Galaxia by Mamou-Mani Image Source
The Burning Man Temple for 2018 has been selected by the organizers of the Burning Man Festival. The design by London-based French architect, Arthur Mamou-Mani, is called Galaxia. The planned installation celebrates the wonders of our universe and the optimistic hope of the unknown. Galaxia will consist of 20 timber trusses converging as a spiral tower towards the sky. The central space will hold a massive 3D printed mandala – the heart of Galaxia.
The Burning Man festival is a 10 day event held yearly in the last week of August in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Tens of thousands of festival attendees, known as Burners, descend upon the temporary city and leave after the festival without a trace once it is over.
The festival began in 1986 in San Francisco to celebrate the summer solstice with a massive bonfire. Since 1990, it moved to the Nevada site and has grown in popularity with each year. The Festival’s ethos is enshrined in its 10 Principles:
- Radical Inclusion
- Gifting
- Decommodification
- Radical Self-Reliance
- Radical Self-Expression
- Communal Effort
- Civic Responsibility
- Leaving No Trace
- Participation
- Immediacy
To learn more about the Burning Man Festival, check out their site.
The Burning Man Project is looking for volunteers to help out with the construction of the central exhibit. The main construction site will be based in Reno, Nevada. The call for volunteers is expected in the spring. Get in touch with the organisers through their website if you are keen to contribute.
The Burning Man Festival ends with the cremation of the main temple. I would like to quote the architect, Mamou-Mani, in a recent CNN interview, when he was asked how he would feel when the elaborate architectural temple that he builds gets burned:
Amazing. For me, I don't see it as the end. Often, in Western culture, we see a beginning and an end. My parents are hippies, and they always talked to me about the more Eastern philosophies in which things are cyclical: where you die and you're reborn. When I see it burn, I'll see the end of that and the beginning of something else.
Are there any Burners in the Steemit community who plan to be at the Burning Man Festival this year?