Tribe Discussion: - BURNING MAN: BORG2 -
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December 06, 2004 - 06:24 PM
Re: Announcing: The BORG2 and the bet
Oh I just knew Larry had some fun left in him! I'm so proud of him!
Naturally we will win. We are committed to "participation" and that
means to each of us. They will come from far around to see what we have
built. They will be blown away (hopefully not literally) As we try to
figure out what's going on, we must ask not what the BORG2 can do for
us but what we can do for the BORG2 and then what the BORG2 can do for
us. It's not a god damn cult but it is a worthy cause. A cause that
could breathe enthusiasm and life into the event that we all feel so
much. We do this for the spirit of art and all art has done for us. If
nothing else it's given us an excuse to be "insane." We need that.
Natalie
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December 06, 2004 - 01:12 PM
Announcing: The BORG2 and the bet
A quick recap on the Burning Man drama of late. . . (more woo woo for your hoo ha)
Before we realized we were actually arguing whether it's an art or
a community festival but after we were disgusted by all the
bureaucratic woo-woo and around the same time that everyone was fucking
done and going to Mexico to surf but slightly to the left of hitting
the nail on the head with our new motto "It's the art, stupid." we
found that spelling counts, grammar is a delicate flower, people don't
like to get yelled at, and when you tip a sacred cow it's 20% of the
bill plus $4 a day per person. You can't say the artists going on
strike isn't funny. OK, you can, but just this once.
The ideas contained in the petition are valid. They have weight,
width, texture, and temperature. They aren't simply guesses or best
attempts. These are real bona fide ideas. They graduated, with honors.
We feel they are adult ideas, fully matured ideas and the people who
signed the petition (and everyone else who is so inclined) are ready to
implement them and make them work. I am behind them 100%. So will
everyone else in about 5 minutes.
Now Larry, we realize you haven't been 'down' with these ideas, but
I can understand that. You're the head honcho and who are we to tell
you how to run the show. But I, as a showman, recognize a show in need
when I see a show in need, and this show is clearly in need of some new
woo woo. For its hoo ha. The hoo ha needs new woo woo.So I couldn't
help myself and we've had a little fun poking you and suggesting how we
might better run the show by running it all together. You see, this is
one of the main points we have ALL agreed on here, that this is not
just your show alone. That we ALL make this show together every year,
so it only seems reasonable that everyone should have a little say in
how the show is run. It's really quite simple what we have asked for.
Just a little say in the running of the show. Just a little pinch. A
pinch of woo woo for your hoo ha.
I am stepping to the side now, as I have other things to do, but on
my departure, I would like to suggest that we finish off this little
family tiff not with more discussion and debate, but rather with an
experiment- a test of the ideas in the rough crucible of reality. Let's
put these ideas down on the road and see if they take us where we want
to go.
I humbly propose we test drive these ideas through a somewhat
unique "event within the event". The idea is that you do everything
that you normally do and we do our own thing. And you simply let us. We
want to experiment with the MASSIVELY COLLABORATIVE and RADICALLY
DEMOCRATIC methods laid out in the We Have a Dream Petition. You run
your event the way you like, and the people run their event the way
they like- bearing the burden (and having the fun) of making this new
system from scratch, tweaking it and redoing it, failing and then
trying again until it works. If you let them do it, I'm sure you can
convince them to deliver a full report to your desk at 9:00 Monday
morning, the 12th of September, 2005.
I've talked to a bunch of people about this and they want to do it.
We have come up with a name for this experiment and inspiration (we
have to admit we stole this one directly from you) and we are going to
call it the "BORG2". There is even a website now, which you can see at www.borg2.org.
The people interested in this experiment are proposing a rather
innovative solution to Burning Man and its typical discontents. Instead
of just splitting off and walking away in disgust (like so many have
done before) they are proposing to SPLIT IN, or rather ENGULF INWARDS.
The idea is to hold "an event within your event". A sort of small scale
experimental art walk for lack of a better way to describe it. And we
will run our little experiment using the plan laid out in the We Have a
Dream Petition: democratic voting, guest curators, free art-making, and
all that. All will be welcome to participate, vote, build, camp, eat,
fuck, and kill etc. . . . Especially invited are those disillusioned
with the "other" BMorg. Like back in the beginning, we are just going
to fucking do it. Thousands of people arriving at the gates of Burning
Man demanding to pay their fair share so they can give their art away.
Boom. But these people will not have the benefit of your expert
curatorial methods, the delicate placement skills of your competent
staff or the burden of the theme to consider. They will be part of a
new populist experiment.
I think the people are onto something here and I have every
confidence that the reality will far exceed the concepts and initial
ideas we put forth.
In fact, I feel so strongly about this that I would like to propose
a small bet, Mr. Harvey. When Gentleman see no other way to settle a
difference, a wager is what is in order.
I bet you that the people of the petition can make a system of
MASSIVELY COLLABORATIVE RADICAL DEMOCRACY, with guest curators and
voting and all that, and in the process inspire a volume and quality of
creative work that you will envy and wish you were responsible for
yourself. In fact, I find these ideas so strong, so self-evidently
true, so INVINCIBLE TO STUPIDITY, that no one alive could mess up an
experiment based on these ideas. The ideas are THAT strong.
I am so confident in these ideas, that I Chicken John (idiot)
challenge you, Larry Harvey (leader of humanity) to a contest of
curatorial methods. A bet of art facilitation and inspiration if you
will.
In short, I CHALLENGE YOU TO AN ART DUEL.
I bet you that these ideas will work and the 1000+ petitioners will
be successful in their designs. And when they are, I only ask that you
CONSIDER changing the current Burning Man art system to better reflect
the ideas and methods they used to achieve their success.
If I am wrong and the petitioners are unsuccessful, I hereby commit
to sit in a dunk booth at next years Burning Man Decompression Party
and let everyone soak my ass, all day long. And yes, I will sit there
all day long- throw, after throw, after throw. Wearing a sarong.
Larry Harvey, I bet you my COMPLETE and UTTER HUMILIATION against
your mild consideration; that is how confident I am that these ideas
will work.
The details:
The petitioners are going to need a couple things to make this a
fair fight and I hope you will be a good sport about it. They are going
to need their own dedicated area to site the BORG2 artworks. Be nice to
them and give 'em some good real estate, OK? There is gonna be a lot of
them and they are also going to need somewhere to camp. They will
likely need a big chunk of one arm of the city, just for them. Can you
do that?
They are also going to need some money. But they aren't asking for
your money. No, they would like to raise and distribute their own money
for those projects of adequate ambition that they are simply not
possible to do without some form of financial help. The goal of the
BORG2 is to raise $250,000, basically matching your art budget from
2004, and dole out the money through Guest Curators and Voting as laid
out in the petition.
That's right. A quarter million dollars. Or I go in the dunk tank.
They raise Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars and turn it into
great art or I'm all wet.
To raise this money they are going to need a minor convenience from
you. They would like ticket buyers to know of this extra art fund and
give them the opportunity to donate a 10% premium on top of their
regular ticket purchase, with the money going directly to the BORG2 Art
Fund. This donated money will be fully dispersed to artists to make
art. Now you probably can't make this a part of your formal ticketing
process, but you could include it on the web pages that give
information about buying tickets, as well as announce it in the JRS
when you discuss ticket sales. After all, the BORG2 will be raising
money for the BORG1 event. You kinda want them to succeed, but you also
kinda want to them to fail so you win the bet. Not really sure how you
are going to keep all this straight in your head, but you're a smart
guy and I'm sure you'll figure it out. And remember, in the end, you
get the first throw.
Finally, I should add, they want to be left alone so they can do
their thing, either succeeding or falling on their faces by their own
wiles and ways. Do you think you can just leave them alone and just let
them do their thing, the way they want? They would really like that.
They will obey all safety regulations and all that stuff, but they
don't want to talk to anyone who drives a golf cart.
I think that's about it. Sounds like fun to me.
So Mr. Harvey, do we have a bet? I'm betting my sweet bippy that
the people can put more woo woo in your hoo ha or I'm going in the
tank. And I mean it.
I anxiously and enthusiastically await your response to my respectful and artful wager with reckless abandon.
Chicken John,
Defender of Justice
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December 01, 2004 - 11:27 AM
This posting was deleted by jim mason
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