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

 

 

 

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