LUX • VERITAS • LARDUM RITES OF PASSAGE SETTLING DOWN EDITION WED AUG 31, 2011 VOL VII, NUMBER III 1:30 @ CENTER CAMP WWW.BLACKROCKBEACON.ORG ART ATTACKS By OCeAn A Square Horse in a Round City lidified once the first drawing was submit- A number of art pieces on the Playa have been van- ted by Jay of the Banft Center in Alberta, dalized this year. According to Bettie June, manager of Canada. “It was a drawing of a bird-like the Art Department for Burning Man, here are a few photo by Taymar creature, dainty,” tall and done in a cubist that have been harmed: style, said Bevin. The style was adopted Nit Whips by Vincent Leclerc. This series of light and it gave an old story a modern shape: structures with long tendrils were designed to be played the polygram cubist form. with, however four of them have already been so badly From the project’s inception, it attracted broken by vandals that they had to be removed from “incredible talent, diverse, eclectic mix; the Playa. young, old, young at heart,” said Bevin’s Another Door by Calen Barca-Hall. Calen was pres- partner Alaya. Merely a year later, she co- ent while the piece was being vandalized, but his re- ordinated the installation’s arrival by con- quests to stop harming the piece were ignored. necting minds, bodies and passions across Aurora by Charlie Gadeken. This 30-foot tall tree borders, cities, and the desert. with 4,100 handmade metal leaves is being damaged by There were many players involved in people climbing it, ignoring requests to stop harming this instillation. Erik, aka Homer, was re- the piece. sponsible for much of the theatrics and A Light Hazing by Matt Gilio-Tenan. The centerpiece Dan Swain was the architect who made an of this installation, a screen emitting beautiful light, was astounding first contribution to the Playa. destroyed by vandals who used paint to graffitti it. It Dan Fox, the construction coordinator, cannot be repaired and will likely have to be removed. keeper of the beast’s facts, shared the logis- The artists create these pieces for our community to tics of the stairs of the behemoth. “It’s 48 enjoy and they need our help protecting them. If you feet from the foot of the Playa to the tip of see someone harming an art piece in any way please ask the head, weighs 28 tons, each wheel weighs them to stop. Tell others about this issue so that more 2,600 pounds and the wheels are 14-inch di- people in Black Rock City can be on the lookout for ameter tube steel at $5,000 apiece.” vandals. Can you get inside the horse? Yes, as You can check with the Artery to see which pieces a matter of fact you can! You can enter can be climbed without being harmed. through the rear to enjoy absinthe in a If you want to volunteer to help repair broken pieces lounge inside the belly of the beast every stop by the Artery and ask if they need help. night from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. until Friday, when it burns. This leads us to the burn: The horse will Police Station Zebra be pulled by more than 300 volunteers, By Space HookieR followed by “players” dressed in togas, all proceeding to Bevin’s conduction from I was able to make it out to law enforcement camp the base’s rear steps. The ceremony will yesterday to interview Rollo, a Burner like any other: occur on Friday at 6 p.m. when the horse dusty, wearing bright colors and calmly musing on the is dragged by ropes about 100 yards to its nature of the universe while keeping a diligent eye out firey destination. for moop. Except this Burner’s universe is law enforce- Alaya beautifully explained the one-time ment for Black Rock City. adaptation of the Trojan Horse story. “The Rollo Mendez heads the Bureau of Land Manage- human power is true to the original story, ment team tasked with patrolling the Playa, coordinating the myth. It’s not an art car, it’s an instal- law enforcement and emergency services. to create a piece for Burning Man after his latoin. It’s a blend of old and new, never By Darcy Doodle Mendez said he likes to think of himself as a zebra: previous art installation, an electronic piece, meant to be a reenactment of the story, a metaphor for the tension between the social expec- As mischief and the Playa go hand in called Horus the Agressor. The idea of a there are no rules with it. It’s a blend of ev- tations undergirding outside law enforcement and the hand, the rumors flying around Trojan Horse horse emerged, “seeded from random casua eryone’s interests and passions and hopes purposefully “atypical” environment in Black Rock City. are as consuming and intriguing as the dust. banter: Horus, sounded hoarse.” The ap- of finding fulfillment in their role. Every- “I come wanting to believe I’m a zebra, and though I’m Composor Douglas Bevin was inspired proach stuck, and the form’s concept was so- one contributes.” not, when you recognize me as a zebra, I’m excited. At the end of the week, I hope it’s no longer necessary to dress as a zebra.” tional definitions of art and infrastructure. (For the record, Mendez does not actually dress as a You Can Walk to an Oasis of Calm The artists are not burning the structure zebra: he wears a typical park ranger-like uniform, cov- this week, and if all goes well, will be back ered by an orange vest.) By AzaleA built completely without nails, glue or metal again next year. Thus far travel to the oa- A city of Black Rock’s scale and diversity comes with Deep Walk-in Camping is the new Deep fasteners. sis has not seemed to disturb the campers the same problems as any other metropolis, but Men- Playa: Otic Oasis provides calm amidst the It is impossible to fully understand the in the walk-in area — yet if the structure dez insisted that the natural tension between law en- chaos. mathematical design and concept without receives the popularity it deserves, it will forcement and participants is not insurmountable. “My In the walk-in camping area at 2:30 far be- spending time with Greg. His own house on be interesting to witness whether such art role is to facilitate this environment so that nobody is yond L, there is a new Black Rock City expe- the Playa is art in and of itself, and provides projects change the dynamic and feel of purposefully harmed,” he says. ‘We all have individual rience waiting. It almost did not happen this a window into the sheer intellect, creativity, deep Walk-in Camping. choices to make, and my default is that each decision is year, yet through happenstance, luck, and a and functionality of his design ideas. His per- independent, and that the individual is simply trying to timely connection, Syn, the conceptor, joined sonal sleeping area runs diagonal to the city Opening ceremony: Wednesday @ 6pm – sunset be a zebra.’ with Greg, the artist, to create Otic Oasis. grid, and the oasis he and Syn have created Meditations: daily at sunrise, sunset and possibly The burning question of course: what can you get ar- The name ‘otic’ (pronounced Oh-tik) is truly runs on a diagonal between our tradi- midnight rested for? “I tell my staff to focus on education and pro- an anatomical term referring to the ear. It moting de-escalation to solve things at the smallest, most is certainly an art piece, yet it is also a civic local level possible,’’ said Mendez. “This is an atypical en- structure. vironment, but we all come knowing that some choices Syn conceived of the idea a year ago, with Photo by jim A count as real crimes that will carry consequences.” the intent to create something akin to a silent version of Center Camp. Born of her own need for a quiet meditative space, and tired Sheriff Storyteller of being repeatedly forced back into the city side of the trash fence by policing types, she By DuRgy originally thought of placing a simple com- The Black Rock Beacon ran into Richard Machado, munity tent out in walk-in camping. the new sheriff of Pershing County, in Wadsworth on Yet the stars aligned this year for much Saturday. Sheriff Storyteller, to use his Playa name, more. The structure aims to increase audi- seemed upbeat about the event. tory diversity in the city by offering an en- He wished for Black Rock citizens to have fun this vironment to regroup in a quiet, meditative week, but to be safe. He also hoped that people would state, a need not currently filled by existing remember the reality of their situations, even in this un- civic structures. real place. The oasis was built entirely within the rules It also would be good if Burners were reasonable in of walk-in camping, specifically, without the any interactions that they may have with law enforce- use of motorized vehicles. Resisting the urge ment, he said. to go rogue in the night, 12 people hauled in Machado, a former Lovelock Police sergeant, defeat- 1,400 individual pieces cummulatively weigh- ed long-serving Sheriff Ron Skinner in a close election ing approximately 20,000 pounds. The struc- last year, according to the Burning Man website.