Gps Coordinates  /  40.777944,-119.200133

Burning Man 2017 USA VR Festival

Black Rock City 9:00, Nevada, United States

 Beyond the dogmas, creeds, and metaphysical ideas of religion, there is immediate experience. It is from this primal world that living faith arises.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.242494  /  Gps Link -119.214092  /  Gps Link -119.203017

Gps Coordinates  /  40.765756,-119.242494  /  40.799389,-119.214092  /  40.788644,-119.203017

The theme occupied the ambiguous ground that lies between reverence and ridicule, faith and belief, the absurd and the stunningly sublime.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.203017  /  Gps Link -119.203017  /  Gps Link -119.203017

Gps Coordinates  /  40.788644,-119.203017  /  40.788644,-119.203017  /  40.788644,-119.203017

The human urge to make events, objects, actions, and personalities sacred is protean. It can fix on and inhabit anyone or anything. This year our art theme released this spirit in the Black Rock Desert.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.203017  /  Gps Link -119.203017  /  Gps Link -119.2030177

Gps Coordinates  /  40.788644,-119.203017  /  40.788644,-119.203017  /  40.7886448,-119.2030177

The radial streets of Black Rock City are named by their clock position. The light blue shaded area does not specify, but rather approximates, where you will find reserved-placement camps: interactive theme camps, camps supporting art installations, and infrastructure camps.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.203017  /  Gps Link -119.203017  /  Gps Link -119.200269

Gps Coordinates  /  40.788644,-119.203017  /  40.788644,-119.203017  /  40.791386,-119.200269

Reserved camp space is marked on the playa with blue survey flags. Some of these plots are so large that they may appear unclaimed and available, when they actually are not. Be sure to camp outside the blue flagged zones to avoid encroaching on reserved zones and then having to relocate your camp.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.200306  /  Gps Link -119.203017  /  Gps Link -119.203017

Gps Coordinates  /  40.791531,-119.200306  /  40.788644,-119.203017  /  40.788644,-119.203017 

This year’s theme is an attempt to reinvent ritual in our post post-modern world.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.199819  /  Gps Link -119.206906  /  Gps Link -119.206506

Gps Coordinates  /  40.791311,-119.199819  /  40.785625,-119.206906  /  40.786392,-119.206506

For this purpose, we will disregard assertions of belief and concentrate instead on the immediate experience of play. Beliefs contain, define, and limit meaning. They can reduce truth to a rational commodity.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.206506  /  Gps Link -119.206506  /  Gps Link -119.203017

Gps Coordinates  /  40.786392,-119.206506  /  40.786392,-119.206506  /  40.788644,-119.203017

 With a theme like Radical Ritual, it’s no wonder Burning Man 2017 will be home to 30 different Shrines.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.214836  /  Gps Link -119.186403  /  Gps Link -119.196903

Gps Coordinates  /  40.790917,-119.214836  /  40.785564,-119.186403  /  40.789806,-119.196903

At the center of Black Rock City, 20 Shrines will inscribe a circle around the Man base, known this year as the Temple of the Golden Spike. Throughout the week, the space will be energized with processions and rituals, inviting the denizens of BRC to explore what we as a community consider sacrosanct.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.203753  /  Gps Link -119.191486  /  Gps Link -119.206125

Gps Coordinates  /  40.788106,-119.203753  /  40.779631,-119.191486  /  40.791425,-119.206125

From the playful invitation to make angels in the dust that greets participants who enter Black Rock City, to the Temple Burn that signals its demise, Burning Man is permeated with rituals

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.208753  /  Gps Link -119.199006  /  Gps Link -119.209811

Gps Coordinates  /  40.795453,-119.208753  /  40.773433,-119.199006  /  40.789000,-119.209811  

These rites speak of soulful need; the desire to belong to a place, to belong to a time, to belong to one another, and to belong to something that is greater than ourselves, even in the midst of impermanence.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.205864  /  Gps Link -119.207144  /  Gps Link -119.212672

Gps Coordinates  /  40.774008,-119.205864  /  40.789964,-119.207144  /  40.781947,-119.212672

Throughout all ages temples have been built in order to induce these feelings.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.200850  /  Gps Link -119.207992  /  Gps Link -119.207175

Gps Coordinates  /  40.793453,-119.200850  /  40.786497,-119.207992  /  40.785953,-119.207175

When workers of the DPW, our Department of Public Works, arrive in the Black Rock Desert, their first task is to locate the exact position of the Burning Man, for it is from this very spot that our entire city is surveyed.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.200492  /  Gps Link -119.220517  /  Gps Link -119.214042

Gps Coordinates  /  40.778289,-119.200492  /  40.776197,-119.220517  /  40.780625,-119.214042

 Then a gilded metal stake is pounded in the ground, and over many years this action has evolved into a ritual.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.203017  /  Gps Link -119.056011  /  Gps Link -119.203017

Gps Coordinates  /  40.788644,-119.203017  /  40.910733,-119.056011  /  40.788644,-119.203017

Each member of the crew takes up a hammer, and with a single stroke, imparts an ounce of energy that is confluent with their common effort; in some sense they’ve created Burning Man.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.203017  /  Gps Link -119.206506  /  Gps Link -119.193289

Gps Coordinates  /  40.788644,-119.203017  /  40.786392,-119.206506  /  40.782519,-119.193289

 This year we will erect a temple that will commemorate the Golden Spike. Circles surrounding circles will converge immediately beneath the Man. We will mark this space with an omphalos, a sculpture that will represent the navel of our world, its central hub and gathering place.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.219133  /  Gps Link -119.193242  /  Gps Link -119.193172

Gps Coordinates  /  40.797950,-119.219133  /  40.782431,-119.193242  /  40.782458,-119.193172

Passing through the spine of Burning Man, this axis will continue upward, emerging high above the temple as a golden spire. Participants are invited to contribute to this shrine, and to the hundred niches that will penetrate the temple’s walls.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.201253  /  Gps Link -119.208092  /  Gps Link -119.207639

Gps Coordinates  /  40.796831,-119.201253  /  40.785819,-119.208092  /  40.784283,-119.207639

These offerings should be construed as gifts that will embody what our culture and its city means to you.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.213950  /  Gps Link -119.213950  /  Gps Link -119.192658

Gps Coordinates  /  40.780742,-119.213950  /  40.780742,-119.213950  /  40.783325,-119.192658

The 2017 Shrines are part of the evolution of projects at the Man Pavillion: C.O.R.E., Souk, Midway, Guilds, and now Shrines. What began as an invitation to the Burning Man Regionals to contribute community projects has grown to incorporate artists and makers of all kinds: Regionals, community groups, individual artists and collectives.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.192733  /  Gps Link -119.200069  /  Gps Link -119.2064656

Gps Coordinates  /  40.783200,-119.192733  /  40.791353,-119.200069  /  40.7864937,-119.2064656

The Temple
The form of the Temple begins with life out of balance. Throughout the Sierra Nevada, species of pine trees are dying, compromised by a bark beetle which has proliferated due to human interruption of the cycle of forest fires, and climate change.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.206525  /  Gps Link -119.206506  /  Gps Link -119.206808

Gps Coordinates  /  40.786456,-119.206525  /  40.786392,-119.206506  /  40.786358,-119.206808

The material of these trees, donated to our project, harvested and milled, becomes the basic building block of the Temple. Interlocking timber pieces in formation become a Temple that is both cloud and spire; inverted pyramidal columns suggest the negative-space of a forest canopy, simultaneously supporting a vast pagoda-like ‘cloud’ framework which in turn supports a central spire.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.206808  /  Gps Link -119.207942  /  Gps Link -119.207822

Gps Coordinates  /  40.785944,-119.206808  /  40.785728,-119.207942  /  40.785392,-119.207822

In this way disorder gives way to harmony, and a group of dying trees is re-ordered into a cathedral of timbers stretching toward the sky; filtered sun rays will illuminate the intricate work of hundreds of hands building in unison; a collaboration that knits together a community as roots intertwine to give a healthy forest stability.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.207233  /  Gps Link -119.215700  /  Gps Link -119.208719

Gps Coordinates  /  40.785361,-119.207233  /  40.785231,-119.215700  /  40.775786,-119.208719

This year we will erect a temple that will commemorate the Golden Spike. Circles surrounding circles will converge immediately beneath the Man. We will mark this space with an omphalos, a sculpture that will represent the navel of our world, its central hub and gathering place.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.207047  /  Gps Link -119.207822  /  Gps Link -119.203569

Gps Coordinates  /  40.784561,-119.207047  /  40.785392,-119.207822  /  40.784078,-119.203569

Passing through the spine of Burning Man, this axis will continue upward, emerging high above the temple as a golden spire.

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.207564  /  Gps Link -119.206553  /  Gps Link -119.207547

Gps Coordinates  /  40.785506,-119.207564  /  40.786200,-119.206553  /  40.787953,-119.207547

Participants are invited to contribute to this shrine, and to the hundred niches that will penetrate the temple’s walls. These offerings should be construed as gifts that will embody what our culture and its city means to you. 

 Link Location Gps  /  Gps Link -119.203017  /  Gps Link -119.277  /  Gps Link -119.277

Gps Coordinates  /  40.788644,-119.203017  /  40.7538417,-119.277  /  40.7538417,-119.277

In 2017, participants created interactive rites, ritual processions, elaborate images, shrines, icons, temples, and visions. Our theme occupied the ambiguous ground that lies between reverence and ridicule, faith and belief, the absurd and the stunningly sublime. The human urge to make events, objects, actions, and personalities sacred is protean. It can fix on and inhabit anyone or anything. This year our art theme released this spirit in the Black Rock Desert.