Burning Man 2019

Distrikt

DISTRIKT (@distrikt_org) is a San Francisco based 501c3 non-profit music and arts organization. Our mission is to support an inclusive and diverse community of performers and artists through events, partnerships, local community involvement and friendship. Originally founded at Burning Man in 2010 and based on Burning Man’s Ten Principles, DISTRIKT has evolved into globally recognized and respected organization and we are celebrating our 10th anniversary in 2019.

Inclusion

Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey wrote the Ten Principles in 2004 as guidelines for the newly-formed Regional Network. They were crafted not as a dictate of how people should be and act, but as a reflection of the community’s ethos and culture as it had organically developed since the event’s inception. Radical Inclusion - Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.

Sunrise Under The Man

Burning Man is an event held annually in the western United States at Black Rock City, a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert of northwest Nevada, approximately 100 miles north-northeast of Reno. The late summer event is an experiment in community and art, influenced by ten main principles: radical inclusion, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, gifting, decommodification, participation, immediacy, and leave no trace. The event takes its name from its culmination, the symbolic ritual burning of a large wooden effigy ("The Man") that traditionally occurs on the Saturday evening of the event. For 2019, Yelena Filipchuk and Serge Beaulieu fashioned The Man gorgeously cocooned by a winding, ascending walkway, lit at night from within, throwing patterned light across the playa.

12 O'Clock

The Temple is one of the most important places on the playa at Burning Man, and many find catharsis there. There is only one official ritual in the Temple, and that is to burn it. On Sunday night of the event, with thousands of participants as witnesses, the Temple is burned in silence. “The Temple of Direction” by Geordie Van Der Bosch is a linear space, capturing the elegance and austerity of the torii gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Japan, where the artist has previously lived. The linear lines form a passage that expands into a large hall, eliciting both a physical experience and a metaphorical journey. It’s a space that responds to the openness of the playa by creating a framework that encourages you to travel from end to end. This linear form reflects the passage of life with its beginning, middle, and end. Throughout the structure there are areas that reflect this journey: narrow & wide spaces, bright & dark spaces, and tunnels that create intimate physical settings. Meanwhile, a large central hall, an altar, and many shelves for offerings create the setting for a collective experience.

The Temple of Direction

The Temple is one of the most important places on the playa at Burning Man, and many find catharsis there. There is only one official ritual in the Temple, and that is to burn it. On Sunday night of the event, with thousands of participants as witnesses, the Temple is burned in silence. “The Temple of Direction” by Geordie Van Der Bosch is a linear space, capturing the elegance and austerity of the torii gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine in Japan, where the artist has previously lived. The linear lines form a passage that expands into a large hall, eliciting both a physical experience and a metaphorical journey. It’s a space that responds to the openness of the playa by creating a framework that encourages you to travel from end to end. This linear form reflects the passage of life with its beginning, middle, and end. Throughout the structure there are areas that reflect this journey: narrow & wide spaces, bright & dark spaces, and tunnels that create intimate physical settings. Meanwhile, a large central hall, an altar, and many shelves for offerings create the setting for a collective experience.

Taking Flight

Nicki Adani’s “Taking Flight” emboldens visitors to be who they truly are, inspiring them to leave behind what is holding them back. A 10-foot tall feminine bird-like figure, welded from raw steel rods and tubes, her wings spread wide, takes flight from her perch upon a 10-foot tall spoked wheel, representing the circle of life. Viewers interact by making colorful ropes and weaving them into the wheel as a metaphor of releasing one’s past. Experiences already lived through can’t be erased, but they can speak their truths, and be let go. In the process, individuals can connect to their inner strength allowing them to spread their wings to fly free.