HE SPENT HIS "BURN" IN JAIL

               CHOOSING INCARCERATION

     People came to Burning Man last month to be amazed.  They saw incredible art, 

 

Talking Toilets

 

 

 

 

 

leggy models posing with soaring sculptures, 

 

 

 

 

 

and one young man stuck in a prison cell.  

 

      That was Eli Rogers, 27, spending a week inside his "Prison Sit Project".  I was anxious to meet him as I had done something similar ("The Cage Project") in Gainesville three weeks earlier. 

     Words weren't necessary to convey his message.  He was locked in his 6 x 10 cell for a week with a 

folding cot, food, water, a makeshift toilet and a few milk jugs to pee in. I asked how I could help and later brought him a few things.

      Eli told me he would be living in his cell for the duration of the week-long, 24/7 event.  Sleep wasn't easy as burners roam the Playa at all hours. 

    "How many take you seriously?", I asked .  Eli said about 70%.  The others made jokes and 

threatened to set him free.

   The artist from Durango, Colorado raised over $1000 on GoFundMe to finance his imprisonment. He explained on his GFM page,

 

The Prison Sit is a interactive performance art installation that will take place at Burning Man. I will build a generic prison cell on the Playa. I will be led in and locked up by a guard on the first day and stay there until after the man burns on Saturday. 

The culture of Burning Man is one with an emphasis on freedom. This project is a way of honoring those who don't have it, who are living behind bars, while challenging the the culture of excessive consumption all around us. It will give the people an opportunity to reflect. 

       The contrast between his prison project and the "happy" art surrounding him was a shock for most of his visitors.  

      

   Burning Man should have more artists like Eli connecting the 75,000 partying there to the world's problems. Out of the 200+ art projects displayed at Burning Man '25 there were only three that I saw addressing world issues.

     "Fu-k You Elon" was displayed on the far reaches of the desert expanse.  

      

 

     The Man complex at the center of everything included a banned book library.  It was burned -with The Man and everything surrounding him- on Saturday 

night. 

Little banned book library before the burn

 Visitors were encourage to take its books home before the big burn.

 

 

    

 

    

 

 

 

     The most massive art work was "Black Cloud" by Kiev's Ukranian Art Group. 

 

      

  Inflated and tethered the morning before the festival began, their press release said it was intended to "give dangers a tangible form" and that "recognizing threats is crucial to addressing them".

     It seems their country's suffering has no end. Hours after Black Cloud was set up a powerful dust storm packing 55 m.p.h. winds tore the cloud's  fabric to shreds. 

     It feels like our country (and much of the world) is being torn apart now.  I appreciate Eli, the Ukrainians and the other artists who won't let us forget.

 

 Eli before his was given his prison clothes and haircut

 

 

 

                                 __________

 

 

 

 

BURNING THE MAN LAST WEEK

                LAST WEEK'S BURN

   It's hard to say "no" when your son asked you to go camping. Even if it's in the dusty Nevada desert.

    Ten days ago Ian and I drove to Burning Man '25 in the family camper. We enjoyed a week of fun, excitement, and occasional dust storms. Ward Shelley, my Gainesville neighbor, joined us. 

Ward and I learning to "trust in the dust".

    

   This was my fifth "Burn" and again, I was amazed at how well 75,000 people could get along in this endless expanse where nothing lives.

      There are no spectators at this grand celebration of creativity. Everyone is expected to contribute some sort of art, to assist artists, or, to volunteer for the many tasks that make everything happen.

 

Bad artists at rest

      My son, Ian, brought fifteen of his friends and the bunch of us set up a "Bad Portrait Studio". People passing could sit to have themselves drawn badly by incredibly untalented artists.

Bad artists working in our desert studio.  Here I am playing the hawker.

  

 

The unexpected, that's what you encounter at Burning Man. 

It could be a bad portrait or, the "Chicken Ranch". It was a tribute to the Rubber Chicken Nation.

  Inside I saw the real story of how these supposed novelties are created. 

 

along with a loud, moving, diorama of rubber chicken procreation.  

    You "egg-xited" (so said the sign) by jumping through a large curtained hole in the wall that mimicked, umm, the place where eggs (and poop) come out of our fowl friends. 

     Egged on my son I jumped through and landed in large net of fake, squeaking chickens. Crawling out in front of a crowd made them squawk even more.  It was delightful and and oh, so burning man!

    Afterwards I chatted with an older guy who explained how he and his friends in his small Alaskan town had spent a year created Chicken Ranch. Yes, they have a thing for what looks like a dead, plucked bird that squawks when you squeeze it.

 

     Again, our posse took the easy route. We had no rubber chickens, just paper markers, and no talent whatsoever. We drew dozens and dozens of awful portraits for our fans.

 

A mini-art car's occupants stopped for a group portrait.

 

   I've been an occasional bad portrait artist since 1980. People love them.

 

 Our artist, Rachel (smiling) is especially good at drawing bad water (the pink line)

    

 

 

When we ran out of chairs we drew them in the dust.

  

We gave this artist a hard time for being too good.

 

   

  Ian led the pack as one of our best bad artists.

 

 

   

 

 

 

I also worked as a bartender at the festival's media center.

   The Grove Guy served hot coffee and icy drinks to media folks from all over the world. 

Chatting with dozens of writers, photographers, and drone pilots was a such fun!

 With Yomi Ayenyi, London-based photographer and film producer

 

     

Tough road for an old biker

 

   At night we would roam the huge expanse called "The Playa" taking in the illuminated sculptures, the "art cars", and the alfresco night clubs with their dazzling array of lights and ear-splitting boom-boom music.

Ward pausing for some big lights and boom-boom.

Golden Gate bridge built on top ao an RV

There were over 200 art cars (we call them "mutant vehicles").

     

 This hi-tech puppet could really dance!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of the burners danced 'til dawn but not me. I was always tucked away by midnight, preparing to draw badly and tend bar another day.  

    And in the end, true to its name, a man standing 90-feet tall was incinerated in a blaze of fireworks and flame.

               _________________

 

 

In a few days I'll share the story of Eli Rogers. He chose to spend the week incarcerated on The Playa. 

 

                         _______