ra ble to an a - lyzing and under sta nding soci ety and as such quite an endeavor . Too big for the scope of this book, so the em phasis will be on under stand ing the dif fer ences rather than the sim i lar i ties with a focus on festi vals that of fer a mark edly dif ferent re gime and some autonomy, the TAZ-type of events. That the nor mal so cial and eco nomic mod els are ap pli - cable is not contes ted, but the purpose here is to come up with a differ ent approac h to un der stand ing and model fes tivals . So we to look beyond the estab lishe d mod - els. As argued before, the large mu sic fes ti vals are,

119 with excep tions like Boom, Fusion (Berlin) and Burning Man, usu - ally fairly com mercia l and not into offer ing a re ally auton o m ous zone expe ri ence . But the what makes a TAZ or auton o m ous com - munity attrac tive, apart from the ‘hard’ param eters of auton om y like phys i cal iso la tion, eco nomic sustainability, own er ship sit u a tion, borders with the outside world and different rules and morals. Why do people like to visit Ruigoord, Christi ania or go to a desert loca tion like Burning Man, what makes these emotion ally attrac - tive? A broad an swer could be that these places are dif fer ent, al ter - native, excit ing, but can we find a way to seize up and com pare what they offer? Param eters that matter are still fairly in tangi ble and not re ally in de - pendent dim ensions , but are part of the persona, the gestalt of a place. Maybe they are il lu sion ary, just an im age that reached the pub lic or the tribe, but let me offer a framework. I limit the fac tors or param eters to only three, ignor ing the pa ram eter size as it turns out, that even very large events can of fer a great TAZ ex pe ri ence, if that is made a priority. Participation, contribution Even at a small party we no tice that there are peo ple who con trib ute (givers ), while others are just consum ers (takers ). Our judgm ent in this is often a projec tion, we rate others as mirrors of oursel ves, but the gen eral idea is clear. Fes ti vals also have giv ers and tak ers, and of course one pays for what is consum ed, but of fering ways to par- tici pate beyond cheer ing and applaus e is what distinguishes a festival. Being part of what happens, contrib ut ing more than pay ing the fee for the entranc e ticket or wrist band is what stim ulate s people and gives them meaning. This can be done by partic i pa tion as a volun - teer, but there are many op tions to cre ate par tic i pa tion, en gage the vis i tors, stim u late ex change and help ing oth ers. As a vol un teer, as unpaid perform er, helping out at all levels in the or gani za tion and on the floor is what many people like about the participatory events. Vol un teer ing op tions are ap pre ci ated, they lower the thresh old for at ten dance, help in crease di ver sity and ap peal to the commu nity feel ings. It helps that other im por tant pa ram e ter, iden ti fi ca tion, makes one feel be ing a part ner and cocreator. It’s also a great way to make contac ts, feel im portant and save some money in the proces s. The level of partic i pa tion offere d and possi ble is usually a good in -

120 dica tor of the openness of the or ga ni za tion and produc ers. The vol un teers or cocreators are also a strong base for prom o - tion, the fan-com munity and become ‘ambassadors’, spreading the word. Identification An event needs identity to al low iden ti fi ca tion. Just having the T-shirts, buttons and a website is not enough. Identity is earned, and an im portant factor in the emo - tional bonding betwe en the event and the atten dees . It may take some time, re quire ex pe ri ence and build ing trust, as iden ti fi ca tion means also com mitm ent. To see onesel f proudly as a ‘Burner’, as being part of the scene, the tribe or the event adds to the sense of meaning, of be longing, of be ing part of it at an emotional level. The feeling of being connect ed to the event persona is pre cious, for the people, but it is the invis i ble capi tal, the true value of the event. Iden ti fi ca tion and par tic i pa tion to gether al low for some rank ing of fes ti vals (see picture). Realization The cogni tive real iza tion is also im portant, our minds are where all the emotional and body infor m ation eventu ally will end up. To real - ize what is happen ing and inte grate that into our plans for the future is what will make any trans for ma tion effective. As explaine d ear lier, the three constit uents , body, mind, and heart (emotions) are what drives us, of course depend ing on your person - ality and the situ a tion, but togethe r they are what then can lead to trans form ation, to change. To make this happen, reso nance betwe en the three aspect s need to happen to make the transfor m ation to occur.

121 Transformation inner and outer creativity Do people go to festi vals to seek trans for ma tion? Not many vis itors will admit this, but there is this silent hope, that they will meet their soul mate, find self-re al iza - tion, go through an inner trans for ma tion by us ing some substa nce, find ‘their’ teacher or guru. Many al ter na tive fes ti - vals have the explici t goals of changing the world, bring real iza tion of ecology, the hum an condi tion or spreading a be lief system . They prom ote change and this may reso nate with those also looking for a break in their routine, a new start, a transformation. Trans form ing the world or transform ing onesel f, both mean change, cau sa tion, new views on re al ity. Both are a cre ative pro cess, and creativ ity in that sense come s close to transfor ma tion. Fes tivals that prom ote art, exper i m enta tion in the program and the set ting are usually also sympa theti c to personal growth, offer engag ing workshops, contac t possi bil i ties and the neces sity of some auton om y to do this is obvi ous. As a group setting helps transfor m ation, offer ing support and some se curity, contact opportunities are an important part of it. There are risks, like flipping in a trip, be ing disap pointed in those new friends, not being respec ted for your ideas or efforts , things can go wrong, but without risk and trying .... The creative proces ses in staging an event, building a com munity or making onesel f vulner a - ble are of ten amazing and the re sults fan tas tic, but not al ways sus - tainable or econom ical ly and ecolog i cal ly sound. It is however in the exper i m enta tion that we learn and innovate. A fes ti val that is se ri ous about of fer ing trans for ma tion will at tract peo ple gen u inely in terest ing and will ing to walk the mile, but it also will scare away the folks that just want to be left alone, the con sum-

122 ers looking just for enter tain m ent. On the other hand, transfor m ation, ex per i ments, gran di ose rit u als and construc tions will in the end also attract the tourist. This is what happens with suc cessful event like Burning Man, the ‘newcom ers’ are less in ter ested in trans for mation, they come to see the “zoo”, be as tonishe d by the art and diver - sity, but are not really contributors, just paying visitors. Community parameters In gen eral the same param e ters as for fes ti vals are at play in more per ma nent au ton o mous zones, the in ten tional com mu ni ties and what are called free cul tural spaces. There are many of these places, like Chris tiania , Ruigoord, left overs from the squatter days or locat ed in old indus tria l com plexes, army depots and such. These ‘al ter na tive’ com mu ni ties are con sid ered breed ing places for ar tis tic and so cial change, but they also are places where peo ple live and work. Ecol ogy and identity are more rele vant as one has to live at the place. Also the re lation ship with the au thor ities is usually more strained. Auton om y is harder to sus tain if the world of money, laws and reg u la tions has time to call at the entrance.

123 13 The secret of the TAZ

Hakim Bey (P.L.Wilson), although spir itu ally well devel oped as a Sufi, didn’t look into the root mecha nism of what he called the mag- i cal ex tra that ap pears in what he called Tem po rary Au ton o mous Zones. He does speak about ecstatic, ex alted ex pe ri ences, but how can we in ter pret this, magic af ter all is not a very sci en tific con cept. We do, how ever, ex pe ri ence the ef fects. Be ing at a con cert, a dem- onstra tion or in a group meet ing we notice that we may feel differ - ent, more engaged, united and often a group mind emerges. we may act totally dif ferent than from what we in di vid u ally would act. (see next chap ter). But also we may feel a per sonal trans for mation , opening up to a experience that changes us. The TAZ envi ron m ent is support ive and safe enough to allow peo - ple to let go of their masks. It’s a kind of par adox, that we need a safe en vi ron ment that al lows un safe ex per i ments and ex plo ra tion for change. I will try to un ravel the se crets of the per sonal magi cal ex tra, or at least come up with a hypoth e sis to explain what happens in our mind. The the ory and expe ri ence s are more de veloped in depth in my books about Ritu als (2014) and Sacre d Journeys (2015) but in short the model is like this.

124 I am using a fairly sim ple im age of our psyche and specif i cal ly of our selves, our subjec tive self im ages that are dif ferent from our core higher self (soul, inner child, by what ever name). There is an as sumed self, what we think we are, the self we see in the mirror as we say: I see me in the mirror. This is sub jective, the I that some -

where exists is an objec tive entity. The me is just what we think we are, and can have multi ple states, moods, subpersonalities or self states, but is usually per ceived as the person I am. Terms like ego or person ality are used to des ig nate this me-im age. It is not really what we show the world, for our shown self is maybe hiding a bit, and maybe the other sees through our assumed self, which is basi cally a mask. The higher or core self is usually hidden, we are not in touch with our core, our inner child, our true self, soul, the name doesn’t matter much. To ac cess and recog nize the inner self, the true core of our being is the secre t step, hinted at in all tra ditions. Let go of your ego, step away from the false self, the person al ity or mask that you have built to protec t your self, that is the es sence of most teachings.

125 In norm al life we are seldom in touch with our inner self, it pops up in our dreams, sometim es dur ing sex, medi ta tion, or when using psy chedelic substa nces. Fall ing in love, meet ing another person in that same es sen tial self-state is an other way to ex pe ri ence this, to be in state where ev ery thing is per fect, where time and place seem to con spire to per fect the ex pe ri ence. There are many ways, meth ods and exer cis es to help one to let go of the focus on the as sumed self and reach out to the inner self, think about medi ta tion, music , breath work, pray ing, in fact all ritu als and reli gious prac tices aim at bringing you to this state. Maybe it is too much of a gen eral iza tion, but the sim ilar i ties between fall ing in love, a mys ti cal ex pe ri ence, an LSD-trip and a dream are not coin ci den tal, a sim ilar process unfolds. And here the magi cal extra of Hakim Bey’s TAZ kick in. For some rea son, very broadly be cause of some res o nance, peo ple are in way

126 so synchro nize d, that they can let go of their masks and egos, and reach the in ner self state that al - lows to step away from the con - straints of time and envi ron m ent, the ex tra ap pears, mag i cal time happens. In this sense a fes tival is what rit- u als of all times were, a way to reach a al ter na tive state of con - sciousness to some degree and enjoy the ride. Let ting go of the ego means less focus on the material , more openness , more con - tact with the all, more creativ ity, more happiness. So a TAZ is just another way to reach the in ner par adise, we hide so deep inside us. Or ganiz ing an ef fec tive TAZ means cre at ing condi tions that help to let go of the go, and just as in more genera l rit u als, there are many ways to achieve this. Move ment, mu sic, close ness, a sa cred and safe space, a good fes ti val or ga nizer and MC (Mas ter of Cer em ony) knows how to play his tools! But isn’t this true for the most sim ple of meet ings, for a dinner party, a busi ness meeting or a sports event? In all those in stances there emerges a res o nance, an in di vid ual and group mind phenom enon that also under lies the phe nom ena of trans for ma tion and change, even po lit i cal or so cial in no va tion that is also as so ci ated with a TAZ. This mech anism is rel evant far beyond festivals.

127 14 Play, transformation, innovation models

The question why we go to fes tivals or like to live in more or less ‘free’ commu ni ties can be an swered from many per spec tives, in this book some of those angles are covere d. An inter est ing perspec tive is to ask what role there is for play, as a ba sic con di tion for learn ing and trans for ma tion, some thing many are looking for in going to festi vals . Even as at the surfac e it is all about fun, and enter tain m ent, obvi ously the whole idea of fun has something to do with stim ula tion, re ward, with play. Maybe the word trans form ation is too ‘heavy’, as if partak ing will funda m entall y change one’s outlook of life, but then there are many stories of people who went to Burn ing Man, FireDance or Boom and called that experience life-changing. The transformational fes ti val cul ture can be seen as a hot bed for change, but such a claim requires we look into the root mecha nism s. The question, how to cause change, in people, or gani za tions, sci - ence and cul tures, is a very fun da mental one. Can we steer, con trol, stim u late how things de velop? Is it all a matter of pos itive stimulation and curio sity or is adver sity the father of inven tion? Do we just react to envi ron m ental stressors and chance muta tions or is there an under ly ing direc tion, are we masters of our fate? Better insights are needed in how curi os ity works, change and learning happens in our mind, in na ture and how socia l (group) inter ac tions and set ting influence this. In this chapter I look at some mecha nism s, propose some models and look into how existing models can be used to analyze and optimize an event. The mechanisms of change How do we ac quire new skills, new knowledge, new insights , new consci ousness , how do we change, how do progres s and inno va tion happen? This question arises in business , edu ca tion, in event staging, workshops and sem inars , in poli tics and philos o phy. It is so fun da men tal that we have to go back to fun da men tal bi o log i cal roots, to under sta nd how our mind (and that of ani m als and plants) works; how we learn and transform ourselves and the world.

128 Even more deep, the core question about how our re ality mani fes ts, com es to mind. If we as sume there is somethin g like free will the re la tion be tween cau sa tion (as di ver gent from the de ter min is tic pointed ar row of time-bound causal ity) and learning (as part of purpose ful evolu tion and progres s) needs to be clari fied. What makes things happen as they do and what can we do about it? If we change, beyond the normal pro cess, are we cre at ing? If we as sume all is just a de ter min is tic prob abil ity, a matter of chance and emergent complex ity it still makes sense to look for the mecha nism s that lead to what could be called negentropy or in form ation. But what is them play, unles s we as sume it is a fun da mental piece of the cos mic puz zle. The maybe not only hu mans play, but real ity at both ends of the scale, the quantum and the cosm os, play or are be ing played. Creation as God’s play, or lesson; this comes close to what Eastern sages have told us. There is an innate need to play, something we inher ited from the an - i mals and must have a clear bi o log i cal rea son, like to ac ti vate re - fresh our brain connec tions, but also seems to be a funda m ental part of evolu tion. Darwin made evolu tion into some kind of game, where the fittest would win. New insights in epigenetics have led to a re - con sid er a tion of JB de Lamarck’s vision, that we also change through ad ap ta tion, while Darwin’s ideas and neo-darwin ism are under fire; natu ral muta tion is too slow to explain what happened. . I propose that learning is a funda m ental response to stim uli, to changes in the envi ron m ent but also im pulses from within and that play is the root of learning, just as Huizinga suggest ed. It can have entropic (de ter min is tic) or anti-entropic (in for ma tion) re sults for the learner, the envi ron m ent and the intan gi ble realm (ideas philos o - phy). It is not lim ited to the logi cal and ra tional, we have to include things like inspi ra tion or intu ition. Often new ideas transce nd logical induction and deduction. Where it all starts is play. When think ing about fes tivals, words like play, fun, ex cite ment are where we have to start. Play Children need to play, in order to de velop, learn skills and not only the cog ni tive skills, but so cial, mo tor and po liti cal skills. We live in a world where children’s oppor tu ni ties to play are under threat.. Our school sys tem and even day care cen ters , forced upon them ear lier and earlier, leave little time for un in terrupted free play – both in -

129 doors and out. Chil dren are spending substa ntial time in peer-group set tings from a very young age, with of ten a focus on structured ed - u ca tional and rec re ational ac tiv i ties, not on par tic i pa tion in open-ended, self-initi ate d free play. The prior ity currentl y given to the early acqui si tion of ac ademic skills by par ents and so ci ety is a threat to children’s play, and maybe to their sense of well-being in later life. Arti cle 31 of the UN Conven tion on the Rights of the Child rec og- nizes the signif i canc e of play in the lives of children, acknowl edg - ing play as a spe cific right, in addi tion to and distinct from the child’s right to recre ation and leisure. This right didn’t make it into the adult Hum an Rights, but should have! Hum ans should have a right to play and oppor tu ni ties to dos so. Festi vals are playgrounds, and their popu lar ity may have a lot to do with the lack of play, in edu ca tion, in the working envi ron m ent and in soci ety. We have insti tu tion al ize d play, we go to the gym, ex- ercis e, attend sports events, but is this play? The notion of play as a funda m ental quality and neces sity is age-old and the role and im portanc e of play in our devel op m ent, not only in hum ans but in ani m als, has been noted by many. Plato recog nize d and iden ti fied in sa cred acts the el ement of play. He saw play as an ac tion ac com plish ing it self out side and above the ne ces si ties and serious ness of every day life. Poetry was sa cred play; the child and the poet are at home with the savage. The ori gin of play lies in the need of all young crea tures, animal and human, to leap. He wrote: You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. Michel de Montaigne: “Children’s playthings are not sports and should be deemed their most serious action." and “Children’s games are hardly games. Children are never more serious than when they play.” Freud regarde d play as the means by which the child accom plishes his first great cultural and psycho log i cal achievem ents; through play he ex presses himself. Be side the dream as the “royal road” to the uncon sci ous, play is also a path to the child’s consci ous and uncon - scious inner world; if we want to under sta nd his inner world and help him with it, we must learn to walk this road.

130 The func tion of play in devel op ing cogni tive and motor abili ties has been explored by Karl Groos, Jean Piaget (how and what the child learns intel lec tually and socia lly from play and obey ing rules), An - thony Pellegrini (the com bina tion of biol ogy and culture in play), Friedrich Froebel with the Kindergarte n (play school) approac h and many others. For children obvi ously a game can be, and more often than not is, a se rious under tak ing and a true re al ity, ef fect ing feel ings of self-es teem and com pe tence. This does not mean we can ignore the role of playing in adulthood. More and more we learn that playing rem ains an es sential , if not juvenating ac tiv ity. Adult play ing is dif ferent, can be more ar tis tic, but even sim ple games like play ing cards seem to fight aging and dementia. One of the most influ en tial writ ers about games was Johan Huizinga with his 1938 book ‘Homo Ludens’. The res o nance between the ‘magic cir cle’ which is one of the de fining quali ties of a game and the TAZ concept has been men tioned already. Huizinga sees play as older than cul ture, as a rec og niz able, ut terly prim ary cate gory of life, a total ity we need to under sta nd and value. Plating is not ra tio nal, but it is ev ident, just like beauty, truth, good - ness, God, spirit. He makes the connec tion betwe en play and ritual, law, war, poetry and art. Huizinga inte grate d the notion of play in that of culture, not being part of culture but defin ing culture. In a conge nial but dem anding style Huizinga asks, why all the com mon and more or less valid but partial expli cations of game, like learn ing, ac qui sition of skills, ex - pres sion and re in force ment of self, re lax ation, en ergy and vi tal ity re lease, need to compete or ex ert power, prep ara tion for the real chal lenges of life, mim icry, learning to control one self, com pensa - tion and proces sing for alienat ing expe ri ence s, not really look into the fun, the excite ment, the joy that playing brings. He sees in that the es sen tial qual ity of play, be yond the bi o log i cal func tion al ity and beyond the material, is that; fun is why play makes sense, gives meaning.

131 He pointed out that many insti tu tions gradu ally lost the connec tion with the play aspect . Something that we need, it is now com monly accept ed that playing may help us deal with much physi cal and mental discom forts of old age. Huizinga iden tifies five charac ter is tics that play must have: • Play is free, is in fact freedom. • Play is not “ordinary” or “real” life. • Play is distinct from “ordinary” life both as to locality and duration. • Play creates order, is order. Play demands order absolute and supreme. • Play is connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained from it. Huizinga mentions the equa tion of play with, on the one hand, “se rious strife”, and on the other, “erotic appli ca tions” . He also mentions but steers away from the theo log i cal (mag i cal) mean ing of play, as in cult and rit ual situations. To extend Huizinga’s notion that play is an irra tio nal but essen tial part of life, I dare even propose that play is as essen tial to our homeostatis and our body-mind balance as is sleep. It is an ac tivity that we need to stay alive and kicking, also as adults if we want to play our role in evolu tion and life long and healthy. One step fur ther is the hy pothe sis , that play is the funda m ental mech a nism of evo lu tion and man i fes ta tion, but this means see ing the very small and the very large as follow ing and re flecting the same basic pat terns (the Hermetic notion) or in other words, see all creation as play. Accord ing to Roger Caillois, play is “an occa sion of pure waste: waste of time, energy, inge nu ity, skill, and often of money.” In spite of this - or be cause of it - play con sti tutes an es sen tial el ement of hum an socia l and spiri tual de velop m ent. In his clas sic study ‘Man, Play and Games’ (1961) Caillois defines play as a free and volun - tary activ ity that occurs in a pure space, iso lated and pro tected from the rest of life. Play is un cer tain, since the out come may not be fore - seen, and it is governe d by rules that provide a level playing field for all participants. Caillois quali fies four types of games - accord ing to whether com pe- tition, chance, sim ula tion, or vertigo (be ing physi cal ly out of con-

132 trol) is dom inant, but many games combine the types. What is missing in Caillois qual i fi ca tion model here are the more transformational, so cial and sex ual games. He came up with a sys tem atic clas si fi ca tion of play and games. Caillois’s six conditions for a game are: • 1 free • 2 separate • 3 uncertain • 4 unproductive • 5 governed by rules • 6 make believe they are, how ever more a def i ni tion of play, not strictly of games. Daryl Koehn (1997) sees 9 factors in game and gamers, • a game is played to win • losers face limited consequences, • there are rules • rules are fixed • rules are accepted by players • players act intermittently • narrow and defined space for bluffing • the risks are only those of the payers the gains and who gets them are well defined Play at the festival Par tic i pants and au di ence at a fes ti val are part of the game, the idea of partak ing in ‘the fes tival game’ makes sense. The game is both an Ilinx expe ri ence , the dancing and ine bria tion may bring about an al - tered state of phys i cal and mental aware ness, but there is also the as - pect of role playing, of acting differ ent, of exper i m enting. Looking for new ex pe ri ences, the chal lenge to deal with them, the chance to meet new friends, to learn something new, it’s all play and fun. Dropping one’s mask and engag ing in what other wis e would be just childish acts, like in line-danc ing, holding up a lighter or smart-

133 phone, moving with the ‘wave’, it’s not se rious but could we describe it otherwise as playing? Play and performance From play, without much rules and lots of free dom, charac ter is tic of child’s and ani m al play, the addi tion of rules makes it a game. When the rules be come too stringent, it becom es too much of a routine and there is so cial pres sure; the au then tic ity dis ap pears and it becomes a perfor m ance. Much ritual has becom e empty in this sense, the origi - nal play fulness disap pear ed. This trend can be revers ed, and in live per for mances at fes ti vals this is clearly the case. In the in ter action be tween the per former and the au di ence a new el ement of play emerges and this is what makes live per for mances so more special and engaging than a recorded one.

134 Mechanisms of play Playing is a cas cade of cu ri os ity and rewards mech anisms. Play ing is of all ages, kids play, an i mals play, even fe tuses play, it is an ef fi - cient way to ob tain infor m ation and skills. Play based edu ca tion, like learning by do ing and com puter games are a modern form, as playing is usually more effec tive than just memorizing stuff and data. The freedom to change, to exper i m ent with the rules, with the per so- nas, with coping mecha nism is of course most preva lent in games. One could even argue that all learning is in some way a gam ing-process, play ing with the pa rame ters. Play is the core of all learning, the road to trans form ation, but requires some free dom (the TAZ), some chance to make mistakes as well as score. The bal ance be tween success and fail ure, the score and re ward for a hit must com pensat e for the misses, but this is very sensi tive and differ ent for every body. Think about the pay out poli - cies for a casino or one-armed ban dit slot machin e, at what level of winning will a player keep inserting coins? Innovation MATTERS or not? The concept of inno va tion is usually lim ited to the im provem ent of exist ing, or the cre ation of entire ly new products , proces ses, service s and socia l, busi ness or orga ni za tional models . A bright idea can change the world, but it can also stay within someone’s mind. Does it then affec t the mate rial world? A philosoph i cal question, but sometimes the same idea pops up at the same time in dif fer ent places, how to explain that? Essen tial ly, inno va tion is cre ation of new value for the world, but this value can also be nega tive or turn out to be less valuable or en- viron m entall y dan gerous in the long term. Change is not always positive. Inno va tion is often seen as the snake-oil of the econom y and progress, but it has to be real ized that it is often the result of in di vid ual am bition, and not always geared towar ds the com mon good. Sup- porting inno va tion fits well within a neo-libera l, science oriente d and ‘Western’ growth para digm , but less in Eastern thought, where appre ci a tion for what is, for the eternal values and the Tao is more about guarding the status-quo.

135 Cu ri o si ty The quality curiosity, the desire and need to learn and obtain new in for ma tion, is a bi o log i cal ne ces sity (a pro tec tion against ad verse condi tions) as well as a source of fun and excite ment as in play. Cu - rios ity is like a root condi tion for the proces s of activel y dealing with stim uli and obtain new knowledge, learning. Curi os ity is an emotional state, it is the platform for explor atory behav ior and thus the driving force behind hum an devel op m ent and progres s in science, language, and industry. It is not something exclu sive for hum ans, there is curi os ity, learning and play in ani m als. Hum an curi os ity as the need to under sta nd oneself is sup posed to be a class apart, self ref er en tial in re la tion to self-consci ousness . Hum ans want to make sense of things and them - selves, seek mean ing; their cu rios ity en tails a lot more than just self pro tec tion. They ex hibit cog ni tive cu ri os ity, as well as sensory curiosity. Curi os ity as a mental and emotional state is influ ence d by neg ative (uncer tainty) and posi tive (likes, rewar ds, incen tives ) drives, but is also the re sult of ex pe ri ence. Be ing cu ri ous grows with ex pe ri ence, we build and expand the neural networks that stim ulate explor atory behavior; it becomes a habit.

136 The cu ri os ity-drive the ory sug gests peo ple seek co her ence and un der stand ing in their thought proces ses, this quiets the mind and is a rewar d in itsel f. This, however , does not explain why we are curi ous and looking for stim u lation even if there is no threat or novel stim u lus. Op ti mal-arousal the ory at- tempts to ex plain this aspect of curi os ity by suggest ing that one can be moti vate d to maintain a plea sur able sense of arousal through these exploratory behaviors. Cu ri os ity as ex plor atory be hav ior is a bi o log i cal ne ces sity to deal with un cer tainty and per ceived un pleas ant ness, but is prob a bly sus- tained and became a nor mal way of be hav ior because there evolved some kind of neurobiological re ward system (neurotransmitters; prob a bly dopamine-based, but opioids and serotonin play a role too and cortisol can induce curi os ity as a response to a potential threat). This ex plor atory be hav ior nor mally re sults in per ceived se cu rity, but is evolutionarily useful and has grown into per manent re ward mech- a nisms. These re ward path ways deal with cu ri os ity, at ten tion, mem - ory, habits, learning and moti va tion and are part of our happi ness matrix. We need some stim ula tion and change, and sense of achievem ent to feel happy. Moti va tion and rewar d are the fuel of cu ri os ity and thus learn ing. Lik ing, an other re ward path way, can maybe seen as the elimi na tion of a threat, the fa miliar ity re leases oxytocin or sero to nin, as an alternative to the more stimulating dopamine. Cu ri os ity driven learn ing as in in for ma tion-seek ing can re sult from extrin sic or intrin sic rewar ds or incen tives like an inner de sire to re- duce un cer tainty. Dis cov er ing new knowl edge, in for ma tion or skills stim u lates in ter est and cu ri os ity. Find ing new in for ma tion thus leads to chem i cal and elec tri cal stim uli, this fu els more cu ri os ity. Stim u- lating cu rios ity is thus an essen tial ele me nt if we want to stim u late learning and change. This can be achieved by posi tive reinforcement and rewards, but also by advers e condi tions and stress. The ‘carrot and stick’ approac h refers to a policy of offering a combination of rewards and punishment to induce action. Expos ing people to advers e condi tions like in survival or wilder ness training may yield pos itive results. Adver sity is part of most tradi - tional train ing schemes, in the mil i tary, re li gious ed u ca tion and

137 school system s. The notion that curi os ity is a de fense and an urge that draws us out of our com fort zones goes against the idea that fears keeps us within its boundarie s. Curi os ity and fear are more like part ners in the reward pathway mechanism. Cu rios ity is more of an atti tude than an action, spe cific (inter nal or exter nal) im pulses can lead to focus and (re-)ac tion. At tention (goal direc ted or stim ulus driven) is thus a fac tor in curi os ity, focus ing on some thing, con cen trat ing on par tic u lar stim uli in the sur round ing envi ron m ent can help single out the most effec tive way to deal with it. It means elim inat ing noise but there is the risk of also elim inat ing rel e vant in for ma tion. Curiosity dem ands atten tion. The well known AIDA (at ten tion-in ter est-de sire-ac tion) model in mar ket ing il lus - trates this. Interest is a feeling or emotion that causes atten tion to focus on an objec t, event, or process and encompasses curiosity and to some extent surprise. Prac ti cal In prac ti cal terms, stim u lat ing cu ri os ity is part of mar ket ing, sales, edu ca tion and many more ac tivi ties . As it involves both posi tive and neg ative stim uli, and peo ple react very dif ferent to those stimuli, it is more of an art than a science . There are people who respond best to form, others to knowing, others to contac t oppor tu ni ties , one can use models like the enneagram to find out what fuels the curi os ity of cer tain target groups. Often good market ing narrows the range of the stim uli to spe cific types, maybe sacri fic ing oth ers. Things like a ‘se cret’ (per for mance, ser vice, prod uct) may draw cer tain peo ple, but keep away oth ers. Curios ity is an emotional state, not very ra tio - nal and not very conscious, so all kinds of subliminal signals do help. Mistakes and error, but also successes are essential in learning An auton o m ous zone, at a fes tival, in a com munity or in an com - puter game, offers the freedom to exper i m ent, to make mistake s but also to score, to succee d. This is proba bly the most funda m ental reason why we play, we need to rewire our brain to deal with new im - pulses, new sit u a tions. Play ing and ex per i ment ing keeps us young and able to deal with life. We learn best by being wrong, by error, by hav ing to try again, the learning cycle requires the freedom to be wrong, be sides the incentive or rewar d of occa sion ally being right.

138 For some reason we evolu tion ary have devel oped a rewar d path mecha nism that allows us to try again, to keep doing things until we master them. The pos itive rein force ment of a hit or succes s gives us the energy to keep try ing, even if we miss. Assum ing that the pen - alty for be ing wrong is not too heavy, there fore the need to have a safe place. This cy cle of ex per i menting , this cu ri os ity that we have to engage and try is an evolu tion ary trait, without it we would not develop and survive. But this learning cycle needs more than just repetition, to prevent the dulling of the response. there must be a reward path. I argue that ac tivi ties like festi val going and com puter gameplay are more or less neces sar y compen sa tion for the lack of freedom to ex- peri m ent and make mistake s in our ever more constri cted and privacy-ridden modern digi tal world. The are needed to refres h and stim ulate our brain, just as sleeping refres hes our body and mind too. Games don’t of fer unlim ited free dom, as rules and constra ints limit the play ing field, but they do limit the risks and offer secu rity. Not hurting onesel f (or others ) beyond certain lim its, not upset ting the ho meo sta sis (bi o log i cally, psy cho log i cally, so cially and even mag i- cally – the otherworld balance ) too much. A game or play is the combi na tion of a sa cred and safe space and rules that al low some ex per i men ta tion, and thus transformation. This obvi ously is also the ori gin of rit uals . Play and ritual are very close, as Roger Caillois noted and rit ual per vades so ci ety. We can see se ri ous sit u ation s like a court room or a par lia ment as a game, and a ritual; this is maybe is irrev er ent but does make sense. The in - ner ex pe ri ence is what matters, just like in comput er games, Holy Mass or initi a tion rites, the outcom e is more than the sum of the in - put. A ritual is a very fun dam ental and ancie nt (a heri tage from the ani m al world) and pre-cogni tive form of inner expe ri ence , myth is alrea dy relate d to cogni tive proces ses, linguis tic and more mental, a much later human stage. A model & resonance Learning happens when there is a situ a tion that allows change, but more im portant, room for exper i m ent and this mean room for mistakes. Be ing curi ous is not enough, we need some space to act, prove, try, without dire conse quence s. In the hum an and socia l sit u -

139 ation this requires some kind of free dom and protec tion, to err and to try again. It makes sense to expand the notion of a TAZ to apply not only to events, festi vals and meet ings, but to basi cal ly all media, books, theater-plays, games includ ing com puter games and virtual real ity and ed u ca tional sit u a tions. In that in ter pre ta tion of the con cept it can be seen as a core (pre-)condition for learning. But what happens within such a TAZ? In the hum an per spec tive we can (again as a gen er al iza tion) as sume that three ba sic el ements, body, mind and emotion (heart) are involved. Not as sepa rate influ - ences, we know that for insta nce body and mind are linked in many ways (em bodied cogni tion) and emotion and mind and body by mir - ror-neurons. The three factors how ever, are differ ent enough to as - sign three differ ent proces ses relate d to play and learning to them.

140 These are: • Participation, actively becoming part of the play, by engaging in the action. • Identification, becoming part of the scene, identifying with the image, the identity of the game (play, event). This requires giving up or exchanging part of one’s own identity (assumed self) and trust. • Realization, the mind picks up on it, new neural links are formed, new associations emerge, this could be seen as a tuning process. These pro cesses to gether cre ate the op por tu nity for trans for ma tion or change, and togethe r they es tablish the reso nance . Res onance is what cre ates re al ity (ac cord ing to the phys i cist) and is the force or flame that fires the trans for mation pro cess. Res o nance at the psy - cholog i cal and socia l level is a com plex proces s, and if we add the magi cal dim ension (the third realm) it be comes even more com plex. However the so called laws of magic do point at the mecha nism s of res onance , in the old days often de scribed as cor respon dence s, these days maybe better in di cated as links. There are many sets of these laws, in the game dom ain like in the Dresden Files, the ones in Au - thentic Thaum aturgy by I. Bonewits and the laws by Sir James George Frazer in his “The Golden Bough, but in eso teri c circle s there are many vari ation s and in sci ence fic tion there are in sight ful examples like Asimov’s Robot Laws. Each proces s in the body/mind/heart trian gle influ ence s the others , so opti m ally body, mind and emotions work in the same direc tion, to wards op ti mal trans for ma tion. In re al ity this sel dom hap pens and we need many attem pt, learning is of course a trial and er ror process. How ever, by look ing into the three ele m ents it is possi ble to opti m ize the learning proces s. Some situ a tions are more suited for trans for mation , es pe cially if they en gage all three pro cesses. The new wave of se ri ous, mean ing ful and trans for ma tion com puter games are poten tial ly great tools for transfor m ation, as they use mul ti ple res o nance mech a nisms, vir tual or aug mented re al ity, new sensor technol ogy, feedback and brain state cueing to enhance the TAZ qual ity and res o nance mech a nisms. Even non-tra di tional approaches like hyp no tism, fre quency fol low ing in duce ment, meditation, breath work could be used to increase the transformational potential.

141 Set and setting, liminality Fes tivals , es pecia lly transformational events, have much in com mon with rit u als. One of the most an cient transformational ritual forms are the ini ti a tion rit u als, many us ing psy che delic or psychotropic substa nces to induce what Victor Turner and Arnold van Gennep called liminality, a threshold condi tion. It means bringing people, by a pro cess of phys i cal and emotion al stress, to wards a state where they are will ing and ready to give up their ‘old’ identity and em - brace a new one. The transfor m ation from boy to man, from ser vant to warrior, from appren tice to master, all involves letting go of the old and embracing a new identity. One can look at the proce dures and ways such transformational ritu - als were and are staged, and in many fes ti vals one has in cor po rated these el em ents. The idea that to reach the festi val grounds one has to travel by foot, schlepping one’s gear over quite a dis tance, is part of the Rainbow festi val gather ing model, and has roots in the ‘vision

142 quest’ approac h. Making things diffi cult is also a way to attrac t interest , easy achievem ents don’t count much for many people. In the same vein, another way to look at trans form ation proces ses is to use the well known set&setting model of the psyche delic lum i- nar ies like Timo thy Leary. Set refers to the psy cho log i cal state and the goals of a trip, the setting is the envi ron m ent. If we assum e that a fes ti val, a book, a game and an ex pe ri ence also can act as a drug and have transformational effec ts (as drugs do) this model can also be used to an aly ze transformational processes. McLuhan Tetrads The me dia the o rist Mar shall McLuhan “the mediu m is the message” has given us inter est ing tools to look at media, and fes tivals are a medium . He saw media as way to extend and am plify our senses and capa bil i ties, but also as ways to cre ate new forms. Lan guage led to poetry, books, movies to theate rs, virtual real ity to virtual worlds. “All media are ac tive met apho rs in their power to trans late ex pe ri - ence into new forms”. The tetrad approac h is a sim ple four-fold struc ture Mar shall McLuhan em ployed to de scribe var i ous tech nol o-

143 gies and as a way to an a - lyze media from four dif - fer ent per spec- tives. Tetrads are a cog ni tive model that help to il lus - trate as pects and re la tions in media and tech nol o gies and often help to iden tify the less ob vi ous. The four perspec tives (McLuhan called them effects and even laws of media) are a comple mentary method to Aristotle’s Four Causes: Ma te rial, Ef fi cient, For mal, and Fi nal. The ‘Four Ef fects’ were named as fol lows: Re trieval, Re ver sal, Ob so les cence and Am pli fi ca - tion or En hance ment. These Four Ef fects or media-l aws are meant to ap ply si mul ta neously, and not lin early or se quen tially, mir ror ing the method of Aris totle ’s Four Causes. McLuhan claimed these laws can be universally applied. The laws are: • Extension/Enhancement: Every technology extends or amplifies some organ or faculty of the user. What does the medium enhance or intensify? • Closure/Obsolescence: Because there is equilibrium in sensibility, when one area of experience is heightened or intensified, another is diminished or numbed. What is pushed aside or obsolesced by the new medium? • Reversal: Every form, pushed to the limit of its potential, reverses its characteristics. “When pushed to the limits of its potential, the new form will tend to reverse what had been its original characteristics. What is the reversal-potential of the new form?” – Marshall and Eric McLuhan, 1988. • Retrieval: The content of any medium is an older medium.

144 The tetrad is ar rived at through a proces s of asking ques tions con - cern ing the ef fects: What does any sub ject en large or en hance? What does it erode or obsolesce. A tetrad concer ning the internet il- lustrat es the methodology. This tetrad methods is used here to com bine the vari ous insights in how a festi val ‘works’ in a sin gle illus tration. McLuhan stated that under sta nding a medium and its message means ana lyz ing (1) the medium in and of itsel f, (2) the message in- tended to be de livere d by the medium , and (3) the message em bedded in the effec ts of the medium. If we apply this to the medium festi val, we see that increas ingly it absorbs older media, not only the meet ings and fairs of old, but using video, audio, the ater stage technol ogy and more and more theme-park set ting, it becomes an amalgam ated mediu m, a combination. The mes sage of a fes ti val ranges from pure en ter tain ment to a transformational expe ri ence , but centers around the direc t ‘live’ ex- peri ence and the im mersion in it, becom ing part of flow of the event, being challenge d and yet able to deal with the stress, the people, the ex citeme nt like in the ‘flow’ state Mi chael Csikszentmihalyi describes. The ef fects of a fes ti val can be lim ited to a nice mem ory to such trans form ation, that one changes the course of one’s life with many things in betwe en, like meet ing new friends, changing one’s loy al- ties concer ning music , ecology, people or ideologies.

The above mod els are just a very gen eral out line, more spe cif ics are given in my books about ritual, cyberspace and sacre d journeys (see website www.lucsala.nl), and it is im por tant to note, that the re sult - ing transfor m ation is not nec essar ily a positive one.

145 15 Meaning and ritual angle

The meaning of a festi val is very broad, and depends on the per - spec tive. Meanings exist at personal , socia l, cul tural and econom ic lev els, maybe even at the mag i cal and may vary be tween in di vid u als and change over time. The meaning is relate d to the goal, does one go for the music , for meet ing people, to partake in an arts or heritage event, just for leisure or for trans form ation. There is meaning as a concept and as an experience. The ex pe ri en tial mean ing po ten tial of par tak ing in an event is both personal and socia l, and differs with each type of fes tival and the culture. As pointed out be fore, I make a distinc tion betwe en two kinds of effects and thus meaning of a festi val (but this also applies to drugs, ther apy, etc.). One is whether the ex pe ri ence for ti fies the ego-state (person al ity, mask) and the other if that state is broken down or at least weakened. Trans form ation obvi ously aims at breaking down the ego, but it is quite pos sible to attend a very transformational event like a psyche - delic fes tival and just have fun, partic i pat ing in whatever but just as entertainment. The dif fer ent ex pe ri ence po ten tials of the var i ous fes ti val for mats can be ‘consum ed’ or not. This is also a socia l issue, as festi vals (and ritual) bind people togethe r in com muni ties and cul tures, forti - fy ing the status quo, but sometim es they do reflec t and encour age dis agree ment, so cial change and even an ar chy or rev o lu tion. This is where the notion of festi - vals as change agents surfaces. The people staging transformational fes ti vals, the event design ers , are usually aware of the dif fer - ence; they know there are just ‘tourists ’ and others Balinese water festival (M.Bakker) who come for a deeper

146 trans form ational expe ri ence or try to use the platform to change the com mu nity or even so ci ety. They try, in their staging and manip u la - tion of setting, program and var ious hum an inter ac tions to guide the audi ence and/or partic i pants and ca ter for both groups. Offer ing both very ac tive spots and lounges, chill-out and such facil i ties , is one way to seapate the two groups. How this all works out re quires insight in what Donald Getz in di cates as ‘en vi ron men tal psychology’. Looking for meaning, high and low One way of descr ibing the trend towar ds more spiri tual and meaningful festi vals , beyond the standard music and arts events, is to call them in ten tional or ex tended fes ti vals. There par tic i pa tion, iden ti fi - ca tion, re al iza tion, the in gre di ents nec es sary for trans for ma tion as ex plained ear lier, are a more promi nent part of the mix. It’s eas ily said, such ex tended fes ti vals are spatio-tempo ral events that inspire and deter m ine meaning in people’s lives, but what pre- cisely does this entail ? Looking for meaning in life and specif i cal ly in attend ing a festi val could be answe red in the somewhat elated and philo soph i cal way Viktor Frankl kind of de fined the terri tory. His account of concen tra tion camp hardships and his search for meaning and purpose which re sulted in his ‘Logotherapy’ approach, is a classic. Holding on to one’s convic tions, try ing to maintain de cency and hu - man com passion even in the most averse condi tions is what he found to be im portant and meaning ful and made him a sur vivor. It is nice that festi vals boost com munity, the sense of belong ing and in-group bonding, offer cultural values (cultural capi tal) , maybe a sense of identity and iden tifi ca tion with a higher goal as a col lective meaning, but is indi vid ual meaning not more divers e than what Frankl saw? Is meaning not also re lated to where one stands in fulfulling more ba sic needs, as indi cat ed in the chapter about needs? The question festi val produc ers ask or should ask them selves is what gives mean ing to peo ple in less dra matic cir cumstances, what goals inspire people, what meaning do they seek and how to provide handles for that? The higher goals we usually as soci ate with ‘meaning’ are of course rele vant for people who have every thing, in a mate rial , sta tus and rela tional sense, but are looking for something more. If we look at

147 the lower lev els of Maslow’s hier ar chy of needs or at how our lower chak ras are about se cu rity, sex and power there is of course ‘mean - ing’ in sat isfy ing those needs. Not high-brow and lofty purposes, but very real. Having a goal, a sense of purpose is fine, but what if your goal is to get drunk, stoned, have as much sex as pos sible, to be ad mired for your looks or dancing, find a date, get a VIP-card or back stage wrist band, make pictures or boot legs of all the bands, get in without paying, or a myr iad of other purposes . We tend to equate meaning with high ideals , with notions of spiri tual signif i canc e, but in reality meaning of ten is fairly flat, practi cal; not what is perceived in the rear-mirror or on evalu a tion forms. There we may think about conse quence s and what we are supposed to heave expe ri ence d. Meaning is a process The (exis ten tial ) meaning of something changes, what is offere d as a struc tured of fer ing (like transformational, life-chang ing,en ter tain- ing) is maybe not wat is percei ved or projec ted (our indi vid ual inter - pre ta tion) and then as we ex pe ri ence it (like a fes ti val or con cert) the meaning may change again, af ter af ter wards we may re call a totally different meaning. Sup pose some is attracted by a poster with a cer tain mes sage like ‘excit ing event’ but inter prets this in his own way, then goes to the event, finds it cold and wet, has a bad expe ri ence but com ing back

148 hears this was the wettest festi val ever, so that’s what he will after - wards tell his friends. By affirm ing a spe cific mean ing it be comes anchore d in oud mind, we start to be lieve what we repeat. Sergio Salvatore sees mean ing as a dy namic pro cess with a la tent and and os tensi ble dim ension. There are levels of meaning, the ob - vious ones and the more hidden, that may becom e vis ible later. The data and statis tics from festi vals in this respect have little value for me. How many people honest ly fill in the online (post facto) ques tion naires and eval u a tion forms about their sex ex pe ri ences, drug use, loneli ness or despai r? Not many and hardly will re call the ‘in the mom ent’ feelings. The same goes for happi ness , Daniel Kahnemann pointed at how happi ness in ret rospec t is of ten quite differ ent from happi ness in the mom ent. This applies also to expe ri - ences like mindful ness or meaning. Meaning cannot be lim ited to just looking at the enter tain m ent value, the econom ic contri bu tion, or the possi bil ity to escape norm al life, some refer ence to the root mech anisms of fes ti vals is needed. Apart from play, needs/values discuss ed in pre vious chapters , there is the ritual ori gin. The ancie nt ritu als were often some kind of festi - vals and had a num ber of purposes and meanings. The Sacred The pri mary meaning of those ancie nt events was, accord ing to the ‘Collège de Sociologie’ (1937-39 with Caillois, Bataille and Leiris), to in te grate the sa cred in the so cial. There are psy cho log i cal ef fects, so the three world model applies . Fes tivals of course served confir - mation of the sta tus quo, the order of things and the power structures, but also could be a platform for coun ter cultural activ i ties and a safety valve, a vent-hole to tem porari ly break with conven tions, taboos and prohi bi tions; offer ing exces s and return ing to chaos for a while. Such dis obedi ence , as we see in car nival and under the cover of laughter in the jester, the clown, the fool and in role-rever sal , could re lieve socia l tensions . Mocking the estab lish m ent, but also al low ing in tox i ca tion, sin ning, sex ual pro mis cu ity and ec stasy as in the Di o ny sian Mys ter ies, the Bac cha na lia, Sat urnalia and or gi as tic feasts would norm ally be a trans gres sion. El evate d to a re ligious duty it would help to es tablish the borders and dem arca tion betwe en the profane and the sacre d, the or dinary people and the priests or initi ate d. The exces s offers the potential for rejuvenation, crossing borders, renewal on an individual (iinitiation) or social level.

149 The natu ral tension be tween the rulers and ruled is alle vi ate d. A re - versal of power, ever tem porari ly, and some contes t helps to maintain the bal ance, but also can bring hidden controverse to a crisis. The func tion of rit ual is man i fold. Evo lu tion and civ i li za tion owe a lot to the ever-re cur rent forms of rit ual (as sa cred per for mance and mag i cal act) in the fes tal con text. Hi er ar chy and spe cial iza tion do emerge from these events. Much of this also happens at today’s fes tivals and there is res onance with the an cient prac tices; there are com mon psy cho log i cal and so - cial mech anisms at play. Fes ti vals are plat forms for so cial change,

as well as a way to so lid ify the status quo.. The link betwe en play, games, rituals and festi vals is obvi ous, they use the same ele ments like rules, sa cred space, dy namics and in - volve ment of the par tic i pants. In fact many rit ual events are fes ti - vals, meet ings, gather ings of like-minded people, and follow similar formats. So the study of ritual can help to under sta nd what matters at festi - vals. In an earlier book (Rit ual, the magi cal dim ension, 2014) I argued for includ ing the contac t with the otherworld (not only the sacred but also the magi cal ) in the model ing of rit ual. In a ra tional world view this may seem unnec es sar y, but as many people do ex - pe ri ence oth er worldly ef fects and transpersonal con nec tions in clu d- ing the addi tional spiri tual world helps explain how ritu als work. What ex actly this sa cred di mension en tails is not neces sary to spec - ify as long as we ac cept it is part of the deal, even if only in the minds of the believers. A sim ple model then involves inter ac tion and effec ts in three realms, the innerworld (one’s psy che), the outerworld (includ ing the body) and the otherworld. The outerworld ef fects of rit ual are the phys i cal and the so cial. The more deep and transformational (psycho log i cal ) effec ts of ritu - als are that they of fer a means to rise above oneself, to ex pe ri ence an al tered state of consci ousness in let ting go of (part of) the ego, usually in a specia l space (the auton o m ous zone).

150 Ritu als thus have in com mon that they guide people towar ds an al- tered state, where the loss of the ego-fixa tion al lows ac cess to in ner lay ers of the psy che. This then also brings the pos si bil ity to tran scend the lim i ta tions of self, time and place, and for many this means en ter - ing the sacre d or spiritual plane. The model is very gen eral, many ef fects in volve more realms, like that meet ing with others has an effec t on the socia l and the psy cholog i cal. Rit u als usu ally have a lit urgy, a se quence or sce nario, a spe cial and sep arate (safe/sa cred) place and have mean ing for the in ner world (psychol ogy), outer world (socia l/com munity) and the otherworld (sa cred). Their purpose is thus three fold, it may make one feel better (innerworld), im prove the so cial sit u a tion (bond ing, com mu nity) but also to es tablish contac t with the otherworld and obtain mate rial or im mate rial gains like healing e.g. by praying, offering etc. This approac h of ritual of course also applies to fes tivals , free cul - tural spaces, monas ter ies and other ‘auton o m ous’ zones. Just as we can clas sify and anlyze rit u als in this model, we can look at the el e - ments of fes ti vals to see what ef fects they have in the three realms. It sound ir ratio nal, but many be lieve that their partic i pa tion in a festival helps global aware ness of ecology, helps healing, peace and better m ent even outside the loca tion and the par tici pants . They believe that their efforts affect the otherworld and this will also reflect back on the tangible reality. The ritual angle Festi vals, espe cially the ones with the transformational ‘extra’ are of ten rit u al ized, with open ing and clos ing rit u als, with the at ten dees behav ing like a congre ga tion and the artists as priests. They of fer, like proper rit u als, a li tur gi cal se quence in which the psy cho log i cal, socia l and even ‘otherworld’ needs of the at ten dees are met. The

151 otherworld as pect can be reli gious or more genera l spir itual. The focus on the intan gi ble is not hidden or silentl y assum ed, most song texts or per for mances refer to love, beauty, justice, etc. Another way to look at ritual and thus festi vals is to recog nize that they af fect body, mind and heart, a fairly clas sic triad (other tri ads are possi ble, like body, mind, soul or kapha pitta vata). Fes tivals engage the body, the mind and the heart (the emotions) . We move, sing, dance, hug or touch, we think and try to make sense of what happens, of the music , the song texts, the setting. Emotions and feelings are proba bly why we came to the fes tival in the first place, but our body and mind are not left behind. Fes tivals are em bodied events, people dance, move, there is em bod - ied thought as Gregory Bateson called it; by dancing and moving (sym bolic) under sta nding is trans ferred. People tend to dance in the same way, mir ror neu ron pro cesses cause res o nance and a group mind happens, just as in ritu als of old. The three ‘hum an’ dim ensions are not sep arate, at a fes ti val they work to gether, we feel better becaus e we dance, we can re lax our mind by being engaged.

152 The body, mind and heart triad is re lated, if not identi cal with the par tic i pa tion, re al iza tion and indentification triad and trans for ma tion model given in the previ ous chapters. If we com bine the two triads, the hum an dim ensions and the three worlds model, like in a two ring model, where the one triad can re- volve around the other, a method of clas sifi ca tion of festi vals or fes - ti val el ements emerges. We can es tab lish to what combi na tion of the two rings a cer tain as pect is geared towards A per for mance, a spe cific rit ual act, a set ting or dec o ra tion can then be focuse d on a specific combi - nation of the two triads. If one does this for well es tab lished events like the Catho - lic Holy Mass it of ten Offerings are part of most rituals (Bali) turns out they are well bal anced, all the realms and all the hu mans aspects are served. For a fes ti vals, this helps eval u a tion sit u a tions and stag ing choices. Is the dance floor something we can look at as a com bina tion of en - gaging body (partic i pa tion) and a socia l mom ent, or is it more like a ritual and indi vid ual activ ity? Are the danc ers, given a specifi c sound and lighting sit ua tion, in the one or in another state? The art of festi val program ming requires an under sta nding of these el ements and their ef fects and the two cir cle model can help iden tify them. It’s often not the ra tional or cogni tive that is im portant. In many an- cient ritu als the literal signif icance of the chants and the words is often lost or no longer under stood by the partic i pants or officiators but that doesn’t seem to bother them much. The other levels of meaning and transfer ence are more im portant and as long as the com bina tion of sounds, movem ents and acts are in line with the percei ved purpose and inten tion of the ritual, this has value. The deeper meaning of a festi val can be that it offers oppor tu ni ties and forms of encoun ter and exchange that are very differ ent from

153 every day life. The use of ritual ele m ents can help to kind of channel and guide this to cash in on these oppor tu ni ties . Being invited to shake hands, or hug the one next to you seems maybe silly, but it helps to break the ice.

A fes ti val has, like a rit ual, cer tain goals. Apart from the per sonal goals, like feeling good, having fun, meet ing people, support ing some deal or cause, trans for mation etc. there are the so cial goals, rang ing from ma nip u lat ing and con trol ling peo ple to more el e vated aims like com munity build ing. There are ideal is tic goals, there is the oth er worldly, the spir i tual, the con tact with the in tan gi ble re al i ties. The purpose of the ritual, differ ent for the vari ous stakeholders and partic i pants , gives it meaning. There are dif ferent kinds and levels of mean ing in a rit ual, the lit eral, the moral, the alle gor ical, the symbolic/ana gog ic (mys ti cal) and the tran scen den tal/ mag i cal. This does not exclude prac tical meanings and goals like socia l, finan cia l, bonding, diversity management, but it helps to widen the perspective.

Fes tivals and rit uals thus have a lot in com mon, I would say that the kind of fes ti vals dis cussed here (the gen eral TAZ-cat egor y) are rit - ual by defi ni tion. They ad dress the three worlds and offer more than mere cer em ony, even as there is much diver sity in how these worlds and goals are addressed.. The stages of a ritual There are usually stages or ele me nts in the lit urgy of a ritual (ritual ma trix) re lat ing to spe cific pur poses, like: • Preparing the site and dedication, creating a magic container (circle)

Kumba Mela in India (2001) 154 • Purification and welcome • Invocation of spirits and good energies • Healing, expressing the intention of the event • Devotion /Commemoration • Sacrifice, Communion, a symbolic act of offering and sharing, the unifying • Transformation, Ascension • Thanking and closing these are the logi cal steps to follow in setting up a rit ual in side a festival, some like heal ing can be left out, but the genera l and tradi - tional rit ual ma trix does make sense. Pu rifi ca tion is usu ally the first step, to clean one self from sins or bad karma. Wa ter, salt and fire are used for this, again in connec tion with prayer, chanting etc. Puri fi ca tion may involve not only the par- tici pants but a lot of mate rial and imma terial stuff like the tools and im plem ents may need to be cleaned and purified. There is the com muni ca tion with the spirit(s) or the earth and sky, asking for favors and pay ing respec t. Here the devo tional offer ings becom e sacri fice , a gift in order to obtain something in re turn. The com mu ni ca tion is of ten two-way. Or a cle signs or div i na tion out- comes are in ter preted as an an swer of the spirit(s). Al ready Plato saw sac rifice s as com munion with the Gods and divi na tion as their answe r. A further step is the com munion involves uniting with the divine, partak ing in the conse cra tion, even eating the trans muted sac ri fice. A communal meal is a common part of the ritual order. Trans form ation in this context means reaching a higher level of consciousness or power in this or the inner world. Ascen sion means rising to the heaven, reaching the mys tical state. The thanking of the people and the spirits present is not only a polite , but an essen tial part of a ritual. Inten ti on and pur po se Ritu als and festi vals have a purpose and meaning. That they help on the psy cho log i cal and so cial level is clear, the ef fi cacy in mag i cal terms is less under stood; the same goes for festivals. As for the ef fec tive ness (efficacy) much hinges on the belief of the partic i pants , if you believe it works, it works. The Kumba Mela pil - grims believe their dip in the Ganges cleans their soul, and they re-

155 turn home re lieved and happy. I think many partic i pants of Burning Man believe that their symbol ic acts do in flu ence the state of the world and help global consci ousness . They go home re lieved and happy, spreading that belief. To be ef fec tive in this re spect, it is neces sary that all lev els of mean - ing are aligned and point in the same di rec tion. If we see a rit ual as a magi cal endeavor , inten tion is the main attrib ute and the key to success in terms of both mate rial and imma terial results. If one tries to achieve peace and har mony, it does n’t make sense to stage a con flict and use violent symbolism. One can as sume that co or di na tion and har mo ni za tion, the cor re spon- dence betwe en the tangi ble and the intan gi ble (the virtual, includ ing emotion al and spir i tual) matri ces is key to the suc cess of a fes ti val and rit ual, in what ever terms, mate rial or im ma terial. The old tradi - tions tell us that us ing the right names, the right movem ents, even the right breath is essen tial. Reso nance is what matters, in older text this is called correpondence. If love is present and expres sed in body, mind and heart of the people, little can go wrong. However , bad intentions by some can turn things sour.

Siberian Summer Festival(photo M.Bakker)

156 16 Festivals & Computer Games

Play and games are pre cur sors to rit ual, fes ti vals, sports events and courts. Many of our insti tu tions like the judi cia l system and par lia- ment. Even philosoph i cal discus sions can be seen as a game aim ing at im prov ing un der stand ing and progress. This has been dealt with in the previ ous chapters , in this chapter I would like to point at the res onance betwe en com puter games and fes ti vals. Prof. Gino Yu (HongKong) sees in com puter games, espe - cially in so-called serious and transformational games a great mirror and par allel of fes tivals and translate s design concept s from the one to the other realm. There are many simi lar i ties be tween the (multi - player) virtual game worlds and the real and tangi ble world of a fes - tivals , both deal with emotions and feelings, use sym bolism and subconscious manipulation. Com puter games and fes tivals have a lot in com mon, and these days the massive multiplayer online games (MMOG) and massive multiplayer online role play ing games (MMORPG) are like online fes ti vals. Com puter as sisted games and per va sive games are slowly en ter ing the festivalscape. Just like festi vals , games de velop, and there is an overlap be tween fes tivals and com puter games. Pervasive games even reach into the real world like with on-site loca tion-ga mes. The use of smartphones and tracking makes inser tion of such new enter tain m ent options in the festi val scene a possi bil ity and a tool for crowd control and marketing. I have not found a festi val sim ula tion game yet, but com bining policy, strat egy, busi ness ana lytic games and sim u lations like Sim-city would no doubt make an inter est ing game; creat ing, model ing and running fes tivals , in a genre like ty coon games. New kinds of com puter games are evolving, like the seri ous and meaning ful games cate gory. They are used for learning, training and sim u la tion. De sign ers, pol icy mak ers, teach ers, and the med i cal world now see the useful ness of digi tal games be yond en tertain - ment. Games have been de vel oped for teach ing, as sess ment, re cruit - ing and to collec t data to im prove search engines or crowd control.

157 What can we learn from games that is rel evant for trans for mation , in rela tion to festi vals and per sonal growth? Why is gamificat ion (in - troduc ing game el em ents in norm al life and the festi val staging) a trend that par allels eventification? Do we lack challenge in our lives, and look for ex cite ment and grat i fi ca tion in tem po rary au ton o- mous zones, on our com puter console , in movies , in the ater and of course in festi vals ? Many questions, and fairly relevant ones. We live in a world where the real ity of ma teri al is tic and not ho listic) progres s has other effec ts, more com puters and robot ics will proba - bly elim inate jobs. We can all predict driver-less logis tics, farmer-less ag ri cul ture, drones, robot soldiers and watchm en, auto - mated care, but what do we see as a fu ture for the peo ple, the nor - mal folks out of a job, maybe out of a regu lar incom e? Will we go for ever more fun and games, gamification, travel, self-realization workshops, yoga, drugs, massive pilgrim ages, even more festi vals , or will boredom and easy euthanasia take over? Gam(e)ification is one of the trends. It’s a word intro duced by T. Chang and popu lar ize d by Jesse Schell. Using the greed of people and the need to com pete, to lure them into par tici pa tion or buying isn’t new. Our parents did also buy lot tery tickets and col lected bo- nus vouchers and coupons, but these days it’s be com ing a major trend. It’s rather op por tu nis tic, smartly us ing hu man psy chol ogy to cre ate fan-groups, fol lowers , likers and of course buyers , but the results count. Having a game as soci ate d with your brand, used as an attrac tor for your site or shop, as a way to reach the genera l public is now com mon prac tice. Game-the ory, once a math e mat i cal odd ity, is now part of the market ing curric u lum . In the fes tival context us ing prizes, incen tives , even lotter ies are not uncom mon, but is used in - creasingly in the market ing and in the fan-man ageme nt. It fits into the incen tive, schemes, why not give a discount for loy alty, award prizes or free tick ets based on feed back, use the Loy alty 2.0 approach (like in GroupON and Foursquare) to create bonding with and between the participants. Gamification, in the computer game or in real life (like sharing in the savings in medi cal costs) turns out to be an ef fec tive tool in this. Seri ous appli ca tions of games, in learning, and also in medi cal and psychotherapeutic ap pli cation s, have be come a game-cate gor y by it - self, seri ous or transformational (transformative) gaming.

158 Games, espe cia lly in a group setting, influ ence the mood and group mind, they can cre ate a spe cific gestalt, an iden tity. This again is also true for festi vals.

In this chapter a num ber of shared funda m ental ele m ents of games and festi vals are com pared. One of the problem s here is, that neither of these fields has much of a solid footing in psychol ogy. There is much written about how to de sign games, but just as with festi val much less about why we play games. This question has been ad - dressed in the chapter about play and trans form ation, here fol low the approac h devel oped earlier in this book, starting with tem porary auton o m ous zones. Later some models and concept s used in game design are dis cussed, as they also shed light on how festivals ‘work’. TAZ in games; immersion The concept of tem porary auton o m ous zones (TAZ) does n’t only ap ply to fes ti vals, gath er ings and com mu ni ties, but be comes rel e - vant also in the context of games and more specif i cal ly com puter (video) games. A game provides a tem porary auton o m ous zone, played alone or in com pany; these days we can play multiplayer games in the isola tion of our own screen. The sense of freedom that a phys i cal TAZ or per manent free zone of fers, has often little to do with the re ality or physicali ty. It is a feeling, something we cre ate in our mind and feel in our body, for in stance if we en ter the gate of such a place, make the ‘liminality’ step over the threshold, don a specia l cos tume or identify with our av atar in a comput er game. Our heart rate goes up, we feel ex cite - ment, a sense of freedom , curi os ity, ready to exchange our ‘old’ identity with a new one, identify oursel ves with the world, the ide als and the limitations of the new realm. In a com puter game, and with augm ented or virtual real ity this ‘im - mersion ’ becomes even more in tense, we also en ter a new world, with differ ent rules and constra ints, which com es with a sense of freedom. As I alrea dy in dicat ed in the previ ous chapters , play is very im portant (also for ani m als), in learning to deal with the world in grow ing up and later in deal ing with stress, as enter tain me nt, in risk as sess- ment and even as therapy to keep one’s brain and body ac tive. As

159 was ex plained there play may be a fun da mental as pect of evolution and life. Games as struc tured forms of play are es sen tial, not only for learn - ing and de velop ing skills but as a way to find one’s posi tion in the socia l envi ron m ent, as a way to resolve conflic ts and as a psy cho- logi cal tool to deal with stress, hier ar chy, self-worth, and even dis - eases. The seri ous of meaning ful com puter games now emerging can deal with edu cation, but also with life-style transfor ma tion. In the case of diseas es like dia be tes this is very impor tant, changing the menu and exer cis ing for many requires more than just doctor’s orders. Games can be very physi cal, like in sports, but also with lit tle or no action like in chess or puzzle s; just brain games. Com puter games so far have a lim ited scope of phys ical activ ity, but with techniques like movem ent sensors and virtual real ity this can be expanded and the bodily en gagem ent grows. Modern insights like ‘embodied cogni tion’ and mirror neurons show that body and mind interact in many ways.

160 Transformative gaming Games that change the at ti tude, life style and be liefs of play ers and/or audi ence are termed transformational or transformative games and are incre asingly im portant in all kinds of fields, from ed- u ca tion, train ing, med i cal and ther a peu tic use to brain wash ing and pro pa ganda. There are de signed to cre ate ex pe ri ences for learn ers that bene fit (or influ ence ) their lives and the lives of those connected to them. Life-style trans form ation is maybe too lofty a goal, but for insta nce in situ a tions where the purpose is to change funda - mental be havior like in trying to change exer cis e and eating patterns for diabetics, it is the right term. The use of games or game techniques (gamification) for all kinds of purposes , not only training, edu ca tion, but for ther apies of all sorts, tests and eval u ation s, and alas also in war fare. The use and ben efits of gam ing in support ing Alzheimer’s and other demen tia pa tients, but in gen eral all se niors, are well established. These gam ing expe ri ence s share some root quali ties . They must be fun, engag ing and re warding to be succes sful, even if their ul tim ate purpose is se rious in na ture. Game mechan ics can be used to inform , teach, and shape be hav ior. Games are ex cel lent learn ing manage - ment sys tems, capa ble of both teaching and asses sm ent. The real-time nature of games al lows them to oc casion “teach able mo - ments” for “just-in-time learning.” Well designe d games adjust the chal lenge, the task diffi culty ac cording to user perfor m ance, which fa cil i tates sus tained at ten tion, en gage ment, and learning while minimizing boredom and frustration. Design and Gestalt To cre ate or design a fes ti val at the ‘Gestalt’ level is, even with the enorm ous num ber of events, still more of an art than a science . There are people very good at it, intu itive ly, but don’t ask them for the secre ts of their succes s, they just do it, learned it by doing and try. This is also the case for com puter games. There is much about how to make games, but little theory or sci ence as to why they are suc cess ful. It’s of ten a mat ter of trial and er ror, of re peat ing and ex - tending suc cessful for mulas , form al de sign at the level of game creation is rare. The de sign space and hum an problem solving notions of people like Her bert Simon have re mained a theo ret i cal ideal, ex cept that there is this aware ness that de sign space or so lu tion space are dif fer ent, that

161 great ideas need prac tical trials . Looking for de sign ideas and im - provem ents in both the space of hypoth e ses (gener a tion of ideas) and the space of exper i m ents (testing of ideas) helps to identify flaws and improves feedback.. Tetrads There are of course a num ber of game design models , that also may help to see how fes tivals can be opti m ized, but they are not very deep. The McLuhan Tetrad approac h is, amazingly, one of the more insight ful approac hes, it truly of fers four per spec tives that don’t really over lap and are not just two axes intersecting. The ‘El emen tal Tetrad in Game-de sign’ Jesse Schell proposed is one of the few design models one encoun ters in the game-de sign world, but does not delve very deep in why we play games, just in - di cates game elements. Schell’s El emen tal Tetrad (Schell 2008) has four el ements: mechan - ics, tech nol ogy, aes thet ics and story. Schell de fines me chan ics as “the proce dures and rules of your game” and indi cat es six types of mechan ics –“space”, “ob jects”, “ac tions”, “rules”, “skill” and “chance”. Space is where the us ers en gage with the game (both vir - tual worlds and phys ical space). Objec ts are tools used by the player to advance in the game. Ac tions are the player inter ac tion with ob- jects and other play ers. Rules govern the game envi ron m ent. Skills

162 are phys i cal, men tal and so cial abil i ties used by a player. Chance re - fers to the randomness and risks that exists in games. Technol ogy is about the tools and system s used to im plem ent or de - liver the dy namics, the gameplay, based on the mechan ics. Aes thet - ics descr ibes how the game looks, sounds, smells, tastes, and feels, the emotions and experiences. Story is the most inter est ing part of the tetrad, as a good story, supported by game fig ures, is what makes a game attract an au di ence, just as a good theme, supported by acts, attrac ts vis itors to a festi val. Schell defines story as the sequence of events that unfolds in a game, but even includ ing the other parts of the tetrad this falls somewhat short of what really defines the game, the ‘Gestalt’. His tetrad model can be adapted to model festi val de sign, and then can help to identify the di mensions and el em ents, but re mains a lim - ited tool. What is lack ing in this model is the mo tiva tion to play (or attend a festi val), the variabil ity in incentives, the dif fer ences in in - divid ual needs and self-states, the dy namic na ture and self-state shifts of play ers; this approac h helps to differ en ti ate the de sign proces s, but not much more. The basic drives and at trac tors as dis - cussed ear lier, iden ti fi - ca tion, par tic i pa tion and re al iza tion, very rel e - vant in games, are not covere d. In genera l there is lit tle dif fer en ti a- tion and model ing based on in di vid ual pref er ences or per son al - ity types in game design, even as it is re al - ized certain types of games do appeal to different groups of people. Schell, one of the in - spir ing per son al i ties of

163 the comput er game- scene, mapped the var i ous el ements in game design in a kind of tree, with many ele m ents, but again lacking more ex plicit mod els and feed back mechanisms. In his tetrad he basi cal ly uses the vis ibil ity axis versus the hard-soft (dig i tal-an a log) one, but in es sence just con nects ev ery thing with every thing and doesn’t work out models for those re lation ships . The link be tween for in stance the ‘mechan ics’ or rules and the aes thet ics (emotion s, sub jec tive ex pe ri ence) is clar i fied a bit by the MDA model, where more or less the same el ements as in Schell’s tetrad but minus story are used.. MDA game design Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc and Rob ert Zubek defined MDA (Me- chan ics-Dy namics-Aes thet ics). The MDA framework is a popu lar tool to design and ana lyze games. It for malize s the struc ture of games by breaking them down into three com po nents - Me chan ics, Dy nam ics and Aes thet ics. From the per spec tive of the de signer the me chan ics gen er ate dy nam ics which gen er ate aes thet ics, rules lead to emergent gameplay and this to form and ap pre ci a tion, emo tions and ex pe ri ence. Game de sign ers plan, de vise and manip u late the workings of the game (e.g. rules, al- gorithm s, data structures , interventions, relationships). Player in ter ac tions with game me chan ics cre ate the dy nam ics, the way the game devel ops and is played. These dy namics then af fect the player’s emotional expe ri ence or aesthet ics , the fun but also the irri ta tion. From the perspec tive of the player, the emotions are what matter most, he has to deal with the gameplay and the rules, but how he feels matters most. He may un dersta nd the rules and dim ensions of the game, but this is not necessary to begin playing. For the designe r the oppo site is true, there the mechan ics come first. This poses a chal lenge for the game designe r as he is only able to influence the mechan ics and only through them can he produce meaning ful dy namics and aes thet ics for the player. To cre ate a game, he of ten has to become a player (the trial) to ex pe ri ence the out come, and then go back to the design stage.

164 Some crit i cism of this MDA model makes sense, be cause by cre at - ing at trac tive and mood-set ting vi su als and com fort able con trols and feedback, as is now com mon in high reso lu tion and even more so in immersive games, the de signer can more di rectly in flu ence the re - sult ing emotional state. There are at least eight type of Aes thet ics (ac cord ing to Hunicke, LeBlanc and Zubec): • Sensation (Game as sense-pleasure): Player experience something completely unfamiliar. • Fantasy (Game as make-believe): Imaginary world. • Narrative (Game as drama): A story that drives the player keep coming back • Challenge (Game as obstacle course): Urge to master something. Boosts a game’s replay. • Fellowship (Game as social framework): A community where the player is an active part of it. Almost exclusive for interactive multiplayer games. • Discovery (Game as uncharted territory): Urge to explore game world. • Expression (Game as self-discovery): Own creativity. For example, creating character resembling player’s own avatar.

165 • Submission (Game as pastime): Connection to the game, as a whole, despite of constraints. These are in ef fect eight sub cat ego ries of game use, each with their own dy nam ics, incentivising and disincentiving proper ties and at - trac tion for dif fer ent per son al ity types. One could add cat e go ries like sur ren der, trans for ma tion, self-ex plo ra tion and learn ing, es pe - cially for se rious and transformational games. Re le van ce for fes ti vals We can take this model to the fes ti val. There the or ga nizer can make the rules, set the price, the line-up of the art ist, choose a tar get au di - ence, but it is the actual event, the run-time and the inter ac tion of the partic i pants (includ ing the talent) that de fines how things go and this makes for what the people expe ri ence , the fun. The subcat ego ries of games can be applied to fes tivals and offer yet an other way to describe the qual i ties and val ues of a fes ti val and what needs or drives are ca tered for. Again it must be made clear that not all things are rele vant for all people. Typ ing of the audi ence or audi ence groups based upon sys tems like Myers-Briggs or Enneagram will re veal which cat ego ries or mixes of cat ego ries ap - peal to whom. There is amazingly little liter a ture on this sub ject, most au di ence re sponses are ag gre gated, as if all humans are more or less alike. The nar rative; MTDA + N One of the shortcom ing in Schell’s tetrad and in the MDA model, accord ing to Paul Ralph and Kafui Monu is the lack of under sta nd - ing and appre ci at ing the narra tive in a game in the models . A nar rative is the story line, the under ly ing scenario, the re curring baseline of the game. Em bedded Narra tive is what is told or shown to the player by the game’s cre ators. It can be told at the start, in ter wo ven in the gameplay, becom e clear through the artwork, under ly ing music or au dio-nar ra tive. Emer gent Nar ra tives un fold and can be in flu enced by the player, stories kind of develop with the gameplay. In terprete d Nar rative is what the play ers makes of it and is de pendent on inter - preta tion, much as when reading a book a mental im age forms about the people and places. In the MTDA+N (Me chan ics, Tech nol ogy, Dy nam ics, Aes thet ics plus Narra tives ) framework they combined MDA and the Ele m ental

166 Tetrad, adding technol ogy (tools and system s used to im plem ent or de liver gameplay) as a fac tor, rel evant as new ways of in ter action emerge and are a dis tinct element in game-design. Ap ply ing this to fes ti vals an ex am ple il lus trates the rel e vance. Take the theme ‘Tribal Revival’. This is not only an indi ca tion, it can be rolled out as a nar rative, not only in words, but in de cor (em bedded nar ra tive), in the clothes of par tic i pants (in ter preted nar ra tive) and in the se quence of acts (emergent nar ra tive) and tempo (dy na mism, the emotion line in the line-up), supported by the garb of the artists , the kind of mu sical instru me nts, the imag ery pro jected. This all will create the aes thet ics, the emotion al out come of the whole pro cess. The growing role of technol ogy, these days with ever more and larger displays, holo graphic im agery, new drugs, wearables, smartphones, apps etc. etc, are part of the deal in enhancing or expanding the narrative.. Lay ers The proces s of de sign ing a fes ti val also res o nates with the ranked ‘six lay ers of art’ model of Scott McCloud, where sur face re sem bles the

167 idea of aesthetics in het MDA model, but is less com prehen sive and conse quen tial , but is useful for under sta nding the lay ers in a com - puter game from the cre ators per spec tive. In the fes ti val con text it can help to trans late a theme into man age able lev els of ex pres sion, or decons truct a certain festival ambiance. Deconstruction and priming Fes tival produc ers proba bly do a lot of evalu a tion of past events. Decons truc tion of succes sful and failed events, in or der to pinpoint what works and what does n’t makes a lot of sense, but not much has been publishe d about this. Given the sometim es extrem e and extrav - agant structures and expanded stages like at the Tomorrowland fes tivals, Burn ing Man and else where it is sen si ble to an aly ze the ef fects of decor, lighting, dy nam ism and of course music in a structured way. Not only the posi tive ones like enthu si asm but also how some effec ts, levels and fre quencie s of sound, lighting and im agery may lead to aggres sion, disinterest, boredom or even sexual arousal. The frequency follow ing response (FFR) of peri odic or nearly-pe riodic audi tory stim uli is of course well known and is used by DJ’s to influ ence the mood of a crowd, but video im agery, décor, light ing are obvi ously fac tors in ‘playing the audi ence ’, and often cleverly used by the artists . Neuropsychology has found support for such effects in so-called mir ror-neu rons; peo ple more or less au to mat i cally imi tate what they see. Danc ing on the stage makes the crowd mode too. This is also a con cern, since ag gres sive, an ti so cial, rac ist or overtly sexual be havior on stage (or in video games etc.) is im itate d. The prim ing effec ts of media, not only televi sion, movies , but also internet, comput er games and fes ti vals, are well re searched by peo - ple like Leonard Berkowitz and for internet Nicho las Carr (in Shal - lows) warned against the nega tive im pact of screen-addiction. We seem to pick up eas ily on me dia-mes sages, es pe cially in crowds; the group mind is easily tricked and repeat ed expo sure will train our brain to go with the flow. This is exact ly what market ing and build - ing loy alty is all about, we like specifi c bands or music becaus e we know it, it re minds us of earlier expo sure, it feels fa miliar and trust- worthy. This can be used in pos itive and nega tive ways, think about po lit i cal ral lies and dem on stra tions. Kind ness Prim ing (pos i tive psy - chology) is a specifi c form of prim ing that occurs when a subjec t ex pe ri ences an act of kind ness and sub se quently ex pe ri ences a lower

168 thresh old of ac ti va tion when sub se quently en coun ter ing pos i tive stim uli. A unique feature of kindness priming is that it causes a temporary incre ased resis tance to nega tive stim uli in addition to the increased activation of positive associative networks. On the other hand the gen eral ag gres sion model (GAM) in te grates the prim ing theory with the socia l learning theory to descr ibe how previ ously learned vio lent be havior may be triggere d by thoughts, emo tions, or phys i o log i cal states pro voked by me dia ex po sure. This how ever is a complex field and the theo ret i cal mod els are still far from real expla na tions. Most focus on cogni tive proces ses, but emo - tions and the body proba bly play an im portant role in how we deal with stim uli. The im pact of fes tival perfor m ances on the indi vid ual and group mind and be havior can be very intense, and should be taken serious! Con ver gen ce The basic structures of a fes ti val and a com puter game have many sim ilar i ties and study ing those can help to im prove either one. Looking into the transformative quali ties of games, but on an indi - vidual level or at least more focuse d on indi vid ual needs and moti - vations, seems a fruitful exer cis e. The models and design consid er - ations, to a large extend, seem to ignore the need for differentiation. Just as there is a trend towar ds transformative gam ing, but lacking deep insight in how people and groups change and respond, the transformative fes tivals could do with some more target group profiling. Re search and statis tics indi cating that so many like this, or that, or feel such etc. has lit tle rel evance, un less we can re late this to indi vid ual prefer ence s and those to psychological profiles. This would take away a lit tle bit of the magic and art of the game design ers and the fes tival staging folks, but would help to get the most out of these excit ing media.

169 17 Social media and festivalization

One could say that a fes ti val or event is the es sen tial real time so cial medium . Meeting others ‘in the flesh’ with far more sensory bandwidth than any electronic medium can provide is the ‘real thing’. The gadget-f reaks may believe that 3D, holograms and virtual real - ity co mes close, it still lacks the immersive quality of ‘being there’. The digi tal and the real socia l media how ever converge and this goes two ways. We can use dig i tal so cial media to feel part of an event and we can share our expe ri ence s with those off-site, online and offline via sound, pic tures and video. Fes tivals feel the influ - ence of socia l media, off-site and on-site. It’s quite nor mal to see peo ple at a con cert or event shar ing their ex pe ri ences and their eval -

170 ua tions on the spot, holding up their smartphones to share with those at home or the world. Convergence of media The use of digi tal and virtual socia l media is now becom ing very much part of nor mal com mu ni ca tion pat terns, this in creas ingly influ ences the mar ket ing, po si tion ing and stag ing of fes ti vals. The websites, blogs, tweets are a ma jor factor in how an event is re - ceived and judged, in how loy alty devel ops and how visi tors are attracted. Price strat egies and tac ti cal in cen tives are no lon ger commu - nicat ed in print, but via internet, allow ing much more narrowcasting and target ing of spe cific audi ence s. Building a festi val or event com mu nity or fan-group is a com mon prac tice. Keeping people in- formed and partic i pat ing in planning and shaping the next event, or- ganiz ing local sub-events, reunions, virtual meet ings, there are many possi bil i ties . Events like Burning Man have create d a whole structure of support and off-site service s and gather ings, a whole ecosystem that uses internet and live meetings to build a loyalty tribe. In the proces s of com muni cat ing with the fan-group and poten tial par tic i pants much data can be gath ered for ‘big data’ anal y sis and fine-tun ing the event. With in creasing avail ability of real-time sensor data of par tic i pants (smart watches, wearables, BlueTooth, NFC and mobile data) the possi bil i ties for crowd moni tor ing and crowd control will grow. Digi tal signage sys tems can help to guide the crowd, but apps, tweets and sms are also ways to communicate. On-site com muni ca tions via socia l media and the post-event evalu a - tion on internet and via socia l media are quite norm al and are even be com ing a grow ing con cern for fes ti val op er a tors. The is sue of rights (IP) to broadcas t live events and perfor m ances is at stake. Such rights were once more or less safe, bootleg film ing an event could easily be spotted, but these days such control is an illu sion. The Grate ful Dead ap proach of stim u lat ing and fa cil i tat ing boot leg record ing as part of grass-roots market ing is more effec tive and in line with the so cial media trend. The pro jections and fear that dig ital and virtual com muni ca tions would make live events obso lete didn’t ma te ri al ize, these days the in come of per form ing art ists de pends more on their touring and performance income than on selling records, CD’s and online music.

171 Extended range and coverage Dig i tal me dia and high-band width com mu ni ca tion will fa cil i tate remote partic i pa tion, of audi ence and talent. The wide ar ray of visual and au dio re lay sys tems, the avail abil ity of cameras and screens and even holo graphic projec tion can be used to involve more parties and more (exter nal, off-site) talent, and broadcas t to a much wider audi - ence and mone tize such service s. Linking events, syn chroniz ing perform ances, even have musi cia ns on differ ent loca tions play and sing to gether, there are many pos si bil i ties to en hance the ex pe ri ence for those present and those participating online.

The ef fects of so cial media in di cated in a McLuhan tetrad can be used to see where the con ver gence of fes ti vals and so cial media will go. A com bina tion tetrad shows that the incre ased feedback from the au di ence, which could be a pos i tive ef fect, can also lead to such res -

172 onance , that a panic emerges. The group mind, stim ulate d by so cial me dia com mu ni ca tions, could eas ily drift to wards ex tremes, turn ing against the orga niz ers , the perform ers or subgroups in the audi ence . The expe ri ence with hooli gans in sports-events and during dem on - stra tions shows that their ‘inter nal’ group com muni ca tion goes very fast and without much damping and can over heat very quickly. These are of course ex tremes, the developments in the reversal corner of a McLuhan tetrad.

173 18 Size of events

Many people ask whether they should go to a large event or look for a smaller and more cozy fes ti val. There is no easy an swer, as this depends on what one wants and what the event offers . It may look like large events are less per sonal, more com mercial and with less con tact op por tu ni ties, but if the or ga niz ers em pha size con tact they can set up smaller sub-units or ar eas, where spe cific moods are re al - ized. It all has to do with the reso nance betwe en the visi tor and the event and this is where the identi fi ca tion is im portant. Many people go to the same festi val ev ery year, they are fans and indeed ‘citizens’ of such an event. Size does matter, but having been at supersized reli gious festi vals held for hundreds of years like the Kumba Melas in In dia, I can tes - tify that those can be as en gag ing and impres sive as a small al ter na - tive camp in nature. Of course the mass of people can cause prob - lems like a stam pede at the 2013 Allahabad Maha Kumb Mela where mil lions (some claim there were 30 mil lion peo ple at the peak day of the event) gathere d at the conflu ence of the Yamuna and the Ganges rivers to take a holy dip. The grounds are very well or - ganize d, and have been a safe and very color ful and even support ive envi ron m ent, but at the sta tion a stam pede caused some 40 deaths. The 2010 stam pede di sas ter in Duisburg has obvi ously made clear that safety is a big issue at these enormous events. At pub lic events like Sail Amsterdam or the ‘Koningsdag’ in Am - sterdam eas ily more than half a million people crowd the inner city with of ten small streets. It’s a mira cle and testi fy ing to the friendly mood and smart crowd control that no major ac cidents then happen. Many differ ent sub-events and stages, and public signage sys tems help to dispers e the audience. The larg est mu sic fes ti vals are in Eu rope like Glastonbury (175.000), Werchter, Roskilde, T in the Park, Sziget, Open’er, So- nar. But America is catching up with Coachella, re gional Tomorrowlands, Bonnaroo, where also more than a hundred thou- sand gather to enjoy the music and the atm ospher e. The Bogota Roque al Parque is also gigan tic. The lists of fes tivals and at tendance are not very accu rate, as the ex act number of at ten dees is a trade se cret and bi-an nual fes ti vals are not always included.

174 The re lation ship be tween size and focus has not been the subjec t of much study, it seems that posi tion ing a festi val is much more a matter of intu ition and art than the subjec t of se rious re search. In a way this is amazing, for under sta nding what makes people attend is valuable mate rial, for the market ers, the gov ern ment and the or ga niz ers. The genera l approac hes in com mercia l econom y with tar get groups, au di ence dif fer en ti a tion, mar ket re search and such are of course used and valid, but things like crowd control, group mind ma nip u la - tion, the effec ts of mobile phones, socia l media and drugs on the audience and poten tial visi tors are not exten sive ly studied. How scenery, lo ca tion, lay-out, dec o ra tion, weather, fa cil i ties and ca ter ing influence the mood at a festival is a matter of intuition, not of science.

175 The matter is very complex, but mass-market ing and in fact soci ol - ogy are not much better in com ing up with clear guide lines and models to evalu ate group proces ses. Even under sta nding how group size af fects outcom e has to draw on some exper i m ents in the sixties , where T. Leary and the psy chedelic gang es tablishe d that for transformational effec t, a group size of 6 is optimal. How these days socia l media like Facebook influ ence behav ior, atten dance or psy cho log i cal wel fare is an is sue much has been writ ten about, but no clear model or form ulas emerged. There is the network approac h, where technol ogy is supposed to bring more connec tiv ity and cohe sion and more is consid ere d better. More nodes, more network connec tions lead to more value. People who were actu ally involved in the design and im plem enta tion of the internet and network technol ogy are opti m istic about what networks will bring to us. They believe in further de velop m ent of the internet (bandwidth, technol ogy, in telli gence , big data), some see a de velop - ment similar to the growth of a living thing. Cyberspace (as an ex ten sion of life re ally) is a not a ther mody nami - cally closed system and therefore doesn’t obey the rules of entropy. It evolves like a living entity, growing and offer ing new oppor tu ni - ties, overcom ing obsta cles. There is the danger of entropic hom oge - niza tion, of losing diver sity and identity, but this is not widely rec- ognize d, technol ogy will save us, with even major jumps, like the sin gu larity jump Ray Kurzweil is so optimistic about. This opti m ism centers around the idea that more contac ts incre ase the value of a net work, Metcalfe’s Law stip u lates that the value of the network incre ases with the square of the num ber of nodes. This may have some value for techni cal networks , but when there are people around there are other mecha nism s, like Dunbar’s num ber and the Allen curve, both lim iting the value. Group size and social platform, Dunbar’s number The co he sion ef fects of elec tronic de vices and so cial media are sub - stantial, but there is an im por tant so cial effect that lim its the number of peo ple we can in ter act with, also in the fes ti val con text. We can be part of a crowd but as socia l beings we are not able to have a meaning ful re lation with all. The size of a tribe or isolate d group is thus lim ited in the sense that we have a lim ited span of people we

176 can relate to. It takes time to know, rec ognize and trust other people and this limits the effective group size. This was notice d in groups of monkeys, first by Robin Dunbar, their groups are lim ited in size as they have to spend much of their time estab - lish ing and main tain ing so cial hi er ar chies and pecking order. This applies to hum ans as well. For hu - mans the group num ber varies but the median num ber ac cord ing to Robin Dunbar is about 150. This is supposed to be influ ence d by the basic living condi tions and also the stage of develop m ent of a culture. The more people can live and work togethe r the more specia liza tion is possi ble and this brings technol ogy, prog - ress etc. Rit u als, as being a very core con tact plat form, would help to structure inner tribe contac ts, incre ase the poten tial group size and thus would be instru m ental in sustainability and de velop m ent. In this way ritu als are part of the de velop m ent path of a culture, as stepping stones towar d more complex societies, as they help increase Dunbar’s number. They provide a means for structur ing the ties betwe en people, estab - l i s

177 h a net work of stronger ties. To turn acci den tal contac ts into something more is what phys ical contac t can achieve, and to help this fes ti vals can or ga nize con tact op por tu ni ties, cre ate smaller groups, work shops, sharings, chill areas and such. Now on a large festi val the level of in terac tion is less inti ma te, as we are unable to hook up with every body, even for just a chat. If we split the crowd up in smaller groups, a higher level of meaning ful contac t is pos sible. Here the goal of provid ing contac t plays a role, differ ent group sizes are appro pri ate for dif ferent purposes . For hav - ing sex obvi ously two is a logi cal num ber, for transformational groups six is recom mended, for talking and creative encoun ters twelve, for socia l events Dunbar’s num ber (150) com es into play and the loose crowd networks can run in the thousands. The influence of alcohol and drugs on group mind It is well known that some level of alco hol in take will help lower the contac t barri ers . Too much makes for aggres sion and causes problem s, but a little booze helps the mood. The same goes for most empathogen drugs like MDMA, canna bis, while stronger psy chedel -

178 ics also influ ence the group mind, but not in a nega tive di rec tion, mostly in creas ing tol er ance. It is widely accepted that on the so-called psy-trance fes ti vals there are less prob lems than at mu sic fes tivals where al cohol is the drug of choice which makes people ag gres sive and less tol er ant. Drugs like co caine, es pe cially mixed with alco hol, do have nega tive effec ts, people flip out, OD happens and it is harder to keep the peace. There is quite some mate rial on how drugs affec t the indi vid ual, but less studies on how spe cific substa nces affec t the group mind, how these ef fects can be used for crowd control, the days that the mili - tary believe d massive distri bu tion of LSD could be a weapon are gone. There are many anec dotal stories about how nice and toler ant the early Brit ish Free Fes ti vals with widespread use of LSD were, but lit tle fun dame n tal research in this direction. Yet the whole idea of a fes tival is crowd control, by way of music , sound, setting, deco ra tion, so why not figure in the use of substances. (see also chap ter 17) Offline and online, fan & tribe building The num ber of atten dees that matter these days is not only those phys ical ly present, many follow events online, rem otely via internet or tra ditional tele vision, paid or free. Cyberspace broadens the scope by transce nding physi cal lim its. People can follow the event online and this ‘rem ote’ par tici pa tion feeds back into the crowd by socia l me dia con tacts. Busi ness mod els cap i tal iz ing on these re mote au di - ences are devel op ing, one can charge for this, make money off the commercials, sell the database etc. Cyberspace is def initel y a fac tor in the growth of fes tivals and some be lieve in the over all size and ef fects of fes ti vals, be cause its ef fects on crowd be hav ior. Mes sages, opin ions, dis ap point ment and en thu- si asm are spread quickly by way of sms, tweet, Whatsapp, apps and so cial media. The in creased con nec tions be tween peo ple with dif fer - ent views, look ing at the same thing, can cre ate a col lec tive image, a group mind. The movem ent of such an inter con nect ed group or audience resem bles that of fish in a school, of birds swarm ing: they oper ate togethe r, in a coor di nate d way. In such a pattern, there always will be a few people leading the major ity, and their influ ence is making (al lowing) others to see a lim ited perspec tive. The feedback is fast, the mood swings follow suit and thus also dangerous oscillation can happen, the crowd can get out of hand.

179 Serving all or just you The chal lenge for or ga niz ers is to serve as many of the at ten dance as possi ble. The crowd rules, but it’s the indi vid ual who has to decide to come back. The chal lenge for or ga niz ers is to serve as many of the at ten dance as pos si ble, find a compro mise be tween the col lec - tive needs and the indi vid ual varia tions. The indi vid ual need to con - nect, make meaning ful contac ts, is one of those indi vid ual needs that re quires plan ning, cre at ing con tact op por tu ni ties.. Par ti tion ing the crowd, form ing smaller units, stim ulat ing bonding in smaller groups, create one-on-one meet ing spots, next to facil i tat ing the larger acts and crowds is what is now done at most of the festi vals and often in very creative ways. This proces s of atom izing the group to al low new mol ecules to emerge and new con tacts to be made is one of the least under stood mecha nism s of festi vals , but very impor - tant for how it is experienced and the success of it in the eyes of the participants. Festival in festival, differentiation Large fes tivals with just a main stage and a single line-up don’t hap - pen any more, there are mul ti ple stages, a choice in art ists and activ i - ties. Op er a tors un der stand that cer tainly for lon ger fes ti vals the people don’t all want the same thing at the same time and that to cater for the dif fer ences, more ac tiv i ties, more stages, tents, meeting places and such have to be provided. Add to that the need to spread the conces sions, food places, facil i ties and to control the mood and move ments of the crowd, the large fes ti vals become clus ters of sub-festi vals . This means not only offer ing more stages, it means also a varia tion in the size of the acts and sub-events. More engag - ing, more transformative meet ings are usually smaller, and having a campfire with 5 or 10 people enjoy ing some music and the com pany should also be possi ble. The market ing people now real ize that the modern custom er is not the same per son with consis tent needs, but changes, joins groups and leaves them, is in fact not easily profile d. So fes tivals try to offer every thing, and of course some statis ti cal and pre dictable trends emerge, but the whole is fluent, a festival is a flux of people, moods, energy. Ca ter ing to dif fer ent rhythms, dif fer ent styles, dif fer ent moods, different group sizes for differ ent purposes , compartmentalization becomes a ne ces sity. The re ally large fes ti vals like Glastonbury be - come festi val-cit ies, often the size of a big town, with a plan ning

180 and lay out like that of a city. Burning Man, be cause it is held in a norm ally empty desert, is even laid out in a form that approac hes the ideal of city planners. Just as in shopping malls, shop-in-shop, festi val-i n-fes tival is emerging, the one vis itor can have a totall y dif ferent schedule and ex pe ri ence than the other, lis ten ing to dif fer ent mu sic, at tend ing different workshops, meet ing a dif ferent crowd and eat ing differ ent food. The notion of a ‘fes tival city’ emerges and as these large fes tivals are tem porary, unlike for insta nce a Dis ney land with more or less fixed layout, rides and building, this is a great oppor tu nity to experiment and learn about urban planning. A future with less work, and more need for enter tain m ent will re - quire cities that cater for the needs of partic i pa tion, trans for ma tion and identi fi ca tion, will offer some kind of meaning, and so the ex - per i ments with large fes ti vals of fer a per spec tive, a lab o ra tory for the future of cities.

181 19 Utopia, intentional communities

People with ide als and inten tions de viant from the rul ing para digm have al ways tried to es cape, cre ate en claves and iso lated is lands amidst those who thought differ ent from them. These days how ever, the rele vance of under sta nding the roots of this grows. Since Thomas More’s satir i cal travel ogue Utopia (1516) we refer to these as uto pian com mu ni ties, more recently the ex pres sions ‘in ten tional com mu ni ties’, ‘free cul tural spaces’ and ‘permanent autonomous zones’ are used. Why is the meaning and his tory of the concept of a Utopia so rele vant to com mu nity liv ing, au ton o mous zones, cre ativ ity ca fes or in ten tional com muni ties and in a sense to all of us? In thinking about com muni ties that at least in some respects should be better, more hum ane and more eco log i cal, we need to re flect on our ide als. Are they re al is tic or just a nice fan tasy? One could eas ily discar d the whole notion of a Utopian soci ety as an unre al is tic, non- dy namic dream of some writers , do-gooders or re ligious leaders . People who believe that an ideal state or soci ety could work but as - sumes ideal people. It is easy to point out how the hum an lim ita tions like ego and mate rial greed would make such a soci ety a pipe-dream, a fata-morgana, an illusion that could never work. “Uto pia” is some times used pe jo ra tively, in ref er ence to an un re al is - tic ideal that is im pos sible to achieve. And yet, most of us strive to im prove our lives and our part of the world, from either a selfish or socia l point of view, we vote for those who prom ise us those im - provem ents and in most polit i cal movem ents there is a distinct utopian flavor. We can there fore learn from the utopists, those who made in tellec tual or artis tic constructs and those who actu ally tried to cre ate an utopian or eutopian (mini-)soci ety. It does make sense to study the histor i cal and concep tual aspect s of the virtual and real

182 utopia’s, even as we don’t intend to sepa rate from the rest of the world and have no am bition to be more that an a little seed in the sea of aware ness. The Utopian concept s do have value for us, as they usu ally deal with one or more of the as pects of scar city, be it mate - rial or the less defined needs for happiness or security. We all have dreams about a world that would be more perfec t, better orga nize d, less greedy, more hum ane that what we expe ri ence in our daily life. And even those who be lieve there is sense and direc tion in what we per ceive as re al ity, that our world is a great school with a per fect cur ric u lum, are tempted to change and trans form the re al ity a bit and thereby make it a better place for all of us. These dreams, all through history, have been laid down in books or verse, painted or sculpted in art and appear in the vari ous inter pre ta tions of heaven or par adise in the tradi tions. Many times these ideas or dreams were tested in re al ity, in com mu ni ties, ashrams, mon as ter ies, cults, in whole countrie s but alas, without much lasting suc cess. Only mon- aster ies and re ligious com muni ties seem to have stay ing power and a sus tainable model, but even there many were short-lived. There is hope, times are changing. The concept of au ton o mous zones and free cul tural spaces is catch - ing on, maybe as a counter wei ght to the stress and digi tal monot ony of modern life. It feels like a para dox, but becaus e of modern technology, some self suf ficie ncy with re spect to energy, com muni ca - tions and food is be com ing fea sible and this maybe offers a better chance for utopian ideals. Origins in history We can find the ori gins of utopian ideas, the im agery of per fec tion and imag ined ideal so ci et ies, in the clas si cal and bib li cal lit er a ture. A ten sion be tween the ideal and the real can be felt in nearly all of the sources. Many of these worlds are set outside history in a golden age, before time began and things went wrong in the World, or in a myth ical time governe d by its own rules. The pow erful notion of a Gar den of Eden is a kind of utopian con - cept. The Genesis story of cre ation, told in the opening chapter of the Bi ble, is one of the ear li est de scrip tions of Par adise. The cre ation myth and the Garden of Eden repre sent the be ginning of hum an time and expe ri ence , and can therefore conjure up pow erful im ages of a myth ical pure time and place, unm arked by history and in a way it is set out side time. It was when Adam and Eve had to leave Par a -

183 dise, be came self-con scious and had to suffer in work and childbirth, that human history started. The var i ous uto pian mod els that have sur faced since the Bib li cal Par a dise, the Py - thag o rean Broth er hood and Plato (The Repub lic), in lit - er a ture or in ac tual ex per i - ments have not yielded a work able and sus tain able con cept, apart maybe from the in spired com mu ni ties like mon as ter ies and re li - gious ashrams. Yet these models , from Plato, More, Rousseau, Thoreau, Bellamy, Marx, Skinner, Or well, Huxley, Callenbach (Ecotopia), Heinlein, and many others often illus trate the vari ous ways to cope The Cover of Utopia of Thomas More with the con straints of real - ity, like scar city, at the ex pense of free dom. The re al ity ex per i ments, and there have been many com muni ties with utopian tenden cie s, range from very small co-housing to the com munist states. They yield valuable insights and his tory holds many lessons, but in most uto pias ei ther the le gal or the psy cho log i cal free dom is sac ri ficed on the altar of equal ity, often the books and movies picture a more dystopian or negative outlook. Plato (427 - 347 BCE) argues, nota bly in The Re public, that wisdom based on truth and rea son is at the heart of the just person and the just soci ety. One of the passage s descr ibes prison ers trapped in a cave, watching shadows of life outside cast on the wall by the light of a fire. After a while they will think of the shadows as real ity. But in truth real ity is differ ent and can only be known by those outside the cave who live in the light of the sun. Plato descr ibes his states- men (guardians ) as people who have struggled to the sunlight of reason and learnt the truth about the mate rial world (phys ics) and the

184 moral and spiri tual world (meta phys ics.) Only such philos o phers can be trusted to rule the state. In The Re pub lic di a logue, writ ten in ap prox i mately 360 BCE, Socrates and vari ous other Athe nians and foreign ers discuss the meaning of jus tice and whether the just man is happier than the unjust man by constructing an imaginary city ruled by philosopher-kings. Aristotle’s Pol i tics about how a city (polis) is to be orga nize d is a work of polit i cal philos o phy and kind of models many of Plato’s notions, sometim es with vary ing conclusions. Virgil was a Rom an poet (70-19 BC). Unlike the earlier writ ers who often de scribed the Golden Age as outside time or vir tual, Virgil’s Eclogue suggest s that hum an progres s might lead to a more afflu ent and leisure filled world in the foresee able future. His fourth Ec - logue, the Mes si anic Ec logue, is the clear est ex ample of the shift from a timeless to a more his tor i cal view of a per fect world. An ec - logue is a ‘pas to ral’ poem that ide al izes ru ral life. In Telecleides ‘The Deip no so phists’ pres ent a Golden Age of im pos si bly ef fort less plenty. He plays on his audi ence ’s under sta nding that this ideal era never truly existe d and never would. By present ing one extrem e sa - tiri cally he implies a belief in the op po site idea - that prosperity is the result of hard work. Utopia is the name for an ideal so ci - ety, taken from the title of an alle gor i - cal and even sa tir i cal book writ ten in 1516 by Sir Thomas More de scrib ing a fic tional is land and near per fect so - ciety in the Atlan tic Ocean. Uto pia is a per fect but un real place. A proper def i ni tion of a per fect and real place is eutopia. More’s utopia is like a perfect version of Plato’s Re pub lic wherein equal ity and a gen eral pac i - fist atti tude reign, al though its citi zens are all ready to fight if need be. The evils of soci ety, like poverty and mis- ery, are all removed. It has few laws, no law yers, rarely sends its cit i zens to war but hires merce nar ies from among its war-prone neighbors. Uto- pia’s so ci ety en cour ages tol er ance of

185 all reli gions. All of this can also be seen as More’s critical comments on how England operated in those days. New Atlantis is an incom plete utopian novel by Sir Francis Bacon, publishe d in 1627. It por trays a vision of the future of hum an dis - covery and knowl edge, expres sing his aspi ra tions and ideals for hu- mankind in a utopian land Bensalem. In this land “gener os ity and enlight en m ent, dignity and splendor, piety and public spirit” are the com monly held qual ities of the inhab it ants . The plan and or gani za - tion of his ideal college , Salomon’s House, envi sione d the modern re search uni ver sity where sci ence is a col lab o ra tive un der tak ing. It was to be conducte d in a ra tional and im personal way, for the mate - rial ben efit of mankin d. The New Atlantis pre cedes sci ence fic tion, a genre of utopian and dystopian writing which deals with the im - pact of ac tual or imagined science upon soci ety or indi vid u als . Ba- con raises the question of the link betwe en knowl edge and power. Knowledge gives people power over others . Bacon’s scien tist s were depicte d as moral para gons but also ordi nary hum ans, and so falli ble and open to corrup tion. This raises ques tions about how society controls those citizens that have powerful and potentially dangerous knowledge. Also of a satir i cal nature, Gulliver ’s Travels , a book by Jona than Swift (1726), de scribes soci et ies that show the defi cie ncie s and par- adoxes of the po liti cal and social constel la tions of his time. It is not utopian, but shows great insights in the shortcom ing of the human ways. Dan iel Defoe’s story of Robin son Crusoe (1719) explored the possi - bility of a sol itary utopia, on a deser ted is land, pointing towar ds what we now would call self-suffi cie ncy and the maker trend. Tomasso Campanella describes a per fect so ci ety in which re li gion and reason work in total harm ony. In La città del sole (City of the Sun 1602) he relate s imagi nary discus sions betwe en a Grandm aster of the Knights Hospi tal lers (a re ligious mili tary order) and a naval cap tain from Genoa. The sea cap tain describes the City of the Sun as a place where life is shaped by sci ence and re li gion and all prop erty is com munal, while governe d by men led by rea son. Every man’s work contrib utes to the good of the com munity. Wealth and poverty do not exist be cause no one is allowed more than is needed. In Modern Utopia (1905), H. G. Wells de scribed a par al lel earth upon which the ra tio nal and sci en tific are per fectly bal anced with

186 spiri tual disci pline and belief . Wells set the scene for many modern, sci entific utopias and dystopias. The Utopian Planet differs from earth in that the in hab it ants have cre ated a per fect so ci ety, a world in which the problem s of hum anity have been solved. Two men, the narra tor and his col league (a bota nist), visit this par allel planet and argue over its merits and defec ts. People live healthy, happy lives in cit ies where all hu man needs are met. Sci ence and tech nol ogy frees people from toil and enable s them to enjoy secu rity and inno va tion. Wells’ uto pia is nei ther demo cratic nor equal. He ad vo cates a sci en - tific kind of socia lism , rooted in the idea that the world is orderly, knowable and control la ble. The state is ruled by the Sam urai, a moral and spir itual rul ing class. They lead an ascetic (disci plined and morally strict) life. Joining their class is open to anybody that proves themselves to be able to follow their strict Rule. Aldous Huxley in Island (1962) paints an utopia where some kind of psy chedelic or se dating drug (Soma) is used to keep the inhab it ants happy and peaceful. Limitations There have been many utopist vi sions since those early days, in liter ature and mov ies. There are left wing so cial ist uto pias, cap i tal ist mod els, eco nomic and po lit i cal uto pias, moneyless uto pias, neo-Luddite, tech no log i cal, eco log i cal, egal i tar ian and of course actual physi cal reli gious utopias . From the Essenes to the Harmonites, the Amish to Osho ashrams. One does get the im pres sion how ever, that the var ious utopist writers have usually projec ted some part of their own per sonal ity upon their utopian world view at the expense of a more bal anced ap proach. Of ten im por tant and practi cal as pects are ne glected and just stated as a given like where the ma te rial af flu - ence and over com ing the need to worry about food com es from. Or in the ideal soci et ies there are kings/phi loso phers or very gifted plan ner/ex ec u tives who in fact es tab lish a kind of to tal i tar ian re- gime, like in Plato’s or Skinner’s (Walden 2) views. The questions of who is control ling the control lers and who is planning the planners are not an swered. The feed back mech anism we as sume (somewhat) works in dem ocrac y is miss ing. They assum e an ideal state based on ideal peo ple, the same as Rous seau who was re al is tic enough to admit that this is fictional and that real people have real human shortcomings.

187 Another aspect that is miss ing in many utopia’s is the de velop m ent of the indi vid ual, how to deal with frustra tions, crim inal intent, de- pres sions etcet era. Again the ideal hum an does n’t have these problems so they are ignored or treated as a resi due of the non-ideal past. But an real com munity does have to deal with this and orga niz ing war games as in Callenbach’s Ecotopia is a kind of dras tic solu tion. The inner de velop m ent of the partners and guest of the com munity is, in my view, the most im portant. It re ally should be school for life, a place for growth, not a kind of mate rial par adise where ev ery - body lives long, happily but without change or de velop m ent. This is missing in most utopian concepts.

So these are rel evant ques tions: • Is utopia possible? • Are utopian ideas meant to be acted on? • If not, what other purposes do they serve? • What practical lessons can we learn? • Is there a theoretical model that classifies utopian concepts? • Are we able to imagine ourselves living in these worlds? What about individual will and desire? • Are totalitarian and even fascist societies utopian? Not all these questions can be answe red, but this shows which is sues are to be dis cussed when looking at modern com muni ties . Utopia models What are the es sen tial param e ters of an uto pian (Greek: good place as opposed to dys topia – bad place) com munity? That has to do with the goals and am bitions, with com mitm ent by the mem bers. What do we seek, and more im portantl y, what are we willing to sacri fice in what is usu ally a new bal ance or compro mise be tween the so cial and the in di vid ual? Is it a place we can es cape the nor mal con - straints and hardships of the daily real ity where we live a harm oni - ous and happy life in an ideal setting? Or do we seek spiri tual ful- fill ment, a mys ti cal state where higher goals and sac ri fice rule? Do we want to show the world how wrong it is, be a warning, a sign- post, an ecolog i cal sustain able alter na tive? This all sounds nice but we also have to re alize that wherever you go, whatever you do, the ego and the physi cal real ity of our body, our needs for food, safety,

188 pur pose ful ac tiv i ties, and yes, respect, notoriety, etcetera are still there. Tribalism In a sense, Utopian or inten tional com muni ties are tribal projec ts, an in-group effort aim ing at a meet ing place for the com munity, protected from the outside . Culti vat ing the sense of belong ing that arises with com munity, with shared secu rity, exchange and com mon goals and activ ities. A tradi tional vil lage feels most con nected on Sunday mornings in church or when united in ritu als of mourning or celebration. Peo ple that are united by shar ing a common an ces try, a place, an ideal, an inten tion, a totem , a way of living or just a dream can or ganize themselves in cou ples, fami lies, ex tended fami lies, but also in tribes, meaning a group with a com mon thread. Such groups have existe d through the ages, based on ethnic, geograph ica l or other com mon denom ina tors. In our day and age there are many tribes, even ur ban tribes and virtual tribes. They share an inter est , a hobby, a liking for this or that, and group togethe r, seeking kindred spirits. Tribes of magic The special magic, that Hakim Bey dis cerned in Tem po rary Au ton o- mous Zones and Emile Durkheim de scribed as ‘effervescence’, needs more than a shared inter est or being in a crowd at a big music festi val, at a World Fair or in Disney land. It is more of a magi cal extra, a heightened expe ri ence of togeth er ness , of feeling united, part of the all. In this context there arises the ‘loving’ and ‘tol erant’ feeling many of us have concer ning our fellow travel ers on the spiri tual path of self discov ery and connectedness. This by sharing com mon in ter ests, goals, at ti tude, ac cept ing di ver sity, tol er ant and yet united. The im age of “tribes of magic” com es to mind, groups with a sense of con tact with the other real i ties, with a pinch of cere mo nial or rit - ual practice as a com mon ground. This should not be an empty no - tion. A com mon and even ritual practice , like some form of medi ta - tion once a week and at least one common meal, can help forge and maintain the level of commitment to the common cause. Sustainable reality One could start with stat ing that all peo ple are essen tially OK, and that a per fect com mu nity breeds per fect in di vid u als. How ever, history teaches us that per fec tion is a great goal, but re al ity kicks in at a

189 far more mundane level. Even the most opti m istic approac h should be based on a real is tic as sess ment and prep ara tion. Pre pare for the worst is the best strategy, and the best protection too. We all know how a certain situ a tion, a cer tain event or envi ron m ent can bring about the magi cal quali ties of happi ness and exal ta tion. We can go to a power spot in na ture, a concer t or festi vals , expe ri - ence the sol emn beauty of a Gothic ca the dral and feel this for a while. But we know this is short lived, and the feelings fade, nor- mality re turns. Yet there is this long ing for this spe cial state, and throughout history people have imagined places and condi tions that would help sus tain this, in lit era ture, the ater plays, but also in re ality. Monasteries and ashrams were places to seek this ‘holy’ state of connectedness with the all and the others . The com muni ties did not always sprung up volun tari ly, often they were an escape , a desper ate attem pt to flee from oppres sion or danger. These days the reli gious motives have been re placed by the wish to es cape from the stress, eco nomic con straints or ego-ma te ri al ism, cre ate an eco log i cal and spiritual safe-haven or enjoy freedom from oppressive law and order. To go from a flash expe ri ence or even a com munal effort lasting months and years towar ds a sustain able long term com munity is not easy. The dif fer ence be tween a tem po rary and a per manent au ton o - mous zone is that one is aware of the hum an factors, like anger, anx - iety, greed and ego that eventu ally end the magic of a festi val or tem porary event and de signs ways and struc tures to contain them. Elim i nat ing those hu man fac tors is im pos si ble, the re pres sion to do so will turn against the repressors at some time. This happens on the na tion state level, in com pa nies, re li gions, as so ci a tions, but also in communities and families. Us and them Being differ ent and being rec ognize d as such is a basic drive. This goes for indi vid u als but also for groups. The us and them motive is strong, the in-group socia l ideals are often com pensat ed by an an- tag o nis tic stance to wards the out side world. We seek safety and meaning in the supe ri or ity of our group or com munity (nation, party, re ligion). This is a danger that needs consta nt atten tion, for such an atti tude will be mirrored and can lead to isolation or worse.

190 Energy is the key Talking to many people inside and outside com muni ties it becom es clear that re ally sus tain able commu ni ties are rare, and these days even the (tradi tional ) spir itual ones have seri ous problem s, lose energy and have a hard time sur viving. One can find many, many con- vents, monas ter ies and even dissolve d new-age communities for sale. The problem s are often econom ic, but mostly the ba sic tenets , the roots of the com munity were less ideal is tic and more greedy af ter all, lustful, mate ri al is tic and less ‘holy’ than was written up in the creeds and history records . If the desire for ‘good’ was based on greed, it will eventu ally show not be good, but greed. There are lev - els to this, the in tegrity at dif ferent levels may be dif ferent, the top or the bot tom of the power structure (that always emerges, de spite the great mod els and tac tics to pre vent that) may have dif fer ent ideas and mor als, feel better or in fe rior and act dif fer ent from what they are supposed to do. This is the hum an condi tion, and history teaches it’s hard to change. Many com muni ties which to the out side pres ent a happy and suc - cessful face inter nally have seri ous problem s. Now that might be part of the proces s. In essenc e any re lation ship or com munity is a growth pro cess for all con cerned. But the fi nan cial, hi er ar chi cal and rela tional problem s often lead to the end of the com munity or force some mem bers to leave with hard feel ings, hurting the energy of all.

All this doesn’t mean building and living in a com munity is sense- less. On the contrar y, the path is what matters . Expe ri enc ing the com mu nal strug gles is a mir ror of the psy cho log i cal in ner path way, and par tici pa tion in such endeavor is usually very en riching in the spiri tual and psy cholog i cal sense. It com es down to learning to walk the talk. Energy, spir itual cohe sion, the com mitm ent to face problems togethe r. There are many words, but maybe love is the most simple one. Pan of the Buddhahill/Nuvotopia com mune in Dippertz (Fulda, BRD), one of the people who very honest ly shared his insights , stressed the im portanc e of a deep energy-co he sion as the basis of any com munity. His form ula for a real spiri tual com mune is as sim - ple as this:

191 A real spiritual commune can only be out of love which starts with love-sharing-caring This is the center the heart love only happens through the surrender of the mind the I or the ego without the complete surrender of the I, the ego there is no love no freedom without love there can be no real or true spiritual commune which is just the freedom to share the blessing of this life with divine beings in the now and here Such a place needs some orga ni za tion, some outline, maybe even a con sti tu tion or root con tract/doc u ment as a basis. Sustainable in the face of scarcity There are a num ber of problem s as soci ate d with inten tional com mu - ni ties or in ten tional tribal fa cil i ties, maybe a more ap pro pri ate term here, that do pop up. Most have to do with scarcity, in a mate rial sense, but also in a psy cholog i cal and even meta phys ical sense. Ma - te rial scar city, the as sumed ba sis of ra tio nal eco nomic be hav ior, in - volves money, food, space, a safe and com fortable envi ron m ent, but is ob vi ously sub ject to in di vid ual rank ing and psy cho log i cal constraints. One person might be okay with an ascet ic lifestyle, another want to explore all senses to the max. Even though money might be a yardstic k for scarcity and econom ic be havior, it is not the only one and proba bly the least inter est ing. Things like rank, status (to have and save face), relationships, health and love are far more important.

In that sense, Maslow’s Pyr am id ranking is far too rigid. Prior i ties shift over time and there fore an econom ic (money) model is neces -

192 sary, but not enough. We have to deal with the ethi cal side of matters too, like to es tablish what kind of legal framework we need and even more than that, how to deal not only with mate rial matters , but the psy cho log i cal as well. There are the prac ti cal ques tions about how to deal with drugs, alco hol, smoking, dogs, sexual re lation - ships, devi ant be havior and such. but also how we deal with old age, chil dren, de pres sions, miscommunications, per sonal debts, crim i nal- ity, and what happens when a wider crisis situ a tion might arise. A genera l framework or com munal contrac t to addres s these issues has to be set up and partners have to agree on this. Beyond be ing a kind of con stitu tion it has to be lived and im plem ented so it be comes a kind of nat ural bylaw for those joining later, not written words without meaning. Conflict Resolution Dealing with conflic ts has been a crucia l issue for mankind, as the group size grew beyond the basic Dunbar lim its of some 150 indi - vidu als and a surplus econom y de - vel oped. Con flict res o lu tion mod - els can be divided in digi tal (rules, borders ) and ana log (princi ples , values) models , but there are many options and com prom ises to bridge the dichot om y be tween indi vid - ual and col lec tive in ter ests. Each so ci ety has de vel oped it’s own ways to deal with this, and at fes ti vals we can see the age old pat - terns, the us-them thinking, the power games, but also ways to over- come conflic ts by building trust, gifting, sharing, circle deci sion models , theocra tic de cision making and even lottery models to decide on issues or mobilize support. Decision making The de ci sion mak ing pro cess (in clud ing con flict res o lu tion) is most im portant. Dem ocrac y sounds great but often means the minor ity loses, the sociocratic (consen sus) approac h has evi dent bene fits , but is not always appro pri ate , as when used for purely exec u tive de cisions. In some cases al ter na tive meth ods are called for, and that might include divi na tion, astrol ogy, the I Ching and other es oteri c

193 ways of chart ing a course. If all is one, then at times we have to trust the universe! Commitment A com munity’s succes s depends on many variable s, like the level of par tic i pa tion, the au ton omy and autarky, the eco log i cal im pact, while things like iden tifi ca tion lead to commit me nt. The factors work togethe r en then there are the socio-psy cholog i cal consid er - ations. Com mu nity liv ing re quires a cer tain at ti tude, a will ing ness to share, a true toler ance , an under sta nding that it’s about contrib ut ing to the whole, not about taking and only consum ing. It means com - mitm ent, in some ways sac rifice of indi vid ual goals and wishes and not ev ery body inter prets com mit- ment in the same way. There are takers and givers , but we all op er ate on dif fer ent levels and what may be lacking on a ma te rial, prac ti - cal level, is com- pensat ed in other qual i ties, in emo - Decision making and discussions in a circle tional support, (Ruigoord in Christiania 2008) friend ship or love. Co op er a tion and respect for oth ers is es sential, in small matters but also in an ecolog i cal sense, and towar ds the larger local com munity and author i ties. There fore a se ri ous and thor ough se lec tion and in take pro- cedure, followe d by a perm anent com munity building and mainte - nance proces s is necessary, involving a certain discipline, regular meetings, sociocratic procedures and a common understanding. Com mitm ent is essen tial , but even then crises might and proba bly will occur and a structure to deal with this needs to be set up before it happens. Entry and exit proce dures need to be open, clear and effec tive. Leav ing the partnership, ei ther vol un tary or in vol un tary, should be made easy, in fi nan cial as well as hu man terms as we don’t want nega tive energy kicking back at the com munity. The le - gal structure should ac com modate this, from the start, so every body

194 knows the conse quence s, includ ing in the cases of people that pass on and inher i tanc e ques tions arise. Maybe a life insur ance policy to cover such events is necessary. A charter of purpose and direc tion, even of mission of the com mu - nity is es sential . Not just to have it on paper, but as a living docu - ment, so it has to be estab lishe d, under writ ten and honored, maybe at times re cited in a for mal way. The con tents of such a char ter may vary, but as it will act as a kind of Bill of Rights and Con stitu tion and there fore it needs care ful phras ing. There are ex amples to be found, many in ten tional com mu ni ties have in spir ing charters or constitutional agreements. Reality grounding: last stop for heaven Utopian com muni ties can be very ratio nal, intende d to serve the interest of the inhab it ants , but many so called inten tional com muni ties don’t want to acknowl edge this. They ig nore the real i ties of incom e and cap i tal di ver sity, own er ship is sues, en try and exit con di tions, don’t spec ify the level of finan cia l or physi cal partic i pa tion; kind of bet ting on love being the great mir acle cure, the mag i cal equal izer and snake-oil. And to a cer tain extent this is true, good vibes can overcom e many problem s and the proces s of dealing with inner or outer resis tance unites. But then, over time, re ality kicks in, money runs out, people get sick or turn nasty, govern m ent regu la tion becomes an issue and the aging of people and the group as a proces s is not always a posi tive expe ri ence . The lack of real ity and grounding in a world still running on econom ic and ratio nal grounds eventually causes problems and causes the community to disband or regroup. Setting up a com munity becaus e of selfish or let’s say self-serving motives is of course okay, as long as that is clear. So ci ety is based on such grouping and there are asso ci a tions and groups for every - thing. We need to work togethe r as hum ans to allow specia liza tion, shar ing of re sources, mu tual as sis tance and se cu rity. Civ i li za tion after all is living to gether in cities. And it will work, ratio nal argu - ments and wise de lib er ation can cre ate units that do share their re - sources and offer security purely on rational grounds. The problem s arise when a group or com munity claims to go for higher prin ci ples, but the ul te rior mo tives of in di vid u als or the group are differ ent. Over time I have met and addres sed many indi - vidu als and groups with plans or actu ally working towar ds setting up a com munity. There is a kind of sim ilar ity in the profile s of the

195 people joining such a Group, either they are young and want to change the world, or they are older and sick of the World. Usually their stated inten tions and ideals are great, their energy and group cohe sion building up, but very of ten there is some am bigu ity about their deeper motives . They will talk about ecology, about offer ing all kind of com munity and health service s, therapy models and how to inte grate in the com munity, but rarely do they adm it their deeper motives. You will not usu ally hear peo ple admit that a ma jor attrac - tion of the Osho commu ni ties was the free sex. They will emphasize the spiritual incentive and maybe the community feeling. In groups of older people it is not so much the sex, as well as the security, the wish to have a nice last stage of life, surrounded by friends and in a safe, support ive and spiri tual envi ron m ent. This ul- terior motive, however , is seldom explic itly mentioned. One hides behind the hum ani tar ian, the service to the world, the spiri tual, but in fact one wants a se cure last stop on the trip to heaven we all make, called life. Mirror ing this to such a group of ten re leases a lot of an tag o nism, ac cu sa tion of pro ject ing personal problems and needs. There fore, fac ing this real ity check goes against the grain. Yet, ig - noring the indi vid ual or even group motives , their need for safe cocooning, se curity in emo tional and prac tical sense, will eventu ally lead to se rious problem s. The balance betwe en indi vid ual and com - munal inter est , which is a com prom ise in any case, can only be tipped a lit tle to deal with the circum stances. In the long run it needs to be stable and this requires maybe more than some members are willing to give.

196 20 Christiania, the greatest victory of the squatting movement in the world by Britta Lillesøe of Christiania Cultural Association, a speech to UZUPIS, May 2014 The fairy tale started in the early nine teen hundred and sixties , where many old houses in Copen ha gen were ordere d to be con - demned by the mu nic i pal ity of Co pen ha gen. The beginning The very first big squat was in 1965 in the other side of Christians- havns Square. It was a whole block of 17’th century houses, which were condem ned – unheal thy to live in, mostly becaus e they were worn down by the propri etor. We called the place Sofiegården - means The Sofie Yard af ter the street, Sofiegade - the Sofie Street! We were around 100-150 people living there for 5 years. We made a lot of culture and got friends with the neighbors, mostly working class peo ple. The mu nic i pal ity of Copenhagen didn’t like, that we lived there and the minis ter of buildings and the lord mayor of housing ordere d 300 police men to get us out of the houses. First they took two of the houses in 1969 – then the rest in 1970. The City Hall did offer us another house for a certain pe riod in the neighbor hood. The Sofie Yard is thus the mother of the squat ting movem ent in Denm ark - and there fore also the mother of Chris tiania , and she got a very big daughter. One day, in the autum n 1970, somebody knocked on our doors. It was some people from the early Christianshavns Cit i - zen Council, who wanted us, from the Sofie Yard, to come and help the working Britta class people in the other end of

197 Christianshavn to tear down the fence to The Boatsman Street Bar - racks, the later Chris ti ania. The peo ple wanted green ar eas and a playground for their children. They knew, that the barrac ks were condem ned and soon had to be emptied by the military people. These Christianshavner people had tried to write to the minis ter of defens e about getting a play ground for their children on the Bar - racks, so they could get some fresh air. They had made depu ta tions to the minis ter and they had made color ful parade s with their chil - dren and music on wagons driving to the minis ter of defens e. On their banners was writ ten something like: RATHER CHILDREN WHO ARE SWINGING, THAN CANNONS THAT ARE SINGING! In Dan ish: HELLERE BØRN DER GYNGER, END KANONER DER SYNGER! But nothing helped! Therefore they sat a whole night in their back - yard making so called Molotov cocktail s to break down the fence. When we, from The Sofie Yard, ar rived to the Prin cess Street, we saw a lot of Christianshavner people try ing to push their bodies against the fence sur rounding The Boatsman Street Barracks…

198 We helped them and screamed and pushed and supported them the best, we could. They also threw the Molotov cocktail s on the fence. And at last the fence broke down… So that was the first time the fence was torn down. The fire fighters came and poured wa ter on and the next day the author i ties did put up a new fence…After that the fence was torn down two or three more times… In the meantim e some young Christianshavner boys and a few girls had made their own holes in the fence, where they could climb into the fairy tale land. They knew the area, because they went to school with some of the offi cer s’ children. So they had alrea dy partly set - tled down in some of the empty barrac ks. They caught fish there in the for tifi ca tion ca nal and picked up apples and ber ries from the trees and the bushes. People One of those guys was Fisher Kim. In Septem ber 1971 Fisher Kim meet with his friend, Jacob Ludvigsen, a jour nalist, in Christians- havn. He told Ja cob, that there was lay ing ”a whole country with a little village with a town hall and many houses - and every thing - on the Boatsman Street Bar racks in Prin cess Street. Vic tor says, that the name should be Christi ania !” Victor was one of the young boys, who more or less alrea dy had settled down on the ground. Ja cob was the head of an al ter na tive news pa per called The Main Pa - per – in Danish, Hovedbladet. The 26’th of Septem ber 1971, Jacob, his wife, two friends and a well-known photog ra pher drove in his car – a Citroen 2 CV, the most used car in our hip pie radi cal milieu in those days - to The Boatsman Streets Bar racks. They were dressed in a kind of soldier clothes - what they could find - and brought with them a pic nic basket, a peace flag and a bolt cutters . They took pictures of the appar ently empty area and saw only the shadow of one watch man… They wrote the words, Free State, on the ground with chalk. When they came home, Jacob wrote an ar ti cle with the pic tures of the area in the Main Pa per, with the headline: ”Em igrate with bus no. 8 to Chris tiania!”. After that a lot of young peo ple little by lit tle came and settled down in the empty houses on the new land, Christiania!

199 The Christianshavner people got after a while their playground - and we got a much bigger play ground. The new minis ter of defens e was much more smart than the form er minis ter, so he made a small council, a troika, of the minis ter of culture, the minis ter of health and him self. And they got good advices from a socia l advi sor - ’the good fairy’ - con nected to the Ministery of Health - and her ad vise was to call Chris ti ania, ’A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT’! That came through and was real ize d early in 1972. I am orig i nally an ac tress, and on that time I was making the ater in a little alter na tive theater in Jutland, but I was home in Christianshavn

Entree (foto Bruno Jargot) again in the sum mer of 1972, where I was living about a month with a friend here in Christi ania . Early in 1973 I was moving out here for good. So Chris ti ania was only ’il le gal’ around half a year, be cause we have had agreem ents, so called ’trea ties’ with all the changing gov- ernm ents of Denm ark since 1972. Chris tiania - as a coher ent ORGANIC neighbor hood - has values that need to be further de veloped and expanded, but also ought to be

200 im plem ented in many places around the world, in the inti m ate soci - et ies - as is right now hap pen ing in places as far away as China and Korea - this we have just learnt and read about… Yes, Chris ti ania once was called a so cial ex per i ment, grown out of the re al ity of Dan ish democ racy - and for that we are very grateful. Experimental Zone Now we are no lon ger just an ex per i ment. We have been le gal ized! There fore you now might call this big playground, a contin u ally cultural site of ex er cise - an ’EXPERIMENTAL ZONE’. We christianites have for a very long time been a threatened group of people - a kind of tribe. Therefore we feel a great cohe sion with the indig e nous peoples and their struggle to save their cultures . You might call Christi ania an urban tribe, part of a movem ent - to - gether with for insta nce Uzupis in Lithu a nia, Ruigoord in Holland, Doel in Belgium, Boom Fes ti val in Por tu gal, Um brella House in New York, Huehuecoyotl in Mexico - and a lot more free cultural places - beside s all of you being pres ent here - a circle consis ting of both the world’s indig e nous peoples , eco village s, freetowns, squatted ar eas - yes, of all free cul tural spaces here on Mother Earth. Christi ania is the ulti ma te victory of the squat ting moveme nt in Denm ark, yeah, may be in the whole world? “Live life ar tis ti cally!” These are the words of one of Chris ti ania’s many painters . And those words speak for the Freetown. Becaus e Christi ania is an artists’ town. Not only for ‘real art ists’ - artists in the com mon under sta nding - but for people expres sing them selves artis ti cally in ev ery day life - in small and big things - and in ordi - nary things. If you see a hole in the asphalt on the road, maybe next day it will be filled with marble mosaic pieces or glazed tiles from another of our art ists. And one of our scrap artists , makes the most beau ti ful chairs, so fas and ta bles from recy cled and scrap mate ri als - iron and bi cy cle tires. Furnitures which is func tional and at the same time ar tistic in shape. They are real sculptures , exposed for public use around in the Freetown, in many squares and places. Beauty is just as important as function! Do you have to ask the munic i pal ity if you can exhibit your creative abili ties? No, here it is the close en vi ron ment that de cides. Culture binds us togethe r. And with al most 800 grown-ups and 200 children we have a lot of differ ent com bina tions. From here grow both artists

201 and life-artists . In Christi ania , if you have a good idea, then most of the time it is not the money which governs , but the strength of the idea and the spirit. It is a place where young people can make theater, play music , paint, do workshops - or maybe orga nize an event - and they only have to pay for the heat ing and elec tric ity. They can do that in severa l of the beauti ful com mon rooms and areas of the Freetown. Christi ania is almost the last bastion of cul ture. Here we always have - quite natu rall y - managed to blend so-called resourc e-weak and re source-strong inhab it ants . Something which rarely happens in other places. It is there fore a very con tra dic tory place. But the pos i - tive meet ing of contra dic tions create s flow ering and growth. This pos i tive meet ing can sup port ar tis tic ev ery day life, the ba sis for many dif fer ent ex pres sions. We have a nat u ral en vi ron ment with many spaces where peo ple can meet and ex change ideas. And it is in this way that new projec ts are born. You can also descr ibe Christi - ania as one big cultural workshop, which helps to fill the cultural void of contemporary Denmark. Yes, the Freetown has a very rich cul tural life with a lot of as so ci a - tions, clubs, mu sic ven ues, the aters, gal ler ies, meet ing places, a cin - ema, severa l sound studios, a radio and a TV station, many differ ent art workshops, blacksm iths, car penters , music and dance groups, in- door and outdoor skater ramp, night church and much, much more. A lot of working art ists live in Chris tiania , more than 50 painters , sculp tors and sim i lar, ac tors, sing ers, DJs, danc ers, cho re og ra phers, theater and film di rectors, light and sound artists, instal la tion art ists, de sign ers, scenographers, ar chi tects, pho tog ra phers, po ets, writ ers, playwright s, com posers and a lot of ac tive musi cia ns and bands who contrib ute to an overwhel m ing and color ful music scene. We are at the same time artists and organizers! The Freetown is becom ing a mix of Paris’ Montmartre in the last part of the 19th century and a village in Bali - with a little drop of the golden age - and the Skagen painters in Jutland from around year 1900. Christi ania is a living work of art and an ar tistic place to live in. A BIOTOPE in the middle of the big city. A unity betwe en hum ans, ani m als, plants, houses - life be ing lived. This artwork can be worked further on. But from the artworks soul itself.

202 The Common Law of Christiania (foto LeuJeu)

203 21Amsterdam Ruigoord

Community, urban tribe and feeling real An other ex ample of a cul tural free space, but also a place where smaller and larger fes ti vals hap pen is close to Amster dam. Al ready for more than 40 years the al ter na tive Am ster dam squat ter-commu - nity and ‘Vrijhaven’ (Free Har bor) Ruigoord is a focal point for local and in ter na tional al ter na tive, ar tis tic and cre ative free dom pro - jects. It is clearly an auton o m ous zone, with a unique and somewhat ‘smoky’ at mo sphere (marihuana is legal in Amster dam). It is a friendly, color ful place, a green oasis now surrounded by port fa cili - ties, wind turbines and enormous storage tanks. Ruigoord started out (1973) as a squatted place, but has evolved into a more or less sta - ble and ac cepted art ist com munity and venue for events and festi vals. It is not for mally a hab i tat or a place where peo ple live, but it is actu ally a very much liv ing com mu nity. Some 50 artist have their studios there, there is a church for meet ings, some barns and houses, camping grounds, all amidst in dus trial com plexes and har bor fa cil i ties. It’s a par a - doxi cal sight, large freighters look down upon this small alter na tive world. It is a hippie para dise where the ideas of the Am ster dam ‘provos’ from the six ties still live and a certain free dom of sex, drugs and rock&roll survived.

There are many smaller fes ti vals and week end par ties, but there are two main events. One is al ways on Decem ber 28 in the fa mous pop-tem ple Paradiso in the city and the other is the Landjuweel fes - tival around the August full moon, with some 3 to 4000 atten dees . Both events mani fest what is clearly an ur ban tribe, The Am ster dam

204 Bal loon Com pany (Ballongezelschap), the fan com munity around the core artist and activist group. Landjuweel festival The at mospher e at the an nual Landjuweel (the name refers to a lit er - ary and rhe tor i cal com pe ti tion fes ti val tra di tion go ing back to the 16th century) can best be descr ibed as a sixties kind of scene, a hippie world where the time stood still at 1967, the sum mer of love. A sim ilar crowd and scenery to what then happened in San Francis co, with kids and older people, dancing, play ing, having fun, and what makes it spe cial: very few phones around. Expe ri ence in the mo - ment is what matters, not sharing that with Facebook friends else where. So cial net works play a role in the festivalization trend, but it’s nice if smartphones are not consta ntly con- sulted during events or used to send pic tures around. At tribal fes tivals like Landjuweel at Ruigoord there are hardly phones in sight, what a relief! The place is still run by some old tim ers, nota bly Rudolph Stokvis, an octo ge nar ian with lots of expe ri ence in staging events and tribal trips, who wields his power in an elastic and choreo graphic style. He used to be a dancer and this shows in his manage m ent style; the many vol un teers, artist and small time sellers of the usual festi vals foods and goods dance to his tune. It is trust based and fairly flat manage m ent, short lines to every body and clusters of dedi cat ed people taking charge of their sub-events. There is solid ground under - neath, not in the least because art ists, crew and par tic i pants all know each other, the lead musi cians like Fantuzzi, a Rainbow and Woodstock bard and MC, are like family. The or ga niz ers and staff at all lev els are very ex pe ri enced. The dealing with some 30 to 40 stages, perfor m ance venues and tents and a very crowded lot is done by people often profes sion ally in volved in the world wide fes ti val boom, mostly vol un teer ing. Ruigoord

205 is a hotbed for festi val and com mu nity evo lu tion, has spawned other ac tiv i ties like the Boom fes tival and has good connec tions with other au ton o mous com mu - ni ties like Chris ti ania. The cultural side of Ruigoord, with Hans Plomp as a key figure, has and had very global connec tions and is a main platform for poetry Hans Plomp and alternative theater. The festi val covers all kinds of music , poetry, per form ances, art ex- hibits, lots of poetry, a big nightly proces sion and much creative ac- tivi ties , from yoga to massage to mantra singing to rock and house. It is more canna bis than alco hol driven (both le gal in Am sterdam ) with quite some psyche delic tripping. The psy chedelic flavor of the place is un mistak able, but there is so much ex pe ri ence and tol er ance among the partic i pants , that apart from a standard first aid post there is no specifi c support space, chill ing out can happen every wher e, people know the routines , tripping is part of the culture. If there are any problem s, this is usually becaus e of alco hol and with outsid ers isolate d from the group mind. As Am sterdam is close by, late at night the influx of city party-ers who are drunk or high (stim ulate d but not empathic due to serotonin depletion) can cause problems. This is not the usual kind of now popu lar massive music -dance festi - vals with mostly 16-25 year olds, but offers a broad program of var- i ous ac tiv i ties, work shops and mu sic, with a cross-gen er a tional mix of all walks of life as at ten dees and co-creators. There is, quite com mon at alter na tive festi vals , an overdose of half-profes sional stalls and conces sions with food and drinks, cloths, crys tals, herbs and par apher na lia. These ven dors are a tribe by them - selves, moving from fes tival to festi val, half nom adic with their campers and buses, of ten very spe cial ized like with mov able bread- and pizza-ovens, an inter est ing com plex of competing and sharing. The atm ospher e at this mostly in-group event (even as some 50% are outsid ers attrac ted by the repu ta tion but adapting quickly) is much nicer, friendly and ‘gezellig’ (cozy) than at the mega-events with a lim ited age-group and less par tici pa tion. A good age mix

206 seems to help keep the peace, parents don’t want their children con - fronted with drunk or obnox ious people on to something. People are friendly and engag ing, but there is not the hugging pres sure of the more spiri tual and transformational events. Ruigoord is a very tribal scene, the regu lars that come there often. Landjuweel is, com pared with the mega-event held in and around Am sterdam , a rela tivel y small festi val with maybe 3 to 4000 people in total and a core of regu lars of maybe 500-1000 people, the tribe. Many are camping , tents all over the place and space maxed out, but all in a very friendly and perm issive atm ospher e, with a high toler - ance level. Mar i huana, le gal in Amster dam, is used widely and some use more psy chedelic substa nces like mushroom tea, but this causes very few problem s, some people looking a bit hazy maybe, but there is, in genera l no aggres sion or vi olenc e as with alcohol and speedy drugs. There is no de nial as to the exis tenc e of a rather rich subcul ture us - ing mari huana and psy chedelic drugs at Ruigoord, and there have been clashes be tween the more ar tis tic and the more ‘high’ crowds, but usually there is peaceful co-exis tenc e. The problem is that the repu ta tion of Ruigoord does attrac t people who are exclu sive ly in - terest ed in obtain ing and us ing stuff, often also cocaine and not really be long ing or fit ting in with the tribal atmosphere. Tribal aware ness is high, the vis itors and regu lars feels connect ed to a com mon culture, not so much to a com mon goal. The meaning one seeks is to be free, to be part of an auton o m ous tribe, but there are no overarc hing spir itual themes, apart from toler ance and letting it be. Be ing there is what matters , sharing, meet ing, enjoy ing each other’s com pany, but not nec essar ily having a common goal beyond that. The tribal connec tions and exchange patterns makes one re mem ber the ‘good old days’ when socia l media like Facebook and Google were not there. You smile, nod, sit down at the ta bles and join in, there is little group-isola tion In re specting the boundarie s of others mutual respec t builds, in contras t with the open com muni ca tion on the net, where on insta nta neous can have “friends” all over the world. In the Ruigoord com munity phys ical contac t and ‘feel ing’ each other is still im portant, the internet is used for some com muni - cation, but be ing there on a beauti ful sunny day one re alize s that feeling and touching is a very hum an need. Live music , being able not only to dance but to com muni cat e with the musi cia ns, exchange

207 a joint or joining in the drumming makes for great fun and feeling good. Tribal com mu ni ties like this one have always existe d, based on com - mon goals, com mon en e mies, com mon re - sources. The urban tribes of today offer, and this is very clear in the case of Ruigoord, a way out from the rat- race, an al ter na tive way of being and sharing. So ci ety needs such places and com muni - ties, as a se cu rity valve for sen ti ments and drives that no longer fit the ‘civil’ mod els. Art, cre ativ ity, but also more neg a tive im pulses find expres sion and a safe ha ven. Hells An- gels are as much an ur - ban tribe as these flo - wer- power post- hippies. The senti m ents that bring these new tribes togethe r are not the ratio - nal motives or ideals of the cyber-gener a tion, even as they use internet to or ganize their meet ings; all have mobile phones. There is a dis tinct dif fer ence with the tribes that emerge in cyberspace. It feels that the tol er ance on many internet-fo rums is less, the com mu- nica tion is more edgy. Sometim es, like in the case of the Burning Man tribe in the USA, cyberspac e and real events go hand in hand, and the physi cal and virtual com muni ties overlap. The one spreads out to the other, the vir tual becomes lo cal and di rect and vice versa. The main BM event in Septem ber, with some 70.000 people in a desert camp is accom - pa nied by syn er getic cyberspace ac tiv i ties and dis cus sion and lo cal activ i ties among burners all through the year.

208 Feeling the connectedness There devel ops a group mind at festi vals , but this devel ops into a kind of ‘Sunday after noon at a wedding’ atm ospher e only in such a tribal setting at places like Ruigoord. People let go of the ego and norm al need to mani fes t, they be come very so cial and com muni ca - tive. I be lieve that the tribal aware ness at such events is part of what I call our primal sensitivity. The group mind unites the inner child qual ities , we reso nate at a deep level, where compe ti tion and fear are less prev alent. To geth er - ness, toler ance , and a shared vision are the building blocks of such a tribe. In the past more or less reli gious ritu als and festi vals , in genera l the com mon platform s to meet, feel good and addres s the otherworld, were the cem ent of a tribal com munity. The purpose of a rit ual is n’t lim ited to one dim ension. There is a psycho log i cal , a socia l and a magi cal dim ension (and purpose) in a ritual. Growing and learning but also just having fun is im portant, as is making contac t with the group, tribe or re ligion. It cre ates group mind but also es tab lishes hi er ar - chy and law (the rules) but it’s important to acknowl - edge that the magi - cal, the con tact with the otherworld is often the true foundation of ritual.

Looking at how Landjuweel 2004 nice and nurtur ing such a phys ical fes tival like the Landjuweel at Ruigoord can be beyond the obvi ous availabil ity of space, music , food etc. is what could help us under sta nd the shortcom ings of cyberspace and virtual com munity and their needs. The chal lenge is to nur ture and develop the feeling of belong ing that we are all longing for. Not by partic i - pat ing in stu pid junk com mu ni ca tion, but by en er giz ing our con tri - butions online (emails etc.). That brings maybe back the magic, the

209 intan gi bles that we deny in science , but in fact rule our lives, as humans, as family , as a tribe and as part of the resonating consciousness we all call reality. Tribal collab o ra tion movem ents are in a sense both ata vis tic and prophetic . The past, sitting round a fire and drum ming, and the future, a vision of peace ful togeth er ness , are pres ent. It’s an event out of time. We, to gether, feel a con nec tion, maybe even an urge to mani fes t and expres s beyond the medi o cre . Such a fes tive and up - lifting mood isn’t percei vable in cyberspace yet, but then maybe a new gener a tion will be able to find ways to use the technol ogy and resources there to make this happen. The great Cyberspace Woodstock expe ri ence is maybe just around the corner? 2008 Two Urban Tribes Meeting, Christiania welcomes Ruigoord. The dis cussion about how tribes can com muni cat e inter nally and with other tribes, is not new. Take the 2008 meet ing in Copen ha gen, which led to:: A manifesto of celebration Enjoy ing our union, our dif ference s, our com mon ground, our sharing. Ruigoord and Christi ania , both urban tribes of people who are differ ent, slightly aber rant, conform ing not to what the world dic- tates, but to their in ner voice, their spirit. We feel connected in many ways and would like to expres s and explore that. Tonight we do this by shifting the axis of our world to this loca tion, where the magi cal tree Yggdrasil will be erected, em pha siz ing that we are here, now, be yond time and space and yet very much connected to this place. What and how Ur ban tribes, as we are, share the fol low ing char acter is tics: • We have our own style and way of living, • We are organic, in the sense that problems are seen as opportunities, that we change as we go along. • We are natural, in the sense of honoring the earth and what it has to give, of celebrating the seasons and making “natural” an inspiration rather than a label.

210 • We are a link in a chain passing on knowledge, wisdom and tolerance between generations, cultures and beliefs. That chain of human contact is basic and comes out in art, in festivals and in taking care of each other. • Individualism and collectivism come together in the tribal spirit, which is beyond the political. It honors tradition and yet despises worn out ways, we are a bridge between the prehistoric and the future, between the shamanic vision and the age of Aquarius. • We promote recycling of goods and materials, but also of ideas and ideals. • We believe in a way of life that matters, that is worth fighting for, that fosters respect. A life where it doesn’t matter what you are but what you do. • We seek harmony, bringing out the best in people in their varying colors and tempos and yet making ourselves heard and seen in a peaceful way. Conflict can lead to harmony, new perspectives. • Small is beautiful, so we aim at small scale initiatives, democratic circles, to enable the freeing of the inner child to play, to create, to share and to feel safe. • We believe ideas come first, materialism, money and institutions are second. • We honor the common ground, the physical as well as the virtual. Why Urban tribes have a much wider im portanc e than just be ing a nice way of living, an escape for a happy few. As the world is in dire need of new di rec tions, the tribal model that has survived many a crisis in the past, deserves atten tion.

211 • We show the world that there are alternative ways of living, working and being together. • We have visions and dreams to share, that can be an inspiration to a much wider group. • We can show the rational planners and politicians that there are people and groups that care, that still hoist the flag of love and raise the banner of the heart. • The world needs experimental zones and laboratories, schools and places where the alternative models of interhuman relationship, government, decision making and social structure can be developed. They don’t need to succeed but allow us learn about processes and possibilities. • Now! • We relate to change, by refinding ourselves, using what makes sense, taking the best and recombine or reshape it into a new form.

So this tree Yggdrasil we erect as much a symbol as an invi ta tion to let others join our circle or to make their own, we wish to share our good inten tions and our joy - let’s cel ebrate life, let’s make this planet sing!!

Yggdrasil totem pole, crafted at the event in 2008

212 22 The central place of fire

An impor tant ele me nt of many festi vals is the fire. Events like FireDance and Burning Man, dealt with in the next chapters , are clearly fire-ori ented, but there are cen tral fires at many meeting s and fes ti vals. They are an im por tant fo cal point, a place to meet and rest or perform ritu als like opening or closing the event.. The fire-ritual is the most com mon and proba bly old est of all ritu als The first ritual, in the Bi ble, is the fire Noah kin dled after the Great Flood. In our modern world, fire is every wher e, it drives our cars, gives us electric ity, propels our planes, it is more om nipres ent than ever before. We have a symbi otic rela tion with fire. It has be come the cen - tral active princi ple in our world of com bustion, incan des cenc e, without fire moder nity would be a pretty un com fortable state. At many fes ti vals the cen tral fire and campfires are of ten the places where peo ple meet, talk, make music and warm themselves in cold nights. There are also water- ritu als , but fire is very central to our human evo lu tion, and in tima tely con nected to ritual. Most festi vals in na ture will have some kind of fire-ritual, or a fire as a central meeting place. Fire of course gives light and warmth, can be used to cook, for healing and to scare away preda tors or insec ts, and we know also that watch ing a fire calms and re laxes body and mind. Ritual around the fire is a defin ing fac tor in the evolu tion, I pre sume. It allowed pre-hominids or proto-hum ans to divert the energy used for chewing raw food to grow ing their brains (the main dif fer ence with the large apes). Rit ual and fire allowe d, long be fore there was symbol ic lan - guage, to have spe cial iza tion and hi er ar chy, al low ing larger groups be yond the Dunbar lim i ta tions and progres s. We have inher ited ritual from the ani m als and proba bly

213 used ritual long be fore there was symbolic language and myth; self consci ousness emerged only some 10 to 12.000 years ago and developed in a stepwise fashion. I even be lieve that the larger apes are degen er ated hu mans, who maybe lost their power to use fire. Fire sym bol izes trans for ma tion and change, it of fers ca thar sis and can act as a cat aly st in transformational pro cesses in our selves and so ci ety. It there fore deserves a special place at meeting s or events where people come togethe r to honor the spirit, es pe- cially in a world torn by eco log i cal and hu man vi o- lence and ter ror, lack ing a clear direction. At large gather ings like Burning Man in Nevada, Rainbow and at the many al ter na tive fes ti vals, the fire has be come part and par cel of the festiv ities. It is, many regret, not always honored in the proper way. Espe cia lly when many dif fer ent na tion al i ties, peo ple and na tions come to gether, it is im portant to give the fire its proper place for all to partake and understand.

Tra di tions like the Na tive Amer i cans (In di ans) have a great re spect for the fire and their cer emo nies are cer tainly valid, but there are other and very old and refined fire-ritu als that de serve a place too. Fire-ritu als are very basic ; most tradi tions honor and vener ate fire, often in connec tion with the sun. The first hymn of the Rig-Veda is devoted to Agni, the divine fire. There is the old Per sian Mithras- cult, the com pre hen sive Ve dic Agni-rit u als, Egyp tian Earth/Star fire-worship, Irish Bridged, the Slavic Capel solstic e and the Ma yan new year, the Phoenix and Promethean myths, the vol canic Pele-worship of Hawai i, the middle colum n of the Cabbala as the pathway of fire etc. The moral meaning of fire is that it repre sent s transformational power. As it is danger ous, it stands for energy and passion and can burn evil (hell and purga tory) in oursel ves and our ene m ies. Fire is

214 also the way to talk to the Gods, the Hindu Agni and the Greek Prometheus make this link. Rites of passage often use fire. Jumping over the fire, through a fire-arch, or walking its hot ashes, the fire helps to achieve something new and better, to pass a threshold. The alchem ical quali ties of fire are well known, in fire ritu als the transfor m ation can be psycho - log ical and/or social, but a funeral rite with fire is of course also fairly practical. The symbolic and mys ti cal mean ing co mes from the deeper no tions about func tion, form and outline of the fire. Symbols de - rived from the fire are a spo ken wheel, con cen tric cir cles, the Arabic flame in the tent, the Fire at the Siberian Summer Festival (M.Bakker) sun-im age and the colors of red and yel low/gold and white. The alle gor ical meaning of fire is first and foremost its qual ity of puri fi ca tion and trans form ation, but it also resem bles the sun (the father) and the origi nal creation. The Phoe nix myth of rebirth from the fire is a good example. As for the transcen den tal/magi cal quali ties of a fire ritual, the fire as the mouth of the gods, as the window or doorway to the heavens, the link betwe en the seen and the unsee n gives us a broad idea as what can be achieved. The fire it self can be seen as an in ter medi ary (the orig inal role of Agni) or as a divinity itself..

215 23 Burning Man: communitas and transformational fun

Among mod ern fes ti vals with a rit ual char acter (per haps better la - beled as ex pe ri en tial trans for ma tion fes ti vals) and a psy-trance ac - cent, Burning Man is one of the best known. It is not even the larg- est festi val in the US, the large Mu sic events like Coachella are much larger, but it has made head lines as an al ter na tive, not commercial event. Even pres i dent Obama has adm itted ‘it sounds like a lot of fun’. It has recei ved so much media atten tion and even scholarly inter est so that it cannot be ignored in the context of this book. It is a tem porary auton o m ous zone of sorts, but slowly the virtual (internet and local contac ts) Burning Man has becom e more or less perm anent and has spread all over the world, with local burns and a web-community. There are many fes ti vals of a simi lar kind. Boom in Portu gal is a big one, Glastonbury, the Fusion Festi val and the Rainbow fes ti vals are also worth not ing. How ever, Burning Man has this direc t rela tion - ship with fire, at the center of both ritual and com munity focus. Burn ing Man in the Black Rock Desert of Ne vada, held ev ery year around La bor Day, is called a fes tival, but is also a ritual and a ‘cirque d’exhibi tion’. By any name, it is a world class event with some 70,000 partic i - pants, most of them re gard ing them selves as co-cre ators ac tively in - volved in build ing, shar ing, fa cil i tat ing, and ex hib it ing their dreams, masks, and grand ideas. The name comes from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy, “the Man” on Saturday evening. The cybercongr egation that has formed over the years, plays a big role in how the burners com mu ni cate.

216 The par tic i pants are usu ally very pos i tive about their ex pe ri ence, call ing it a life- chang ing ex per i ment in com mu nity, art, rad i cal self- ex pres sion, and self-reliance. “I had the privilege of going to the playa in 2009. For me, at its core Burning Man is an atmosphere of positive energy which is so well cultivated that everybody falls in love with the community spirit. In our individual ego driven world, it’s an amazing escape from that.” (M. Sala) It seems clear that Burning Man is an effec tive event for both indi - vidual personal trans form ation, and for socia l bonding - two of the three points in the three worlds tri angle (set, setting, magic). The question of how far the third plane, the truly ritual and magi cal com - ponent (the sacrality as in contac t with the spiri tual and otherworld) is at play is harder to answe r, but is im portant in the context of this book. There are no doubt atten dees who go there with a spiri tual and mag- i cal at ten tion, ex pe ri ence a psy cho log i cal trans for ma tion and ca thar - sis, and go home a changed person. Burning Man certainl y is a par a- dox! One per son can ex pe ri ence it as out ra geous con sum er ism, see it as an event for drug use and overt sexu al ity, yet another can get engaged in more authen ti cal ly magical or spiritual ways. There are lo cation s and events that are very spir i tual, like the Tem - ple, but there is also much would-be spiri tu al ism , the New Age and New Edge em brac ing of whatever is dif ferent, exotic, new, or offers an oppor tu nity to stand out in the abundance of forms and expres - sions one encoun ters on the “playa” (as the desert is called). Mas - sage, tantra, med i ta tion, Tai- Chi, na ked ness, cos tumes, and un usual pos tures seem to in di cate to tal de tach ment, but are ac tu ally of ten clever ways to get notice d and be a part of the subcul ture one wants to identify with. There are many and very dif ferent subcul tures at the playa, each with their own sec tors and camps. If one does n’t want to be confronte d with a specific subculture, one doesn’t have to go there. So, descr ibing Burning Man as a single ritual is nearly impos si ble; at best one can iso late spe cific mo ments or pro jects. There is def i - nitely rit ual cel e bra tion, rit ual ca thar sis, rit ual ex pres sion, but how much of it is truly magi cal ? In the context of this book it is im portant to look at how one can let go of the ego and mask to attain the

217 deeper state of con scious ness that I call the “rit ual” or “in ner child” state. Most atten dees will claim that this is the essence of Burning Man: You can be your self, or anybody you like to impersonate! But is dressing up and assum ing a person al ity as weird and striking as possi ble in or der to be no ticed really let ting go? It feels as if the major ity of burners are just there to play with masks, subpers on - alities, avatars, hid den de sires, social strata- court ing mys ticism with the help of some pills and exotic music . Maybe as a prereq ui site to enter the ritual state at some mo ment, and certainly by display ing strange or suppres sed traits, one becom es a mirror for others and as such part of the psychological process. Looking at the pic tures and videos for me is a kind of re-enact ment of the strange paintings of the fantas tic under world of Hieronymus Bosch. I would like to know what sounds Hieronymus imagined. Would they bear any resem blance to what ‘burners ’ get served mu - sically and un musically? Burning Man and cyberspace In Janu ary 1997, Larry Harvey spoke about cy berspace at the 9th Annual Be-In, events orga nize d by Mike Gosney and co in cid ing with the MacWorld shows. He was criti cal about the lib era tion cyberspace of fers from the con straints of time and space. He be - lieved many of the problem s which beset our modern conve nienc e culture result from having been “liber ate d” all too well—dis placed from the neces sar y axis that we as hum an beings re quire in time and space. He spoke about Burning Man as: “a project dedicated to discovering those optimal forms of community which will produce human culture in the conditions of our post-modern mass society. It is formed in the image of the great ecumenical world that surrounds us; a teeming population of uprooted individuals. In other words, this intentional community that we create from nothing, and that returns to nothing when we leave, has been “liberated” from nearly every context of ordinary life. It is, like cyberspace, a frontier in which individuals can exercise remarkable freedoms. Our desert world and the blank expanse of its playa form a decontextualized arena of action. Here it is possible to reinvent oneself and one’s world aided only by a few modest props and an active imagination. Burning Man, then, is a compelling physical analog for cyberspace, and, unsurprisingly, we

218 have attracted many people who regard the experience as the equivalent of cyber-based reality.” He also noted that “Burning Man is very different from the world of the Web and the Internet in certain crucial ways. It is neither vicarious nor anonymous. Cyberspace is a mediate realm, a disembodied sphere of information, whereas experience at Burning Man is relentlessly immediate in its demands. Participants in our experiment must confront the pressing task of survival within a natural world that is subject to volatile and life-challenging change. Liberty, at Burning Man, is tempered by our primal needs as human beings, and this shared experience, symbolized by our species’ attraction to fire, forms a central and necessary basis for our community.” He also spoke of the need to have a center of gravity, a power ful axis in time and space in order to found a cul tural sphere. Of how much such a transce ndent center is most conspic uously supplied ev - ery year (a ritual repe ti tion in time) by the Burn ing Man himself, as an ulti m ate landm ark and navi ga tion point upon the face of the feature less playa, offering a cosmic axis. He also men tions the rit ual as pect: “We have relied on these cer e - mo nial el e ments, so rem i nis cent of the rit ual re li gious prac tices that have shaped civi li za tion since the incep tion of hum an cul ture, as a means of cre at ing com mu nity in an an ar chi cal lib er ated en vi ron- ment. With little but our shared hum anity to guide us, we’ve sought to gener ate a prim al context; an expe ri ence defined by the most ba - sic and ir re duc ible el ements that are needed for the gen er ation of culture. I believe that an im medi ate ly shared struggle for survival, com bined with the percep tion of pow erful unities in time and space, are chief among these necessary condi tions.” Larry points out the need for models that revers e disintegration: “As the world of cyberspace centrifugally expands, and as the greater realm of society continues to atomize into smaller, independent, and potentially unrelated units, we must begin to consciously craft such models. “ His un der stand ing of meaning is note worthy:

219 “The world of cyber technology and communication represents a wonderful tool, yet it comes value free. The exchange of information by itself cannot produce meaning, for meaning is a highly complex and organic product that is only propagated within the context of culture. Our mistake, as Americans, however, is to consistently mistake the tool for the task. If technology itself is left to dictate our ends, then I think we can look forward to an increasingly disassociated way of living. Real community can only be attained through the experience of certain primal unities in the physical world.” and also “Both Burning Man and the Internet make it possible to re-gather the tribe of mankind, to talk to millions of dispersed individuals in the great diaspora of our mass society. Living as we do, without sustaining traditions in time and ungrounded in a shared experience of place, it is yet possible to transcend these deficiencies. We must use technology to create space stations here on planet Earth, islands of intense and living contact. It is time to come home. “ In ter est ing words, and I re mem ber those Dig i tal Be-Ins, where the worlds of com put ers, internet, psy che del ics and spir i tu al ity came together. At that time, John Perry Barlow (EFF founder with Mitch Kapor) pub lished his Cyberspace Dec la ra tion of In de pend ence. I met and discuss ed the then emerging internet with people like R.U. Sirius, Matthew Fox, and Mark Pesce. Many, I would say most of the people at those events are burners , and the tribal atm ospher e at these San Fran cisco par ties and events feels sim i lar to what is ascribed to Burning Man. Burning Man as a pagan or cybergnostic event As its pop u lar ity grew and word got out that there is this desert thing where peo ple were run - ning around sky-clad, stoned and publicl y in - volved in all kinds of weird ac tiv i ties in clud - ing some kind of fire-wor ship, Burn ing

220 Man became the tar get of crit i cism from the es tab lished right, no ta - bly the Christian community. The stamp of paganism was eas ily ap plied, asso ciated with forbid - den forms of pre- or anti-Christian worship, includ ing witchcra ft, Sa tan ism, animistic beliefs, mag i cal acts, rit ual or gies and se cret gather ings. Arti cle s appear ed and the media picked up on this no - tion. Burning Man was de picted as a hellish event where the devil ruled. At the same time another stamp was put on the event; it was supposed to be even beyond New Age, a psy chedelic and tribal ritual of the techno-gnos tic weirdos at tract ing an thro pol o gists to study this out burst of trib alism so nicely limited in time and place: a labo ra- tory of social psychology. Now, there is a lot of pagan influ ence in the Burning Man form at and there are many burners subscr ibing or af fili ate d to what loosely could be descr ibed as a modern pa gan lifestyle: an inher i tanc e of the counter- cultural movem ents of the 1960s but influ ence d by the New Edge mix of spir i tu al ity, psy che del ics, and con sum er ism techno- gad getry. Spir i tu al ity, in many forms, not con form ing to tra di tional Chris tian ways, is part of the eclec tic at mospher e and is mixed with a cyberspace and techno scien tific orien ta tion, but doesn’t appeal to me as a Gnos tic re vival as Erik Davis (TechGnosis 1998) or Dorien Zand bergen (NewEdge CyberGnosis 2012) see it. Mod ern Gnos ticism, as seeking fusion of the self with the di vine realm of infor m ation, spiced with a bit of apoca lyp tic Maya 2012 lore, is more New Age than New Edge. Al though on the surfac e Burn ing Man is about seek ing nat u ral au then tic ity and com mu nal spiri tu al ity, the whole event looks more like a kinder gar ten space age at tempt to be dif fer ent and no ticed whereby to see and be seen is what moti vate s many burners . Undoubt edly the whole setup is a visual feast, an ar tis ti cally crafted mi rac u lous and epi-re al is tic Gar den of Eden, where the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge are for free and the Tree of Good and Evil is turned upside down. The spiri tual is there and for some real and moving, but it’s far from the main focus. A very gen eral descr iption of the atten dees is that they moved, pro- gressed maybe, from counte r cul tural al ter na tives to cyberspace at - tuned “cultural creatives,” mean ing he do nis tic mid dle class folks with an alter na tive and inde pend ent lifestyle looking for fun and games at the bor derline of decenc y with a spiri tual touch, the

221 catch-up hippies . Many of them are white edu cat ed urban ites . The old gang looks at this devel op m ent with some dis gust; they don’t want tourists (MacBurners) or dilu tion of the origi nal spirit. Larry Harvey him self as serted that Burning Man was not a hippie festi val, a subcul ture, or founded by pa gans, and was never attac hed to any kind of super nat u ral dogma. He adm its in the media myth section of the website that “the act of pil grim age to a re mote lo cation and the rit ual sac ri fice of a cer e mo nial fig ure has real re li gious res o nance for many people, and any spiri tual faith, however arrived at, is certainly worthy of respect.” He sees “The ritual aspects of Burning Man have wholly evolved in the context of artistic endeavor, and their significance, as with any work of art, is explicitly left open to interpretation. It is undoubtedly true that modern pagans, along with fans of UFOs, yetis, and many other creeds or belief constructs prevalent in popular culture have been attracted to Burning Man. It is also probable that an equal number have been repelled by our refusal to endorse esoteric notions.“ Be tween the lines one can sense here the in ter nal an tag o nisms and par a doxes sur round ing Burn ing Man. Temporary Autonomous Zone At Burning Man time, the desert is com pletely transform ed into an off-the-grid city-like and somewhat an ar chis tic place, in a way Hakim Bey (Pe ter Lamborn Wil son) called Tem po rary Au ton o mous Zone (TAZ) in his 1991 book, with its own laws, values, orga ni za - tion and culture (see chapter on TAZ). The dry and flat landsca pe (a lakebed) is tem porary transform ed into Black Rock City, hosting 50,000 inhab it ants for a week, but then this dis appear s again, leaving no trace whatso ever . It’s orga nize d follow ing a fairly rigid central plan, with a semicir cle lay out, but with a spatial, vector-like sequence that allows a kind of travel along the hours of the day. It is open at one side, and as Larry Harvey has noted, is “open in the front, open to infinity”. Within the as signed segm ents, and with art in a prom inent central place and the Man as the axis-mundi, there is an enor mous varia tion in theme camps, ashrams, ac tiv i ties, art in stal la tions, mul ti me dia ex - trav a gan zas, cos tumes, body or na men ta tion or lack thereof, sturdy shade struc tures, modi fied ve hicle s, sounds, foods and substances.

222 “Burning Man is not for the faint of heart” Par tic i pat ing re quires prep a ra tion, plan ning, and con sid er able cash, even as it is (on-site) a cash-free and gift/ex change based setup (the only goods sold are coffee and ice). Most burners spend a lot of time, creativ ity, and money on this once-a-year gather ing. For them it is a year-round focus, with internet and lo cal gath er ings as com mu ni ca tion tools. It’s a gift com munity with a ban on com mercia l ac tivity and thus lacks the vendors, conces sions, and money issues of other fes tivals . Gifting and sharing, not trading or exchang ing, a one-sided act of gener os ity is the core message . Every body con tributes , this is called radi cal inclu sion, and the whole thing is a massive protes t against the com modi fi ca tion of our lives. The art works, theme camps, per for mances, and par tic i pa tory events are contrib uted by the Black Rock City cit i zens. One even tries to hide the labels and brand names of clothes and cars (no-logo). Food and ser vices are ex changed or free. The idea is to pro mote “non-con sumer ism”, a step away from the money econ omy. Yet an event where betwe en 50 and 100 million dollars is spent in fees, prepa ra tion, supplies , clothes, trans port, rent of RV’s and camping tools is more or less lim ited to the wealthy. It can hardly be called non-com mercia l, frugal or back to the prim itive. The rich bring their support system s and servants (posing as just burners , but paid to work). There are com plaints that the event is become a tour ist at - trac tion and play garden for the rich only, with their staff, drugs and other ameni ties. It is a fes ti val of par adox es, where re al ity is trans - formed, hacked, made into a spectacle. A highly appro pri ate term to descr ibe the atten dees is Re al ity Hack - ers. It was coined, not in rela tion to Burning Man, by R.U. Sirius (Ken Goffman) with his mag a zine Re al ity Hack ers, the pre de ces sor to the Mondo 2000 publi ca tion where the New edge move ment mani fested in the early nineties. The burn ers are in fact re al ity hack - ers, com bin ing tech nol ogy, transformative spir i tu al ity and art to cre - ate a desert commu nity that like a spi der reaches into the daily life of many. The more re cent idea of ‘maker’ cul ture res o nates here. The re lational networks emerging from and becaus e of Burning Man are not lim ited to the event. They connect people in many ways, in- cluding econom ical , like in helping another burner with work, jobs, contacts, all part of the tribal deal.

223 Fire central Burn ing Man is defi nitely a fire-event. It started as a bonfire ritual on the sum mer solstic e of 1986 when Larry Harvey, Jerry James, and a few friends met on Baker Beach in San Francis co and burned a wooden man as well as a smaller wooden dog. They were not the real origi na tors of the idea, but did took it to the desert after a sim i- lar event was or ganize d there in 1990 by Kevin Evans and John Law of the Cacoph ony So ciety. They were us ing the notion of a TAZ, their events were called Trips to the Zone, or Zone Trips and they named the loca tion Black Rock City. Larry and his friends de cided to join them becaus e the burn on the beach was forbid den. The idea of a burned effigy also was in - spired by Cacophonist Gary Warne and the SF Suicide Club, and his Car ni val Cos mol ogy es- say (1977). The burning of the effigy (wicker man) or ‘the Man’ is still the high point of the event. All the par tic i pants wit ness and cel ebrate the fire that con sumes The Man, now a statue 12 meters high or more, placed at the center of the tem porary auton o m ous zone (TAZ) that arises ev ery year on the desert playa. The burning is a spec tac ular mass event, with all kinds of theat ri cal per for mances, fire-jug glers, and py ro tech nic ef fects, as well as the in ter ac tive per for mances and par ti c i pa tion of the at tend ing crowd. They are dressed up and make or are their own side shows, turning this into a touching, even dram atic, expe ri ence . The mood of the crowd is very specia l; as many have taken some kind of substa nce there is a piggy back effec t - every body cheers and feels good. The burn is a mass event and very impres sive, but less “holy” than some other projec ts, like the cre ation, adorning, and burning of the Temple. The Temple, grown to im pres sive size over the years and usually of spec tac ular de sign, is a somewhat newer addi tion (since 2000) to the

224 fes tival. It’s a large construc tion used for more solem n, more sub - dued and demure per for mances, as well as a chill- out place for the burn ers. But at the end it is also ritu ally set on fire. The Temple de veloped into a tem porary place of worship and com - mem ora tion, where those that passed away over the pre vious year are honored and mourned. The at mospher e is mys tical and emo - tional. Par tici pants inscr ibe personal message s on the surfac e of the tem ple, recol lec tions of the ones lost, expres sions of grief about friends and fam ily no longer there. There are altars and shrines and ar tis tic ex pres sions of all kinds. The messages left here are in tended as a fare well, a way to sep arate from the de ceased, and a com munal fu neral rite. As the Tem ple goes up in flames, these are seen as messages to the otherworld. Many visi tors see this Tem ple as the main ritual place, as the center of worship of the festi val, and having more ritual content than the burning of The Man. In the vocab u lary of this book, the other worldl y en ergy and focus of the Tem ple makes it more of a ritual place. The effigy burning is more of a cer em ony, with obvi ous very strong per sonal and com mu - nal energy, but less magi cal . The burning of per sonal message s, sou- venirs of people that passed away, is of course a com mon trait in many fire rituals. The Burning Man tem ples, lately more com munity projec ts than in- divid ual or small group projec ts, have names like The Tem ple of the Mind (2000), The Tem ple of Dreams (2005), The Temple of For- giveness (2007), Fire of Fires (2009) and The Tem ple of Juno (2012). It is seen (by John Mosbaugh a.k.a. Moze) as being: “a place where our community goes to unburden itself is a representation of our maturity as a community as well as a natural manifestation of something sacred in

225 the City of Black Rock.” He con tin ues, “For many Burners, the Temple is a vital place where those who build it possess a solemnity and a respect for that process. It is also a place for those who attend the event to use for grieving or celebration of life in an environment that is in contrast to a lot of the rollicking and outrageous things happening elsewhere on the playa that week in late summer.” My view I have many friends (includ ing my son Michael, quoted above) who over the years attende d Burning Man, have been to events orga nize d by the Burning Man tribe, and even helped build construc tions for the event, but never went to the playa. I stand in the middle - half tribe, half outside r. My expe ri ence with many ritu als and festi vals does give me an idea of what the Burning Man atm ospher e is, but I still rem ain an outside r. I have talked to many burners about their

226 ex pe ri ence and nearly all of them are pos i tive, sometimes a bit over-the-top im pressed, with what happens there. The whole thing has a kind of hyp notic influ ence . Every body mentions how great they felt, how they appre ci ate d the warm bath of com munity, how im pressed they were. This de spite some unfa vor - able trends, such as it be coming semi-commer cial, that only well-to-do people partic i pate (ticket price in 2013 is $380), the lack of vagrants so prom inently part of Rainbow festi vals , the skewed atten dance in terms of po lit i cal, ra cial and sex ual pref er ences, and the sometim es exces sive use of drugs, attracting too much police activity. The at ten dees mostly seem to see that as part of the for mula, the shadow side we need to see the light. When telling about the terri ble condi tions, the heat, the sand, the dust, they in terpret these as chal- lenges, as es sential to the trans form ation and bonding proces s. Of course Burning Man is not a reli gion; it’s supposed to be open to all reli gions, but this openness and toler ance has be come a reli gion of its own, with one of the rules being “be positive about Burning man.” Some insid ers don’t agree with this view (of me as an outside r but having spoken with many burners ). They did not feel a re ligious pres sure to be pos itive and point at dissent ing views and criti cis m of many form er partic i pants . Some claim the atti tude of Burning Man is not new age or hippy, but trickste r-like and honest , if not vul gar. They ad mit recent new comers have up set that bal ance slightly, but the essenc e still pre vails, no matter how poorly people tend to describe the event and no matter how stupid they sound when they talk it up as the greatest thing that ever happened to them. Of course there are rules, prac ti cal but also about the way to deal with oth ers, the playa. There are, as in di cated by the Ten Prin ci ples mentioned be low, closer to belief s, or logi cal conse quence s of the set and setting. They feel natu ral and decent . This non-reli gious re ligion also surfac es in many TAZ alter na tive events and auton o m ous com mu ni ties. I ex pe ri enced it at ma ny fes ti vals like the Rainbow fes ti vals, Boom, at Chris ti ania, Da manhur, and in the Theosophical Soci ety, but also notice d that be low the perm issive and toler ant sur- face, there are very hard and intolerant layers. Be ing dif fer ent is only accepted in a specific di rec tion. The par tic i - pants are in a way brainwas hed or seduced not to notice this; the

227 feeling of homecom ing, com munity and tribal embracem ent feels so good (and is lacking so much in the world out side) that one tends to overlook or ac cept the constra ints. Burning Man in this sense is a very safe place, an en vi ron ment where one can ex per i ment with let - ting go of one’s mask, assum ing other soci eta l roles, allow ing the transfor ma tion that might come with the imme rsion in this ad dictive “communal” at mospher e. The other side is that it al lows es cape from the “norm al” world with its rat race and stress, a psy cholog i cal relief, a hol iday event that has little to do with a “holy” day. From the outside , the whole thing is very much like a cult around a culture that is so differ ent you have to let go of many no tions, that frees you from being norm al, sepa rate s you from the ‘them’. How- ever, there is the danger that you have to be a believe r to be “in” on the thing. You are not forced, but it feels good to join the crowd and feel one when the ‘Man’ goes up in flames. Group mind phenom ena plays a role here, but are they so dif ferent from what happens at other such events and fes tivals ? The inside /outside phenom enon, being part of an in-group, is very much em piri cal and has nothing to do with be lief what soever , expect with the belief in the singu lar ity and uniqueness of the experience. On the other hand: “Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind.” - is what the Burn ing Man website pro claims. It says ‘we are dif fer - ent’ and don’t try to pro file us. This sounds a bit like the us-them sep ara tion that also col ors Ap ple’s pres ence. It’s a way of cre at ing a vir tual de mar ca tion be tween the con gre ga tion and those “squares” outside. But again, insid ers defy any label ing. As Mitch/Ra ven Mignano says: ‘The playa is an immediate experience and the phenomenology of Burning Man is singular, no matter how many comparisons, analogs, influences etcetera that one can make.’ Is there an under ly ing pattern here? Is it possi ble to label at all? Can we clas sify burners , typecas t them as a group? Of course not as indi - vidu als , but the 70.000 burners do have a kind of per sonal ity, some

228 mask they all wear. Let me try. It’s about form, about emotion covered with exu ber ance and expres sive overdose, but at the same time some denial : leave your problem s at home, party, the playa is heaven, para dise , worry about the rent or your re lation ship later! The focus on form over content is somewhat relate d to the enneagram 3 style (the emo tion ally de ny ing but ef fi cient per son al ity type), which applies to Burning Man. America as a whole is a nr. 3 nation, and com panies like Apple play into this type. Nearly 33% of Ameri cans act (not all the time) as enneagram 3 types, but at Burn - ing Man this is around 50%. The iCulture of Apple is everywhere. The ‘Gestalt’ result ing from this feels mostly as artsy, expres sion, pos ing, mask, ex te rior, but clev erly us ing the psy che delic, es o teric and ex hi bi tion ist sym bol ism to pass as al ter na tive, hip, cool, new, edgy. It is a spec ta cle and ob vi ously a transformative ex pe ri ence, but also a mask, a layer and imago that covers the neediness, the iso - lation and empti ness of America today, the alienation. I believe that the French situationist Guy De bord (Soci ety of the Spec tacle ) would have seen Burning Man (in its pres ent incar nations) in that context, as an escap ist spectacle, “a so cial re la tion be - tween people that is medi ate d by images ” with full support of the

229 mass media cul ture. The specta cle as a self-ful fill ing con trol mecha - nism for a so ciety that has lost touch with it self, a map, an image of the moon (the uncon sci ous) that we value more than the moon. Here the so cial ef fec tive ness of a rit ual, as a safety valve for an over pres - sured crowd and a way to let off steam, is visi ble. The burners don’t really go back to change the world, they accept it as unfair , un- ecological and unsaf e, but have found something worthwhile to keep them busy and content. Even as the motto of the motto amongst Cacophony, the real origi - nators of the event, was to “make your own show”, by now the media have typecasted and in a way framed Burning Man. But it is up to the indi vid ual to go along or as Mitch Mignano (one of the Black Rock scholars ) says: ‘There is now a paradox in the way that first-timers or upper class tourists might visit the event as spectators, but the essence of burning man is very decidedly a revolt against the spectacle and the early burners were explicitly conscious of this. That’s what the event is- a play space for people who have been spoon-fed consumer entertainment to make their OWN show. The results of that experiment vary, and counterproductive trends have seeped into the larger event, but that is the essence. Burners don’t like criti cis m of what they re gard as nearly a holy pil- grimage. For them, trekking to the “playa” is partic i pat ing in the most ex per i men tal, mod ern, out ra geous, hip, and mind-bog gling event of the year, an expe ri en tial dive into another real ity. You can change your person al ity, looks, and belief s as suits you, behave in an absurd and exhibitionistic manner. Many partic i pants will tell you that this is who they really want to be. So at one hand the inner child can come out to play, but on the other hand one can hide be - hind a new mask of often grotes que propor tions. One can be part of an ex per i mental com munity for a week in face-to-face re al ity, for the rest of the year as a virtual partic i pant in the fan-con gre ga tion. The challenge for the burners is to expres s them selves and rely on them selves to a degree that is not normally encountered in one’s day-to-day life. There are no rules about how one must be have or expres s onesel f, save the rules that serve to pro tect the health, safety, and ex pe ri ence of the commu nity at large. Each par tic i pant can de cide how and what they will contrib ute. Philosophic anarchism, ac cord ing to

230 Larry, does have a long in tel lec tual ped i gree that re lates to cer tain aspects of Burning Man. “The essential anarchist idea is that cooperation and mutual aid are the natural state of man. All that is necessary for harmonious living, it is held, are certain useful customs that have no need of law to insure respect - and, largely, we have found this to be true. Our Black Rock Rangers practice non-confrontational techniques that work quite effectively.” Art and musi cal expres sions of all kinds are an unavoid able part of this expe ri ence , the music and the drums never stop, the eyes never rest upon something fa miliar. One tries to channel the expres sive energy. Each year a com mon theme is given to help tie indi vid ual con - tribu tions togethe r in a meaning ful way and provide a focus for the insta lla tions, theme-camps, the costum es and art work. For 2013, it was “Cargo Cult”. The local police inter prete d that as a sign to hand out many tickets for mari huana etcet era, collec ting big time from the burners . The po lice re tal i ated, maybe be cause the or ga ni za tion went to court about incre ases of what the county wanted as payment. The event makes headlines . By now Burning Man has produced and initi ate d not only the festi val it self, but has becom e like a volcano of cre ative projec ts re lated to the event. Maps, jour nals of our city being built, the Black Rock Gazette (a daily news pub lica tion), art in many forms, re ports, indi vid ual im pres sions in print and on websites, blog, vlogs, scholarly ar ticle s, book; it has spawned a whole subcul ture. Not only the media, but aca de m ia com es to see what’s happen ing. There are many scholarly publi ca tions and dis- ser tations produced cover ing Burning Man and try ing to identify what makes it so unique and compelling . The main attrac tion, which has to do with the lack of connectedness in our present soci ety, is the magic feeling of being safe and yet free. This is something that only being part of an inten tional com - munity can provide and Burning Man is the pres sure cooker vari ety. Com mu nity, par ti c i pa tion, self-ex pres sion, self-re li ance; these ten ets of Burning Man are called the lifeblood of the Burning Man expe ri - ence. Work ing to gether, par ty ing to gether, trip ping to gether, cre ating home-made and yet im pres sive real ity hacks, this is in a way a

231 lux u ri ous and yet chal leng ing boot camp of trans for ma tion, where one can experience and maybe even start a new life. Ten Principles of Burning Man Burning Man Founder Larry Harvey wrote the Ten Princi ples in 2004 as guidelines , also for re gional BM events. They are a reflec - tion of the com munity’s ethos and cul ture as it had organ i cal ly developed. * Radical Inclusion Any one may be a part of Burning Man. We welcom e and respec t the stranger. No pre req ui sites ex ist for par tic i pa tion in our com mu nity. * Gifting Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is uncon di tional . Gifting does not contem plate a re turn or an exchange for something of equal value. * Decommodification In order to preser ve the spirit of gifting, our com munity seeks to cre ate so cial en vi ron ments that are un me di ated by com mer cial spon - sorships , transac tions, or adver tis ing. We stand ready to protec t our culture from such exploi ta tion. We resis t the substi tu tion of con - sump tion for partic ipa tory experience.

232 * Radical Self-reliance Burn ing Man en cour ages the in di vid ual to dis cover, ex er cise and rely on his or her inner re sources. * Radical Self-expression Radi cal self-expres sion arises from the unique gifts of the indi vid - ual. No one other than the indi vid ual or a collab o rat ing group can deter mine its con tent. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respec t the rights and liber ties of the recipient. * Communal Effort Our com mu nity val ues cre ative co op er a tion and col lab o ra tion. We strive to produce, prom ote and protec t socia l networks , public spaces, works of art and methods of com muni ca tion that support such interaction. * Civic Responsibility We value civil soci ety. Com munity mem bers who orga nize events should as sume re spon si bil ity for pub lic wel fare and en deavor to com mu ni cate civic re spon si bil i ties to par tic i pants. They must also as sume re spon si bil ity for con duct ing events in ac cor dance with local, state and federal laws. * Leaving No Trace Our com mu nity re spects the en vi ron ment. We are com mit ted to leav ing no phys i cal trace of our ac tiv i ties wher ever we gather. We clean up af ter our selves and endeavor , whenever possi ble, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them. * Participation Our com mu nity is com mit ted to a rad i cally par tic i pa tory ethic. We believe that trans formative change, whether in the indi vid ual or in soci ety, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal par- tici pa tion. We achieve be ing through doing. Every one is invited to work. Every one is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart. * Immediacy Im medi ate expe ri ence is, in many ways, the most im portant touch- stone of value in our cul ture. We seek to overcom e bar riers that stand betwe en us and a recog ni tion of our inner selves, the real ity of

233 those around us, partic i pa tion in soci ety, and contac t with a nat ural world excee ding hum an powers . No idea can substitute for this experience.

These prin ci ples are not stated as rules, but are in ef fect a char ter, outlin ing the or der of the whole thing. They are discuss ed, newly in- terpreted, and not writ ten in stone, but are certainly cen tral to the com munity belief system one volun tari ly subscr ibes by go ing to the playa. The energy on the playa The subtle energy (re lated to the spiri tual plane) or sa credness of the var i ous lo cation s within the semicir cle is not the same ev ery where. Some points have more energy and on some days or mom ents there is a con cen tra tion of subtle energy. To give an idea of the distri bu -

234 tion: us ing a map of the 2012 situ a tion, an aver age over the burn day is given. At the mom ent of the igni tion and burning of the Man, the energy there goes up to 400. These are subjec tive num bers, ac - quired by dows ing, but give an idea of how the energy varies , not surpris ingly with an event so big and with so many differ ent camps and ac tiv i ties. In di vid ual peo ple can ex pe ri ence more or less of this energy, they can go along with the crowd or follow their own incli - nations, there is no program one has to follow, just a smorgasbord of possibilities. Spi ri tu al side There are seri ous spiri tual people involved in the whole projec t, Lee Gilmore be ing one of them. She de scribes the pa ganism (with a small p to dif feren ti ate it from the reli gion with P) of Burn ers as a “root reli gion” in which they share “consti tuted- prim al re ligious tendencies.” She says “Like Pagans, Burners embrace practices such as ritual - ritual celebration, ritual catharsis, ritual expression. Like Pagans, Burners share a deep respect and love for nature and preservation is paramount (preservation in the “do no harm” sense of the word). Like Pagans (Pagans who identify with a particular denomination), Burners strive to adhere to a set of values both determined by and upheld by the community.” She also sees strong par al lels: “Just as Pagans gather seasonally to consecrate the rhythms of life, Burners annually create their event in order to celebrate catharsis and ecstasy.” (Lee Gilmore in ‘Burning Man, Paga n ism , and the Study of Reli - gion’) But then she encour ages people to recon side r the concept s of “reli - gion” and “spir itu ality” as de fined less by matters of insti tu tion, doctrine , and be lief, and more by ques tions of ritual, practice , and expe ri ence . She asks questions like: “Why does Burning Man (sometimes) smell like religion? And then, what does that say about some of the directions that religion seems to be evolving these days?

235 Chris to pher Michel is a pagan who com ments about the deeper sym - bolism of the burning. : “The burning of the effigy (and other art installations) at Burning Man is not an assertion of dominance or power over the thing (man) the effigy symbolizes. Nor is it an attempt to banish the thing the effigy symbolizes or to banish evil. It appears to be an exercise in radical self-expression — one of the basic tenets of the festival.” In Cal i for nia, one of ten gets the feel ing that spir i tu al ity re volves mostly around self-centere d trans form ation and less around the bhakti (de votional ). You are spiri tual as in hum an poten tial , as in work ing on your self, trans for ma tion, eat ing healthy, achiev ing all you can be. The cul tural creatives go for Yoga, Biodanza, guided medi ta tions, all kinds of mas sage, and Tantric prac tices, and so these are the keywords on the playa. Even the tem ple focuse s on personal trans form ation, dealing with one’s own inner world mem o - ries and grief, and less with reaching out to the divine. Magic and spir i tu al ity are more seen as a way to better your con di tions, re la - tionships , and health than as a way to connect to the unspea kable , the divine, the im mate rial . The gift-giving is more of an exchange , a way to cre ate and help the commu nity , to ap pre ci ate con tact and relations than a true offering, a sacrifice to the divine.

Sum ming up: “Burning Man as a ritual” offers very much in terms of in ner trans for ma tion and per sonal growth, con nect ing with like-minded folks and expe ri enc ing com munity spirit, but is less a true magi cal event. Some will use the unique atm ospher e to connect with the otherworld, but this is a personal choice.

236 24 FireDance, a modern ritual festival format

Fire festi vals are of all times, but in modern times it has become harder and harder to have public open fires, due to ecolog i cal and safety regu la tions. Yet fire is so funda m ental, such a source of inspi - ration, such a deeply felt connec tion with the otherworld, that fire finds its way to fes tivals and events. Since the eighties inter est in fire circle s in the USA has been growing, origi nat ing in New Eng- land mostly with Pagan groups. One of the more modern forms of a fire ritual in the con text of a festi val is FireDance, con ceived in the eighties and nine ties and becom ing a mature form at in the early millennium years. This mostly through the ef forts by Jeff McBride and Ab i gail Spin ner, mu si cians and art ists of Las Ve gas and the creative group of people around them.

In es sence, FireDance is a fes ti val cre ated around a rit ual fire cir cle that transforms and up lifts the partic i pants. It fol lows a litur gi cal model that was inspire d by the alchem ical proces s and sculpted as not to emu late or im itate exist ing tra di tions like those of the Hindu or Ameri can na tive tradi tions but in the end amalgam ating and blending them in a new and very power ful form. The FireDance format has under gone changes and the origi nal orga ni za tion has split off in vari ous direc tions, but defi nitel y marks a revival of inter est in what fire rituals could mean in this day and age.

Among the many spiri tual gather ings and fes tivals that are now part of the new age movement, FireDance (and its succes sors by dif fer - ent names, as it has become a root FireTribe tradi tion of its own) had a distinct flavor. It has been designe d from the start as an expe - ri en tial pro cess, a way of cre at ing that special en ergy, that ex tra that moves the heart and reaches the soul. It is something seem ingly with a lot of outer-world pomp and cere m ony, but in the end an inner world path and a way to get in touch with what is inside . One dis- covers the reso nance betwe en inner and outer worlds, in onesel f, in oth ers and ul ti mately in ev ery thing. Par tic i pat ing in such an event can be, and for me was, a mystical experience.

237 The FireDance event for me per sonally was quite touching, even life-changing. This is the poem I wrote to de scribe what I expe ri - enced:

Who got the fire in who let the dance begin a dance of transformation a circle of inspiration when I came they were people but as we danced they became giants giants of love carrying me living the inner truth manifesting the grace from above I got the fire in it made my dance begin anew, anew, anew The FireDance mission was to be a non-denom ina tional , multi-cultural spir i tual gath er ing com mit ted to per sonal de vel op ment, global trans for ma tion and com mu nity cre ation through drum ming, dancing, singing, the ater and the arts.

Su per fi cially, FireDance, is a gath er ing where peo ple drum, dance, chant, sing and unite around a fire without sit ting down. They are consta ntly moving or at least engaged, in rat tling, drum ming and singing. Moving round the fire, slow or fast, but not stopping, keep -

238 ing the energy going, the dancing par tic i pants con- stantly cir cling around the central fire. FireDance is a night time practice, us ing sun down, the darkness of the night, the sky above and the sunrise as el e ments. The day - time is to sleep or engage in workshops or other activ i ties. The dance starts as the sun goes down and everybody is supposed to keep going till morning light greets a new day. The kiss of sun at dawn is a great mo - ment and the parti c i pants are reborn in that new light. The form at uses music , voice, a fair degree of exhaus tion, and a laid-out circu lar pattern within a sacre d space to help the participant go through a cycle of transformation.

On a deeper level, FireDance is a full-fledged and in tri cate rit ual, a mys tery school in ac tion. It is an oppor tu nity for deep trans form a- tion, an ex pe ri en tial op por tu nity rare in our ma te rial and rational world.

Although there is a genera l outline, every dance is differ ent and there is great free dom to change the pace of the dance, the music, the songs and in di vid ual ini tia tives. Spe cial cel e bra tions, like wed- dings are welcom ed and inte grate d in the whole. Partic i pants are invited to dress up, in sometim es out rageous costum es. One can engage in fire-spin ning, per form cer e mo nies, heal ings or sac ri fices,

239 The energy and role of fire and fire rituals at different events but there is no fire-walking, meaning walking over red hot embers and coals. It’s all about magic and ecstasy, about il lu sion and yet real ity, in vit - ing the mirac ulous to happen, in the now, in time and out side of time. The fire cir cle be comes a safe place, a sacred and holy con - tainer, a real sanctu ary to ex plore what is in side of us. It is cre ative ex pres sion, in ten sive med i ta tion, fo cused aware ness, spon ta ne ous mu sic or in tro spec tion, in clud ing and even in vit ing the emo tions and drama that come with that. Par tici pants usually undergo intens e emotional cy cles, and at times might need some support by assigne d ‘healers ’, but every body can offer help. For many however , the pro - cess involves deep ‘inner’ work and all they need is some space. A new blend The FireDance form at is, in many ways, modern and differ ent and yet it draws on old tradi tions. Jeff McBride, who is also a world-re- nowned sleight of hand magi cia n by pro fes sion, has been fas cinate d by “that other kind of magic” and has par tic i pate d in many books and produc tions about both kinds of magic. In the FireDance form at he has used the al chemi cal matrix known from mediaeval al che mists and magi cia ns to stage an intrigu ing ritual. Com bining the very personal, alchem ical work with a com munity ritual is a brilliant move

240 and it brought back the origi nal en - ergy of those long forgotten rituals and mysteries.

To that he added a cos mic dim ension, bringing the notion of the central sun and her planets to the game. In the phys i cal lay out cir cles are drawn perm itting space and symbol - izing the planets . The fast ones like Mer cury and Ve nus close to the cen - tral fire of the sun, the slower ones more on the outside . The partic i pant can choose what speed and thus what circle they like.

The basic idea of alchemy is to cre ate a ves sel, heat it with a bon - fire, and turn base “metal” into Gold, but has a deeper meaning as it also rep re sents the in ner pro cess of spir i tual de vel op ment. FireDance takes ele m ents from both. It talks about transfor m ation, fac ing the dark sides, the shadow in onesel f, the fire as the spiri tual sun and throws in a great deal of socia l inter ac tion, of fun, expres - sions, cre ativity, feeling like part of a com munity, com ing home, all into the melting pot of the fire circle . Re-enact ing the Great Work of Al chemy, stim u lat ing per sonal growth by ac cel er at ing the fire of nature, which trans forms the lead of our lives into the gold of Spirit in a num ber of stages. One of the basic ideas behin d many al chemi cal tradi tions is that of transm uting or puri fy ing one thing from a “lower” form into a “higher” form.

The ef fects of a dance or simi lar rit u als can be life-chang ing, ther a - peu ti cally and cre ate greater con scious ness. These rit u als some times bring more socia l aware ness and a deeper connec tion with the forces of nature and our fellow humans. Quot ing Ab i gail Spi n ner: “For me, a huge part of the magic is about becoming fully present in the Here and Now moment. When you’ve drummed and danced for many hours, and your body is tired - I’ve learned not to turn to

241 the clock and check to see “how much longer till we get there?” I breathe deeply, find a way to engage and surrender to the Now. I advise leaving the watch in the tent . FireDance empowers us to become our highest visions. We polish the mirrors of our hearts, listen to our inner wisdom, and become one cell in a body of a unified group of musicians and dancers. We share the beauty of an ever-evolving circle of friends, who come together to find their way to Spirit. FireDance helps us learn deep lessons about patience and balance; we are witnessed, and move through our ego needs to ecstasy, and Light. “

The FireDance al chemi cal fire cir cle for mat is pow er ful, has led many to a new level of consci ousness , to which I can person ally at- test. For me it was an ec static way to con nect deeply, to my self and others . A mira cle of togeth er ness , a feeling of tribal be longing, being with friends you might never have met be fore, but with whom you con nect, danc ing next to them or seeing them across the circle . One talks about people who partic i pate for the first time as home comers, and that is a very ap pro pri ate word. One feels wel come, the fire melts away our differ ence s, the gold in us emerges as the night goes on and then, when the sun rises, every body bathes in that golden light and feels he or she is no longer alone. That a doorway, a portal to a new connect edness has opened.

A num ber of sem inal FireDance events were held in Cali for nia in a beau ti ful lo ca tion, among the red- wood trees, in the mountains , just outside of Santa Cruz, CA. Later the for - mat spread over the world, in many countrie s and with differ ent names, like the MayFire or SpringFire events in the Neth er lands. There are so-called fire tribes all over the globe such as the Fire Cir cle Tribe and Fam- ily of Fire, which in clude clans in Boston, Santa Cruz, Las Vegas,

242 Washing ton DC, Ver mont, Boulder and Hawai i. Jeff McBride has devel oped the Fire Dance form at into what is now called Fires Ris- ing, based on sim ilar princi ples but with a bit more of a personal seven stage development model. My personal contri bu tion to FireDance - I at tended twice - was a poem and later, inspire d by Fantuzzi, the Rainbow bard, this song: My FireDance song I wrote this song in 2003:

Who got the fire in Who made the dance begin Who was that liar Who stole the fire It was Prometheus And he’s in all of us

Who dared the mighty Zeus And gave us fire to use Who was that Titan Who betrayed Gods for Man It was Prometheus And he’s in all of us Fire circle architecture The lay out of the place where the fire was and the danc ing and drum ming took place had an as tro nom i cal res o nance. The Plan e tary Rings and tracks used as a blueprint were accord ing to what Jeff McBride rec og nized as a nat u ral pat tern in fire-events. He re al ized that how people move is a mirror of our solar sys tem, and that in that way the dance is a rec re ation of the great cos mic dance of life. The fire is a sym bol for the Sun at the center and the planets dance in ellip tical orbits around it. Mer cury is the planet clos est to the Sun

243 and at our fire cir cle, the mercu rial en ergy is no tice able in the danc - ers clos est to the fire, or those tending the fire. Venus as the second or bit of the fire cir cle is of ten where the sen su ous and ec static dance takes place. Be yond Ve nus is Earth. At fire cir cles this rep re sents the rat tle track, where the Earth danc ers move in a slower or bit. Mars at the fire circle is symbol ize d by the ring of standing people, who, like Mars, protec t and for tify, and add their energy to those within the circle. Beyo nd Mars is Jupi ter. At the fire circle this is a free movem ent zone, where people blend and move togethe r in freestyle dance. Be yond Ju pi ter is Sat urn. At the fire cir cle this planet is repre sent ed by the people sitting and rest ing. Be yond the orbit of Saturn are the planets Neptune and Pluto. At the fire circle these are the outly ing areas where food and drink can be taken. On the out side of the fire cir cle per ime ter is the “comet’s trail,” a path for walking medi ta tion for those who wish to stay engaged and involved in the fire circle, yet seek some solitude or time for meditation. The physi cal width of the orbits or tracks are dif fer ent, but res o nat ing with nat u ral di men sions. The Mer- cury track would allow a single line of fast danc ers, while Ve nus was three persons wide to allow for dif fer ent move ment speeds, pass ing and in ter ac tion be tween danc ers. Mean while Ju pi ter was four per sons wide to accom modate a vari ety of hum an traffic, drum - mers, the well and other large fixed installations As the hum an body is com fortable walking within a three-foot girth this has been taken into consid er - Jeff McBride ation in the creation of the size of the overall circle and each indi vid ual planets orbit. Flour would mark the ground as to the edge of the tracks.

244 Installations and locations There are a num ber of places and lo cation s that have spe cial mean - ing and il lustrat e how de tails are im portant for a good ritual setup. At one tip of the trian gle is the Gate - the entranc e into the container. The Gate will be wide enough for a dump truck to pass through. In front, out side the Comet Track will rest the Portal, moveable so as to allow for trucks to enter when deliv - er ing. Lo cated just East of the North al tar is the Well. Here is an in stalla tion for heal ing to take place, comfort to be given and a safe space for trance. There would also be a sup - ply of wa ter bot tles lo cated in this area to be shared at the circle. The drum mer section would center around a torch that has been moved back out of the Mars track. This torch forms the tip of the Heart where dancers and others may move out of the orbits and com muni cat e direc tly with the drum mers. The front of the drum sec - tion would begin just out of the orbit of Earth but within the Mars track and extend back into Jupi ter as necessary. Altars should be set up at the four quarters and rest on the edge of the containe r within Sat urn, form ing The Grand Cross. The altar at the gate would be set about midway on the Jupi ter track to give par- tici pants the ability to enter the gate and also to run the Ju pi ter track without out bumping into the altar. FireDance consid ers the ground in which the fire is to be placed a hearth. If a fire ring is currentl y in place then that would be used. However , if one is not available the use of an above ground fire cru- cible is encour aged in honor of the Earth so we do not leave scars. There are a great number of Fire Dancers who prefer to go bare- footed around the fire. Also, most areas are on uneven, rough

245 ground or too dusty. In these cases where the ground is de term ined to be unsuit able for bare feet, FireDance would provide a pad of mulch or saw dust, at least one inch thick from the edge of the stone circle around the fire up to and in- cluding the Earth Track. When Par tic i pants “pop” (go into a unusual or altere d state like a trance or re gres - sion) and heal ers gather, a clog oc curs in the movement and energy of the dance wheel. FireDance en - cour ages the “heal ers” to scoop these “poppers” up and guide them out of the spinning orbits past the circle of standing stones (Mars track) to a safe zone - the Well. Here in comfort and safety they may continue their process. Heal ers are en cour aged to gently and ap pro pri ately re-in tro duce the newly “popped” indi vid ual back to the spinning orbits. They aid them in finding their place so that they are not lost and confused. The drum mers are togethe r, prefer a ble to the north of the fire, but close to the cir cle. The phys i cal set-up empha sizes the rela tion ship betwe en drum mers and danc ers and the rela tion ship of both to the fire. The music com es from many tradi tions, and within the polyrhythmic constra ints of group drum ming new songs are create d and there is a body of special fire-songs. The ritual elements of FireDance A circle is round and thus the layout of the fire circle place is round, but has an orien ta tion re specting the four quarters . The genera l outline is a sa cred space around the fire, des ig nated by some phys i cal barrier , which needs to be honored. Enter ing or leaving that sacre d space is only through the por tal, a gate usually to the East, where

246 one consci ously steps into the magi cal realm. At the portal smudg - ing takes place, cleansing of energy and there is also a mom ent of con cen tra tion when en ter ing and be com ing part of the com mu nity of the cir cle and a co-creator of what happens there.

There is a kind of et iquette concer ning how to engage. People enter - ing the dance circle s are suppo sed to do so at the pace of those already danc ing. The dance track clos est to the fire moves the fast est. The next ring of dancers moves a little slower. The third ring is for rat tles and trance danc ing and moves even slower. If space and at - ten dance per mit, a larger num ber of cir cles is laid out, rep re sent ing the solar sys tem and the planets.

As the form at has evolved, some el em ents borrowe d from other traditions had to be taken out, as for insta nce na tive Ameri cans ob - jected to the use of cer tain el ements or uten sils of their her i tage. Also new ele m ents were tried and sometim es added to the liturgy, as is fitting for a living tradition. Alchemical phases As the event not only covers one night, but a num ber of nights, the differ ent stages (of expe ri ence and tempo) had to be linked. The model here was the al chemi cal ‘Great Work", in line with the idea that partic i pants would go through differ ent stages towar ds a ‘golden’ re sult. The alchem ical setup is em phasiz ed by a couple of distinct phases, and they can be com pared but are not totall y sim ilar to the cleansing, sacri fic ing, uniting and com munion phases in other rituals.

• Nigredo - Burning away impurities, releasing ego and agendas. • Peacock’s tail - Colours, stories, songs, offerings • Albedo - Inner work, trance, ecstasy • Rubedo - Dawn, Sunrise and beyond.

The first phase is called the Nigredo, or the blacken ing. It is the part where the “prima materia,” or first mat ter, is placed into a con tainer and heated until there are only ashes left and then dis solved with liq-

247 uid un til there is a sus pen sion. These first steps are called Cal ci na - tion and Disso lu tion.

At the fire circle, this is the time when peo ple arrive and settle in as the fire is lit and highly ener gize d dancing starts. On a personal or transformational level, this is time to “burn away and dissolve ” what ever stands betwe en us and the Divine.

The fi nal stage of the nigredo corre sponds with the alchem ical stage called sepa ra tion. In the lab, the solu tion is broken up into its sepa - rate com ponents . At the fire circle , people be gin to let go of whatever lead they’ve been car ry ing into the fire to be transform ed. There is a stage in the al chemi cal pro cess called the Pea cock’s tail, seen as rainbow col ored streaks that appear on the inside of the ves- sel. At the fire circle, this is when people “show their colors,” or step out and share a sponta ne ous mom ent of creative inspi ra tion with the group. This stage can go on for hours.

The next part is the Albedo. This corre sponds with the alche m ist’s whiten ing proces s, where the matter in the flask is soften ing and be - gin ning to pu rify. At the fire cir cle, this is the time when there is a palpa ble shift in the energy. The drum ming may grow quiete r and there may be more quiet songs or chants. Somehow, there is a shift, and the atm ospher e begins to feel lighter. Coin ci den tall y, this is often the time when the sky be gins to grow light. The stages of alchemy that cor respond with this period are Conjunc tion, Ferm enta - tion, and Dis til la tion. Purification is achieved.

The fi nal stage of the fire cir cle al chemy is called the Rubedo, the red den ing, the sun rise it self. The sun rise can be in ter preted on many dif fer ent in divid ual lev els. We

248 imagine the sun’s rays enter ing our bodies , and filling each cell with pure gold. Often at sunrise , a long sustaine d period of silenc e is encouraged. Fir eten ders The role of the fire-ten ders is es sen tial. They tend to the fire and in this way they con trol the en ergy of the whole ritual. By let ting the fire go down or feeding it to make it higher, in a way they steer the mood of the whole scene. As the fire is driving the energy, it re - quires skill and consid er ation to tend to it and balance the energy of the fire and the crowd.

Wa ter also plays a spe cial role. Be cause of the in tense phys i cal ex - ercis e and the risk of dehy dration the partic i pants need a lot of water and dis pensing wa ter is one of the sacre d ser vices one can assume. FireDance does not use elec tric ity, it re lies of the po wer of the fire, on the earth (Gaia) as the al tar, on the air of the wind, the in cense and the music , and on clean water and good food to help endure the strenu ous danc ing routine. There is no smoking of any substa nce or drinking alco hol in the circle. Closing the FireDance To illus trat e the mindset, here the very touching clos ing FireDance prayer in the morning, written by Katlyn Breene, who creates sa cred art, com mu ni ties and rit u als: the sun rises we lift our hands unto it to be re-born like the day golden rays pierce our hearts like arrows of light dispelling illusion releasing night

249 solar alchemy filling each cell of our body transforming, transmuting lead into purest gold as above, so below the sun sees itself in the fire in each other we see god Set, setting and magical The whole FireDance pro ject was (and is in later in car na tions) a well thought out ritual festi val, where the psy cholog i cal , the socia l and the spiri tual were given ade quate space and attention. In the set-up, one has tried not to infringe on what some might consider their intel lec tual prop erty rights or cul tural heri tage. This has forced the use of more public dom ain for mats like alchem ical processes and as tro nom i cal tra jec to ries in a new and in no va tive way. The lim ita tions were overcom e by new visions and lit urgy that still honored the effective forms from the past. The whole setup allowe d for both indi vid ual and group proces ses. Great care was given to make sure ev ery body was part of the pro - cess, not only partic i pat ing in the dancing, drum ming and singing throughout the night, but also in the prepa ra tion, the proces sion and the sharing. Set indi vid ual proces ses, even if they were deep and unusual like what they called popping, were not only accept ed but encour aged. The psy cholog i cal buildup was very clever: the ups and downs to be expect ed and in fact intende d, as dancing the whole night brings ex - haus tion and trance-like states. They were han dled in a nice and empathic way. This had to do with the mindset of the partic i pants and expe ri ence d Firedancers who took care of the new com ers, but also with the well thought out form at, the physi cal layout and the prepa - ration and teachings given before the event really started. Learning songs by hearth, be ing aware of the effec t of musi cal instru m ents,

250 the whole philos o phy was shared in a nice way, in volving every - body and making sure nobody fell out of the boat. The mag i cal pur pose, cre at ing a TAZ (tem po rary au ton o mous zone, Hakim Bey - Pe ter L. Wil son) and tribal aware ness, did al low many people to let go of their ‘norm al’ masks and be open to new contac t, new ex pe ri ences and a depth of feel ing that was very spe cial. This in turn allowe d psy cholog i cal breakthrough, but also inner healing. For many, feeling welcom e, at home and accept ed opened inner doors never imagined. The set, setting and magi cal were not re ally sep arate, they were in te grated. The phys i cal lay out and the phys i cal acts, all with deep corre spond ing meaning, were so symbolic and yet real, that the res o nance among the par tic i pants be came a reso - nance with the place, with nature, with spirit on the inside and outside. The fact that the people in volved were quite famil iar with theater, stage magic and working with emotion lines and psy cholog i cal processes undoubt edly helped a lot. Using spe cial effec ts, coy ote type changes, synchro niz ing the music , the fire and the actions made it very spe cial and ef fec tive. The lead ers of FireDance, a close knit group of people who knew each other well, had worked togethe r before in often profes sional sit ua tions. They oper ate d as a team and yet allowe d indi vid ual expres sion. There was an amazing soft ness in the way things were ex ecuted and even though there were cer tain in-group is sues pres ent, these were kept outside the circle . The care and love given to each indi vid ual partic i pant was amazing, many partic i pants spoke of these rit uals as life-changing events. If we could value the thera peu tic results of such events in mone tary terms, I truly be lieve they are a better deal and more effective than what the medical system has to offer! I person ally felt the whole event as com ing home to a tribe I never knew could exist, the atm ospher e was so specia l, that it inspire d me to or ga nize a number of simi lar fire events in the Neth er lands, called SpringFire. Jeff and some of his team came out to help us keep the origi nal spirit. These events re main vividly burned in my mem ory as very spe cial rit u als, TAZ ex pe ri ences that helped me and others on our path. pic tures in this chap ter Kyer Wiltshire

251 25 Drugs at festivals, raves, parties, clubbing scene.

When talking about festi vals one can hardly ignore that drugs play a role and some say a domi nant role in the fes tival culture. They are, offi cia lly or not, part of the form ula, and although it is possi ble to cre ate a great at mospher e with out drugs or alco hol, using them is like a fast track way to let go and ar rive at an al tered state. The drugs al low quick ac - cess to Victor Turner’s ‘lam i nal in-be - tween state’, where trans for mation and letting go of the mask can happen, but for many, using drugs is not about change, but about enjoy ing ‘communitas’ with the crowd in ec - static dancing and party ing without breaking the mask of personality and ego. Fes tival use is usually not intende d for ‘sacra l’ purposes and transform ation, but for having fun, be com ing one with the group and escaping the dullness of norm al, life. This means that the indi vid ual self trans for ma tion ef fects are less prom i nent and im por tant than when drugs are taken in a thera peu tic or self-explo ra tion setting. The group mind effec ts are more rele vant, of course apart from the per sonal phys i cal dan gers like de hy dra tion, overdose, lowered perception and impaired judgment. Individual effects, group mind effects Most studies about the effec ts of drugs are about indi vid ual psy cho- logi cal effec ts. They look in the dangers and the posi tive transformative, sed ative or es cape ef fects of in gest ing the var i ous substa nces. Less work is done in studying group ef fects. In the festi - val context and concer ning crowd control the effec ts on the group mind are also im portant. The group mind is the col lec tive mood (and be havior) emerging when people are togethe r and reso nat ing (becaus e of music , emotions, threats, We know that a group inebri - ated with al co hol may en ter into an ex cit able state of mind, and

252 things can get out of hand. The com bina tion of alco hol with other drugs like cocai ne can make this worse. The exci ta tion phase of drugs like canna bis is shorter, and substa nces like MDMA have a rela tivel y short exci ta tion phase. Crowds high on this are usually eas ier, less ag gres sive and less prob lems arise. How ever, as the se - ro to nin de ple tion leads to more do pa mine stim u la tion, af ter sev eral hours of dancing the mood of an MDMA crowd can turn sour, just running in stimulation mode. The com bi na tion of arous ing ex pe ri ences, like mu sic, smells, light and the inges tion of substa nces in larger group set tings is not widely re searched. Seeming ly the Rus sian se cret ser vices have ex per i - mented with this and the USA is accuse d of exper i m enting with HAARP (High Auroral Active Resea rch Projec t), but seri ous work on group mind theory is hard to find. The exci ta tion-tr ansfer theory devel oped by Dolf Zillmann looks into the cum ula tive effec t of stim uli, but influ enc ing the mood of a group is very much an art, rather than a sci ence and some DJ’s and VJ’s are great artists.

Great ora tors, poli ti cia ns, perform ing art ists DJ’s and MC’s do have a talent to ex cite a crowd, but this is mostly an in tu itive talent and of course gets better by prac tice. Whether it helps if the artist is high on drugs to rem ains uncle ar, but seems to happen a lot; in a sham an- istic context this is usu ally ben efi cial to the outcome of sessions. Making contact Cer tain drugs, enhance d by the situ a tion, music , etc. do help to reach out and make con tact with oth ers, they are empathogens. This is not only an indi vid ual but also a group mind effec t, The use of such drugs, even by a small part of the crowd will help to raise the genera l inter ac tion contac t level. The opening of the heart and senses by a few will influ ence the group mind cre ating an effec t sim ilar to piggybacking or hitchhik ing, picking up the high from others. As argued elsewher e in this book, new and engag ing contac ts are ap pre ci ated by the more so cially in clined peo ple at par ties or fes ti - vals. Es pe cially for large commer cial fes ti vals, where the con tact oppor tu ni ties are usually lim ited and every body sticks to their own, reaching out is not really part of the form ula. You have to reach out on your own, not easy for most. Empathogens (like MDMA but al-

253 cohol is also an empathogen) then do help to make contact with others. Psychedelic festivals There are fes tivals , where the use of drugs is part of the for mula. In Eng land this started with the first Glastonbury Fair in 1971, orga - nized by the Solstic e Ca pers, with Andrew Kerr and Arabella Churchill. It was a free fes ti val, based upon self-re li ance, ‘bring what you ex pect to find’ and LSD was dis tributed freely, most people were on acid. This free fes tival tradi tion lasted till 1985 (the Bat- tle of the Beanfield) with many sim ilar and highly psy chedelic (LSD) festi vals like the Wind sor, Watchfield and Stonehenge events and the Welsh Psylocybin fes ti vals. Al ready then there were ‘bad trip’ sanctu ary tents and a ‘Re lease’ ambu lance site for harm reduc - tion. Those were the days of the projec ted hippie oil slides and the Acidica light shows. These days the ethos of self-reli ance and par tici pa tion, not con - sumption can be found at Burning Man, where drugs are all over the place and at the Rainbow gather ings (where the drug of choice is canna bis). The tradi tion is def initely in line with the psy chedelic events of the late six ties, sev en ties and early eight ies. Of course not too openly, the dom inant cultural narra tive of prohi bi tion and si- lence con cern ing use and effects still rules. Drug use is all over the place, at some festi vals quite no tice able. For insta nce at the bi annu ally Boom festi val in Por tu gal there are such sanctu ar ies and fa cili ties to take care of overdose and flipping atten dees , that the focus of the whole thing is clear. You go to Boom to use, to lis ten to talks about drugs (I gave such a talk too), to look at psy che delic art, fan tas tic ar chi tec tural con stel la tions and to ex - change experience with others. Boom is called a vi sion ary arts dance fes ti val, at tracts peo ple from all over and is a ca cophony of booming music . The actual site is not eas ily acces si ble, has a lake, and can be ex tremely hot dur ing the fes ti val but very few dare swim naked, it’s Por tu gal af ter all. The whole atm ospher e is psytrance coun ter-cul ture, of fer ing a set ting that is psyche delic even if one doesn’t touch the stuff. The partic i - pants go for the max, there is ecsta tic dancing where stim ula tion outruns the empathogen effec ts. There is also cogni tive challenge , discus sions about the problem s of the world, much inter est in ecol-

254 ogy and all kinds of spiri tu al ity. The spiri tual side of Boom now has its own festival in the years in between. Boom is maybe an ex treme case, there are smaller psy che delic events with less grandi ose settings, but in genera l drug use (of can - na bis, psy che del ics, empathogens like XTC, speed, some co caine but no hard drugs like crack or heroin) is wide spread in the fes tival world. This is true both at the large consum erism events and the more inti m ate ones. Sometim es drug use (and smoking) is forbid den and this policy actu ally maintaine d, often this is when the focus is on people who bring their kids. In some com muni - ties the use of sub - stances can be part of the scene, but the con se quences, in their ef fect on the en ergy of the place, the po ten tial for abuse, drug dealing and in the rela tion - ship with the ‘outer’ world that might not Aerate drug info-tent at Boom festival like this practice, need to be consid - ered. Using drugs is a real ity on many festi vals and in many com - muni ties smoking a joint is quite com mon. But then in ‘norm al’ society people smoke, get drunk, and this is at least as danger ous as smoking cannabis. The use of ‘substa nces’ of an ine briat ing or psyche delic kind during collec tive events or ritual is not new, it is of all times. Perhaps these days it is a bit more dem ocra tic, not reser ved for the happy few. In an cient Greece, each year hun dreds of peo ple, sometimes thou sands, par tic i pated in the rit u als of the Eleusinian Mys tery-school. How- ever this was still a select elite. In most cul tures the use of these substances re mained re stricted to a small group, to priests or sha mans and was of ten a se cret rit ual for ini ti ates only. The wide spread use of sub stances (ex cept al co hol) is rel ativel y new and has in creased. These days at music and pop festi vals nearly every body is high,

255 pops a pill or is tripping, usually with ade quate supplies of alcohol to make sure it works. The broader festi vals and group events like pilgrim ages have always existe d, nothing new there. In the past they were usually re lated to some re ligious purpose, connect ed to na ture and the sky in seasonal fes tivals and even sports events like the origi nal Greek Olym pics were in honor of the gods. But the broad use of drugs or stim ulants we see now was not part of those events. These days the re li gious fo cus is gone. There are meets, fes ti vals and raves. All throughout the year one can find something to attend that ca ters to one’s needs and de sires. In the summer there are mass events like Burning Man or Boom and the music fes tivals with headline bands. In fact, the whole festi val business is be com ing a major indus try, ranging from the super large music events to the small gather ings of kindred spirits in nature. These events don’t offi cia lly provide or condone drugs apart from alco hol, energy drinks with taurine and tobacc o. The other sub - stances or drinks were and are il legal, consid ere d unheal thy and evil, leading to moral degra da tion and what not. The re al ity is that the use of stim u lat ing, lib er at ing, re al ity es cap ing and consci ousness alter ing drugs is widespre ad. Mil lions of people go to fes tivals , clubs and meet ups every weekend where they take pills, smoke or snort something and have made this part of their normal routine. Usually this works out fine, but there are acci dents ; some pills contain the wrong com ponents , too much or too little of the ac tive in gre di ent, some peo ple overdose or can’t handle it. In genera l the num ber of inci dents is very small, much smaller than when al co hol is at play. A few ca su al ties or ad verse sit u ation s do make it into the media and are often used as propa ganda against the use of drugs, but sta tisti cal ly most of these ‘drugs’ are relatively safe. The event orga niz ers are aware of what happens, even if they pub- licly deny this, display ‘no drugs’ signs, have (inef fec tive) control at the en trance and play ‘le gal’. In real ity many fes ti vals have ded i - cated spaces for help ing ‘lost’ users in trou ble, facil i tate testing and are on the look-out for vulner a ble people. At the very least there are chill-out rooms and of ten there are sanc tu ar ies. There is some so cial control, the orga niz ers know what is happen ing and take care to have some people around that can spot ca sual ties in time. Larger

256 fes ti vals some times have ex ten sive harm re duc tion fa cil i ties, there are or ga ni za tions like Kosmicare UK that pro vide ex cel lent ser vice, working with well trained staff and peer-level volunteers, good protocols and medical back-up. The availabil ity of this in it self dimin ishes the anxi ety and the need for as sis tance. Even as the author i ties sometim es don’t want to sup - port harm reduc tion program s (why help druggies !) one of the nice aspect s of most of these drugs is that they make the atm ospher e a bit more socia l and people look out for each other. Al cohol, speed and cocai ne, on the other hand, do have an advers e and anti so cia l effec t and may lead to seri ous aggres sion and problem s, but the psyche del - ics rarely cause group-mind problem s. The only prob lem might be that people start to doubt the prevail ing para digm s of soci ety, become po lit i cally aware and crit i cal, which the status-quo folks see as a danger. Ac ci dents are more likely to hap pen af ter one leaves the disco or club. In that respec t one should plan in such a way, that going home doesn’t involve driving cars, waiting for the bus in the cold for hours or having to cross unsaf e places and neighbor hoods. Why are people using? For those who just want to escape , dance all night and borrow some energy from their own future: the pos sibil i ties are there. The party drugs, the uppers , the XTC, the energy boosters , the speed or even cocaine are proba bly close by. But maybe there’s more to it. Isn’t it also nice, as an anti dote against the de mands and stress of the neoliberal indi vid u al is tic rat race, to use something to let go of the ego, join the com munity, go ‘tribal’ and feel one with the crowd? Venting off steam, enjoy ing ‘communitas’ (Vic tor Turner), expe ri enc ing the group mind of an ecsta tic crowd,. This is not new, but very hu man, very old, and not much differ ent from going to a large sports match, a pa rade or a fair. A dif fer ent state of con scious ness is what one seeks, away from ev - eryday routines , rules and restri ctions and the lim ita tions of space and time. This freedom can be expe ri ence d as total bliss and the venue can becom e this place out of time. An auton o m ous zone for as long as the drug is working. This is how many of the younger gener a tion see it and they behave accord ingly. In genera l, however , the atm ospher e and setting at larger events with sub stan tial psy che delic us age are less likely to

257 give one a deep expe ri ence of one’s inner self or the mag i cal world, and yield only su perfi cia l insights . There is the risk that one gets stuck in the isola tion and fragm enta tion phase and doesn’t inte grate the expe ri ence s and insights . Taking care of a good set ting, maybe choosing the right circle of people to be with amidst the larger crowd and taking care of a good re-entry is therefore important.

The older gener a tion and the author i ties may look upon disco and house and large fes ti vals as sense less and even amoral activ i ties, but isn’t that preju dice d about the way the young expres s them selves? Not only as enter tain m ent, as before in a church choir or dance classes, but as a kind of ritual, a way to make contac t, to tune in to each other and feel part of the `tribe’ and enjoy the contac t with the three worlds: inside , outside and the ‘other’. One can also see these events as the spir i tual and rit ual ex pres sion of a new gen er ation , as Hans Cousto sees it. He ar gues that these modern festi vals are also an expres sion of spiri tual needs where, just as in the olden days at a pilgrim age, reli gious festi val or seasonal event, the atten dees do open up to the otherworld. In joining with others they enter a group mind state where the sepa ra tion with the otherworld evaporates. The union is not only with the others , but with the all. The divine emerges and some kind of mys tical expe ri ence happens. The ingre - dients like music , drum ming, danc ing, light ing and am biance are not fun da men tally dif fer ent from what ini ti a tion and re li gious events of older cultures offere d, and it’s just the cur rent ratio nal world view that for bids la bel ing such ex pe ri ences as spir i tual. This spir i tual mo - tive, although the main reason for many events, congre ga tions, mass, pilgrim age and such is usually not ac knowledged in the studies and re search concer ning modern events like raves and music fes - tivals , but does play a role. Be yond the consum er aspect s, the rec re- ational use, the eco nomic im pact of fes ti vals there are deeper lay ers, both indi vid ual and socia l, and this also has to do with the polit i cal impor tance of fes ti vals as par adig m shifters. There is even less recognition for the magical aspects of such events.

Attend ing ac tual events happens for many rea sons and motives are var ied. The ac tual in cen tive to go may come be cause some friends go, one knows the band, or just out of boredom , nothing to do and

258 then why not? In the context of using psycho ac tive substa nces one tends to clas sify them as merely rec re ational, aim ing at a state of so - cia bil ity, em pa thy, drop ping psy cho log i cal ar mor and in hi bi tions, opening up to feelings other wis e suppres sed and relea sing the en - ergy, fun and joy inside oneself, to share this with others. The motives for going to a party, fes tival and such are based on needs and de sires which can be clas si fied, in very broad terms, as psy cho log i cal, phys i cal, so cial and spir i tual. In the con text of this book we could say in ner world, outer world (includ ing one’s body) and other world. We like going to a large fes tival with hundreds of thousands of others and big bands, or to a small gather ing of friends becaus e we can recon nect with our selves, with others and the otherworld in a safe, protec tive and yet challeng ing setting. The phys ical aspect of being close to others , camping, using the body in getting there, dancing, doing yoga or another form of exer cis e, is quite differ ent from sitting behind a desk, Facebooking or working in our increasingly virtualized world. The phys i cal touch, the di rect con tact at a fes ti val adds some thing we miss in daily life. Seeing and hearing the live music , singing, sitting around a camp fire is what mod ern life has taken away, re plac - ing it with vir tual and arti fi cial enter tain me nt, with much less sensorial bandwidth (modern media are digital but also fairly limited in bandwidth) . We like the im mersion and the com bina tion of the norm al and extra senses we as hum ans have, not only to see, hear and touch but to expe ri ence beauty, friendship, justice and such intangibles. Fes tivals bring that back, it’s like jumping in a pool of hum anness , of finding back our tribal roots, a revival of our evolutionary past. The young like to go for it, but many older and senior citi zens also like to go to fes tivals , where often their gener a tion per forms on stage. The oldies are still going strong, like the Rolling Stones. It is, many say, an addic tion in it self. The fes tivals are highlights for which one sac ri fices much in terms of money, time, travel and even com fort to attend. And the drugs are part of it. Going berser k, danc - ing for hours, one uses any thing to feel at ease in a big, anony mous but synchronized crowd. This is very sim ilar to what they did for ages in many other cultures . In Africa they danced for days and nights, long before they did this

259 in Am sterdam or Woodstock. There they also used alco hol, herbs or mushroom s to get into the right mood and stay in it. For that matter there is clearly a re vival of the `tribal’, a long ing to re turn to the community. This means, that using drugs (barring the more escape type of drugs like her oin which are not re ally ‘sa cred’ in any sense) at fes ti val, raves and in clubbing does have a sacre d, spir itual angle. Maybe not for all, but certainl y for some. The advice given in this book about set and setting, purpose and the stages and effec ts of those sub - stances are thus also appro pri ate for such events. What scenes, discos and places? It is com mon knowledge, that there are drugs around at clubbing events, raves, in cer tain dis cos, cof fee shops, at fes ti vals, meeting s, etc. and it really is n’t that hard to find what you want. Usu ally at these ‘in’ places the sta ple-drug is XTC or simi lar amphet amines (pills are easy to hide and don’t smell like hash), but also coke and speed. It does happen that mushroom s have becom e part of a partic - u lar `cul ture’ of tribe, also ayahuasca and pey ote have their followers. Soft drugs are quite nor mal in some countrie s. Pills are also but psy - chedel ics like LSD and mushroom s are not mainstre am for the aver - age fes ti val and disco-scene. The mushroom s just don’t mix well with the hy perac tive house am biance , which made its repu ta tion on speed and XTC, but some people get a body-kick out of it and for them dancing on mushroom s is far out. The same goes for low (less than 40 micro gram s) LSD doses. Those who like real psyche del ics are usually more in favor of a peace ful trip, set and set ting and there are fes ti vals that ca ter to this too. For first time us ers, fes ti vals and dance par ties are of ten the first envi ron m ent where they use any kind of psy choac tive substa nce, and this is may not be the best. Prefer a bly the first trip is safe, shielded, in a quiet setting, as one enters a whole new world when the norm al shields, masks and ego are low ered becaus e of the sub- stance use. In gen eral it is better to be an ex pe ri enced user, if you want to take mushroom s or LSD amidst a group of people in a pub - lic place. It is easy to lose your bal ance there, as there are so many im pres sions, emotions and energy from others that come your way.

260 Here set and settings have their im pact too, if you are in the com - pany of people that you know and trust and in a good mood, than this can be more fun than going out on a limb. Hitchhiking and contact with nature Ev ery ex pe ri enced trip per is fa mil iar with the phe nom e non of hitchhiking, to take off on someone else’s trip without using a sub - stance yoursel f. Drugs change your outflow, some talk about aura, the invis i ble ener getic layers around the body and the people in your direc t envi ron m ent easily pick up on your energy. You func tion as a subtle energy source, people around you get into the same mood and that way you get back what you radiate. This link with nature is more obvi ous when you are outdoors, it feels eas ier to commu ni cate with trees, plants, and an i mals. Some claim one should stick to ‘nat ural’ drugs to enjoy that. There is much debate about ‘chem ical ’ or syn thetic drugs such as XTC. Many prefer natu ral mushroom s, plants or herbs like canna bis or ayahuasca. While LSD at times feels very syn thetic, hard and an a - lytic, the mushroom -trip is often softer and more natu ral. But there is a down side and the ef fects vary much more be cause the active com ponents differ. The mixture de pends on where they were found or grown. The same goes for ayahuasca and other ‘nat ural’ concoc - tions which are ac tu ally also the result of a chemical process (cooking). Often there will be a synchronicity with what happens in the envi - ronm ent: LSD as well as mushroom s often attrac t thunder. To take a trip with a group of people often leads to local changes in the weather, to storm and rain. It is not by acci dent that mushroom s were (or are) used by medi cine men, shamans, witches and wizards. Influ enc ing the weather (rainmaking) of ten was one of their special gifts. Sex: nice but beware of dark waters Some indig e nous tribes refer to mushroom s as the divine pe nis, and there cer tainly is a connec tion. Chromes are not explic itly an aph ro- di siac, but they cer tainly don’t cause im po tence. They are an in gre - dient, just as in daily life sensu al ity, sex and love often pop up in a psychedelic voyage. There fore sex is a topic that can’t be ig nored. It is a bit re pressed in our soci ety, but a lot of people like to exper i m ent with sex and

261 drugs, in all kinds of com bina tions and with all kinds of substa nces. This can be fun although the lust and the li bido on a trip will often come and go in waves causing you to be easily distrac ted. Espe - cially becaus e we often have deep frustra tions and wounds in this area, this can result in deep encoun ters and unex pect ed landsca pes during a trip. It can be quite scary to see what lives deep inside you and what alm ost all of us keep secre t, while we often condem n it in oth ers. Un sus pected ho mo sex ual ten den cies can eas ily star tle you. Be reas sure d, every one has sim ilar feel ings deep down, that doesn’t neces sar ily mean that this will change your `normal’ behavior. Kundalini: the inner snake Mushroom and psyche delic trips can provoke ener getic spasms, which are sometim es referr ed to as kundalini expe ri ence s. Kundalini is a well known concept in yoga and is repre sent ed as a Snake God- dess wrapped three and a half times around the first chakra (Mula- dara) at the coccy x. The East has de vel oped cer tain phys i cal ex er - cises to have this snake, which is symbolic of a la tent sleeping life energy, as cending to the higher chakras in order to unite at the crown chakra with the divine cosm ic consci ousness . This happens sometim es dur ing a trip and is a strong expe ri ence . You might be in for a surprise. Legalization or/and decriminalization Elim i nat ing the use of in tox i cat ing or mood al ter ing sub stances is a pipe-dream in itsel f, for all through evolu tion first ani m als and later hum ans have searched, found and used the plants and substa nces that of fer relief from the stresses and problem s of norm ality. Many ani m als seek out psyche delic plants, roots or mushroom s, even in- sects are known to be ‘us ers’. Al co hol, to bacco, cof fee, some clearly psy cho-active sub stances are legal, oth ers listed as il le gal, dan ger - ous, for bidden. Some cul tures allow, more or less openly, the use of sub stances that are for bid den else where, some rec og nize med i cal use, for some the whole or part of the econom y is based on growing such substa nces or on tourists that want to expe ri ence them. Cities like Am ster dam rely and cap i tal ize on some de gree of per missive - ness, the ayahuasca tourism in the upper Amazon region draws large numbers of Westerners. The freedom of inges tion, not yet a basic hum an right, is lim ited be - cause the supposed harm to onesel f and others , but the legal sup - pres sion has spawned an often crim inal alter na tive, meet ing the de -

262 mand or even creat ing a need for the more or less addic tive sub - stances. Fighting the use and the dis tribu tion system , the ‘war on drugs’ has not been very effec tive, just as the alco hol prohi bi tion in the USA didn’t really work. It has filled prisons and provided work for a whole crim inal indus try, but has had lit tle effec t on the use. The ‘war on smoking’ has yielded some more re sults, by way of pricing and information about the negative health effects. What to do? There are no easy an swers, for there are health is sues, minors de serve protec tion, and yes, the use of nota bly psy chedel ics can free the mind and lead to less doc ile cit i zens. The more com mon sugges tions as a way out of the dilem ma are le galiza tion and de - crim inal iza tion. In some countrie s the use and sale of canna bis is le- galize d, sometim es lim ited to medi cal use, is metha done provided as an al terna tive for heroin, but outright le galiza tion of all substa nces seems un re al is tic, also given re li gious con cerns. De crim i nal iza tion of some substa nces, canna bis as the most likely, is advo cat ed by many, but there are prac ti cal con sid er ations, like dif fer ences be - tween countrie s and harmonization of the legal situation in e.g. the European Union. In the con text of fes ti vals and al ter na tive com mu ni ties, where the use of can na bis and rel ativel y safe sub stances is wide spread, the double faced approac h of offi cia l anti-drug but practi cal condon ing indi vid ual use, is quite com mon. One searches for drugs at the gate, but sets up or accom modate s harm reduc tion units, places where OD, psy cholog i cal and physi cal problem s are dealt with, often oper - ating outside the le gal proto cols that would require report ing or even arres ting the people involved. Much effort goes into keeping dealers and mob-controlle d distri bu tion out, but then this may sneak through the back door, the house dealer or a whole subcul ture of deal ing like in Christi ania takes over. There is money to be made and as long as part or the whole of the distribution chain is illegal, criminal activity emerges. The option of local decrim inal iza tion, that is a more perm issive op - era tion within the confines of a festi val or an auton o m ous zone, is common prac tice, is re al is tic but lacks legal status. The study of the effec ts of certain substa nces or com bina tions of substa nces in group or crowd situ a tions is proba bly more im portant (given the amount of people involved) than looking at indi vid ual med i cal or psy cho log i cal ef fects, but is hardly taken se ri ous. Given the le gal sit u a tion, or ga ni za tions like MAPS concen trat e on the indi -

263 vid ual and there is some inter est in what Santo Daime like ritual brings concer ning socia l cohe sion. Of course the ethi cal and practi - cal bar ri ers to set up the new ‘Acid Test’ experiments with larger groups are enormous. Yet it would be in terest ing if at events like Boom exper i me nts with ‘LSD only’ or ‘XTC-only’ crowds could be staged. Of course with ad e quate mon i tor ing of both phys i o log i cal and psy cho log i cal data, the effec t of differ ent types of music and light ing, the set and setting. To iso late the specif ics and not let in cidents color the pic ture is what could lead to more tol erant and less re pres sive atti tude of the author i ties , the medi cal world, the media and the public opinion. That for insta nce magic mushroom s were made ille gal (and thus criminalized) in the Nether lands based on inci dents where multi ple use and pre-ex ist ing med i cal or psy cho log i cal conditions were not investigated, is a case in point.

264 the world changes with drugs

265 26 Analog and digital: a fundamental dichotomy

There is a trend in fes ti vals to stay away from commer cial in flu ence (the no-logo approac h) and even from modern ready made technol - ogy. The maker-trend, cre ating dec ora tion and structures on the spot, us ing waste and debris, reus ing mate ri als , but with modern tools and even 3D-printing, illus trat es the need to step away from the manu fac tured and soulles s modern re ality and reach for some level of autarky, of self-suf fi ciency. The ‘bricolage’ ap proach, cre at - ing on the spot with available mate ri als, with often amazing re sults, is dif ferent from what happens at Burning Man, where most of the struc tures and tem porary buildings are planned and prefabricated. In an in creas ingly dig i tal world, where dis crete sets of data and mea sur able phe nom ena rule, pref er a ble turned into dig i tal files of com puters , fes tivals are also a counter- movem ent. Not a counter cul ture, since with out the help of internet ser vices, so cial media and modern technol ogy modern festi vals would be hard to or ganize and market. But cer tainly fes ti vals are a coun ter weight against mod ern life with its virtu ality, always on and non –physical contacts. It may sound as a somewhat arti fi cia l dichot om y, but festi vals are essen tially an alog in an in creasingly dig ital world. Not only live music , but the live atm ospher e, expe ri enc ing real people, real condi - tions and real contacts are analog. These days most people think that digi tal means 0/1 binary coding, but the notion applies to all coding with a dis crete and lim ited set and the dif fer ence be tween an a log and dig i tal is very fun da men tal, also in a philosoph i cal context. The digi tal age started when God com missione d Adam to name all ani m als and birds (Gene sis 2:19) and the proces s of ‘Nam ing is Fram ing’ started. Ap ply ing a limited set of symbols like the names of spe cies is essen tial digi tal, a good way to or ganize things, but also re stricts. An a log re fers to con tin u ous, non dis crete phe nom ena, things like love and beauty; most things in nature are essen tial ly analog. The word digi tal com es from digitus (Latin for finger), as fin- gers are often used for discre te counting. Num bers, let ters, and names are symbol ic sys tems of rep re sen ta tion, with dis crete and

266 limited sets. Using them requires follow ing cer tain rules and poses re - stric tions. Writing is thus digital, while speaking analog.

There are clear ad - vantage s for us ing dig i tal. In tech nology the error re duction qual ity of digi tal signals , while allow ing com pres sion, made mod ern com put ers and com mu ni ca tion pos si ble. It’s not all man-made. Nature also uses digi tal, DNA/RNA is essen - tially a dig ital copy system with 4 base-pairs and self-re pairing co - lons, leading to just 20 amino-ac ids. Er ror re duction and elim ina tion of noise is where digi tal excel s. Note that our gene-pool sur vived countles s generations using this digital backbone of life. Deconstruction of a whole into standard ize d parts and dis crete sets of attrib utes , like building with standard blocks, has obvi ous advan - tages. Neil Gershenfeld of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atom s, who cham pi ons dig i tal pro duc tion (FabLab, 3D printing) as an exten sion of dig i tal com pu ta tion and com mu ni ca tion, uses the ex am ple of Lego to il lustrate how discrete and lim ited set com po nents are ef fec - tive, fast and er ror re - ducing. In fact at fes tivals like Burnng Man many struc tures are pre fab ri cated, these days also with 3D tech - niques, and are as sem- bled on the playa. The Lego ex am ple also shows that while one can construc t very com plex struc tures, achieving beauty re- Neil Gershenfeld

267 mains prob lem atic, due to the ‘digital’ limitations in sizes, colors and angles. The dis tinc tion in an a log and dig i tal is fun da men tal. As one of the essen tial di chot o mies in philo soph i cal terms the first divi sion of the monad (abso lute) can be termed as good or bad, or love and truth. However , ana log/dig i tal makes a lot of sense. In our incre asing digi tal age the distinc tion can help to under sta nd the direc tion of hum an and soci eta l evolu tion. The digital creeps upon us. Slowly all our media are digi tal, and the most used drug these days to es cape the an alog re al ity by shift ing time and place to retreat in childlike state behind a safe screen is the smartphone. Texting is ob- viously digi tal. For many, clicking on their digi tal pocket-secre tary re places the an alog medium of speech. Dig ital asserts that with the lim ited set of symbols and the thresh old property of expo nen tial reduc tion in error, we can clean up com mu - ni cation , mak ing it faster and more reli able. To day we take these functions for granted in our digi tal world of internet, com puters and media. Abandon ing am bigu ity, the truth reduced to yes or no an - swers, Wikipedia as the entropic, medi o cre standard of human knowledge. Time is ana log, but clocktime default s to more digi tal, sequen tial time. Send ing a message and read ing, for in stance, takes a lit tle time, while beauty is timeless. Clocktime ties us down, limits us. It is the timeless state of the soul, the higher self where we can get in touch with union, the abso lute that super sede s all dichot om y. Mani - fes ta tion is es sen tially the pro cess where con scious ness uses time (which space fol lows in stan ta neously) to cre ate some thing tan gi ble. The quantum phys icis t talks about this as the collaps e of the proba - bility curve. One could say that God uses time to create the oppor tu - nity to expe ri ence the dis tinction betwe en love and truth, which can be seen as the lesson we have to learn in life.

268 However , by equating digi tal to truth, ana log to love com es to mind. Digi tal uses rules and dis crete sets, where something is true or not; while an a log re mains more con tin u ous, un lim ited, unsynchronized, like love or beauty. While the Law is dig i tal, Jus tice re flects an alog . Here we touch on the im por tance of un der stand ing the dif fer ence and the im pli ca tions of the differ ence . Inste ad of thinking in terms of good or bad, socia l or libera l, left or right, the distinc tion betwe en ana log and digi tal ap - proaches can be used to under sta nd many funda m ental issues in culture, religion and society. Digi tal is about borders , distinc tion betwe en you and me, your land, my land. Don’t enter my terri tory! It is about kingdom s, vested interest s, truth in science and being right, justi fied. Ana log is about shar ing, about com mon in ter est, about time less sus te nance, re spon - sibil ity for val ues, rather than exploit ing the bor ders. It is slower, takes more time, more feel ing with more mis takes likely as there is less ef fec tive er ror re duc tion. Dig i tal is more about mea sur ing, feed - back, fast re sponse and ef fec tive ness. Nei ther is better. Both have their points, but sometim es the bal ance leans towards a side enabling recognition of a shift. Take the le gal sys tem, something that grew out of games and ritual into a code! The Anglo-Sa xon approac h is very much based on rules; Amer i can con tracts stip u late each and ev ery even tu al ity. What is not include d in a clause is not part of the deal. This sys tem is more digi tal than the Rom an/Rhineland Law approac h, where princi ples, fair play, a sense of due dil i gence are more prevalent. In reli gion we see a sim ilar di vision. There are rule based and thus more dig i tal re li gions. The Jew ish, Sunni Mus lim and re for ma tory Chris tian reli gions tend to stick to the book; the set of rules is fixed, no bending allowe d. You are with us or against us! Truth cannot be com prom ised! Then there are the more le nient reli gions, where rules are less strict, for giveness and love are more prev alent, like the Catholic Church. This distinc tion has deep roots. In essenc e we talk about magi cal and anti-magi cal reli gions. The more ana log ones cher ish and honor the mysti cal, with ritual access to the intan gi ble and timeless over sticking to the rules. People like Buddha, Moham med, and Luther are typ i cally dig i tal re form ers, do ing away with the hi er ar chi cal pomp and circum stance, the ritual abundance , the saints and the

269 free dom. They steered back to the rules, the es sence, the barebones. One cannot deny that the dif ference betwe en the digi tal and the ana - log approac h has been the root of many wars. Even today the dif ference betwe en Sunni and Shia continues to cause much struggle and violence. Un der stand ing the dif fer ence be tween rule based and dis crete dig i tal and more contin u ous, flowing and timeles s ana log applies to many fields. In the med ical field, the digi tal, mod ern way is to use chemi - cals, sur gery and ‘hard’ methods, while the ritual and spiri tual ap - proach to healing heralds more ana log, holistic, restorative balance. Progress seems digi tal. By way of our emergent hum an self-con - scious ness we be came ob sessed with truth, in ven tions, in di vid ual rec ogni tion and what we now call science , trading in love and connectedness. We started to live in larger groups, devel oped indi - vid u al ity. Need ing sym bols to com mu ni cate, lan guage de vel oped beyond the merely in dica tive. World culture moves towar d a digi tal approac h, with more rules and ‘hard’ truths while be ing less guided by prin ciples , moral values, intuitions and undefined feelings. For ex ample, the ori en tal law of karma re flects the force of change in the uni verse, seen as a fun da mental bal ance mech anism in the wider real ity that includes the intan gi ble spiri tual realm. It is ana log, so count ing one’s actions as in scoring or points is thus senseles s. What mat ters en compasses to tal ity. The time-ar row of cause and ef - fect is a dig i tal one. Nor mal causal ity re mains time bound and can be fal si fied as true or false, again very dis crete with er ror reduc tion. Invert ing (or escap ing) the cause and effec t rela tion offers one way of defin ing magic, the ana log oppo site of ratio nal truth. For many, the most vivid expe ri ence of the ana log and digi tal realms merging results from psy chedelic tripping. In an LSD or ayahuasca journey there are no distinct truths, rules, times or even errors, everything flows, the symbolic merges with the presence. Dig ital is discrete, fast, ratio nal, noise-resis tant, left-brain, male, but lacks the beauty, the gradual, the love and wisdom of ana log, right brain, fe male, ho lis tic. In the context of fes tivals , honor ing the ana log charac ter of such events means that many of the digi tal indi ca tors like profit, turnover, the stuff measured in hard dig ital truth, are less im por tant, less in- dic a tive of suc cess, while iden ti fi ca tion, op por tu ni ties for trans formation and participation score.

270 27 The future: extended identification, immersion, pervasive games, flash mobs & cyberspace escape

There rem ains an im portant question to be answe red: What kind of a fu ture is there for transformational festi vals of the rit ual and TAZ cat egory and for more perm anent places aim ing at cultural inde - pend ence, change, in no va tion and sus tainabil ity? Let’s start with festi vals in gen eral, which includes events with a merely com mer cial and en ter tain ment char ac ter. The cur rent festivalization trend will increase , more and more people will turn to ‘real’ events, to ex pe ri ence the magi cal ex tra that ‘live’ meet ing can bring. In our digi tal age we need oppor tu ni ties and events to meet and have phys ical contac t, to find meaning and identity if not identi - fica tion to counteract the loss of privacy. Eventification is not a trend that will van ish, there will be more festivals of all kinds and some will becom e more perm anent venues. They will change, like the car ni val, kermis and vil lage fair have changed from tradi tional gather ings into com mercia l events, have grown to sometim es enorm ous sizes like the large music fes tivals . Venues like stadi um s, music halls, exhi bi tion grounds and amusement parks now offer the es cape from norm ality people are looking for. The large music events, public festi vals and amusem ent parks of the future will be more inter ac tive, more engag ing, ca tering to broad and niche mar kets. The will be more fes ti val-like in the sense that they will of fer a vari ety , not only the ecstatic but also the relaxed, the loung ing, the con tact op por tu ni ties. Tech nol ogy will im pact the scene, mar ket ing will change, so cial media impact will grow, costly se cu rity and risk-elim ina tion will be major factors in the busi ness mod els. The fa cil i ties and re sources re quired by the au thor i ties and the consum ers will proba bly lead to more or less perm anent festi val loca tions, oper ate d by a single orga nize r or rented out to vari ous festi val op er a tors and be com ing part of the in fra struc ture, in a sim i lar way as the large exhi bi tion and fairs facil i ties today. This not only

271 in the ur ban or metro pol i tan context, but the need to re connect to nature will prob ably lead to arti fi cial ‘natu ral’ festival grounds, or to assigning parts of nature reserves or national parks for festival use. Modern technol ogy and espe cia lly internet and the internet of things (IoT) will of course influ ence the festi vals and meet ings of the future. It’s obvi ous that real-time video connec tions can bring new options, the on line ap pear ance of speak ers and per form ers is al ready quite com mon and the connec tion goes both ways, from and to the event, the tal ent and the au di ence both can tele-par tic i pate. The im - medi acy of the feed back can bring ex tra en ergy, the reac tion s of re - mote partic i pants or audi ence s can be inte grate d in the whole, large screens are now every wher e. Am plifi ca tion of video and sound can help to boost the energy and the new gener a tion of body-sensors , smart watches and mixing options to cre ate a whole new expe ri ence of fers end less pos si bil i ties. The DJ al ready has be come or is as sisted by a VJ and with 3D and holo gram technol ogy this will reach even more fas ci nat ing lev els. His tal ent for crowd reading will be en - hanced if data from the au di ence’s wearables and sen sors become available . Then things like heartbeat s can be used to gauge the mood Pro fil ing based on body language and facial expression is already a reality in security applications, so why not to read the audience? Dig i tal on-site pro duc tion will al low to par tic i pate in build ing structures rem otely, the 3D print ers will make the parts and robots can do the assem bly. Construc ting scenery, stages, décors and construc tions on the spot will becom e easier. At many fes tivals very im pres sive and in no va tive con struc tions are al ready part of the for mula, this will increase with more ‘maker trend’ technology. Micro-payments & reality mining The tech nol ogy fa cil i tates and simpli fies all kind of actions, for the orga niz ers as well as the visi tors. Iden tifi - ca tion, tracking, paym ents, ubiq ui tous com put ing, ev ery -

272 thing will happen more or less auto m ati cal ly. The technol ogy will pene trat e ever more, via Internet of Things (all equipm ent connect ed and re motely controlle d) and wear able com puting, using sensors that are able to imme di ately re-cre ate the ac tual world on and around the visi tors, micropayments through NFC, gamification of ac tiv i ties, us ing dig i tal trans mit ted credit to ma nip u late the crowd, drones, all of course invad ing the privacy but im posed be cause of the ef fi ciency. The re al ity min ing (data anal y sis), in clud ing the tracking of emotional identi fi ers like heart-beat, the loca tion of ev - erybody, sales at conces sions, profiling for commer cial and se cu rity pur poses, will increase and the festi val real ity will move and de - velop. Many tradi tional aspect of festi vals will change, like pay ing with cash money or tokens for food, service s etc., the whole public an nounce ment in fra struc ture, the con tact mo dal i ties (match mak ing) but other tradi tions may come back, like more space for ritual and medi ta tion, participation in building and staging the whole event, and identification will expand beyond the time and location.

It’s all a matter of using all options, com bining them, not turning to a neo-Luddite kind of refusa l of what technol ogy of fers. Being aware of the dan gers of dephysicalization in us ing the new technol o - gies to prepare , do market ing and involve more parties is neces sar y, but would these great events like Burning Man be possi ble without the glue of internet and online com muni ca tion. Building virtual com muni ties is a great way to keep the group mind and identi fi ca - tion alive, cre ate smaller lo cal events and commu ni ties, which will help the main event, where then every body meets and can enjoy the extra energy of physical togetherness. Security and safety As the fear of terror ism grows (re alis ti cally or as a po lit i cal tool) secu rity will be a grow ing is sue, this will limit pri vacy, will be a growing cost fac tor and may grind away at the basic condi tion and char ac ter of a fes ti val, of fer ing a magic cir cle or au ton o mous zone. More frisking, more identity control at the entranc e and at the digi tal gate (internet ticket sales), more secu rity per son nel, more pro fil ing with ever incre asing loss of privacy. One of the attrac tions of pres - ent-day festi vals , the use of all kinds of drugs includ ing alco hol and to bacco, may come un der siege. New testing technol ogy, new ways to locat e drugs on or in the body, it happens. At large festi vals the

273 entranc e se curity equals or surpass ed that on air ports. Secu rity costs and all kinds of top-down regu la tions, im posed by the author i ties and in surers, will raise the ticket prices and actu ally kill many smaller alter na tives , leading to concentrations and monopolies in the festival business. Immersion Being part of the event, the par tici pa tion and iden tifi ca tion, will be helped by technol ogy. The trend towar ds re al ity em u la tion, with 3D, vir tual re al ity and augmented re ality is of course a technol ogy-push and not always succes sful in the market, but also plays into a need to being part of something else, something excit ing, engag ing and thrill ing. This im mersion is also what fes tivals offer and why not use the technol ogy to enhance the expe ri ence . Walking around with an aug mented re al ity head set, over lay ing imag ery from the stage or from sepa rate VJ sources on what you phys ical ly can see and touch, using quanti fied self data from your own and other sensors to mani - fest your body state, there is much of such immersive fun on the horizon. Service s like e-dating, based on profiling, could be turned to in-the-mom ent link-up service s, you are guided towar ds like-minded people based on what your sensors and online profile suggest . New contac t oppor tu ni ties emerge, you can meet your soul mate or just sex date even in the midst of a huge crowd, guided by the latest technology. Transformational The events aim ing at chance and trans for mation , where fes ti val cul - ture is re ally devel op ing, may even grow more dra mati cal ly. The stifling dig i tal re al ity and ma te ri al is tic de mands of mod ern life, the lack of meaning in work and virtual rela tion ships will drive people to look for al ter na tives, for the pos si bil i ties of par tic i pa tion, iden ti fi - cation and real iza tion. These will be offere d by for-profit and not-for-profit or ga niz ers, by the gov ern ment re al iz ing that pub lic discon tent is a risk factor, and by self-organizing groups of activists. One of the key festi val-t rend obser vers , Jeet-Kei Leung of the Blooms se ries (thebloom.tv/public) points at the emergence and evolu tion of festi val com muni ties and the im pact these events are making in our world. He pre dicts that more and more festi val-ba sed collec tives (or com muni ties ) will purchas e land for the purpose of

274 becom ing perm anent venues with a or year-round program - ming. Heexpects the ‘transformational festi val’ milieu, with usu ally a strong socia lly-consci ous drive, to le verage the oppor tu nity to combin e the power of the fes ti val ex pe ri ence with more far-reach ing ex per i ments in re gen er a tive cul ture, like eco-vil lages, perma cul ture gardens, organic farms, vari ous forms of invention/maker labs, and artist studios and residencies. A com mon fac tor will be that tem porary or perm anent auton o m ous zones, offer ing a certain free dom from norm ality are the fundament of such events, places or com muni ties . The same constra ints and costs fac tors en coun tered in the genral fes ti vals will also lead to more per ma nent fes ti val lo ca tions with an ‘al ter na tive’ iden tity. Tem porary and more perm anent places where transfor m ation is possi ble will emerge, maybe in un ex pected places. Ex otic is lands, aban - doned oil rigs, cruise ships, how long will it take for the first fes tival in outer space to happen? Com mercia l or even crim inal exploi ta tion of spaces outside norm al juris dic tion or less controlle d by the author i ties is com mon place. The whole cruise in dus try, ca ter ing for the gray ing afflu ent, the swingers and the gam blers, is based on making a profit by evading taxes (the sale of alco hol is their big money maker, the high seas are tax-free) and ducking employment regulations.

The re ligious or spiri tual side of things will be come more mani fes t. The need to addres s and contac t the otherworld is clearly part of the search for meaning, now that reli gious tradi tions are vanish ing in the West. Festi vals of this kind of fer a way to ex peri ence ritual, to identify with values be yond the mere mate rial and seek the transformational self-knowledge we need to grow. As I believe ritual has roots in deeper lay ers of consci ousness and the nervous system, ap preci a tion of the rit ual aspect will prob ably grow. It is the most common way to ac cess the extra dimensional realm and of fers so cio log i cal and psy cho log i cal ad van tages. I be lieve rit ual is dis trib - uted cul tu ral intel li gence; very essential in how a society, company or even family functions. We cannot do without ritual and meet ings to cele brate and feel united. As soon as one ritual dis appear s, another pops up. The com - munists for insta nce loved parade s and pomp as much as the Nazis , roy alty and the Church before them. Much of today’s sports events are ritu al is tic and if you ask the support ers about their belief in the

275 effi cie ncy of mascots and the effec t of their singing and cheer ing, most of them will agree it works. Doesn’t the home team win more often?

The next ques tion could be: ‘Will the cultural and polit i cal im por- tance of such fes ti - vals and free cul - tural spaces grow?’ Will so cial change, cultural in no va tion and maybe po lit i cal aware ness and in - volvem ent of the people grow due to such events and places, where new ideas and insights can emerge? I am incline d to answe r in the pos itive, but this requires a more elab o rate an - swer. In the chap - ter about inno va - tion I point at the mecha nism s at play, and I expect that under sta nd - ing how change happens will lead to more appre ci a tion of events like fes ti vals or places like free cul tural spaces or alternative and intentional communities. Diversity is the key Change only results from differ ence s. These days there is much debate about diver sity, not only in a cultural and ethnic way. People like Thomas Piketty point at in creased diversity in incom e and capi - tal and warn for a crisis. The au thor i ties and po lit i cal lead ers do not of ten ap pre ci ate the pos i- tive aspect s of diver sity, only look at extrem e situ a tion where a crisis could happen (and maybe bring the transfor m ation needed). A fes ti val or commu nity where all are and act alike, where there is no varia tion and not a lit tle bit of creative chaos, is dead. Without a cer-

276 tain amount of chaos things get stale, we need some diver sity, some differ ence s to get things going. Things then emerge out of what seems just blurry, but then leads to new and differ ent forms and in - nova tions. We need the coy ote energy, the willing ness to be dif ferent to escape the bore dom of routine. The whole deal of di versity is that it is not just a danger, but it drives us, we need polar ity to get moving, that is the es sence of live. Di versity management is the core task of government and leaders. From work to festival We can as sume that technol ogy will advance even more and that a future will happen with more robot ics , more em bedded com puter power, an internet of things and cloud technol ogy as containe r for big and small data. We orga nize and in fact robotize daily life so in - tensely, that we our selves start to act as ro bots, as slaves of Facebook, internet and routines like travel ing to work for hours in overfull buses or trains. Fes ti vals of fer a way out, an es cape we need to still feel hum an, specia l, worthwhile and valuable . Govern m ents, looking at long term devel op m ent, must re alize that an alter na tive to tradi tional work and the meaning it offers to most people, must be provided. It will not take long, be fore robot s, em bed ded cir cuitry or au to mated device s have taken over most menial work. Not only in manu fac turing, but in logis tics , care, agri cul ture and even in teaching and the medi cal field machine s can take over a lot of hum an work. Modern ro bot sci ence is de vel op ing fast, by us ing dis trib uted in tel li gence, link ing per cep tion to im me di ate (re flex) ac tion, ar ti fi cial in tel li- gence, big data and such. Auton o m ous robots, making intel li gent deci sions , will take over our lives and work. Auton o m ous oper at ing ve hi cles, trains, cars, boats, planes, they are a re al ity, in nor mal life as well as in war (drones). Com puters and auto n o m ously act ing robots or AI-device s are taking over many jobs, there is no work for many of us, so what is there as an alternative to keep us busy, and prevent Luddite revolution? The govern m ent cannot ignore this and has to look for ways to keep us happy, busy, and in line. The advent of robot ics and cyberspace ex ter nal iza tion of mem ory (stor age) has philo soph i cal as pects, but it will also have an enorm ous im pact on our daily lives. It will make many things eas ier and of course save money. This co mes at a price, there will be less work, at all lev els ex cept the cre ative and the top

277 level. But is that not what will stim u late people to look for alter na - tives, for events, fes tivals and com muni ties where maybe work has a differ ent flavor, where volun tee ring is the way to enjoy and feel part of what happens? Alternate reality games, pervasive games, The de velop m ent of themed festi vals , like the ones around historic themes, (chiv alry, eth nic, re nais sance), tech nol ogy, ecol ogy, etc. and crossover festi vals (betwe en exhi bi tion or fair and festi val like a fashion fes tival or film fes tival) will proba bly move towar d more im mer sion. Tech nol ogy is help ful here, the po ten tial of im ag ing technol ogy with screens and holo gram s is evolving, but also soundscapes, smellscapes are becom ing more pregnant. This not only as pro vided by the fes ti val or ga ni za tion, the par tic i pants will bring their own enhance ments, in dresses and personal wearables, which offer new possi bil i ties for tracking and crowd control, but also new forms of enter tain m ent and even on-site learning and transform ation. The inte gra tion of games and subse quent data mining of where the people are and what they do, being played by all or just part of the audi ence will and can change the whole festi val setup, bring new contac t opportunities and can add a whole new layer of activity to the festival grounds. Al ter nate Re al ity Games (ARGs) are in ter ac tive nar ra tive ex pe ri - ences which use the real world as the plat form of the game. By bringing play out into the real world, ARGs provide play ers with an oppor tu nity to enjoy both the gameplay and bene fit from richer social ex pe ri ences and phys i cal ac tiv ity, us ing the fes ti val space like a game-board, but with the people moving. Pervasive gam ing is where the fictive world in which the game takes place blends with the physi cal world. Perva sive games blur the lines betwe en the virtual world of the game and the real world of the player to bring a more immersive and re al is tic game ex pe ri ence. Fa - cil i tated by the ubiq uity of mo bile com mu ni ca tions and wire less technol o gies , perva sive games take gam ing back to the three-dim en- sional world, to nature resorts and public spaces like shopping malls, muse um s and festi vals . One technique is lo ca tion track ing, using the physi cal loca tion of the player and their subse quent movement as a means of in ter action with the game, such games are also called mo bile games. An ex ample is that somethin g, a treasure or a

278 person, is hidden and the audi ence , guided by clues on their mobile phones, has to locate this. Modern public ritual: Flash Mobs & Coyote Mind Modern media and nota bly the ubiquity of cam era and re cording devices like smartphones has al ready led to new ritual and perfor - mance forms, like the flash mob. These flash-mobs are un ex pected, un an nounced, semi-spon ta ne ous per for mances or hap pen ings, some times by pro fes sional mu si cians, theate r people or PR people (smart mobs), in public places. A group of people assem ble suddenly in a more or less public place, perform an unusual and sur prising act for a brief time, then quickly disperse. This can be seen as a prac ti cal joke, but es sen tially it means trickster energy, coyote mind mani fes ted. The notion of such coyote, disturb - ing ac tions is known in many tradi tions, it adds an el em ent of chaos, of im per fec tion. Don’t as sume a rit ual is per fect, al low for imper fec - tion and thereby bow to the divine perfec tion. In some cul tures specific mistake s in for insta nce buildings are an expres sion of this sen- tim ent. They don’t assume to be perfect. The genera l idea of the flash mobs re sem bles the happenings of the sixties , but they are faster, unex pect ed and given a new vigor through modern media cover age by the public and media dis tribu - tion. The first flash mob was orga nize d by Bill Wasik, se nior ed i tor of Harper’s Maga zine in 2003 in Manhattan. The par tic i pants use places like a big rail way sta tion, a large market, a public place and loca tions where a lot of people are around. The perform ers are initial ly not rec ogniz able as such. When the perfor - mance starts, it usually is with only a few people, and then the sur- prised audi ence , the passers -by, turn towar d them. Then more and more perform ers join, from dif ferent cor ners or they use staircases or differ ent levels in the building to add their part. The surprise and of ten the message of the mu si cal piece or per for mance make for growing enthu si asm and the flash mob becom es a highly emotional and moving perfor m ance. The group mind or group energy of both per form ers and au di ence sky rock ets, there is ef fer ves cence and the in ter ac tion be tween au di ence and per form ers can be enor mous. The TAZ happens, and the magic enters , people will let go of their masks, enjoy and share their emotions.

279 As there are al ways peo ple with cameras, such flash mob per for - mances will hit YouTube or Facebook in minutes and the message will quickly reach the world. This has turned out to work very well when there is a deeper message, a mag i cal in ten tion. Like when in March 2015 the Euro pean Anthem (Beetho ven’s 9th, Ode to Joy) was played in an Odessa market in Ukraine. Starting with just a few musi cia ns, the whole place was then filled with musi cia ns and singers, seem ingly appear ing out of thin air, bursting out in total com - mitm ent to the under ly ing message ; we want to be part of Europe. The mag i cal en ergy of such events can im pres sive. As I have been part of some happen ings, or ganize d by the mage Robert Jasper Grootveld, at the Spui square loca tion central in Am sterdam . I know how ef fec tive this can be. Seeming ly silly acts can have an enor - mous ef fect, on the media, the po lice and the gen eral au di ence and achieve clear jumps in aware ness. As such, they are rit u als and in the case of Grootveld’s happen ings, they were designed as such. Different kind of events Now there are also events and rit uals of a dif ferent kind on the hori - zon. Com bina tions of internet and phys ical meet ings, like us ing remote presence are used for meet ings and expand ing the partic i pa tion of events. This can be in the context of cre ative proces ses and ra tional com muni ca tions, real time or by way of a platform , like in mailstorming. New ways of in terac tion, with immersive presence via VR make new forms of perfor m ances possi ble. Many con gresses alrea dy use this kind of remote presentations and discussions. But looking further, cyberspac e is slowly being rec ognize d as an - other spiri tual platform . Starting with Pagan groups it is incre asingly used in what one could call magi cal ways. Asking for otherworld support when starting a new website or cyberspace venture is a logi - cal devel op m ent, the cyberpagans have alrea dy done this and devel - oped formats for it. Par tic i pa tion or at least re mote pres ence is fairly easy these days, but could be used for differ ent events too. As an ex ample: there are cer tain rit ual events that have sur vived the onsla ught of ra tional ism like funer als . But as the medi cal knowledge and ca pabil ity to predict the outcom e of certain diseas es grows there is a growing tendency to willfully end one’s life if the pain or gen - eral sit u a tion be come too much. Eu tha na sia is an ac tu al ity, there’s no deny ing this is a growing prac tice. In many countrie s there are

280 le gal con struc tions al low ing it, safe guard ing against abuse and protecting the doctors involved. Now as this in creases, many peo ple will re al ize that if the moment of death can more or less be chosen, one may want close friends and rela tives around. Sharing such a mom ent is now seen as very private, but why not use internet to allow re mote presence . This could to be a good way to say good bye and share some pre cious last mo - ments. Now maybe the notion of an exit-event with friends or fam - ily may seem absurd. But think again. Say ing goodbye, exit and maybe even funera l in whatever form com bined, this calls for new ritual for mats and why not use internet and online presence there.

There is certainly an evo lu tion in fes tival for mats, with on line events and online partic i pa tion we break through time and place limits. We can have fes tivals on cruise ships, in ‘Sec ond Life’ worlds, why not stage such an event on the moon, and have par tici - pants use VR-technol ogy to get there? New technol ogy, the cloud, ex panded data col lec tion and IoT con trol will make festi vals into ever more com plex events with new possi bil i ties to incor po rate other media into the ex pe ri ence and the man age ment. Se cu rity and pri vacy con cern are grow ing and will in crease costs and limit free - dom. Profil ing is a logi cal step, but might bring a need for fog process ing (Salvatore J. Stolfo), in or der to protec t the notion (or illu - sion of an auton o m ous zone). Internet, new technol o gies and contac t mo dal i ties ex pand the no tions of pres ence, ex pe ri ence of par tic i pa - tion, of contac t possi bil i ties , and no doubt creative people will use this to stage even more engaging, more immersive events in the future.

281 28 Free Cultural Spaces: Utopian enclaves of freedom

There are many ways and forms of living togethe r and com muni ties or even com munes of all kinds have existe d through his tory. The ones that have dis tinguishe d or even isolate d them selves and survived have becom e icons. Take the Amish for insta nce: an Ameri - can reli gious group stem ming from Menno nite Christian movem ents in Europe. Such groups, settle m ents or com muni ties often do fit in the cat e gory ‘auton o m ous zones’ as the cus toms, culture and para - digm are differ ent from the genera l ones surround ing such set tle- ments. Based on re ligion, ethnic roots, language, culture, polit i cal stance; the diversity of communities and festivals is enormous. What they share is some in de pend ence and a dif fer ent per spec tive in the sense that they are free, as in not aligned with the prevail ing paradigm . Such encla ves of free dom exist for people of all ages and all cultures and have existe d throughout histor i cal time. Many of these ini tiatives are utopian. They believe in a better world and aim at using the magi cal energy and mindpower of the group (even as the word magic is not mentioned or even suppres sed) to cre ate a better, more harm oni ous and sustainable community and world. Free Cultural Spaces (FCS) In this book we focus on com muni ties and festi vals with a distinct auton om y and more spe cifi cal ly on what is broadly termed ‘alter na - tive’, but of ten also as ‘counter- culture’. Such com muni ties have ex - isted for a long time, but nota bly the post-sixties com munes and the squat ter-movem ent of the seven ties and eighties (like the 40 plus years old Chris tiania and Ruigoord com muni ties ) have been the flagbear ers of the ‘auton o m ous zones’ concept . One way to identify and specify them is to see them as spaces with a dis tinct cul ture and as be ing differ ent form the ‘nor mal’. This involves some degree of free dom, and words like free town and free haven support this, the term Free Cul tural Spaces (FCS) has been used. In the last de cades, the festi val trend, with Glastonbury, Boom and Burning Man as prime exam ples, has led to physi cal and virtual com muni ties within the same clas si fi cation . The term FCS is thus ap plied to per manent , tempo rary, vir tual, and no madic free spaces. Free Cul tural Spaces

282 take many forms, includ ing squatted and hacker com muni ties , pirate ra dio col lec tives and sta tions, free towns, Eco•vil lages, perma•cul - ture cen ters, in de pend ent fes ti vals, (semi) nomadic groups, communes , communities, occupied grounds and Unceded Indigenous Territories.

There are other conste lla tions and groups of com muni ties , with their own fo cus. No ta bly, the eco log i cal per spec tive has spawned many ini tia tives and com mu ni ties and there are in ter na tional co op er a tive platform s. The spiri tual angle, where the Osho, Buddhist and Advaita tradi tions are most vis ible, has its own net works of like-minded ini tiate s. The genera l um brella of these groups and the FCS is a certain body-mind holistic and idealistic stance. The genera l trend to orga nize events and meet ings in what very broadly can be called a tribal revival is of course also visi ble in sports, hobby, shared inter est s and music . A whole indus try emerged, with massive events and large audiences. Futurological Symposium The thinking about this trend and the inter est in what unites and/or sepa rate s the vari ous initia tives has led to seri ous studies , even dis- ser tations and some of the com muni ties have banded togethe r to create a platform to discuss and coordinate things. The Futurological Sympo sium on Free Cultural Spaces (FCS) is such a platform and has been held in Am - ster dam (Ruigoord), Chris ti ania (Den- mark) and Boom (Por tu gal) in vit ing people from both the tem po rary and perma nent au ton o mous zone world. The stated goals are ide al is tic, but also prac ti cal. The Fu - turological Sym po- Discussion group at the Vth Futurological sium on FCS is a Symposium Christiania 2015

283 platform for exchang ing ideas and inspir ing each other, but also for making plans to work togethe r. Themes like ‘The Im portanc e of Fes ti val Cul tures, (Boom) and ‘In di vidu als and Col lec tives’ (Chris- tiania ) and a focus on (urban) tribes, polit i cal issues , ecology and shar ing are dealt with in the perspective of the TAZ. el ement of the cel ebra tion activ i ties. One of the aims was to cre ate a phys ical network that com plem ents vari ous ’virtual’ ones – a network pro mot ing the col lec tive in ter ests of ac tiv ists, art ists, mu si- cians, writ ers, per form ers, eco log i cal farm ers, na tive rep re sen ta - tives, painters and clowns. Really whoever. Oral tra ditions – such as when people join and inter act – play a prom inent func tional role dur ing the sympo sia , and with them come the exchange of ideas. In 2013, for exam ple, a Dec lara tion on the Univer sal Right to Free Cultural Spaces was de bated. At a 2008 exchange betwe en Christi ania and Ruigoord, the issue of ‘Urban Tribes’ was not only debated, but manifested.

The col lec tive aim of the FCS plat form is to co-cre ate a dy namic, last ing, sus tain able and non-hi er ar chi cal global net work among FCS, and to further the exchange of ideas about the form and content of free cultural circuits and inde pend ent cultures , from all over the globe. It stands for dura bil ity, ecolog i cal approac hes, and social experimentation. The is sue of free dom (in the name) is spec i fied as: “When you call yourself a ’free society’, you appear to set yourself up in opposition to an ’unfree’ society. But we don’t have to be against something to stand for something else. Autonomy, although derived from anarchism, is not the same as anarchism. Anarchism opposes repressive political systems, autonomous groups do what they think best. We see FCS as autonomous, and believe we are the ancestors of our future mini-societies. By working on our mini-societies, we give value to society at large.’’ Par tic i pants in this ini tia tive are Chris ti ania and ThyLejren (Den- mark), Fu sion (which, like Boom, is a fes tival that is slowly turn ing into a per ma nent au ton o mous zone) and UFA-Fabrik (Ger many), Doel (Belgium ), Ruigoord (Holland), Umbrell a House and Autonome dia (USA), Projecto Nuevo Mundo (Mexico), Eco Center IPEC (Brazil), and Boom (Portu gal). In joining forces, stronger

284 state ments can be made about aspect s of freedom , ecol ogy, and culture in general.

The or ga ni za tion of the Futurological Sym po sia ex em pli fies how things can be mani fes ted without the tra di tional bud gets, propos als or even subsi - dies. It means col lab o ra - tion with out be com ing a cor po ra tion, board, foundation or any other kind of umbrell a or cen tral ized or ga ni za tion. There’s no hi er ar chy, no cen tral of - fice, and there are no functional roles – but there are fixed re la tions. It is al ways a hand shake upon the very activ ity of the people, very much like in the way the fes ti vals in the FCS per spec tive are or ga nized like an elas tic, even like a dance. Sim ilar to struc ture with much indi vid ual freedom and yet there is also trust and commit me nt, with out the fi nan cial ties norm ally used to get things going. Every soci ety needs oxy gen (en - ergy) to exist in harm ony. In this case this energy com es from within the people, not pushed upon them and is fuele d by love, trust and com mu ni ca tion. Dif fer ent from money or ma te rial resources, these are renewable and grow by themselves and by interaction and exchange. In the language of the global business elites, every corpo ra tion with re spect for it self has a lab o ra tory for re search and de vel op ment. The Futurological Sympo sium on FCS aims to be to the com muni ties and coun tries in volved what a de vel op men tal re search lab o ra tory is for a global business corpo ra tion, but with a differ ent structure and model, more spiral than hierarchical. The term Futurologica l Sympo sium is taken from Stanislav Lem’s novel The Futurologica l Congres s (1971) and refers to a deep com -

285 mitme nt to de vel- oping an evolu - tion ary per spec tive on Free Cultural Spaces (FCS) or Au ton o mous Zones. Ruigoord, the Dutch vil lage that orig i nated the Sym po sium idea, has been an ac tive Free Cultural Space since 1973. Along with ThyLejren (the People’s Lair) and Christi ania in Denm ark, Ruigoord is one of the lon- gest•lived of the North ern Eu ro pean uto pian com mu ni ties that emerged from the tum ult of the Sixties . Its founda tional princi ples , and thus those of the Futurological Sym posia , rest on the notion of Homo Ludens (Play ful Mankind), the idea that free and play ful in- terac tions be tween people generate powerful communal impulses. Fes tivals are cultural breeding grounds. They offer play grounds for the expe ri ence of freedom , and help to es tablish natu ral and elastic borders and rit ual ways to transfer cultural infor m ation. They help shape group spirit and ethos and facil i tate direc t hum an contac t among people who are nowa days often connect ed solely via the Internet. A fes ti val ex pe ri ence of ten ac cel er ate s an in di vid ual’s aware ness that life of fers mul ti ple al ter na tives to the con strained and con strain ing ex pe ri ences that main stream so ci ety ad vo cates. It can es tab lish deep and mu tu ally en rich ing con nec tions be tween FCS and ex pe ri ences of per sonal lib er a tion. The im por tance of fes ti vals for the co•creation of a coun ter•cultural reality links festival culture to autonomous zones around the world. The “free cul ture” that an i mates FCS ac knowl edges the impor tance of de vel op ing and/or rec og niz ing rites of pas sage as con trib ut ing to the mindsets that rec og nize the po ten ti al i ties of hu mans as in di vid u- als and in communities. Collective Aims within Free Cultural Spaces. In order to clarify what the FCS and the Futurological Sympo sium tries to achieve, here is the fol lowing quote and list ing from the press re leases and mate rial con cern ing their goals:

286 1) What is Free Cul tural Space? (Free cul tural space ver sus pub lic space; the dif fer ent re la tions rep re sented by free cul tural space and pub lic space ? free dom of life style; self•reg u la tion and self•organization.) 2) FCS as defined by the groups that forms them. (Pio neer s taking the ini tia tive) 3) Collec tivity as a socia l phenom enon. (The growth of socia l collec tives; so cial co he sion within FCS) 4) Changes within FCS’. Changing structures of coop er a tion, coor - di na tion, com mu ni ca tion and power; vi sions, roles, shared re spon sibil i ties, motivations. 5) Dif fer ent un der stand ings on in di vid u al ism and col lec tiv ism in Europe and e.g. the USA. 6) Why in sti tu tion al ize a col lec tive? (Min i miz ing the im por tance of indi vid ual re lations and the “socia l cost” of interaction) 7) What ties link in stitu tional and so cial collec tives? (For mally in - stituted col lectives in rela tion to FCS and more flexi ble so cial collectives; forma lly struc tured col lectives are more tightly bound to place than are flex i ble social collectives.) 8) What pa rame ters de fine “the Cul ture of Free dom” that an i mates FCS? (What are the lim its of free dom within FCS (aggres sion, hard drugs, etc.)? How un free is a FCS? Do pi o neers cre ate the iden tity that deter mines a FCS’s forms of free dom” What are the limits on in di vid ual ini tia tive within a collective environment?) 9) Collec tivism and indi vid u al ism within FCS? The role of the indi - vidual as a part of many col lec tivi- ties; losing in di - vid u al ity within collectivity. 10) In di vid u al ity within so cial collec tives. 11) In di vid u al ity within in sti tu tion - al ized col lec tives. Aja Waalwijks sign/pointer art project at the (EU•rules about 5th Futurological Symposium Christiania 2015

287 col lec tives (nor mal iza tion).) 12) So cial ver sus in sti tu tional at ti tudes within FCS 13) Con flict res o lu tion and co op er a tion be tween col lec tives and indi vid u als within FCS. 14) De vel op ing flex i ble ju rid i cal forms that are dem o cratic and pro- tect conti nu ity, which forms best suit FCS?

The di ver sity be tween the pro jects and per spec tives pre sented at each event will consti tute its distinc tive feature, with the con nec- tions, col lab o ra tion, and con ti nu i ties it gen er ates pro vid ing new and excit ing syner gies to the overall Futurological Symposium project.

Heartweb art project at the 5th Futurological Symposium Christiania 2015

288 29 Cybertribes, Goa and Psytrance: the Subversive Underground by Wolfgang Sterneck The vision of cybertribes links the under - standing of old cultures with the knowl - Ger many based Wolfgang edge of today. It links the expe ri ence s of Sterneck is an ac tiv ist and witches, re sis tance fight ers and re al ity thinker fo cused on po lit i - hackers to use them for our age now and cal and coun ter-cul tural develop them for the future. Personal de- ac tiv ism. He wrote about velop m ent and socia l change merge into dif fer ent Cybertribe-Vi - a new unity. The vision ary cybertribe sions, cofounded pro jects concept s are trying to achieve a linking like the Sonics-Net work of life-forms in a commu nity , creative and built up dif fer ent cul - de vel op ment and po lit i cal en gage ment. tural pro jects as a kind of How ever, what is also emerg ing is a cer - free space tain de-politicization in fa vor of a con- cealed spir i tual or an unreflected psychedelic attitude. The cybertribe vision neither stands for a de term ined princi ple of or - gani za tion, nor for dogm atic ideol o gies . And the projec ts even don’t have to call themselves cybertribe to re al ize cer tain el ements of their vision. It is more about tribes in the sense of gather ings, projec ts and com mu ni ties, us ing con tem po rary tech nol o gies for in ter ac tion, symbol ized and summarized in the “cyber” concept. These post-modern tribes, in all their differ ent focuse s, set flexi ble networks , based on self-de term ina tion and equality, against the pre- dom i nant au thor i tar ian struc tures. They emerge wher ever there is a new con scious ness against ma nip u la tion, sol i dar ity against com pe tition and a poli tics of resis tance against the process of destruction. Techno & Goa They perform tradi tional ritu als but use electronic music and mod - ern media. As an ideal, Techno or Goa par ties are con sis tent with these orig i nal trance rit u als where to day’s elec tronic in stru ments are being played inste ad of wooden drums. They do use psycho-a ctive

289 tech nol ogy and sub stances; psychonauts of today use both plant entheogens and rel a tively new syn the sized psy che delic sub stances for their trips into the inner cosmos. The indi vid ual cybertribes in their many shapes are an out cry and an up ris ing against the om ni pres ent ex ploi ta tion of man and na ture. They can also be regarde d as a kind of es cape or the prover bial dance on the volcano with re gard to the cur rent ecolog i cal and social devel op m ents. One finds ele m ents of the cybertribe vision in many fields. For ex am ple, ur ban po lit i cal ac tiv ists in the Aus tra lian outback joining groups of Aborig i nes to fight against the de struc tion of the environment through the mining of uranium. Many projec ts that act in the spirit of the cybertribe vision show the ne ces sity and con crete pos si bil i ties to re act and de velop free spaces, where at least a ru di mentary but dif fer ent life is pos si ble. These are islands in an ocean of consum erism and ecolog i cal waste, but islands with a mission, even as it seems very un likely to be able to achieve sustain able changes, in the cur rent structures of power. But ev ery sin gle per son is re spon si ble for mak ing change pos si ble, by throwing a monkey wrench in the works and not being the grease that keeps the destructive process alive. Music, Mind and Politics The cybertribe vision finds analogy in some under ground culture projec ts such as Techno or in the Goa Psytrance culture. In the 90s for a huge part of the youn ger gener a tion the atti tude towar ds life was re flected in those scenes and par ties. New mu si cal forms of ex - pres sion and a certain feel ing of com munity shaped the cultural evolution in those days as did the Trance expe ri ence , danc ing for hours and using psychoactive substances.

290 Like in many other under ground scenes, at the begin ning of the Goa- and Psytrance scene there was a strong expres sion of a sublim - inal de sire for a life stretching above and beyond sim ple civic duties.

Cybertribe The Cybertribe is a distant uto pia and a liv ing prac tice at the same time. It’s a fan tasy but also con crete re al ity. It can be felt as a pul - sat ing rhythm, can be lived as a changing energy, which connect s countles s small, often loose, com muni ties , groups and projec ts. As a modern tribe the Cybertribe knows no lim its. Its home is the whole earth, its every wher e and nowher e. Every one who opens his or her eyes will see the signs, will under sta nd the languages. The Cybertribe connect s the wis dom of ancie nt cultures with the un der stand ing of to day’s de vel op ments. It com bines the ex pe ri- ences and percep tions of witches and sham ans, of resis tance fight - ers and revo lu tion ar ies , of hippies and communards, of hackers and cybernauts to use them for the pres ent and to evolve them for the future. In doing so indi vid ual and socia l change, inner and outer de - velop m ent will become a new unity. The Cybertribe arises where manip u la tion is opposed by a new consciousness and re duction by new dim ensions . It arises where the prin ci ple of com pe ti tion is con fronted with the prin ci ple of sol i dar- ity, the proces s of de struc tion with the proces s of healing the pol i- tics of repres sion with the pol itics of resis tance. Sometime s it devel - ops abso lutel y un expect edly, to dis appear in the same manner. In some places it grows contin u ous step by step, in others it has existed for ages. The Cybertribe doesn’t have a mem bership in the norm al sense. It’s not possi ble and not nec essar y to join it in a form al way. Some- times it’s not even neces sar y to know the term or the ideas behind it at all. The belong ing com es of itsel f, manifestated in the ener gies and acts of the person. The Cybertribe is in all its ap pear ances a re bel lious scream against the om nipres ent de struc tion. It’s a trial, a starting point to end and overcom e this proces s for building a new cul ture on the ruins of the old system . (1995).

291 What played a big role here were such val ues as self- de ter mina tion and a sense of commu nity as well as the zest to ac tively par take in one’s own creative devel op m ent, albeit, by do-it-yoursel f means.

Sim ilar posi tions were also found at the begin ning of the techno cultures when the hope existe d that the origi nal ide als of “Peace, Love, Unity and Respec t“ would end up changing soci ety in a flowing pro cess from within. How ever, com pa ra ble de vel op ments re mained without any ac tual im pact due to com mercia liza tion and the sublim i- nal take-over of so ci ety. The cap i tal ist sys tem alway s suc ceeds in market ing its own antith e sis , which has alrea dy been seen to happen with the hippie and punk cultures . If you take Rock’n’ Roll, Punk or Techno, all those movem ents started in the under ground as a counter cul ture, as a sep ara tion to the mainstream cul ture. It was al ways about socia l free spaces, about the possi bil ity of self-devel op m ent, of be ing cre ative, of re al iz ing com mon pro jects and ba si cally about a self-deter mined life. And al ways when the coun ter-cul ture ceased to respect certain pre-determined limits, the State and the Establish - ment hit back. Tranceform ations ISLANDS The lo ca tion turns Some people think that dance-movem ent is into a field of en- like an island, but most of them forget that ergy when a Goa every island is surrounded by an ocean. party reaches its peak. This field is not vis i ble in an op ti cal sense, but is, nev er the less, per cep ti ble for all. Freely moving bodies with percep tion concen trat ed on the mo - ment. Within the dancers there is a posi tive empti ness spreading out to be filled by the rhythm. All around, there is ecsta tic dancing; the borders betwe en the dance-floor and the rest of the world continuously disintegrating. At this point, these events look just like big trance ritu als . Hours of danc ing along to a mo not o nous rhythm, per haps ac com pa nied by the use of psy cho ac tive sub stances, trig ger a psy che delic tran si tion to a trance-like state. Within the bod ies endorphins are being re- leased leading to a euphoric state. It eventu ally becom es pos sible, to let go of every thing, re lease the inner blockades and just go with the flow.

292 Such parties are in a line of tradi tion from shamanistic drum ritu als to se cret Dio ny sus feasts and the bedevilments of witches and onto con tem po rary un der ground cul tures. Out sid ers are not able to com - prehend these expe ri ence s. When the paths of trancers and strollers cross af ter a trancy night the fol lowing Sunday after noon, you get what seems to be an encoun ter of worlds in total oppo si tion. But these two worlds and all their differ ence s soon quickly disappear at the next food stall. The Psytrance scene opened up an even wider under sta nding of par - ty ing based on a holis tic concept . The scene contrib uted im portant im pe tuses for al ter na tive cul tural de vel op ments and per sonal self-fulfillment. Un for tu nately, the Goa scene, af ter some in spir ing years, has mean - while passed its peak and is now entan gled in a mesh of clichés, con sum er ism, mis un der stood Hindu im ag ery and fun-ori ented com - merce. A lack of knowledge obvi ously ignores the fact that these symbols, of ten used as brands, ulti m ately stand for the extrem ely repres sive cast system and the discrim ina tion of women. If we look at the fuzzy descr iptions of Techno-Sha man ism, peo ple of ten re fer to the in ten sity of the re lease of pos i tive en ergy at a mass trance ex pe - rience . The wrong conclu sion, of ten made here, is that this would lead to a personal change in consci ousness that would subtly become manifest and make a long term impact in social processes.

With this background in mind, re flec tive discus sions about these de - velop m ents are neces sar y. One option is to inten sify the de velop - ment of networks so as to prom ote exchange and a syn ergetic con- centra tion of energy. An exam ple of this in the trance scene is the “Sonic Cybertribe Net work”, putt ing al ter na tive and ide al is tic projects that origi nate in the party cul ture into prac tice. The crucial essence is the consta nt devel op m ent of an under sta nding that combines cultural and political aspects. The political challenge When people got togethe r for a party to cele brate togethe r as a com - munity and break free from the bonds of daily life, what it achieved was at most a mo ment of socio-cul tural free space or a “tem po rary au ton o mous zone” (TAZ). The po lit i cal char ac ter, thereby, is not just formed by banners or flyers . It’s an inher ent and im portant ques tion the to see whether trancers deal with each other as if in a

293 commu nity or in an ego cen tric way. There are po lit i cal is sues, like whether there are only men up on the stage or also women par tici - pating in their emanci pa tion. Sim ilarl y whether only a single person ends up getting money out of the event or whether it’s a really great party for all or if the ecology and envi ron m ent is treated. Not to forget re sis tance against con trol, com merce and consumerism as other important political aspects.

Rhythms of change Manifesto on Music, Mind and Politics Far away from the soft-rinsed TV-Shows one can still hear rare rhythms and breaks, which cannot be silenc ed. It’s nearly all the same no matter which music culture one exam ines, or in which city one moves. Any one who looks beneat h the surfac e will find un der ground pro jects, which op pose the cul tural con for mity and try to forge new directions. The rhythms differ sometim es and the lyrics vary in their sym - bols, but their fun da mental messages are sim i lar. It’s al ways about free spaces in which the first steps of an other life can be re - al ized. Free spaces based on self-deter mined cre ativ ity and commu nal responsibility. Ide ally a party or a ses sion, a con cert or a fes ti val can be such free spaces. There fore it is nec es sary, time and again, to break open the struc tures of con sump tion and com mer cial iza tion. Not conform ing to stars and trends, but com mon devel op m ent in the flow of a night. But it’s not enough to search for the expe ri ence of the alter na tive real ity on the dance floor and the concer t alone. In this age of eco log i cal de struc tion, glob al ized ex ploi ta tion and re li gious fa- nati cis m, nobody can withdraw into their own worlds. In the long run the socia l condi tions must be forced to dance. The energy of danced-through nights open their real strength only if they are un- folded in the re al ity-remix of the ev ery day life as a commitment for consequent change. Hack Re al ity - Dance for Change! by Wolfgang Sterneck - www.sterneck.net - 2007

294 A trance night, free of control and rea son, may turn into a poli tics of body. If this expe ri ence is only lim ited to a short mom ent of indi vid - ual escape from the bonds of daily life, then com paring it to sim ply “es cape” seems ev i dent. It is how ever es sen tial to look at one’s own personal expe ri ence s during a party and put them into a socia l context. It then quickly be comes clear that per sonal ex pe ri ences are not sim ply prod ucts of coin ci dence but in their very core show the im - pact of certain ‘limit ing’ life conditions and social structures. The ‘nor mal’ de-facto socia l system s re quire a blocked hum an being who will function without contra dic tion and who will join the constant quest for succes s, even though they ba sical ly just desire an inner and outer flow. It is neces sar y, therefore, to honor the need for broader ac tion and go be yond these short and liber at ing transce n - dent expe ri ence s and look for ways to force per sonal and socia l struc tures to break. may turn into a politics of body. If this expe ri ence is only lim ited to a short mom ent of indi vid ual escape from the bonds of daily life, then com paring it to sim ply “escape” seems ev i dent. It is how ever es sen tial to look at one’s own personal expe ri ence s during a party and put them into a socia l context. It then quickly be comes clear that per sonal ex pe ri ences are not sim ply prod ucts of coin ci dence but in their very core show the im - pact of certain ‘limit ing’ life conditions and social structures. The ‘nor mal’ de-facto socia l system s re quire a blocked hum an being who will function without contra dic tion and who will join the constant quest for succes s, even though they ba sical ly just desire an inner and outer flow. It is neces sar y, therefore, to honor the need for broader ac tion and go be yond these short and liber at ing transce n - dent expe ri ence s and look for ways to force per sonal and social structures to break. Some history, Connecta This under sta nding can be found in the “Connecta” concept which is based on the linkage of music , mind and poli tics . Beside s the music program ming, many more el em ents are incor po rate d in this concept such as workshops, sessions , discus sions and cinem a shows and also po lit i cal in for ma tion and ac tions. This con cept breaks the pre dom i- nant consumerist atti tude by offer ing chances for ac tive partic i pa - tion. It fosters reflec tive disputes and criti cal engage m ent and offers

295 a wide space for hedonist and creative development.

The Connecta con cept is reflected in the “Gath er ing of the Tribes” fes tival that started in Frankfurt in 2005 and later was joined into “Join the Cybertribe”. It looked back on a mani fold tra dition. With regard to its de velop m ent, this is exem plary for the inno va tive perspec tive of the Psytrance scene. more than the more fun- and ego-oriented Goa. The idea of the gather ing of tribes is like a red line in history – from the gath er ings of in dig e nous tribes to the psy che delic gath er ings of the Hippies to the counter- cultural events of the cybertribes. Inte gral parts of those gather ings were panel discus sions about the roots of the psy chedelic culture and the re lation betwe en party and poli tics . People were led to be come involved in im portant discus - sions that usually only very rarely happens in alter na tive party scenes. Other crucia l ele m ents that broke with the usual focus on the DJs were the children’s parties in the after noon and the presen ta tion of different cybertribe projects. The music program , mostly designe d by Space Frogz, was put together to include not only Psytrance DJs and Elec tro acts but also po lit i cal Rock bands and ex per i men tal Am bi ent pro jects. The playground offere d the chance to partic i pate in open drum as well as juggling sessions under the motto be-your-own-live-act. Exhi bi tions showed pictures of the recla im-the-streets actions. Video docu m en- taries gave infor m ation on squats and the re sis tance movem ent against neo-libera l global iza tion. You could have attende d workshops for Trance-dance and medi ta tion. What is more, the Al ice Projec t led coordinated sessions on mature use of drugs.

The concept of music , mind and poli tics was com pleted with a sponta ne ous night-dance dem on stra tion pa rade with mo bile sound systems in Frankfurt’s inner city area. By using the motto “Free Tibet - No Gods, No Mas ters!“ the action was just as equally against dic ta - torial regim es and feudal-r eli gious views of the world. The “re - claim-the-streets” actions showed in an impres sive way that it is possi ble to link poli tics and party in a more closely defined sense.

The “Gath er ing of the Tribes” events make clear what is pos si ble when free spaces are created that are not only re stricted to a sin gle

296 scene but see them selves as an expres sion of a multi far i ous cul ture of change. The symbol -like stars will be come real ity when we manage to live the visions of a dif ferent world in the real ity of the present.

Remit from previously articles published in: Tom Rom and Pascal Querner (Ed).: GOA - 20 Years of Psychedelic Trance - www.nachtschatten.ch and Wolfgang Sterneck (Ed.): Cybertribe-Visionen - www.sterneck.net/komista/cybertribe

Complete versions and more articles at www.sterneck.net

297 30 The Emerging Network of Autonomous Zones

By Aja Waalwijk The term Tem po rary Au ton o mous Zone, as coined by Hakim Bey in the 1990s, raises a ques tion: How can a “zone” be auton o m ous? Sure, peo ple can be auton o m ous, and they can decla re a zone theirs to mani fes t their auton om y. A country is not auton o m ous but has auton om y - many Basques want auton om y from Spain. But when it co mes to free cul tural spaces one can speak about “a zone for au ton - omy” or “an au ton o mous zone.” This implies a place of ar tis tic ac - tion, where we show what we do - a place for acting out and, by so doing, shaping our own moral and ethical foundations. There ex ists a rhe tor i cal anarchist auton om y in which the term autonome be comes an al ter na tive to anarchist for so-called “legit i- mate” po lit i cal ac tiv ity. For in stance, autonomes can form po lit i cal par ties, an ar chists can not. The word an ar chy liter ally means to do without the arcade of power or, meta phor i cal ly, the dome of dom esti ca tion. How ever, au ton omy, as “self-de ciding” or “speaking for one’s self,” stands for inde pend ence in a dif ferent way than anar chy does. Unlike anar chy, it does n’t op pose itsel f against the ar cades of power but acts as it thinks best, regard les s of the poten tial conse - quences for eventual confrontation with existing power structures. An Au ton o mous Zone or Free Cul tural Space is a top o log i cally opened space, be it a landsca pe or building, it’s a Freiraum (a Ger - man term mean ing free space) em bed ding coun ter-cul tural tra di tions and val ues like the ones prom oted by Provo (happen ings), the Dig- gers (Free), the Sit u ation ists (Power to the Imagi na tion), Woodstock (pop fes ti vals), Rain bow Gath er ings, Trance Par ties (Boom), Squatting Movem ents (Christi ania , Ruigoord, UfA-Fabrik), Goan hip pies, the Free Fes ti val Move ment, etc. Au ton o mous Zones, sometimes also called Liminal Zones, are places for self-re al iza tion, places where ec static en er gies flower. Such zones lie be tween de - fined areas without belong ing to any of them, like door thresholds (limen in Latin). They artic u late topo graph ical topological as well as psychological connotations.

298 In the 1960s, Provo founder and magi cia n Jas per Grootveld held his fa mous hap pen ings in Am ster dam, cre at ing an in no va tive Free Cul- tural Space with chants, smoke, fire, and cer emo nial dances. These happen ings took place on a square centere d on Grootveld’s chosen sym bol of con sum er ism, het Lieverdje, the “Sweet Boy” statue that had been donate d to the city by a to bacco com pany. Prov o ca tion was the key word. The Provos of Am sterdam becam e the origi nal provo ca teurs by asking the question: What is the true extent of free - dom in a public space? When the police made them selves ridic u lous by arres ting Provos who offere d raisins to passers -by, liberty and toler ance came into conflic t. As a unify ing ges ture Provo Luud Schimmelpennink drew on input from Grootveld to come up with the White Bicy cle Plan. White Bikes without locks spread throughout the city. Every body who wanted or needed a bi cy cle could use them. The origi na tors of this plan were Practi cal Utopi ans: Homo ludens (playful man) was their focus, and their goal was extending childhood‘s imaginative dimensions. In Holland in the early 70s, the Kite Com pany of Den Bosch and the Am ster dam Bal loon Com pany in tro duced Kite fes ti vals to Am sterdam’s playbook. These took place at the four cardi nal sides of the city of Am ster dam, in open sandy ar eas where new city dis tricts were planned. In the early days no perm ission was required to inau - gu rate fes ti vals in No Man’s Land. Ad mittedly , free space is rare in Holland, but now even the sky is now no longer off-lim its to those who endles sly invent regulations and proscriptions. Encla ves of free dom exist for people of all ages and all cul tures and have existe d throughout histor i cal time. In Holland when it snows children take posses sion of the streets, disre gard ing all exter nally im posed rules and regu la tions. Snow concea ls the boundarie s between footpaths , cycling paths, and roads. The children cele brate their Free dom by sliding over the vanishe d boundarie s, by throwing snowballs and making snow men. And just as snow brings people together, so does wa ter. Am ster dam’s ca nals pe ri od i cally be come free cul tural spaces dur ing skat ing ac tiv i ties, the Gay Pride canal parade, or when drunken Orange hordes cele brate football victo ries (leaving chaos in their wake). They also serve as a semi-per manent au ton o - mous zone for people living on houseboats and for those who create floating gardens. In the mountains of central Portu gal there is a yearly Encontro dos Povos da Serra on a mountain top where inhab it ants from surround -

299 ing village s gather to dance, share com munal fires, make music , have singing duels , desgarradas, etc. It has been their Free Cul tural Space, their Tem porary Auton o m ous Zone, their place to be them - selves for gen er ation af ter gen er ation . And yet there’s a dif fer ence betwe en tra ditional and modern free cultural spaces of these kinds. In ur ban ar eas like Am ster dam the el ements wind and wa ter are well repre sent ed, but fire, for reasons of “se curity,” has virtu ally disap - peared from the cityscape. Fire can be seen as the ul ti mate so cial sculpture, no statue can com pete with its force of attrac tion unles s it car ries a fire within it. A few years ago, as an ini tia tive to cre ate a warmer more atmo spheric city, a win ter exhi bi tion of lit stoves on wheels was or ga nized in Am ster dam. The event at tracted peo ple of all kinds until the police ordere d it closed down becaus e it create d too much smoke. In Paris in winter one witness es the smolder ing fires of the chestnut-se llers and in Lisbon sar dines are roasted in the open. Yet in the cities of Northern Europe no passer-by or tramp can warm himself at a pub lic fire, no child ever stares into a flame. (Just a lit tle imagi na tion could change this situ a tion. Fountains that con - tain only wa ter in summer could eas ily be come win ter fireplaces. ) It has always been evi dent that fire is among the most vital of ele - ments for any fes ti val or free cul tural space. Fire places draw peo ple togethe r to sit or dance in circle s, offer ing the ul tim ate condi tion for contac t. In the early 70s, one of the first ini tiatives under take n in the ice-cold squatted mili tary complex of Chris tiania in Denma rk was the man u fac ture of stoves, an action that has since become a tradition in most squatted industrial places in Northern Europe. Au ton o mous Zones can be tem po rary, pe ri od i cal, per ma nent, or mo - bile. Happen ings, per for mances, in vis i ble the ater, and fes ti vals fall into the first and second cat ego ries . Just as Situationist drifts (free movem ents through space), the English Tinkers and hip pie car avans (which are consta ntly broken up becaus e of police haras sm ent) represent the mobile dimension. The Situationists were mainly in tellec tual artists who related art to the situ a tion and im pulse of the mom ent. The 1968 Paris student re - volt was seen as the big gest Situationist drift of all time. Dur ing the student re volt, streets and walls were covere d with poetry and the slo gan “l’imagination au pouvoir” (Power to the Imagi na tion) be - came world fam ous. As part of a Euro pean response to Ameri - can-ini ti ated “flower-power,” graf fiti was re in vented. The walls and streets began telling a dif ferent story: “Sous le pave, la plage,” (be -

300 neath the pavem ent, the beach). Previ ously, graf fiti had com monly been the do main of toi lets, as Pompeii makes clear. (The Ameri can soldiers of World War II ushere d in the infa m ous “Killroy was here.”) Yet po lit i cal graf fiti was also well-known, as were gypsy and hobo signs. Creat ing fantas y letters and hard-to-de cipher words becam e a trade mark for punks of the 1980s, from piss paintings to real murals on gray concre te. But in most Western countrie s graffiti is now forbidden by law, even if it beautifies the concrete deserts. Ac cord ing to the dic tio nary, graffiti means wall-scratchings. So, graffiti on canvas is a contra dic tion. Modern art muse um s brought graffiti art into their col lections at the same time as it was being banned in the streets - no problem for a culture prepare d to build a museum around Duchamp’s toi let as an ac cepted the o ret i cal par a - dox. By allow ing graf fiti only in a museum context the street was co opted by the es tab lish ment. Con se quently, side walk art ists (who cre ate their art on the pave ment and were once a common sight) are a rarity now. In the 19th century, street-name com missions in Western Europe re - placed lo cal street and place names with those of pol i ti cians, art ists, and writ ers of nation al impor tance, an ex er cise of psychogeographical control, a graffiti of the rul ing class. In Paris, around 2003, groups of artists and students orga nize d the Billboard Lib er a tion Front and be gan dis man tling bill boards, tear ing them to pieces, making de-collage s, adding slogans - billboards were the only places where poster-graf fiti was al lowed be cause ad ver tis ers paid; gluing posters on walls was forbidden elsewhere. Be sides wa ter, fire, air, and walls and streets, Free Cul tural Space can also emerge from the ether and cyberspace. Ini tially, ra dio and TV networks prom ised a dem ocra ti za tion of the ether - now business has taken it over. Even local govern m ents are losing control. The free radio sta tions that once flour ished in differ ent cities in Western Europe are no longer allowe d. Stations like Vrije Keizer (Free Em peror) in Amster dam ceased to ex ist. Yet music still plays an im portant role in the devel op m ent of youth culture. The so-called “Pirate Radio Sta tions” that broadcas t from a few yards be yond Eu - ropean terri to rial waters trans formed pop stars and poets into cult-heroes: Dr. John the Night Tripper, Alan Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, etc. Every body knows them now. The meta phor i cal use of the word Pirate re ferred to a spe cif i cally an ar chic kind of freedom. It implied a re jec tion of all censor ship. During the next phase of pop-music de-

301 velop m ent, musi cal tribes of rockers , punkers, hip-hoppers , rastafarai, etc. man i fested themselves. Tribalization via music was a new phe nom enon. A musi cal tribe’s outfit re flected its state of mind, helped define its life-style focus. Hippies , Rastas, Emos, Goths all stuck togethe r becaus e “nor mal” people found them crazy. But iden tifi ca tion with cult heroes was on the wane in the tribes, as it was in related sub- and coun ter-cultures. Authen tically committed tribalists were rejecting practices that big business and the advertising industry could coopt. Counter-culture Becaus e knowl edge is power, in the 1990s it be came a counter- cul- tural aim to liber ate knowledge from its ivory towers . Freeing infor - mation was the drive for many hard core anar chis t and hacker com - muni ties - the precur sors to Cryptome, WikiLeaks, and WELL. The monste rs of Chey enne Mountain were ideolog i cal ly bound to cre ate a doomsday ma chine. In the NORAD cave, the mountain served as the ar mored heart of the Amer i can de fense machin e and internet. Ev ery thing was to be con nected to this place at all times; it was built never to be switched off. But infor m ation chooses its own escape routes, from cyber-culture to counter- culture. And technol ogy’s ether is not abso lutel y free. Twitter protes t meet ings connect ed by mobile phones can be dis connect ed anywher e at any time, as happened in Heiligendam (Germ any) when Bush and Merkel met some years ago - no contac t was possible between demonstrators within a certain area. “Streaking,” running naked through the streets, be came something of a sport in the 80s. “Why don’t we do it in the road,” sang Paul McCartney ten years earlier . Making love in the open is out of question. Fear of sex u al ity al ready makes nud ist beaches sus pect in many countrie s. (In Denm ark nudist beaches don’t exist - either you are naked or you aren’t, nobody cares.) Why don’t we do it in the road, indeed? As I men tioned ear lier, Freiraum is a Ger man word used to desig - nate free space, par tic u larly des ig nat ing places where be hav ioral con straints are sus pended. In the ory, all “pub lic” spaces are Frei - raums. Yet behav ior con straints in pub lic places are ex er cised through, for exam ple, one-way traffic signs and bans on drinking alcohol, smoking joints, making music , sit ting on the grass, or ly ing on park benches. (Re cently, the park benches in Am sterdam have

302 been modi fied to make it im possi ble for “tramps” to sleep on them.) Public space is defi nitel y not free space. So planning for the cre ation of new, ac tual, phys i cal Free Cul tural Spaces neces sar ily be comes a logi cal next step, planning places where nothing should be planned.

A strange kind of sym bio sis connect s mobile and perm anent Auton - om ous Zones. In the 1970s, after Provo form ally disbanded itsel f, the Kabouters (or Gnomes) called Am ster dam Freetown, a desig na - tion inspire d by their concept of an Orange Free-State, which was the focus of their small, polit i cal Kabouter Party. Becaus e gnomes were seen as nature spirits, one of the Kabouters’ core missions was to cre ate a greener city. As well as fo cus ing pub lic at ten tion on green ar eas, they planted flow ers and plants along street-side walls, advo cat ed placing gardens on the tops of city buses to offset the effects of pol lution, and reopened the Provos’ White House Plan de - bate about squatting empty houses. They insis ted on de bating the im medi ate and long-term public influence on the environment. At al most the same time, Jas per Grootveld be gan cre at ing is lands of styro foam wrapped in canvas and fishing nets, some of which he modele d as boats and others which he covere d with earth and plants. He and his uniquely in nova tive floating construc tions) were soon forced to leave Amster dam be cause the city gov ern ment ob jected to these “ac cu mu la tions of rub bish.” (Re cy cling was n’t com mon at the time.) In a spec tac u lar re jec tion of the bu reau cratic re stric tions on his artis tic and concep tual free doms Grootveld and his wife sailed off on a construc tion he called the Tand des tijds (Tooth of Time). But soon, with the support of his friends and adm irers , he re turned in trium ph and the Float Com pany came into exis tenc e. Now adays, the Dutch govern m ent has hijac ked Grootveld’s initia tives . But in 2009, as an hom age to his origi nal vision, dur ing the Inter na tional Cli mate Con fer ence in Co pen ha gen a ‘Float ing City’ was built by the ‘Floating People’ as a Temporary Autonomous Zone. Mobility In the 1960s, one widely prac ticed form of freedom was hitchhik ing. Thousands of young sters with lit tle money swarmed out over Eu- rope and Asia. Many driv ers were willing to take you with them if you put out your thumb, and in Holland there were offi cia l hitchhike sta tions along the high ways. Such ex hil a rat ing lib er a tion is frowned upon today, and nom adic life styles have slipped into disfa vor.

303 Those who travel and live in the tradi tion of the gyp sies witness hard times. In England, the Cara vans of Love are under constant threat. Yet in Am sterdam new forms of nomadism are taking shape. The so-called “City No mads” once clus tered to gether in a car avan vil - lage, calling them selves the Hum an Garden behind the Ani m al Gar- den (as we Amsterdammers call the Zoo). Af ter the au thor i ties dis - mantled their wonder ful free space, groups of City Nom ads spread to the margins of the metrop o lis. These wander ers are not sim ply vic tims of cir cumstance. In their urge to be free, many have de lib er - ately bid fare well to a fixed abode, fi nan cial ben efits, and iden tity pa pers. They’ve re lin quished ev ery thing ex cept a car a van, ac cept ing the pos sible conse quence that in today’s gov ernm ent’s eyes such lack of status might transform them into “illegal foreigners.” Bu reau cratic re gimes have a fun da men tal prob lem with no mads and dis play char ac ter is tic pat terns of re pres sion against them: there were no madic re stric tions in Mon go lia dur ing the com mu nist pe riod; NATO troops killed Balkan nom ads “tres pass ing” across the new Greek national borders in the 50s; Na zis massa cre d gyp sies during World War II. Re cently, in France, Roma fami lies were driven out of the country. When you have no fixed addres s it’s said that you’re hard-to-find, that you don’t “belong” any where. How ever, gyp sies can, in a way, be seen as the per fect earth lings, since they’ve never drawn borders around them selves and have never sought a “father - land.” (In order to get some form of auton om y for them selves, the Roma in Hun gary re cently accepted a “minority self-government system.”) The squat ting movem ents in such centers as Am sterdam , Copen ha - gen, and Berlin opened many tem porary and perm anent Cultural Free Havens that provided refuge to cultural nom ads. Sometim es tempo rary be came perma nent , and vice versa. Within the squat ting movem ent there are no leaders - it’s bot tom up. Power-mad people are ejected or dis ap pear of their own accord. In Holland, as a result of a law passed in 2010, squatting is now out- lawed, though there are still social, cultural, and po liti cal squatting tradi tions in Holland - “socia l” for those who need housing, “cultural” for those who need space for cul tural activ i ties , and “polit i - cal” for those wishing to focus atten tion on certain buildings or lo - cations for provoc a tive reasons . Such tra ditions can, of course, be inter wo ven. Socia l and cultural squats often de velop into uniquely

304 complete cul tural spaces. The ADM, a squat ted indus tria l com plex with a mini m um year-round popu la tion of about 100 people (with more resi dent in sum mer), is a true mini-soci ety fam ous for its Robodock festi val, among other things, and still orga nize s festi vals free of control and the super vi sion of author i ties . And in 2013, a sep a rate set tle ment of City No mads has es tab lished it self out side the ADM’s gates. But most of Hol land’s early Free Cul tural Spaces have been “cleaned out” by the govern m ent. Squatted mili tary com - plexes like the one in Baarle in the south of the Nether lands were vacat ed becaus e of the “pressing need” for golf-courses and other money-based planological projec ts. In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, Am - sterdam flourishe d when youth cul ture took root. As a Magic Cen- ter, the whole city was a free cul tural space, a real freetown. You could find people sleeping in the parks, making music in the streets, etc. Those were the days! Permanent Autonomous Zones and Festival Culture If you want something done, do it yoursel f. You can create your own Free Cul tural Space by being (or getting) involved in Cultural Free Ha vens and fes ti vals as a dreamer, thinker, doer, or cel ebra tor. To cre ate a free space all you need are compan ions, friends who also want to lay some creative eggs or who know places where things can or should happen. But free cultural space is only possi ble when there is space for it. “Space Is the Place!” It’s all about territory. “Act first, then legal ize ,” is an old Am sterdam saying. In 1972, a group of artists and writers squatted the village of Ruigoord - because of planned expan sion of the Am sterdam harbor the village had been alm ost emptied of inhab it ants . In the same year that Ruigoord was squat ted, the Am sterdam Bal loon Com pany came into be ing, orga niz ing four kite festi vals around the city before finally settling down in the village . Many ac tions and fes tivals have since taken place in Ruigoord, tens of thousands of trees were planted cre ating a beauti ful for est on the empty plains surround ing it. Around 2000, the author i ties moved in. Police arrived, surround ing the village with barbed wire fences. The forest was destroyed, though hundreds of Green Front activ ists tried to save it. But in recent years the vil - lage has been le galize d and now Ruigoord is a green oasis surrounded by industries, paying a modest rent to the harbor. During its many perfor m ance tours, the Am ster dam Bal loon Com - pany (ABC), which acts as the nom adic com ponent of the Ruigoord

305 com mu nity, has cre ated Tem po rary Au ton o mous Zones through out Asia, Europe, and Northern Africa ; as well as in Ruigoord (which rem ains its home-ground) where many festi vals still take place. From the late 70s until the 90s, the ABC held yearly perfor m ances in Goa. When the Bal loon Com pany perform s every body is a par tic- ipant, bor ders betwe en the public and the artists dissolve . In 1972, the ABC pub lished the fol low ing stateme nt: “The ABC is a floating movem ent in pur suit of free dom in air space. Anybody who loves balloons, kites, birds, or other soundles s heavenly vehi cle s (sun, moon, earth, stars, comets, etc.) can con sider him/her self as a mem- ber.” The im plica tion was that during mom ents of ac tion every body is a mem ber of the ABC. It was a very appealing idea, and in the early 80s I decided to join them. From temporal to permanent When an Auton o m ous Zone becom es perm anent, the im pulse to insti tu tion al ize may over whelm its ear lier free doms. Though di rect ac - tion that cre ates non-in sti tu tion al ized au ton o mous space brings about con flicts with the author ities (as is evi dent from recent history in Germ any, Holland, Denm ark, Belgium , France, etc.), insti tu tion - alize d Auton o m ous Zones and Free Cultural Spaces are also under con stant pres sure. Or ga ni zation within such a space takes place on two levels : one deals with inter nal program ming and infra struc ture; another turns its face towar ds the outside world, mostly on the gov- ernm ental front (be it local or national ). If too much is given away to the of ficia l control sys tem, auton om y fades leading to govern - ment control on many levels : police at the entranc e, civil police among the audi ence , fire men control ling every fire place, sound reg- u la tions and con trol, oblig a tory of fi cial med i cal as sis tance, con trols on electric ity, food quality, the use of drugs, etc. All this costs loads of money, turning what was once a “Free” Cul tural Space into one based on consum ption. And then it’s not free or auton o m ous any- more. (Also prob lem atic here is the fact that small mani fes ta tions have to follow the same govern m ent rules and regu la tions as big ones, making it nearly im possi ble for them to rem ain both small and cheap.) Scale matters . In Ruigoord, which is now offi cia lly part of the city of Am ster dam, for decades we have cre ated a yearly Tempo rary Au - tono m ous Zone during our yearly Landjuwel festi val. In the be gin - ning just artists and ac tivists attende d and we locat ed our festi val on the open terri tory that surrounded the village . We made works of art

306 out of our tents, statues and sculptures out of what was lying around, had an open stage for poetry, music , etc. By 1993, roughly 10,000 people were attend ing Ruigoord’s Landjuwel. And becaus e con sum ers out num bered par tic i pants we made the or ga ni za tional decision to hold subse quent festi vals without electric ity. In 1994, only 3,000 people showed up and the partic i pants and the audi ence came togethe r again. (After the city gov ernm ent de stroyed our forest in 2000, the nature of our festivals changed.) Fes tivals have be come an indus try. Beside s hiring crowd control, one can rent tents of all sizes, musi cal and elec tronic equip ment, gen er ators, stages, bleach ers, dance floors, bars, pro jec tion screens, etc. The core val ues and ideas of the al ter na tive cir cuit are co opted and com mer cially ex ploited as mass man i fes ta tions. Free Ha vens like Ruigoord set trends that are eas ily copied. To mention just one ex am ple, the rel a tively new mega man i fes ta tion, Dance Val ley, takes place not far from Ruigoord and copies every thing we do. Carnival in Rio has grown to a point where, as the rest of Brazil sits glued to TVs watch ing what was once a “lo cal” car ni val, lo cal dig - ni tar ies ap pear on a na tional stage. In that in stance, pub lic space has becom e com mercia lly exploite d - people pay a lot to be seen in the streets of Rio dur ing Carni val time. By way of contras t, in Salva dor, Bahia, tens of thousands follow the local Car nival floats to the sound of music . There is a mini m um of crowd control. People use their own energy to police them selves. The same happens in India during the Kumba Mela, which has only 20,000 cops to control more than thirty million people. At the Kumba Mela crowd control is ab so lutely nec es sary, be cause tens of mil lions want to take a sa - cred bath in the Ganges River on the same day at the same spot. But it also shows that, when they are allowed to, people naturally organize themselves. Crowd control has becom e an indus try, so nobody talks about the size of events. Cap i tal ist com mercial ism leads to the de sire for growth, for more and more money, unlim ited cultural space, objec ts of inter est to the play ing masses. Not so long ago, the Love Parade in Duisburg (Germ any), which present ed itsel f as the biggest rave ever, turned into a Love Stam pede, the Love Tunnel into a tunnel of death. Via the Love Parade , loneli ness had becom e exploite d. Of the one and a half million people gathere d, dozens were killed, hundreds badly injured. More than 10,000 cops were there, and still they failed to control the crowd. Despite knowing it was too massive

307 the orga niz ers had let the party go on becaus e so much money was involved. When the partic i pants becom e a crowd, which be comes a mass, free dom becom es a hollow word, as do au ton omy and in di vid - u al ity. “You have to row with the oars you have” is an old Dutch saying. The author i ties ’ dem ands for guards and fences rem oves true “free - dom” from events. (At Woodstock the fences were broken down by people who couldn’t pay.) During recent years we have orga nize d our Landjewels within Ruigoord’s vil lage boundarie s, but the space is cramped and the author i ties continue try ing to exer cis e more and more re pres sive control. That’s why in 2010, inste ad of orga niz ing our own big festi val, we visited the Boom festival. We still held our the matic festi vals: po etry, sol stice, percus sion, I-Ching, reggae, trance, didgeridoo, and so on, but our liberty was at risk and our adm ission fees were sky rocket ing - for many even our them atic fes tivals had gotten too expen sive . In Portu gal, as you all prob a bly know, Boom provoked the Anti-Boom Fes tival exact ly because of this in creas ing re duc tion of fes ti val lib er ties and es ca la tion of adm ission costs. But an unor ga nize d, mass-meet ing of 10,000 people, as happened at Anti-Boom, can cause a total mess. No infra - struc ture of ten means no toilets , polluted water, danger ous drugs, po lice con fron ta tions, etc. To tal “free dom” can eas ily lead to dis or - der, chaos, and crime. Learning from all this, in 2012 the Boom Fes - tival announced a price reduction for visitors from the former eastern-bloc countries. Boom Du ring our pre pa ra ti ons for Boom, a for mer par ti ci pant at Bur - ning Man told me: “The artists at the Bur ning Man Fes ti val are al lo wed to cre a te wha te ver they like, but they do not re cei - ve any of the pro fits. The money goes to stockhol ders, making the Burning Man Festi val a ‘capitalist free-cul tural spa ce.’ Ca- pita lism stands for quick money , making as much as easi ly as pos si ble. On eve ry tin of Coca Cola so mebo dy earns 50 cents simply by fil ling a dis pen sing machine eve ry day. Sustai na bi li- ty doesn’t play any role at Bur ning Man. Unli ke the Boom Fes ti val, whe re eco lo gi cal ele ments and he alth care play important roles, Burning Man is an ecological disaster.” In Denm ark in the 70s, two im portant Perm anent Free Cultural Spaces were cre ated: in 1970, The New So ci ety ap peared in

308 ThyLejren, and in 1971 squatters trans formed a form er mili tary com plex in Co pen ha gen into Chris tiania . These spaces did not appear out of the blue. Gun nar Hjelholt, a profes sor at the Univer sity of Copen ha gen whom I inter view ed in 2003, had expe ri ence d his first “inter na tional mini-soci ety,” as he called it, during World War II in a Germ an con- centra tion camp and wrote a booklet about the pos itive aspect s of the expe ri ence . Based on his work, teachers and students in the de - part ments of psy chol ogy and so ci ol ogy at the uni ver sity de vel oped new therapy program s. Empty village s in Sweden were used for their first exper i me nts with these so-called “mini-soci et ies.” The best houses went to the rich, the poorest to the poor, an arrange ment that natu rall y brought about conflic ts. The poor confronte d the rich; the old, the young, etc. But as they came togethe r as a com munity and talked, their so cial-class-based fan ta sies faded. Some of the stu - dents involved in the exper i m ents were mem bers of the New Stu - dent Soci ety, and when it went bankrupt the name was changed to the New So ci ety. Since de mocra ti zation was a core part of the over - all program , non-students were invited to enlist in the New Soci ety. In Denm ark this led to a fusion of the student and hippie move- ments. HIP, as an acro nym for Housing Inno va tion Projec t, im plies the search for differ ent forms of living, being, and working togethe r. In ThyLejren the students and hippies estab lishe d their Free Cultural Space during a festi val orga nize d by the New Society. Temporary became permanent. Many visitors to the festival stayed to build a real New Society. A year later, Christi ania was squat ted. Though squat ting was banned by Danish law, the Danish public largely sympa thize d with the projects, so the 1990s saw the enact ment of specia l legis la tion. People in ThyLejren and Christi ania rem ained unsu per vise d by the govern - ment hous ing com mittee that set standards for how habi ta tions should look and their life styles weren’t po liced. In ThyLejren one could live in a cardboard box, a tent, or could build a hand-made house. Fol low ing the prin ci ples of free ex plo ra tion, Chris ti ania became a per ma nent au ton o mous com mu nity for many sub-cul tural and counter- cultural groups. Resi dents have include d the Inuit, bicy - cle freaks, com munes of all sorts, al ter na tive ar chi tects, the green front, hash-dealers , natu ral healers , art ists, etc. Com mon ground (a per ma nently avail able tem po rary au ton o mous zone) lies cen tered on the Field of Peace (Fredens Eng), Chris ti ania’s place for cer emo -

309 nies, happen ings, and fes tivals . But there are also many halls in the com mu nity avail able for such col lec tive pur poses as ex hi bi tions and cul tural man i fes ta tions. About 1,000 peo ple ac tu ally live in Chris tiania, and each day hun dreds, sometim es thousands , of vis itors arrive to seek inspi ra tion or to be free, to act freely. “You are now enter ing the Com mon Market” procla ims a sign over one of the gates as you leave Freetown Chris ti ania. Ac tress and cul ture co or di na tor Britta Lillesøe’s biggest concern is to keep Christiania a true Free Cultural Space, to keep it a real freetown outside the control of the government. Just as the Am sterdam Bal loon Com pany op erate s from Ruigoord, Chris tiania has its Sun Wagon (Solvogn) theate r troupe, which orga - nizes mani fes tations that blur the borders betwe en life and theate r. In an event I witness ed during Christm as time in 1975, hundreds of Santa Clauses gave away goods “liber ate d” from Copen ha gen’s super mar kets and were col lec tively ar rested sing ing Christ mas car ols, car ry ing an enorm ous cruci fied chicken with them on their way to prison. Extraor dinary city-theate r specta cle s of this kind transform the whole of Copen ha gen into an Autonomonus Zone for hours at a time. Free Cultural Spaces are play grounds and labo ra to ries for al terna - tive forms of or ga ni za tion. Re search ers in Am ster dam un der took an inven tory of the differ ent ways squats func tioned and their differ ent orga ni za tional struc tures. One of the major points of distinc tion was the dif ference betwe en those that orga nize d a bar versus those that rem ained the dom ain of techies and artists . The ones that sold beer seemed more fi nan cially au ton o mous be cause they gen er ated money enough to pay for repairs , etc. The study showed that there are many ways of be ing orga nize d. Every place had its specifi c infra struc ture, and all of them were valuable models for future development. Creating an Autonomous Network In the Nether lands during the 1960s the so-called “gener a tion conflict” took place in nearly ev ery family and seemed in ter na tional: the Who’s song “My Gener a tion” was a key text. The post-War au- thori tar ian atm ospher e pushed most parents to believe in mili - tary-minded moral codes. Fam ily conflic ts centere d on the length of boys’ hair or on whether girls wore pants or refuse d to wear bras. The mu si cal Hair galva nize d the atti tudes of millions of young peo - ple. The War had emp tied Eu rope of crit i cal in tel lec tu als and art ists,

310 who had either been murdere d by the Nazis or had moved to the U.S. Young talent had a chance to flourish, with music playing a pivotal role in the cul ture of Dutch baby-boom ers at the end of the 40s and early 50s. The inven tion of the birth control pill in the early 60s al lowed women to fi nally choose for them selves whether to get pregnant or not. Women’s lib went hand in hand with this cultural de vel op ment, with the feminization of men play ing an im portant role as well. I, my self, was a buzz-cut young man in a shirt and tie until, while walking through a misty Am sterdam day, I saw Jasper Grootveld sailing a canal on one of his early rafts. As children we’d all wanted to make rafts and float them on the ca nals. At that moment I real ize d that he, as an adult, still valued his childhood dreams. And I realized that I could dream too. Now I live in a le galize d form er culture squat: ZAAL 100, in Am - sterdam . It’s a regu late d, Cultural Free Haven com bining a living group, small al ter na tive of fices, a veg e tar ian res tau rant, stages for music, theater, multi-media, etc. When I first started par tici pat ing in ZAAL 100 activ i ties there was no stage for poetry and the walls were empty. I have since declared the walls to be “Gal lery 100, an Auton o m ous Zone for the arts.” This means that any body can exhibit here - I make no curatorial choices. Nothing is insure d, so the artists take a certain risk, but when a work is sold they don’t have to pay any gal lery per cent ages. For the po etry stage I have the same attitude: the artists perform ing there take a personal risk. And the audience that has devel oped for those events has proven it self extraor - dinaril y generous and supportive, though it isn’t uncritical. I have a studio in Ruigoord, where I or ganize a yearly sculpture route and assis t with the poetry events orga nize d by Hans Plomp and the Am sterdam Bal loon Com pany shows. I also run the Nomadic Museum , invit ing like-minded friends to exhibit on im portant Free Cul tural Spaces. Cre at ing a Free Space de pends on where you live. A pe riodic auton o m ous zone the size of the Boom Fes tival would be im possi ble in Holland. A perm anent one of the size of Chris tiania could only happen in Denm ark. Polit i cal and cul tural dif fer ences gen er ate dif fer ent pos si ble ex pe ri ences and dif fer ent forms of freedom . Rainbow Gather ings led to neo-tribal ism , neo-nomadism. Ruigoord and Chris tiania decla red them selves City Tribes or Urban tribes. As a plane tary gather ing visited by a hundred dif fer ent na tion al i ties, Boom ad vances the slo gan: THIS IS YOUR TRIBE!

311 In the early days of my time with the Balloon Com pany, I suggest ed cre ating a sculpture route for the full moon night, when we tradi - tion ally launched a bal loon. The sculp ture route be came a theat ri cal in ter ac tion that in cluded per form ers, ac ro bats, drum mers, etc. This sort of ini tiative is neces sary to pro vide Free Cultural Space with sub stance. Form and con tent are in sep ara ble. My ini tia tive was, of course, re lated to and be came mani fes t becaus e of hundreds of other indi vid u als who contrib uted their own ideas, like Hans Plomp’s open poetry stage; the Insec t Sect conjured up by Theo Kley, Max Reneman, and the Hippie King Poet Leo van der Zalm; Montje Joling’s Why Not Circus; Rudolph Stokvis’s bal loon cer e mony; and Henk Spitteler’s Freiraum concept. In 1991, the cel ebra tion of Europe’s “discov ery” of America bounced back across the Atlan tic. As a reac tion to festiv i ties in the U.S., the alter na tive circuit in Amster dam joined in an inter na tional coun ter-cul tur ally or ga nized “Dis cov ery of Eu rope,” in volv ing rep- resen ta tives of indig e nous peoples from all over the world. In con - sulta tion with the com munity at Ruigoord, I wrote the following manifesto: America was in hab ited by the In di ans, New Zealand by the Maori, Austra lia by the Aborig i nes. Europe was the robber that disturbed dom estic peace. The invad ers built them selves a home and now cel - ebrate their 500-year oc cupa tion. Ruigoord, a squatted vil lage, in sol idar ity with the desti tute tribes of the world, hereby symbol ically offers its grounds as an anchor age for posi tive ener gies , a place for ritu als ; in short, a stamping ground. We decla re Ruigoord “Stamp - ing-Ground Holland.” We hope that this ini tiative will be followe d by a reac tion of our govern m ents in enlarg ing the natu ral grounds for indigenous people all over the world. In 1992, a Stamping Ground festi val took place on the still-open space sur rounding Ruigoord. South Ameri can Indi ans and Mongol sham ans visited us and blessed the festi val grounds with cere m onial dances and other events. In 1993, I initi ate d the “Dream-Time Awaken ing” festi val, which was opened by the Aus tralian am bassa - dor. With the help of a group of Aus tralian Aborig i nal artists a rit ual dance was perform ed si multa neousl y in Holland and Austra lia, cre - ating a Tem porary Auton o m ous Zone on oppo site sides of the globe. Our Stamping Ground is now covere d with indus tria l buildings. What was meant to be permanent became temporary.

312 In 2001, I tried unsuc ces sfully to set up a Pot latch (give-away cere - mony) betwe en the Kwakiutl First Nation of Western Canada and the Ruigoord city tribe. Author and publishe r Jor dan Zinovich, who reg u larly vis its our po etry man i fes ta tions, sug gested that I might best open a discus sion about Potlatc h with the Kwakiutl if I spoke from the posi tion of Euro pean Potlatching tradi tions. My ini tiative was n’t about copy ing or ap pro pri at ing in dig e nous ideas. “Potlatching” is an idea the Surrealists explored, and Potlatch was the name of a maga zine publishe d by the French Lettrists/Situa- tionists in the 1950s - free to be copied without perm ission of the authors or publishe r. Other Euro pean give-away tra ditions exist as well. We all know Santa Claus. (“Claus will come!” wrote Provo magi cia n Jas per Grootveld on the walls of the city of Am sterdam .) I stressed to my Kwakiutl friends that we at Ruigoord are “the indig e - nous people of Europe” and proposed exchang ing plants and seeds as well as ideas. (“Claus will come! Claus will come!”) It’s time again to contac t the Kwakiutl, the Austra lian Aborig i nes, the African Bushman, the Papuans from New Guinea. Let’s make magic happen! Goa connection Con sider the Goa Tribe, to which many Balloonies, Boom sters, and Christianites belong. We all know Goa as a place for parties , an in- terna tional meeting point for free spirits. Goa, isolated from the rest of India from 1963 till 1974, has been a Free Cultural Zone for at least twenty years. It was a para dise that is now vanish ing under pres sure from the tour ist indus try. Around 1969, hippies began ar - riving there, some travel ing on the fam ous Magic Bus from Am sterdam to live on the beaches in caves or in huts they made them selves. Unlike the rest India, the Goan major ity is Christian, so one could eat fish or meat and, equally impor tantly, light a chillum without problem s. (After yelling “Boom!,” of course.) The first trance parties took place there, and from Goa color came to Europe. “Where do we Goa from here?” was the ti tle of a the ater piece cre - ated and per formed by hippies in the early 80s. It was a valid ques - tion. Partly inspire d by the ABC’s yearly per form ances, Diogo Ruivo, a Goa-born child, answe red it by creat ing Good Mood Pro - ductions and starting the Boom Fes tival in Portu gal. He brought a perfec ted form of Goa to Europe. Thanks to Diogo and his network of friends, we can now Goa to Boom, Ruigoord, Rustler s Valley, Chris ti ania, Doel, etc. We Goa everywhere!

313 BOOM is a trans-national mini-soci ety, a liv ing learn ing commu - nity, a glimpse into a harm oni ous world. It of fers an open envi ron - ment for Situationist drifts, dances, envi ron m ental artworks, soundscapes, oral tradi tions, eco-awareness . Boom is an art, talk, walk, thought, do-and-dance drift, a place of partic i pa tion, a gather - ing of free spir its, a place of cul tural and nat u ral syn ergy, a place to set you free, to ban ish rou tines: a Situationistic artwork in it self. See ing Boom as a trans-tem po rary man i fes ta tion (ev ery two years) makes the tem po rary rel ative. It might be more ap pro pri ate to call Boom a Periodical Autonomous Zone. Freedom and cooperation Despite the stresses of institutionalization, it can bring about coop er - ation. If Chris tiania , ThyLejren, UFA-Fabrik, Doel, Ruigoord, and Boom join forces, stronger state ments can be made about as pects of free dom, ecology, and culture in genera l. In 2011, Christi ania cel e- brated its 40th anni ver sar y. Ruigoord es tablishe d an em bassy in Chris tiania , and vice versa. In 2013, Ruigoord cele brate d its 40th an ni ver sary. A trans-na tional con fer ence (a Futurological Sym po- sium) on Free Cul tural Spaces with par tic i pants from many ar eas of the world was be a cen tral el ement of the cel ebra tion activ i ties. One of our aims then was to cre ate a phys i cal net work that comple ments var i ous “vir tual” ones - a net work pro mot ing the col lec tive in ter ests of ac tiv ists, art ists, mu si cians, writ ers, per form ers, eco log i cal farm - ers, and indig e nous repre sen ta tives from all over the world. Oral tradi tions will play a prominent functional role, and with them will come the exchange of ideas. In 2013 a group of Belgian artists /poets and ac tivists from the vil - lage of Doel near Antwer p arrived at Ruigoord seeking help. Doel is about to be erased to make way for a harbor expan sion (as al most happened in Ruigoord). Since the harbor is unlikel y to be built, and the vil lage is empty, these activ ists see the pos sibil ity of transform - ing it into a new Free Cul tural Space. To assist them, the Amster - dam Bal loon Com pany coop er ate d in raising an “Axis Mundi” in Doel - with Ruigoord opening a consul ate in Doel and Doel doing the same in Ruigoord. A few weeks af ter our joint action the Ruigoord Consul ate was evicted by the Belgian police . While at this mome nt the vil lage is a graffiti museum , the Doel activ ists have also or ganized a Do It Your self Festi val - the name says it all: Do it Yoursel f! If you want to help shape a Permanent Autonomous Zone, go to Doel!

314 Symbolic and Actual Linkages Cul tural Free Ha vens like Chris ti ania (Den mark), ThyLejren (Den - mark), Ruigoord (Nether lands ), Doel (Belgium ), UfA-Fabrik (Ger- many), Catarredor (Portu gal) and countles s other squats and com - munes in West ern Eu rope are mini-so ci et ies where fes ti vals play a cen tral role. (No Per ma nent Au ton o mous Zones with out Tem po rary Au ton o mous Zones within their bound aries!) Mini-so ci et ies are not sim ply lab o ra to ries for so cial re la tions or play grounds for al ter native ar chi tects, art ists, and eco-farmers. In impor tant ways their so - cial, ecolog i cal , and envi ron m ental concept s give shape to, and are a real founda tion for, “trans-industrial landscaping” and future urban development. Trans-in dus tri al ism ex plores the syn ergy be tween na ture and culture. The Free Havens I have mentioned are among the first to attempt to re alize this notion. That’s why, in 2009, Christi ania orga - nized and hosted the Cli mate Bottom Meeting. While The Cli mate Top Meeting (also known as the “UN Clim ate Confer ence in Co- pen ha gen”) was a fail ure on many lev els, the Cli mate Bot tom Meet - ing suc cess fully ex plored the al ter na tives dem on strated by eco-vil- lages and other small-scale pro jects from all over the world. “THINK GLOB ALLY, ACT LO CALLY” re mains the cen tral fo cus for the Free Haven net works. Transce nding culture’s indus tria l lim i- tations is one of the aims of a trans-indus tria l strategy. As an exam - ple of how this might work in prac tical terms, from Ruigoord a network of green pathways be tween the indus tria l sites could connect the whole of Amster dam’s in dus trial area to the so-called Brettenzone, a green belt between Am ster dam and the North Sea dunes. Inste ad of be com ing incre asingly isolate d, Ruigoord could then serve trans-indus tria l planologues meta phor i cal ly as a green heart with green veins connect ed to a green body. Green belts, eco-links, or ecolog i cal corri dors don’t have a high prior ity in current planological schemes and gener ally func tion as buffers betwe en expand ing urban ar eas. City and country are still viewed as sepa rate units. Many small plots of land that have escape d conven tional planologic strate gies sim ply rem ain “greenscapes,” with no further concep tual value. Connecting these liminal plots of land should be a main focus for trans-industrial landscape development. The Axis Mun di pro ject (which has morphed to so mething I’m cal ling Ge o punc tu re) aims to cen ter uto pi an, lu dic impul ses at spe ci fic points on the earth in a net work that in clu des and ex -

315 pands on the Free Cul tu ral Ha vens I’ve been dis cus sing. It rai - ses mar kers at the spi ri tual centers of our ef forts. In recent years the Amster dam Balloon Com pany has placed Axis Mun- di at Rui goord, Chris ti a nia, Doel, and the Boom Festi val grounds, de ve lo ping a trans-na ti o nal net work fa ci li ta ting cul - tu ral jour neys to al ter na ti ve cul tu ral free pla ces and fes ti vals. An Axis Mundi, or “World Axis,” symbo li zes the cen ter of the world. Throug hout his to ry it has been the no ti on pro jec ted on a sa cred mountain, a co lumn of smoke, a tree, totem pole, or imagi na ry line to the polar star around which the earth is belie - ved to spin. Uphol ding the he a ven ly dome, depic ted as world pillars or trees of life, they help center peoples living in micro - cos mic en vi ron ments. An Axis Mun di es ta blis hes, for example, the four car di nal di rec ti ons, and for many cultu res it connects all the vi si ble and invi si ble spheres. Seen as rising from the na vel of the earth, an Axis Mun di ser ves as an umbi - li cal cord for pe ople like the Mong oli an sha mans. The aim of our de ve lo ping net work is to al low us as “free rang ing pe ople” to recog ni ze the cen tral im portan ce of the lives we’re living and to work to ge ther on dif ferent le vels in the futu re. Sin ce many of our city tri bes are pushing for recognition, it seems important to continue finding ways to expand to include other tribal communities in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Psychonauts like us claim space for the spirit. In 2008, the ABC was in vited to an inter-tribal gath ering in Chris tiania. During this “Two Urban Tribes” Meeting, we produced a man i festo that be gan with the fol low ing lines: Ruigoord and Chris ti a nia are both ur ban tri bes of people who are dif ferent, slightly aber rant, con forming not to what the world dicta tes, but to their inner voice, their spirit. Tonight we con form our spi rits by shifting the Axis of our world to this lo - cati on, where the magi cal tree Yggdrasil will be erected. The ma ni fes to ends: Urban Tri bes have a much wider impor tan ce than simply re - pre sen ting a nice way of living, an es ca pe for a hap py few. We show the world that the re are al ter na ti ve ways of li ving, wor - king, and being to ge ther. The world needs ex pe ri mental zo nes whe re al ter na ti ve mo dels of in ter-hu man re la ti ons hips, go vern -

316 ment, de ci si on ma king, and so ci al struc tu re can be de ve lo ped. They don’t need to suc ceed, but they must al low us to le arn new pro ces ses and pos si bi li ties. Let’s ce le bra te life, let’s make this pla net sing! We declare Christiania to be the center of our world. From the tre a ty be tween the vil la ges of Ruigoord and Doel, writ ten in 2009, I draw the fol lo wing lines: We, free ly cre a ting spi rits from Ruigoord and Doel, join in psycho nau tic coop era ti on with this aim: The United Sta tes of Spirit. Par ties stri ve towards one global center as a safe haven, for the Ge sammtkunst (collec ti ve art) for trave lers of the mind, by making the world axis vi si ble in all possible directions. We wel co med the Boom People as our fourth Ma gic World Center . By rai sing an Axis Mun di at Boom, our growing web be ca me a psycho-ge og rap hi cal art work set ting up a phy si cal and vir tu al web. We, the Amsterdam Bal loon Compa ny, stri ve to es ta blish po wer ful in ter na ti o nal cre a ti ve and spi ri tu al bonds and to pro claim the glo bal im por tan ce of al ter na ti ve, ex pe ri - mental so cie ties and fes ti vals. On the full moon night of the 24th of July 2010, we de cla red the Boom Festi val grounds to be the ne west cen ter of our world. A world cen ter is not ne ces - sari ly static. No madic peoples car ry their cen ter with them, re- vi ta li zing and re lo ca ting it du ring mee tings and fes ti vals. Becau se the loca ti on of the Boom Festi val may change over the ye ars, our Boom to tem ex pres ses mo bi li ty. The ac tu al center of the world is exactly whe re you are. For us, the Boom Axis Mundi marks a world center of consciousness, a place of positive power and peace. Ecstasy and the Limits of Freedom From a Speech, at the Ruigoord Sympo sium on Free Cul tural Space, 2011 Toler ance is la beling. Be sides adm itting something, it stands for en - during as well, im ply ing that one al lows something one disagre es with. Not to tol erate is to make something “il legal.” This hap pened to the squatting movem ent in the Nether lands in 2011. . . . How toler ant can one be against in tol er ance? One can not tol er ate vi o lence. Where do the borders of freedom of reli gion, speech, infor m ation, or lifestyle lie? It started with free men and slaves who set them -

317 selves free - free farm ers, freetowns, free boot ers, and free dom of re - ligion. Freedom of opinion (to raise a polit i cal party, etc.) led to freedom of enterprise, investment, and consumption. The de vel op ment of the sig ni fi ca tion of the word free is a story in it - self. The Dutch word for free is vrij, which is ety mologi cally re lated to vrijen (to kiss or to make love), vriend (friend), and vrede (peace). Vrij stood for a person you loved, like a fam ily mem ber or tribal mem ber. Out of the word vrijen, as an equiva lent of loving or car ing, sprouted the word friend. Friends were free men con sort ing with other free men; less-for tu nate oth ers were serfs or slaves, un - free. Friends met in a vrijthof, a fenced or pro tected court where no weapons were allowe d. Inste ad of war and enm ity, free dom is thus a condi tion of love, friendship, and protec tion. Protec tion takes prece - dence. I have actu ally never felt unpro tec ted in unfenc ed or un- guarded areas , not even when surrounded by thousands of wild people; but I know others are. The city of Am sterdam is under threat from a cul ture storm. An open so ci ety al lows its mem bers con sid er able free dom, but more and more doors are clos ing. Even the people who legis late the laws and create the rules and reg u la tions that restrict us are hap pily sur - prised whenever something unex pect ed happens in the street. Yet they seem ingly don’t real ize how diffi cult and danger ous they have made it for people just to live their lives. In 2011, a storm of protes t arose when the police rem oved Blind Bennie from the place on Dam Square where he had stood for 30 years and strip searched him. He didn’t have the cor rect papers and re ceived outra geousl y high fines - something that often happens to the homeles s, many of whom face enorm ous debts as a re sult of fines given for sleeping in the street. Less and less culture is seen as suitable for public expres sion. And a clim ate of squatophobia has desce nded on our incre asingly Disneyfied city with its miles of empty of fice space of use to no one. Cul tural Breed ing Places are touted as the of fi cially sanc tioned alter na tives to squats, but they aren’t mini-soci et ies. Stripped of children, collec tive kitchens, etc., they’re nothing but studios for rent. The ar chi tect Hein de Haan calls this whole situation “the Singapore-syndrome.” Free dom of speech is freedom of thought. What sort of space do we have in mind? How do we use free dom opti m ally? Control sys tems are autis tic. When there is too much control, free dom becom es im - possi ble. A fes tival is an open socia l concept of freedom , and there-

318 fore op poses au tism. In de ter mi nate ter ri to ries, or waste lands, are places where coun ter-cul tural or sub-cul tural events take place. The absenc e of lim its can re sult in a sense of liberty and auton om y, but to be truly free, to practice free dom, you must have self-control. Self-control doesn’t mean the loss of all posi tive poten tial . By keeping your weakness es under control you can let yoursel f go. Know your self! The right to fuddle, to wear what you like, to be entranc ed or ec static (with or without drugs) is essen tial for com ing to your senses. Absur dity loses its strange ness when every body is simultaneously an absurdist, like during carnival. How strange! Free space without freedom of thought is a contra dic tion. There’s free space inside your head; doesn’t that sound great? Cheers! Ec- stasy is the spiri tual condi tion that allows us to say, do, or think ex - tra-ordi nary things, to stand outside conven tional life. Shouldn’t free dom of ec stasy be consid ere d a posi tive value? Drugs can stim u - late ecsta sy and influ ence thoughts, so re stricting the use of drugs contra dicts the ba sic free dom of spirit. Demonization of herbs is an es sen tial com po nent of the Sin ga pore-syn drome. (The et y mo log i cal myth connect ing the word as sas sin to hash smokers came in under auspice s of the Vat ican dur ing the times of the crusade s.) Smoking gods exist in India and South America ; grass seeds and weed pipes have been found in graves from 10,000 years ago. In tribal soci et ies drug use isn’t lim ited only to sham ans and in the West it’s not lim - ited only to artists. Many “normal” people in the west like to smoke a joint. Every thing can be used or abused. Double standards exist every - where. In Europe the pagan wine-god Bacchus was absorbe d by Chris tendom . As a result, the drinking of al cohol is part of Western culture. Alco hol is used and prom oted every wher e. Yet it affec ts one’s thoughts, as do all drugs. The num ber of deaths that result from alco hol abuse is gigan tic but has never been viewed as a prob - lem as signif i cant as the use of drugs that are less harm ful, or even sometim es bene fi cia l. To make pi lots in World War II more effi - cient and ef fec tive speed and coke were given to them. Since econ - omy is war, a thematic war on “nat u ral” drugs has been declared. Nowa days in Western poli tics , drug use is de scribed in amazingly black-and-white terms. When it com es to weed poli ti cia ns talk only about abuse, dan ger, in tox i ca tion, crim i nal ity, ad dic tion, men tal ill- ness, psy chosis , THC levels , brain dam age, etc. Only the nega tive aspect s are dis cussed. That’s how crim inal networks are brought

319 into life. Ev ery pol iti cian knows this, but war is war. The same language is being applied to our fam ous cof fee shops, which sell top-qual ity weed and hash, all regu late d and controlle d - if merchandizing returns to the street again you’ll get real “shit.” Com - pletely snowed un der by this rhe tor i cal war fare is the cre ative power of drugs, and with it the creative atti tudes that moti vate many to use drugs. Such atti tudes can lead to beauti ful things, stim ulate liberatory re lease, fa cil i tate the urge to tres pass “psy cho log i cal” bor - ders, relax, ease pain, bring people togethe r, im prove inter per sonal rela tion ships, etc. A joint isn’t called a “joint” for noth ing; it can help enable joint action. Of course there are the ego drugs like coke, which makes peo ple ag gres sive, es pe cially in com bi na tion with booze. “Riot Pow der” is what the football-tribes call it. But even coke can be nice as an aph ro di siac if you use it rarely. Happily, you can legitimately call mushrooms truffles, and truffles are legal. Such word play keeps reality elastic but is not always useful. The re cently-in tro duced “weedpass” does n’t only dis crim i nate against for eign vis itors. As a Dutchm an it alm ost repre sent s having a lit tle yellow star stuck on your chest. Every body who smokes is regis tere d and thus stigm atize d. Then there’s a real pos sibil ity of being refuse d the right to visit the U.S., of being denied work you’re other wis e qual ified for, of be ing profile d by the police and having your driver’s li cense af fected. No weedpass for me in this developing demonocracy! A Few Final Thoughts As part of the fes tivi ties of the 40th birthday of Freetown Christiania, Ruigoord opened an Em bassy there in 2012. Chris tiania now has an oppor tu nity to buy its own ground, which means a new phase is start ing in its ex is tence as a Cul tural Free Ha ven. Film maker and Christi ania activ ist Nils Vest described the Christianites current situation: The govern m ent wanted all the old ram parts of the old fortres s to be put back in their origi nal state. They wanted all new houses and trees re moved. “So what about the birds and insec ts?” we asked. We took it to the Suprem e Court. Since the ram parts are a his tori cal monu m ent, only the signif i cant parts of them will be re turned to their his tor i cal state. The Court agreed that as long as there are houses in other areas it’s safer for passers -by at night. If we hadn’t signed that contrac t, involv ing the rem oving of seven houses, they

320 would have orga nize d a genera l sell-out. We want to keep Chris tiania as a whole, so we’ve decide d to buy it oursel ves. We dis cussed whether we would buy it as an orga ni za tion or indi vid u ally. The govern m ent offere d indi vid ual sales. Some people and many pushers wanted that, but happily also many pushers were against it. Eventu ally, 95% of the Christianites agreed to be part of a Chris tiania Asso ci a tion. Some houses fall under the pres erva tion act and people can rent them. People in indi vid ual houses have to pay rent for the ground they’re on. People in wagons have to pay less. The govern m ent wanted to choose the people who live here, but we may now decide oursel ves who com es in. A lot of deci sions still have to be made. But thanks to the economic downturn the interest we’ll have to pay has changed dramatically. It’s natu ral that our Cultural Free Havens should change over time. In Christi ania in 1972 the aver age age of a Christianite was 25; in 2011 it’s 45. In Ruigoord and in Doel one sees the same situ a tion, par tic u larly when it co mes to the av er age age of those who activel y ini ti ate ar tis tic ac tions. By way of con trast, the av er age age of the initi a tors in southern Europe, at the Boom fes tival, for insta nce, is about 30. In 2012, more than 50% of Am sterdam ’s youth ful popu la - tion orig i nated from Turk ish, Mo roc can, or Su ri nam back grounds. These young sters have never heard of Provo, Jas per Grootveld, Magic Cen ter Amster dam, or the Lowland Weed Com pany, and they are unlikel y to ever squat a house or live in a com mune. But re- claim ing public space contin ues here (as happened dur ing Oc cupy Am sterdam ), as it does in cit ies like Istan bul and Ankara and other centers throughout the world. New Cultural Free Spaces rem ain out there to be claimed and de veloped. And we rem ain open to welcoming them into our emerging, ever-expanding network of kindred spirits. 2013 @ Aja Waalwijk pub lished by per mis sion from :AL Ley Pub li ca tions 140 Warren Street Brooklyn, NY 11201

321 31 OpenUp, an alternative festival and community

There are so many fes ti vals these days, that picking one runs the risk of not seeing the forest for the tree, but some festi val form ats show an excep tional focus on con tact, par tic i pa tion and trans form ation. The Dutch OpenUP is such a form at. It was initi ate d by Hylke Bonnema and friends and is running for 10 years now. There is a major 5 day event with some 700 at tendees in the sum mer and a couple of smaller, more com munity oriente d events throughout the year. The form at is not origi nal, as it com bines ideas from other fes ti vals, but of fers and in ter est ing ex am ple. OpenUp is drugsfree, smokefree, veg etar ian and family -friendly, there are pro - grams for kids in dif ferent age-groups, includ ing a specia l disco-place for teenag ers . This and the genera l setup of concen trat - ing on contac t and transfor m ation at tracts an audi ence of many single parents with their kids, looking for the openness the name suggest. The festi val is inspire d by No-Mind festival in Sweden in Angsbacke with some 1200 participants each year. “I don’t want to be part of your revolution, if I can’t dance in it.” Isadora Duncan The core princi ples of OpenUp are: CoCreation, using the talents of atten dees and the com munity, involve them to help stage the event, assis t in setting up, running, take down and clear ing away. This par tic i pa tion en sures com mit ment and engage m ent. Every body is a (poten tial ) CoCreator, is asked to as sist in col lec tive ac tiv i ties. This is more than vol un teer ing, the more active and com mitted CoCreators ar rive ear lier and leave later, they still pay (for food and shelter, but form the workforce that also allows to keep the expense s down. The genera l atm ospher e of coop - er a tion, in volv ing CoCreators and del e gat ing tasks and pro jects to them also means less tra di tional hi er ar chy and man age ment, and more focus on the community goals of sharing, gifting and contact.

322 Shar ing, al low ing daily in di vid ual (and un dis turbed) ex pres sion in small groups (max. 6) is an essen tial part of the for mat. Every body has equal time to say whatever . Such sharing of emotions, im pres - sions, worries and ideas has thera peu tic, transformational and con - tact value, small in-groups evolve with a high level of trust and mu - tual support. This approac h, by many of the at tendees expe ri ence d as the high point of the day, differs from the usual sharing at festi - vals or workshops with larger groups, where not everybody can have a say. Contac t oppor tu ni ties are seen as essen tial for the OpenUp expe ri - ence and com munal eating, singing, opening and closing ritu als are used to facil i tate contact. OpenUp is not a mu sic festi val, but of course there are musi cal per for mances, DJ’s, etc. but dur ing the day the program consis t of workshops, mostly given by CoCreators. There is the oppor tu nity to pitch one’s own workshop or activ ity in the morning, so apart from prepro gram med acts and ses sions one can bring new ideas and personal expertise to the floor. Open ‘Play and Clear’ means not only taking physi cal care of the place, leaving it better than it was, but is about allow ing the people to exper i m ent, to share, to look for new possi bil i ties and ca pabil i - ties, and accept ing that fail ing is part of the game. Freedom to look for al terna tives , in onesel f and others , in re lations and forms of in- terac tion. Such play, and here approac hes like tantra, body work, mirror ing and a cer tain confron ta tion are ac cepted, again offers new con tact and trans for ma tion op por tu ni ties. Clear ing also means that personal problem s can be addres sed and if possi ble cleared, by inter - action , self re flec tion and a gen eral attitude of permissiveness and appreciation of diversity. In di vid ual and col lec tive aware ness about one’s po ten tial and lim i- ta tions is stim u lated by shar ing and col lec tive ac tiv i ties like rit u als. To enhance the vital ity and playful ness acts are left open for im pro- vi sa tion and in ter ac tion with the au di ence. The coy ote en ergy,

323 breaking old and worn patterns and expec ta tions, confront ing and mirroring, is appreciated. Becom ing consci ous of what needs to be done, is expres sed in the motto: ‘If you see a task or a problem , you own it’ thus stim ulat ing people to take action. ‘Open your heart’ is another motto that allows to make a connec tion with the other, the place, the activ ities, the prob lems in side and the deeper self. Not a cogni tive focus, but a feeling connec tion with all, in the mom ent, here and now! Not judging, but em brac ing the dif- ference , honor ing the bor ders and yet not be afraid to push them a bit. Di ver sity and con nec tion are of fered as a to tal ity. The dif fer ences betwe en people are, in the OpenUp vi sion, not leading to sepa ra tion, but to connec tion. Authen tic ity is im portant here, the freedom to act, speak or be silent, absta in or engage needs to be connect ed to the true self, here a cer tain ‘non-du al ity’ and ‘advaita’ ap proaches shines through in the UpenUp philosophy. The transformational focus of the OpenUp festi val is clear, people come to be in spired and ex per i ment, meet new peo ple, ac cept ing that both the festi val and their partic i pa tion is a proces s, and not nec es sar ily always aligned. MUSU, organizational model The core model is Mutual Sustainability, a re lational approac h to use the differ ences and sim ilar i ties in a way that ben efits all the stakeholders , not only now but also in the future. Function al ity and ef fi ciency is in creased by the re la tion ships you have. The fes ti val or ga ni za tions di vided in three clus ters (Goods, Foods&Bev er ages, Con cept&Fa cil i ties). Each clus ter has five to eight teams. Re spon si - bility lays within the teams, based on com muni ca tions and the focus to be of service to each other. ‘Welcome to the magical reality’ The banner at the entry to the OpenUp festi val grounds.

324 32 Creativity Café

A Venue to Nurture Creativity in everyone; a Mechanism for Social Change

To show how the By Peter H. Rosen idea of an auto no - Cre ativ ity Café de vel oped as a Tem po rary mous zone doesn't Auton o m ous Zone with a purpose in 1980. need to be a mas si ve The purpose; to build a venue for cre ative event, but can be a people and those who think they are Not. A small as a café en vi - real, not a vir tual venue; a place that will ronm ent this appen - exist in space-time, for just one time or for dix contains the visi - a while, us ing an exist ing place where peo - on of an ear ly cre ati - ple can meet. This can be a building, but ve ex pe rien ce also a tent or a At Cre ativity Café™ the en tre pre neur and vi- venue, its den i zens practice PRONOIA si o na ry, Pe ter H. Ro - [http://cre ativ ity.net/pronoia.html] and nur - sen. ture cre ativ ity. Com mu nity cre ated pro - grams & ser vices as sist with per sonal and com mu nity growth and trans for ma tion. In ter ac tive new games are used to “mas sage” au di - ence mem bers in order to melt bound- aries, so that a room full of strangers becomes a room full of friends “who haven’t yet met!” to quote a line from Creativity Cafe’s brochure. If we can help lib er ate a per sons “au - thentic self” from that of their condi - tioned Self, the divine inspi ra tion that has create d our present world can continue to gift us with new ways of see ing and being. Es pe cially when Cre ativ ity Café Men - tors and Tour Guides help patrons dis- Peter H. Rosen, founder of cover clubhouse resourc es; people and Creativity Café and ser vices de signed to en liven, lib er ate, steward of creativity.com

325 relax, learn and heal us from the ravages of our lives. Is n’t that why people go out to events and festivals? A Cre ativ ity Café pro vides an on go ing en vi ron ment where those both in and out of this “com munity clubhouse” cre ate a friendly and fam iliar place for global nom ads, for con scious creatives, cultural creatives, world servers and inspire d others … their desire it is to steer you to what you need to succee d! Over 500 proto type venues, pro duc tions and ed u ca tional en ter tain ments; com monly re ferred to as “Edutainments” have been produced by mem bers of the or gani za - tion that sprang up from seeds planted in the V.A.R.I.O.U.S. Media Ink: The Vision ary Artists Showcas e and Network ing Events. This es pe cially in the later years when the as sis tance of V.A.R.I.O.U.S. mem bers pro duced the most am bi tions tem po rary Cre ativ ity Café New School and Edutainment Center for Multi m edia Expo at San Fran cisco’s Moscone Con ven tion Cen ter [ http://cre ativ ity.net/fwe/]. We stole the show with inno va tive, inter ac tive art per form ances, a video con fer ence to a sub marine off the coast of Ha waii, image cre - ation stations, perfor m ances, and more. The idea for an inter ac tive edutainment venue ignited and inspire d the collab o ra tion and coop - era tion of people only weeks be fore I didn’t know. Together, in six weeks with the support of local sponsors and supporters, we kicked butt! V.A.R.I.O.U.S. Media Ink The Vision ary Artists Showcas e and Network ing Events struck a chord with the local Los Angele s com munity. What started in the De part ment of Wa ter and Power’s The ater to an au di ence of 30, soon doubled, then tri pled in size. After a couple of years of regu lar pre sen ta tions by lo cal art ists in the in ter ac tive ‘liv ing Gal lery’ fashion, our event blos somed into a 200-plus-mem bership in the non- profit; V.A.R.I.O.U.S.. Over the course of three years of about 36 show cases per year, we main tained our first come, first served pol - icy (we did not want to curate or turn any one away or judge their ability or tal ent). The idea was to give an oppor tu nity to from 5-8 artists, to share their work at what ever point they were at, in their cre ative evo lu tion. Their images we pro jected on a large the ater screen, to an audi ence of peers and inter est ed public encour aged to partic i pate by asking questions, offering thoughts, responses, reactions.

326 The re sult was a com munity forum on the arts with an im promptu group of new friends, explor ing cre ativity. People networke d after - wards and discov ere d more in depth about whatever , whom ever inter ested them. The event and ex per i ment was a grand suc cess. The event also served to present to the audi ence an inspir ing vision of Cre ativity Café; a new school and com munity network ing, broad - cast and re source center; utiliz ing the latest , Web, video, sound and wire less technol o gies in addi tion to state of the art com puter graphics fa cil i ties, Maker space FabLab and simi lar re sources at the intersection of Art and Technology. Audi ence mem bers joined in to mani fes t a venue to nurture creativ - ity, market our talents and share hum ani ties latest inno va tions in the course of edutaining audi ence mem bers for their bet term ent. The audi ence was al ways “warmed up by new games” first, be fore the show…so that when the art ists were pre sented, and they were en - couraged, they were ok to shout out feelings, im pres sions and enter into dis cussion - seeded by the art and featured artist, unlike in “nor- malize d school” they did n’t have to raise their hands and be recog - nized. It turns out artists love the spotlight as much as perform ers (of a mu si cal na ture for in stance). No sur prise there! The ar tis tic ego hungers for recog ni tion, acknowl edg m ent good or bad and the focused atten tion IN THEIR PRESENCE…of a live and inter act ing audi ence - unlike the highly selective, sterile and money driven world of most art galleries. A consis tent “house” of 100 people attende d the V.A.R.I.O.U.S. Media Ink Vision ary Artists Showcas e and Network ing Events from 1980 thru 2001 when the live event was televise d on Public Acces s chan nels. What began as per for mances at Eq uity Waiver The aters (I ne go ti ated the ater rental ar range ments that were mostly split-the-gate or free); has blos somed beyond my wildest dreams and val i dated my in tu ition and “fo cus group” ex per i ments ques tion- ing if audi ence s would enjoy expe ri enc ing art in this new way, and if artists liked the spotlight as much as performers. We pre sented V.I. at com munity venues (Los Angele s Dept. Water and Power’s Theate r, Felicia Mahood Com munity Center - as part of Cele brate Life Events, and many Equity Waiver (100 seat or less) The aters over the three year Los An geles run. A five year run of Cre ativity Café Edutainment Events in San Francis co include d Cre - ativity Café for A Day events Joe’s Dig ital Diner and VARIOUS Media Ink at the Next Stage Theate r - among other venues. Al-

327 though a perm anent Creativ ity Café did not mani fes t at that time, We origi nate d and produced a totall y new and pio neer ing first ever Multipoint Internet video conference by and for Children Creativity Café; A New School for the New Millennium The idea behind Cre ativity Café, orig inally called ‘Art ists Resource Center Proto type’ started alrea dy in 1980, but devel oped over time. In actu ality, Cre ativity Café is more like a commu nity town hall where people vote, sign pe titions, and co-cre ate the edutainments present ed on and off the stage. Given the creativ ity and collab o ra - tion po ten tial di rected to ward prob lem solv ing, Cre ativ ity Café will truly be of service to alm ost every one, in many differ ent ways. From art market ing to technol ogy mentoring, from personal growth ex pan sion and col lec tive co-cre ation, col lab o ra tive pro jects and pre- senta tions will be designe d to edu cat e while enter tain ing to help lib- erate our authen tic selves and our suppres sed creativ ity. Many produc tions tar geted at pro vid ing so lu tions to per sonal, cor po rate, com - munity and global problem s/challenge s will be the re sult of cap i tal iz ing on a com mu nity’s cre ative force. The Cre ativ ity Café, mani fest ing at dif fer ent places and dif fer ent times, the be comes a place where people/pr oducts and service s are markete d in inno va - tive ways, where audi ence s can and do col labo rate on meaningful projects to benefit not only creative people, but the local community and general public-at-large. There’s a need for people to physi cal ly be togethe r that is satis fied by Creativ ity Café Edutainment designed to melt barri ers to inti - macy and new friendships which are stim ulate d in inno va tive ways. Now more so now than ever before, with fear crippling and isolat ing us in many ways, with Internet com muni ca tion re plac ing many in- terper sonal rela tions in the flesh. We don’t need more ordi nary Events and Fes ti vals where music, dance, drugs, es cap ism, sex and commerce are the bill of fare, what we re ally need are gath er ing places to ex change in for mation , ideas, forge al li ances and par tic i - pate in unfold ing our future world via collab o ra tions, shared vision and mani fes ting new systems that address the potential of creative consciousness. Cre ative people, I would say for the most part, find it diffi cult if not im possi ble to have their art becom e their live lihood. I asked why within my self. The answe r I got was MARKETING is not their

328 strong suit. The solu tions to the problem s of our times, need out of the box approac hes, why not tap the cre ativity of any given neigh- borhood/cit y/country via its creative citi zens (public and private sec - tors) and provide a specia l venue for those who care to make (are making) a differ ence in them selves (into per sonal growth and heal - ing), world servers , vision ar ies , intuitives, people who have new, great ideas, the “fed up masses” dis sat is fied with how slowly government answer’s their needs. If we could gather the most creative and bril liant people togethe r to approac h alter na tive ways of living, being with each other and espe - cially for mutual support (Pronoia) in a world where ‘the system ’ di - vides, controls and suppres ses true creative problem solving becaus e it might mean an end to their jobs, live lihood, glori fied posi tion, etc. We need to turn to the “prole tar iat” and es pecia lly those who are most inspire d and creative to collab o rate , brainstorm , develop, plan and im plem ent new socia l system s and solu tions to personal and in- terper sonal chal lenges, and to future infra struc ture that truly serves to unite the peoples of the earth. V.A.R.I.O.U.S. members Pe ter H. Rosen and Reid Fossy cre ated a Cre ativ ity Cafe-For-A-Day Mul ti media en vi ron ment at the Children’s World Peace Festi val; birthing for the first time Creativ ity Cafe’s award winning “KidCast for Peace: Solu tions for a Better World” tele-activ ity (used in col lege cur ric u lum to il lus trate early interactivity and posi tive use of the Internet) in vari - ous uni ver sity cur ric u lum. The projec t was supported by Ap ple Com puter, Bell Telephone and Pathways to Peace - the Fes ti val or ga niz ers. [http://creativity.net/KidCast/kc12/press/] This pi o neer ing multipoint video con fer ence in vited chil dren (fo cus - ing on those in challenge d countrie s) to make art and share it… inter activel y with their “peers-for-peace” far and wide - lit er ally in a

329 se ries of video con fer ences. Kids - thanks to their teach ers, were able to connect with up other kids, each sharing draw ings they made, reflec ting what a peace filled world would look like - with up to 12 geographic loca tions at once. They could all see and hear each other as each lo cale was in vited to have its “chil dren peace rep re sen - ta tives” receive the fo cus at ten tion to share their art in ter activel y, with people on the Net, invited to com ment along with of all of those gathere d in physi cal venues and virtu ally on the Internet. Places that par tic i pated in the event in cluded Ire land, Ja pan, Cal i for - nia, New York, Maui Hawai i and else where.I produced KidCast for Peace over 18 times in the next 10 years using CU-SeeMe software developed by Cornell University. The orga ni za tion was mostly made up of artists who were in the audience during exper i m ental produc tions that were fine tuned as time went on and al ways inter ac tive be yond the norm. I wanted to see if what I thought artists and creative people need, was valid. and what those who think they are not cre ative are lacking…wa s valid. We can unlea sh their poten tial , by capi tal iz ing on the psy chic need for connec tion, and the starved ego of the cre ative person al ity, we can, as a soci ety of hum ans on planet earth, without attac hm ent to na - tional pride, po lit i cal or re li gious prej u dice, sta tus, eco nomic stand - ing, or any of the other sepa rat ist strat egies for control. People are fed up with tra ditional govern m ental “ethics ” and crave real connec - tion and authen tic inter ac tions not based on manipulation for a profitable end, in the traditional sense. Cre ativ ity Café be comes a co op er a tive where mem bers con trol op er - ations. Com munity mem bers have chosen to team up and make a dif fer ence in a time scale that can not be matched by the slow mach- ina tions of govern m ent. People leave their homes for enter tain m ent, escape , ac quisi tion of re source and making new friends and business connec tions. They leave their home to find places that inspire , edu - cate, en ter tain or to cel ebrate. Nor mally their lives are based on working a 40 hour (or so) work week. They have bars to escape in, Netflix to get lost in, restau rants to indulge in. Then they sleep and go to work. Cre ative people on the other hand have differ ent needs and a differ - ent lifestyle as varied as their creativ ity. But they all have one thing in com mon. Once they leave school, very few of them recei ve nurtur ing, com pen sa tion for their tal ents or ac knowl edg ment of their peers and no less the public. These are all driving rea sons for Cre -

330 ativity Café, bigger than a bread box and able to serve young, old, rich, poor, creative (or those who don’t think they are) with resources they need to help them succeed. Cre ativ ity Café is both a venue and an in ter active ex pe ri ence that has been purveyed at trade shows, neighbor hood theate r venues and com mu nity cen ters. Cre ativ ity Café edutainment ex pe ri ences are de - signed to bring people togethe r in ways they would not nor mally ex- peri ence in tra ditional expo si tions of the arts. In this case the art be - comes a cat aly st for the in ter action of the au di ence members who are in structed (af ter some warm up ex pe ri ences that help to melt the boundarie s in a room full of strangers , and help them under sta nd they are in for something completely different. Cre ativ ity Café is a vi sion ing place to share one’s images and ideas about sustainability, par tic i pate in ex pan sive cre ativ ity en hanc ing games, de velop strat e gies for es tab lish ing in ter per sonal har mo nies in the di verse cul tural cross over en vi ron ment, es pe cially in places like Am ster dam and New York where there is a condensed international public. Creativity Café Venues as Networking places There is an untappe d of cre ative poten tial for artist collab o ra tions and public support. To de velop effec tive and timely solu tions to com mu nity and per sonal chal lenges, Cre ativ ity Cafe’s es tab lished “play ing rule” is one of PRONOIA: the unset tling suspi cion that people are out to serve you and you them! Cre ativity Café edutainment events are design ed to “har monize the au di ence and art ists alike” in a way that relaxes, melts in ter per sonal bound aries, and es tablishe s the event as a ‘Happen ing’ where the audi ence does not know what to expect next, but every step they are taken thru is designed for an affect. Artists love the spotlight and having a live dis course with the audi - ence. The only re quire ment is that the “art ist of life” who dares to pres ent to an in ter ac tive au di ence en cour aged to re spond with questions, ideas, re action s, etc, is ready to be dis sected. The au di ence co - mes away with new friends and an inspir it ing experience. Cre ativ ity Café is a venue and so cial mech anism de signed to har - ness the creativ ity of any given com munity, and apply the vision, talents , skills, resourc es and planning needed to build a better future

331 world that arises from the collec tive consci ousness of that community. Cre ativity Café; as a Network ing Center, via vari ous tools, becom es a place where people support each other’s needs by provid ing recourses, edu ca tion, mentoring, products and service s in a barter sys tem. Cre ativ ity Café the Edutainment venue becomes an at trac - tive loca tion based forum where creative people and their works are shared inter ac tivel y with an audi ence giving them an inside look at the creative pro cess and igniting their creativity. Con tact Pe ter H. Rosen for more in for ma tion: pe ter@cre ativ ity.net.

332 33 Literature

Ronström, Owe; Festivalisation: what a festi val says - and does. Neuchâtel 2011, paper Newbold, Chris & Jordan, Jenny + Négrier, Em manuel, Maughan, Bianchini; Focus on Festi vals , 2015 Goodfellow Publ. Newbold, Chris & Jordan, Jenny; Focus on World Festi vals , 2016 Goodfellow Publ. Pine, BJ, Gilmore, JH.; The ex pe ri ence econ omy: past, pres ent and fu ture, Hand book on the Ex pe ri ence Econ omy, 2013 Sundbo, Jon.; In tro duc tion to the ex pe ri ence econ omy, 2013 Jakob, Doreen ; The eventification of place: Urban devel op m ent and expe ri ence consum ption in Berlin and New York City, 2012 Jeannerat, Hugues: Stag ing ex pe ri ence, val u ing au then tic ity: To- wards a mar ket per spec tive on ter ri to rial de vel op ment, 2013, Uni- ver sity of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Carr, Nicho las ; The Shallows : What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. Tschopik Schneider, Hope; Why? An In tro duc tion to Fes ti val Plan ning Johansson, Marjana & Kociatkiewicz, Jerzy; City fes ti vals: creativ - ity and control in staged urban expe ri ence s, 2011 Frankl, Viktor E.; Man’s Search for Meaning Lorentzen, Anne; Urban and regional studies in the expe ri ence econom y: What kind of turn? 2013, Aalborg Uni versity, Denm ark McDougall, Wil liam; The Group Mind, A Sketch of the Princi ples of Col lec tive Psy chol ogy, 1920 Moore, Alan W. & Smart, Alan (eds); Making Room: Cultural production in oc cupied spaces, 2014 Bennett, Andy, Jodie Tay lor and Ian Woodwar d (edi tors) , The Festivalization of Culture, Octo ber 2014, Griffith Centre for Cul- tural Re search, Grif fith Uni ver sity, Australia

333 Yeom an, Ian and Robert son, Ali-Knight, Drummond and McMahon-Beat tie; Fes ti val and Events Man age ment. An In ter na - tional Arts and Cul ture Perspec tive Gadamer, Hans-Georg; Die Aktualität des Schõnen; Kunst als Spiel, Symbol und Fest. 1977 Jo, Eunkyung; Berkowitz, Leonard; Bryant, Jennings (Ed); Zillmann, Dolf (Ed), A prim ing effec t analy sis of media influ ence s: An update . (1994). Berkowitz, Leonard; Some ef fects of thoughts on anti- and prosocial in flu ences of me dia events: A cog ni tive- neo association anal y sis. Psy cho log i cal Bul le tin, May 1984 Wilson, Pe ter Lamborn (Hakim Bey), TAZ, tem porary auton o m ous zones, Autonomedia 1991. Bookchin, Murray, So cial Anar chis m or Life style Anar chis m: An Un bridge able Chasm, 1995 Shukaitis, Stephen; Imaginal machine s: auton om y and self, Autonomedia 2009 Deleuze, Gilles and Guattari, Felix; What is phi loso phy, 1994 Debord, Guy; The Soci ety of the Spec tacle . 1967 Mignano, Mitchell; Burning into the Plane tary Consci ousness , an Insur rec tion of the Imagi na tion through Black Rock City, 2009 Franko, Mark; Rit ual and Event: In ter dis ci plin ary Per spec tives, (London: Routledge, 2007) Waterma n, S. (1998); Carni vals for Elites? The Cul tural Pol itics of Arts Fes ti vals. Prog ress in Hu man Ge og ra phy. González, Gordon; The Rit u al iza tion of Con sumer Cap i tal ism 2015 Turner, Vic tor (1982). Cel ebra tion: Studies in Fes tivity and Rit ual. Sala, Luc (2014) Cyberspace Sala, Luc (2014) Rit ual, the mag i cal per spec tive Sala. Luc (2015) Sacre d Journeys, tripguide for psychonauts Du Gay, P. and Pryke, M. (eds.); Cul tural Econom y, Cultural Anal - y sis and Com mercia l Life; London: Sage. Getz, Donald. 1991. Festi vals , Specia l Events, and Tourism . New York Routledge

334 Getz, Donald, The Natture And Scope Of Festi val Studies 2010, In- ter na tional Jour nal of Event Man age ment Re search Getz, Donald. (2012) Event Studies : Theory, Resea rch and Policy for Planned Events. New York: Routledge. Bianchini, F. (1999) in D. Dodd and A. van Hemel (eds) “The Re lation ship be tween Cul tural Re sources and Ur ban Tour ism Pol i cies: Is sues from Eu ro pean Debates”. St John, Graham , Alter na tive Cultural Heteropoia and the Limioid Body; beyond Turner at Confest (2001), Austra lian Journal of An - thro pol ogy. Bell, Catherine (1992/2009) Ritual The ory, Ritual Practice Davey, Steve (2013), Around the World in 500 Festi vals ,The World’s Most Spec tac u lar Cel e bra tions Zherdev, Nikolay, Festivalization as a Creative City Strat egy, 2014 Hauptfleisch, Tem ple (2007) Fes tivals as Eventifying Sys tems Hauptfleisch, Tem ple (1997) Thea tre and Soci ety in South Africa : Re flec tions in a Frac tured Mir ror, Pre to ria. Pieper, Josef In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festiv ity. (1999 [1963]) In di ana: St. Au gus tine’s Press. Quinn, Berna dette . (2006) Problematising ‘festi val tour ism’: Arts fes ti vals and sus tain able de vel op ment in Ireland. Journal of Sustain able Tourism , 14, pp. 288-306.Kaptein, P. (1996) De beginperiode van het Holland Festi val. Festi vals en festivalisering.", in R.L. Erenstein (ed.), Een theater geschiedenis der Nederlanden, Am ster dam Uni ver sity Press. Terphoven, Arne van (2009), Het festivalgevoel, de Wereld Van Pinkpop, Werchter, Pukkelpop en Low lands. Beemsterboer, Toon & Terphoven, Arne van (2004), Door! Dance in Nederland Plan ning Cul tural Tour ism in Eu rope: a Pre sen ta tion of The o ries and Cases, Am sterdam : Boekman Founda tion. Twaalfhoven, Anita , 2010, Boekman Debat “Inter na tional fes tival co-oper a tion: a must in many ways”, Boekman 83 Festi vals . Abrahams, Ian & Wis hart, Bridget, Festivalized, 14 Dec 2015, Gon- zo Mul ti me dia

335 Dearling, Alan. Travel ling Daze, Words and im ages from the UK’s new Travel lers and festi vals , late 1960s to the here and now, isbn: 978-0-9523316-9-8, Enabler Pub li ca tions Alan Dearling, No Boundarie s, covers many of the 1990s fes tival/party events worldwide ISBN: 0 9523316 3 2 Enabler Publi ca - tions Huizinga, Johan; Homo Ludens, 1938 Caillois, Roger, Meyer Barash; Man, Play, and Games, 1958 orig. French. Duke, Richard and Geurts, Jac ; 2004, Policy Games for Stra tegic Man age ment Kerényi, Karl; Vom Wesen des Festes, Paideuma, Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde 1938 Pellegrini, An thony D. ,Dupuis, Danielle, Smith, Pe ter K.; Play in evo lu tion and de vel op ment, 2007 in ‘De vel op men tal Review’ Hunicke, Robin; LeBlanc, Marc; Zubek, Robert, MDA: A Form al Approac h to Game De sign and Game Re search 2001 Millán, J. R. 2012, July; “The El em ents of Game De sign,” Lakitu’s Dev Cartridge . Schell, Jesse. 2008; The Art of Game De sign, Mor gan Kaufmann. Ralph, Paul and Monu, Kafui; A Working Theory Of Game De sign, 2014, es say Juul, Jesper; The Game, the Player, the World. 2003 Connolly, Thomas M. edit.; Psychol ogy, Peda gogy, and Asses sm ent in Seri ous Games, 2013 Rooney, Pau line (2012) ‘A The o ret i cal Frame work for Se ri ous Game De sign: Explor ing Peda gogy, Play and Fidel ity and their Im - pli ca tions for the De sign Pro cess’ In ter na tional Jour nal of Game-based Learn ing, Harteveld, Cas per; Triadic Game Design : Bal anc ing Re al ity, Mean - ing and Play, 2011 Morgenstern, Oskar & von Neumann, John; Theory of Games and Eco nomic Be hav iour, (1944). Rapoport, Anatol; Fights, Games, and De bates, 1960 Smelser, Neil: Theory of Collec tive Behav ior (1962),

336 Salvatore, Sergio; Looking at the Psy chother apy Proces s as an Intersubjective Dy namic of Meaning-Ma king, 2010 Montola, Markus, Jaakko Stenros, Annika Waern; Perva sive Games: Theory and Design, 2009

Other downloadable books by Luc Sala

Rit ual, the mag i cal per spec tive: www.lucsala.nl/rit ual Sa cred Jour neys: www.share-shop.nl/sacredjourneys.pdf Far Away: www.lucsala.nl/po ems.pdf Cyberspace Recon at www.lucsala.nl/cyberrecon.pdf Cyberspace (Dutch) www.lucsala.nl/cyberboek.pdf Verbonden Stad (Dutch) www.lucsala.nl/verbondenstad.pdf see www.lucsala.nl Vir tual Re al ity (Dutch) http://www.dealerinfo.nl/vr/vrboek2104.pdf all free downloads

337 In dex E A Evans, Kevin 224 Allport, Floyd 84 F Ar is totle 144,185 Fanon, Frantz 85 Asimov, Isaac 141 Fantuzzi 31,205,243 B Farb, Joel 114 Fleischer, Rasmus 116 Ba con, Fran cis 186 Florida, Rich ard 49 Barker, James R. 86 Fossy, Reid 329 Barlow, John Perry 116,220 Fox, Mat thew 220 Barret, Rich ard 76 Frankl, Viktor 61, 147 Barth, Fredrick 18 Frazer, George 141 Bataille, George 149 Freud, Sigmund 83,130 Bennett, John G. 110 Froebel, Friedrich 131 Berkowitz, Leon ard 168 Fromm, Erich 85 Bonewits, Isaac 141 Bonnema, Hylke 322 G Bosch, Hieronymus. 218 Gennep, van Ar nold 142 Breene, K. 249 Gershenfeld, Neil 267 C Getz, Don ald 18,20,147 Gilmore, L. 235 Caillois, Roger 132,139,149 Ginsberg, Alan 301 Callenbach, Er nest 184,188 Goffman, Ken 223 Campanella, Tomasso 186 Gosney, Mi chael 218 Camp bell, Jo seph 82 Groos, Karl 131 Carr, Nich o las 168 Grootveld, Robert J. 280, Chang, T. 158 299,303 Chur chill, Arabella 254 Gurdjieff, George 110 Con fu cius 27 Cousto, Hans 258 H Csikszentmihalyi, Mi chael 145 Haan, de Hein 318 D Hakim Bey (PLW) 116,222, 251, 298 Dar win, Charles 129 Harvey, Larry 218,222,224,231 Davis, Erik 221 Hauptfleisch, Tem ple 19,36 Debord, G. 117,229 Her mes 132 De foe, Dan iel 186 Hjelholt, Gun nar 309 Duncan, Isadora 322 Huizinga, Johan 109,129,131 Durkheim, Emile 105,189 Hunicke, Robin 164 Dylan, Bob 301 Huxley, Aldous 69,184,187 Hwang, Kwang-Kuo 27

338 I Michel, C. 235 Ippolita 115 Mignano, Mitch 228,230 Iso-Ahola, Seppo 76 Montaigne, de Michel 130 Monu, Kafui 166 J More, Thomas 182,185 James, J. 224 Mosbaugh, J. 225 Janis, Irving 84 N Jobs, Steve 87 Johansson, Marjana 39 Négrier, Em man uel 15,17 K O Kahnemann, Dan iel 149 Obama, Barack 216 Kapor, Mitch 220 Osho 95,187 Kaptein, P. 45 P Kerr, An drew 254 Pellegr ni, Anthony 131 Kim, Fisher 199 Pesce, Mark 220 Kley, Theo 312 Piaget, Jean 131 Kociatkiewicz, Jerzy 39 Piketty, Thomas 105,276 Kurzweil, Ray 31 Plato 79,130,155,184 - 185 L Plomp, Hans 206,311 Lady Gaga 50 Q Lamarck, de Jean Baptiste 129 Querner, Pascal 297 Lanier, Jaron 116 Quinn, Ber na dette 15 Le Bon, Gustave 83 LeBlanc, Marc 164 R Leiris, Michel 149 Radin, Dean 86 Lem, Stanislav 286 Ralph, Paul 166 Leung, Jeet-Kei 274 Reich, Wilhelm 90 Lillesøe, Britta 197,310 Reneman, Max 312 Lipton, Bruce 111 Ronström, Owe 17,95 Ludvigsen, Ja cob 199 Rosen, Pe ter H. 325 Lu ther, Mar tin 116 Rous seau, Jan-Jacques 82,184 M Ruivo, Diogo 313 Maslow, Abra ham 75,148 S McBride, Jeff 237,240,243 Sala, Michiel 217, 226 McCartney, Paul 302 Salvatore, Sergio 149 McCloud, Scott 167 Sassatelli, Monica 68 McDougall, William 83 - 84 Schell, Jesse 158 McKenna, Terence 31 Schimmelpennink, Luud 72,299 McLuhan, Eric 144 Schwartz, Stephan 88 McLuhan, Mar shall 13,32,143,145,162 Serres, Michel 113

339 Sidis, Boris 83 Zinovich, Jor dan 313 Simon, Herbert 161 Zubek, Rob ert 164 Sirius, R.U. 220,223 In dex by sub ject Skinner, B.F. 187 Sloterdijk, Pe ter 105,110 A Socra tes 185 ADM 305 Speer, Al bert 25 Acial Ex pres sion 272 Spin ner, Ab i gail 237, 241 Aes thet ics 168 Spitteler, Henk 312 Af fir ma tion 149 Sterneck, Wolfgnag 289 Af ter-Care 64 Stokvis, Rudolph 205,312 Agni-Rit u als 214 Stolfo, Salvatore 281 Agnihotra 116 Swift, Jon a than 186 AirBnB 31 T Al chemy 241 Taifel, H. 87 Al ice Pro ject 296 Telecleides 185 Al ter nate Re al ity Game 278 Tolman, Ed ward 87 Alz hei mer's 161 Tschopik Schnei der, Hope20,55 Am ster dam Bal loon Com pany 305 Turner, J. C. 87 Amsterdams Ballongezelschap 111 Turner, Vic tor 102,105,142,252,257 An ar chism 46,230,298 Anon y mous Pro fil ing 64 V Ap ple 90 Van der Zalm, Leo 312 Apps 31,64 Vir gil 185 As sumed Self 125 W At trac tor 163 Aug mented Re al ity 274 Waalwijk, Aja 48,298,321 Au then tic ity 22 - 23 Wallman, James 16 Autonomedia 285 Wasik, Bill 279 Au ton o mous 46 Wells, H.G. 186 Au ton o mous Zone 12,183,282 Wilson, Pe ter Lamborn 12,24, 109, Au ton omy 110 112,117 B X Backstage 23 XunZi 25 Beanfield, Battle Of The 254 Y Bhakti 236 Yu, Gino 157 Big Brother 29 Big Ride Home 22 Z Big Brother 115 Zandbergen, Dorien. 221 Big Data 45,64 Zillmann, Dolf 253 Big Five 78 Zimbardo, Philip 86 Bikers 92

340 Bill of Rights 195 Con flict Res o lu tion 193 Biotope 202 Connecta 295 Black Cross 30 Con nec tiv ity 25 Black Rock City 222 - 223 Conta gion and Conver gence Theory Blooms se ries 274 85 Body Lan guage 42,272 Co pen ha gen 197 Book ing Ser vices 64 Correpondence 156 Boom 30,128,201,216,254,285,308 Counter-Cul ture 221, 302 Bread And Cir cuses 50,67 Coy ote Mind 279 Bri co lage 266 Cre ative City 49 Burn ing Man 22 - 23, 78, 100, 108, Cre ativ ity Café 325 128, 156, 213, Cross Me dia Own er ship 96 216, 221,308 Cross-Cueing 88 Busi ness Model 38 Crowd Con trol 42,84,157,175 Bystander Effect 86 Crowd Ho mo ge ne ity 84 C Crowd Read ing 42,78,272 Cryptome 302 Ca coph ony So ci ety 224,230 Cul tural Cap i tal 37 Can ni bal ism 82 Cul tural Creatives 221, 236 Cargo Cult 231 Cu rios ity 128,136,138 Car ni val 34,307 Curi os ity-Drive Theory 137 Change Agent 146 Cyber Slav ery 115 Chill-Out 103,256 Cyber-Pro mo tion 64 Chris tiania 46,92,94,197,309,320 Cybercongregation 216 Cir cu lar Re ac tion 84 Cybergnostic 220 City Chief Event Man ager 54 Cyberpagan 33 City No mads 304 Cyberspace 220,271 City Tribes 311 Cyberspace In de pend ence Cloud 281 Dec lara tion 116 Cocreator 322 Cybertribe 291,296 Coachella 216 Co caine 257 D Co coon ing 196 Damanhur 227 Col lec tive Mem ory 87 - 88 Dance Val ley 307 Commoditizing Fes ti vals 37 De-Politicization 289 Com mod ity 23 Decommodification 232 Commonsing 110 De cons truc tion 168,267 Com mune 47 De fault Power 115 Communitas 105,216,227,252,257 De i fi ca tion 90 Com mu nity Re sil ience 51 Dephysicalization 273 Concertive Con trol 86 Desgarradas 300 Con ces sions 100 Dig i tal 259

341 Dig i tal Be-In 220 Eventification 36,39 - 40, Di o ny sian Mys ter ies 149 65, 158 Di sas ter Plan ning 54 Evo lu tion 259 Disco-Scene 260 Ex pe ri en tial Mean ing 146 Disltributed Culltural Intel li gence 275 F Diver sity 38,105, 276 Doel 201 FabLab 267,327 Do pa mine 137 Facebook 280 Drones 158 Fan-Com mu nity 35 Drug Test ing 273 Fan-Man age ment 158 Drug-Free Events 92 Fan-Site 35,65 Drugs 50,68,92 Fan-Zines 35 Drugs Con trol 50 Feminization 311 FestiValley 11,29 - 30, E 40,69 Ecol ogy 22,26 Fes ti val For mat 146 Ecosys tem 54 Festivalisering 45 Ecotopia 184,188 Festivalscape 17,36 Ef fer ves cence 189 Fire-Rit ual 213 Ef fi cacy 155 FireDance 128,213,237 - 238 ,240 Effigy 216,224,236 FireTribe 237 Eleusinian Mys tery 255 Five Star Movemen 47 Em bod ied Cog ni tion 160 Flash Mob 279 Emo tion Line 167 Float ing City 303 Empathogen 99,253 Flow 16,41,145 En dor phin 292 Fog 281 Enneagram 78,228 FourSquare 158 Entheogen 290 Free Cul tural Spaces 11, 183 En try and Exit Pro ce dures 194 Free Fes ti val 45, 254 En vi ron men tal Psy chol ogy147 Freiraum 298,302 Epigenetics 111 Fre quency Fol low ing Re sponse Epigenetics 129 84,168 Erowid 255 Fu sion Fes ti val 23,31, 216 Eu tha na sia 280 Futurological Sym po sium 14, 283 Event Def i cit Hy per ac tiv ity Dis or der G (EDHD) 41 Event Im pact 62 Games 150 Event Man agement Jour nal 20 Gamification 38,158,161,273 Event De signer 146 Gay Pa rade 299 Event Im pact 22,24 Gen eral Ag gres sion Model 169 Event Man agement Soft ware 64 Gen e sis 183 Event Sci ence 37,45 Gen tri fi ca tion 46

342 Ges talt 44,159,161,163,229 Immersion 159,274 Glastonbury 30,216,254,282 In cen tive 138,163 Gnosticism 221 Infe ri or ity 90 Goa Psytrance 290 Infotheism 116 Goa Trance 22 Ini ti a tion 51 Goa Tribe 313 In ner Child 218 Goths 302 In no va tion 135 Graf fiti 301 Intel lec tual Property Rights 54 Group Iden ti fi ca tion 87 In ter na tional Jour nal of Group Mind 86 Event Man agement Re search 20 Group In su la tion 84 Internet 54,64 Group Mind 25,32,74,82 - 83 ,88, Internet Of Things 45,272 159, 175, 178, Internet Of Things 281 228, 253 J Groupthink 84 Jester 149 H Junk Com mu ni ca tion 33 Haarp 253 K Hap pen ing 279,300 Harm Re duc tion 257 Kabouters 303 Harmonites 187 Kin der gar ten 131 Hells An gels 208 Kind ness Prim ing 168 Hells An gels 90 Kite Com pany 299 Her i tage 146 Kumba Mela 14,30,75,307 Her oin 255 Kundalini 262 Hitch hik ing 261 L Hol land Fes ti val 45 Landjuweel 205,306 Holy Mass 153 Lego 267 Home land Se cu rity 30 Lieverdje 299 Homeostatis 132 Liminality Homo Ludens 131,286 102,105,14 Hoo li gans 91 2 Host Com mu nity 54 Lo cal ism 46 Huehuecoyotl 201 Lo ca tion Track ing 278 Hu man Rights 130 Lo ca tion-Games 157 Hunt ing Group Model 83 Love Pa rade 68 I Low land Weed Company 321 iCulture 228 Loy alty 2.0 158 Identi fi ca tion 87,111,141,271 Loy alty Pro gram 64 Iden tity 86 LSD 260 ID&T 64

343 M O MAPS 263 Ob so les cence 144 Magic 12, 109 258 Olym pics 105 Magic Bus 313 Openup 322 Magic Circle 12 Op ti mal-Arousal The ory 137 Maker Trend 223,272 Or ga ni za tional Iden ti fi ca tion 87 Mar ket Pull 50 Osho 196 Mas sive Multiplayer Online Games Otherworld 151 157 Out come Goals 77 Maya 2012 221 Over dose Od 252,256 McFestivalization 49, 68 P Mean ing 219 Me dia-Part ners 54 Pa gan ism 221 Meta-Play 19 Par a digm 109 Meta-Senses 32 Par tic i pa tion 100,141 Micropayments 273 Part ner ship 194 Mir ror Neu rons 160 Per va sive Games 157,278 Mir ror-Neu ron 168 Phaedrus 79,114 Mondo 2000 88 Phoe nix 214 Money Laun der ing 50 Pil grim age 230 Mood Climate 103 Pinkpop 29 Myers-Briggs 78 Pi rate 301 Mys tery School 239 Play 135 Playa 217 N Podemos 47 Nar ra tive 166 Poly-Am o rous 94 Negentropy 129 Pot latch 313 Neo-Luddite 69,273 Primes 32 Nescafe Mode 107 Prim ing Ef fect The ory 168 Netflix 330 Privacy 114 Neu ro trans mit ter 137 Pro cess Goals 77 New So ci ety 309 Pro filing 64,77,273 - 274 New Age 217,221 Prog ress 270 New Edge 217,221,223 Projecto Nuevo Mundo 285 No-Logo 54,223,266 Pro me theus 214 - 215 No-Money Fes ti val 54 Prosumer 18,39 No-Papiers 47 Provo 47,72,298 - 299 ,303 No ble Sav age 82 Psy-Fi Festi val 22 No madic Musuem 311 Psytrance 254,289 Non-Con sum er ism 223 R Rain bow 30,216

344 Rain bow Fes ti val 227 Smart Mobs 279 Ramblas 103 Smellscape 278 Ran dom Num ber Gen er a tor So cial Iden tity The ory 87 86 So cial Indentification 87 Rastas 302 So cial Cen ter 46 - 47 Re al ity Hack ers 223 So cial Con trol 94, 100 Re al ity Em u la tion 274 So cial Me dia 32,170,271 Re in force ment 137 So cial Trans for ma tion 88 Ren-Yi-L 27 Solvogn 310 Res o nance 139 Sonics-Net work 289 Re ver sal 144 Space Frogz 296 Rig-Veda 214 Spa ti ali ty 103 Risk-Elim i na tion 271 Spec ta cle 23,223,229 Rites Of Pas sage 215 Speed 257 Rit ual 101 Speeddating 98 Robodock 305 Springfire 242 Ro bot ics 277 Squat ter 48 Rout ing 103 Squat ting 46,298,305 Ruigoord 205,282,307 Squat ting Move ment 304 S Stamcell 47, 110 Stamp ing-Ground Hol land 312 SFX/Live Na tion 64 Stan ford Prison Ex per i ment 86 Sail Am ster dam 38 Star Trek 22 Sales-Tax 64 State Of Con scious ness 257 Sat ur na lia 149 Steampunk 22 Search Fil ter 115 Stim u la tion 128 Sec ond Life 281 Stonehenge 254 Secu rity 50 Streak ing 302 Sen sa tion Seek ers 49 Stuffocation 16 Se ri ous Games 157 Sub tle En ergy 234 Se ri ous Gam ing 158 Sui cide Club 224 Se ro to nin 137 Supe ri or ity 90 Set And Set ting 260 Sur re al ists 313 Sex 261 Sustainability 25,271,308 Sha man ism 293 Syriza 47 Shar ing 102 Shown Self 125 T Sin gu lar ity 31 Tantra 61,100,217 Situationism 117 Tao 135 Situationist 300 TAZ 109, 222,224, 251 Situationists 298,300 Techno-Sha man ism 293 Slav ery 82 Tem ple, The at BM 224

345 Tem po rary Au ton o mous Zone W 109,124,131, Watchfield 254 189, 222, 293 Welsh Psylocybin Festi vals 254 298 White Bi cy cle Plan 299 Terror ism 273 Wikileaks 302 Tetrad 13,143,162 Wikipedia 18,268 The Man 224 Woodstock 25,55,99,308 Theme Park 61 Working Permit 63 Theodice 96 The os o phy 227 X Third Place Move ment 47 XTC 255,260 Thylejren 284,309 Y Ticket Price 54 Tinkers 300 Yoga 236 To kens 64 Youtube 280 Track ing 272 Z Tranceformations 292 Zaal 100 311 Tran scen dence 61 Transformational Fes ti val 271,275 Transformative Gam ing 157, 158,161 Tribal ism 189, 259 Tribalization 302 Tribes Of Magic 189 Trick ster 279 Ty coon Game 157 U UFA-Fabrik 284 Um brella House 284 Uni ver sal Hu man Rights 26 Ur ban Re vi tal iza tion 55 Ur ban Tribe 201, 204, 316 Uto pia 13,185,282 V V.A.R.I.O.U.S 326 VIP-Passes 23 Value model 76 Val ues 50 Venlo Parkfeest 108 Volun teers 63

346