On August 30th, 48,000+ people will travel to the Black Rock Desert to take part in an experience. An experience that is said to profoundly bridge the gaps between culture, art, music, humanity and nature.

Burning Man began as an impulsive act in 1986 on the beaches of San Francisco and has turned into a phenomenon. “These people make the journey for one week out of the year to be part of an experimental community, which challenges its members to express themselves and rely on themselves to a degree that is not normally encountered in one’s day-to-day life”.

One monumental feature of Burning Man, is Art. People from all across the globe plan all year long for their contributions. And each year, a new theme is given, “encouraging a common bond to help tie each individual’s contribution together in a meaningful way”. This year’s theme is ‘Metropolis’, which should make for some inspiring takes on urban design and its impact on culture.

The instillations erected at Burning Man are some of the wackiest, most innovative, forms of art and design that I have ever seen. Here are some of my favorites:

Thinking about Burning Man (and desperately wishing I could be a part of it this year) I came across these bits of inspirations…

Take for example, Peter Fuss’s thought-provoking, controversial set of billboards.

Symbolically placed next to a neighboring McDonald’s, the message written on the billboards and the message not written is both upsetting and honest. Art like this, is what I believe Burning Man represents. Art that makes us think. Art that makes us look back in on our own lives and see it differently, even for a split second.

There’s also Robert The’s bookguns. Cut out of eirily appropriate books, this set of artful guns is powerful. Take for example, Poetic Justice:

Or how about Psychotherapy with Adolescent Girls:

It’s funny, it’s smart, it’s scary and it makes for some inspiring and surely controversial art.

Then there’s Marina Abramović who is described as the “grandmother of performance art”. Her recent performance at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC drew crowds of young, old, celebrity and unknown to watch Marina ‘endure’. She sat in the museum, silent, for 716 hours and 30 minutes across from an empty chair which could be filled by any museum goer. Sounds trivial, but I assure you, it was not.

One piece of work, which I came across after researching more about Marina, was a take on ‘the beauty of the artist’ and also a statement on femininity. I don’t know much about the background of this piece. But I do know that it struck me. Just as Peter Fuss’s billboards made me stop.think.and look at my life a little differently, so did this.

“Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind.”

… I think that says it best for all of these artists’ work.

The Man is Burning… via @pingg  

Posted by Hillary in Inspirations |