Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed
One very minimal view of the Burning Man festival, Black Rock City, Nevada, 2007.
No words can describe, no images can truly convey what you will see and experience if you visit our unreal city. These shots provide only the most diluted of tastes…
(Special thanks to Don H. for a few shots that I missed myself!)
See also: blog post
Well met! I’m Matthew, though here in Black Rock City, some folks call me Groovy. I’ll be your guide today.
The yearly, obligatory shot of my home base for the week (southerly view).
The yearly, obligatory shot of my home base for the week (northerly view). Playa buddy Don H. appears to be stepping out from his trailer. Hi, Don!
Me and my neighbors: Don, Eric, JB, Cramer, Sarah, Nick. These folks were a blessing, each one of them. They enlivened and energized my week. I am filled with boundless thanks as I think back.
So on Tuesday morn, before I’d really had a chance to see much of anything yet, Don told me that some asshat had up and torched the Man. So I rode out there and snapped this pic before they disassembled him.
Truth: About half my daytime shots were snapped with the camera (which is smarter than me, apparently) in an inappropriate mode that yielded overexposure after overexposure. I’ve photoshopped these images in various ways, trying to achieve color correction above all else. So that’s why some of these look unusual…
My own attempt to do something with helium balloons in Black Rock City failed miserably, but this artist came with a better plan. Still, this display’s longevity was measured in hours, not days.
“Crude Awakening” was the new installation from the crew who previously brought us “Mother and Child.”
The oil derrick that the figures are worshipping was burned after the Man on Saturday night. But more on that soon enough…
One figure from “Crude Awakening,” Black Rock City, 2007.
“Crude Awakening,” Black Rock City, 2007. (Photo by Don H.)
This was a really amazing device we called “the humming machine.” Step through the door with me, please… (Photo by Don H.)
Inside the humming machine: The walls make a soft, mechanical droning sound, the red box in the middle does much, much more of the same. It’s impossible for me to describe the sound this thing made. All I can tell you is, even in the heat of the day, the sound was very soothing, and you wanted to just lie down there on those cushions and listen to the machine hum for a while. So I did. (Photo by Don H.)
The Hug Deli. Kisses, pinches, and tickles are side orders.
We called this thing the monkey-go-round…
…As you can see (or perhaps not—this shot is not a great illustration, actually), there are stationery bikes fixed all around the thing. When folks get on and pedal (and/or pound on bongo drums near the base of the structure), the monkeys start to spin around. At night, a strobe light provides a flipbook-esque animated effect.
The monkeys of Black Rock City, 2007.
Now here’s something you don’t see every day. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the “Big Rig Jig.”
It took a few days of welding before this thing was finished. It was amazing to watch them construct it, and even more amazing to get up close…
The Big Rig Jig, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Big Rig Jig, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Big Rig Jig, Black Rock City, 2007.
Oh yeah, did I mention you could climb up inside the thing? You could climb up inside the thing!
Playa face sez: “Dude, your camera’s in the wrong mode!” Thanks, playa face.
Here began a to-scale model of the solar system. I would have walked to Pluto, but I didn’t have the time this day.
“Hey! Let’s Get Some Perspective! … At this scale, the nearest star to our Sun is 4,000 miles away! = Iceland”
I think this explorer didn’t make it back from Pluto safely.
Kind of a horrible shot, but I wanted to document this moving corporate boardroom table. The guy with the megaphone is in a snappy suit and is shouting about trades and mergers and whatnot. At another point in the week (when I did not have my camera), every chair was filled by some white guy in a suit, and they were all screaming at each other or into their phones about capitalistic nonsense. This was a great bit of moving theater. Only in Black Rock City.
Again, not a very good shot — it was speeding away, this floating saloon.
This playa shot is notable only in that it documents Cramer’s amazing outfit for the day. I think Sarah lent him the hat.
“Sancto Azul,” Black Rock City, 2007. I never saw this piece; I wonder if it was destroyed in the dust storms on Wednesday or Thursday. (Photo by Don H.)
The Man, framed. A great shot by Don H.
“Talk to God.” This is out there every year. I’ve never picked up the phone, but I am told there is a voice on the other end, and you can talk as long as you want. (Photo by Don H.)
Don’t know what this was called, but I called it Flower Face. (Photo by Don H.)
A humble but cute mutant vehicle.
Some hardcore geeks replicated the Galileo shuttle from the Star Trek universe. Really nice job, but not quite as good as the sand crawler that returned to the playa this year. (Photo by Don H.)
These folks were totally ready for the Oregon Trail. (Photo by Don H.)
“The Last Flower,” Black Rock City, 2007. (Photo by Don H.)
Elvis was buried in the sand in the middle of the playa. The head was animatronic and moved as if it were singing, but it made no noise. Really creepy. (The book in front of him is a Bible.)
Now this was just fucking fantastic. One camp decided to recreate New York’s Astor Place, right here in Black Rock City.
Astor Place, Black Rock City, 2007.
All week we kept hearing that this trebuchet would launch a flaming piano into the air. I wanted to be there because I just had to hear what it sounds like when a flaming piano crashes back to the ground. Alas, if it ever happened, we did not see it.
Let’s go see this year’s temple!
Temple architect extraordinaire David Best returned to Black Rock City this year to give us the Temple of Forgiveness.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
Have you not been to our unreal city? Do you not know the drill? We leave remembrances of all kinds on our Temple, and we burn it all at week’s end, the night after we burn the Man.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
“Joyful Exertion” … “Not So Much”
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
There was another little temple-like structure nearby the Temple of Forgiveness.
Don got much better shots of this little wonder than I did. Those come up next.
One side of the nearby temple. (Photo by Don H.)
The nearby temple. (Photo by Don H.)
Inside the nearby temple. (Photo by Don H.)
Sometimes, comes a storm on the playa. And sometimes, after, comes a double rainbow.
Here I am in a calm between storms. We’ve just had wind and rain, and the wind is about to get much worse (sigh).
By sometime on Thursday, the rebuilt Man was proudly keeping watch over his city.
And by Saturday, the pavilion beneath him had been removed, in preparation for the Burn.
Almost none of my shots of nighttime art came out; this one barely did. These cactuses were gas-fed and roared with fire all night long. They were just lovely.
These wispy art-cars reminded me of something out of Beetlejuice for some reason. They have arrived to watch the Man Burn.
This Man is ready to Burn!
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007. We’re just about to get started.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007. The crowd’s anticipation is palpable.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007. Here we go!
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Man, Black Rock City, 2007.
After the Man had burned, the oil derrick that was a part of “Crude Awakening” was burned following some fireworks.
It wasn’t just fireworks, though. There was also an explosion powered by 900 gallons of jet fuel. It was over in a split-second, but during the blast, time slowed way down for me, and for just an instant, I thought that some terrible mistake had been made, and we were all going to be incinerated.
Kinda surprising how well fireworks shots come out sometimes. I always feel they’re a gamble.
Probably a failure of a shot, but I like it somehow anyway: The moon over the fireworks over the derrick.
After the initial explosion, you checked your pants, caught your breath, and then noticed that the derrick was finally on fire.
Shayleen, Jeff, me, Don. It is now Sunday night, and we’re ready for the Temple Burn.
Just before the Temple Burn, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Burning of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007. Over the next few shots, the Temple will collapse very quickly. I was thrilled to capture these images!
The Collapse of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Collapse of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Collapse of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Collapse of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Collapse of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007.
The Collapse of the Temple of Forgiveness, Black Rock City, 2007. There’s not much left to see now, Burners. See you all again next year!
