Fire

By John A. Barry

I’m very late in getting this written, but you still have a chance to visit No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, at the Oakland Museum of California, through February 16.
Burning Man is a widely known 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 event started on San Francisco’s Baker Beach in 1986 and has since morphed into a corporate behemoth. Much info available on the organization’s website: https://burningman.org

A primary focus of the Oakland exhibit is “Mutant Vehicles,” a few of which are shown here.

Tin Pan Dragon, 2006. Artist: Duane Flatmo. A pedal powered dragon made of pie plates.

I can’t find my notes for The Picnic, but it is a bus that features seats, a movie screen (with running movie), and snacks.

Outside the theater is the Temple of Reunion. Constructed entirely of wood by David Best and the Temple Crew, it features a slew of wood chips, on which visitors can write a message and attach it to the temple.

For more about the exhibit: https://museumca.org/exhibit/no-spectators-art-burning-man