Well hello there fishbug fanatics.
We are terribly sorry that we have forgotten to post anything of relevance here for quite a while. For the most part we have been busy since the playa taking our fishbug on the road and trying to find other festivals and locations for people to enjoy the wondrous creature that Fishbug has become.
Since the playa we have enjoyed looking at some of the amazing images taking by talented shutterbugs at Burning Man. Take a gander for your self at some of them we have collected at our Flickr Fishbug Group.
As the holidays are upon us we are all taking a much need break and Fishbug is hibernating at the Shipyard. What a marvelous year we have had. The vision for Fishbug began earlier this year as a possibility and through the labor and creative juices of a crew of amazing people Fishbug came alive. This was made possible with support from Burning Man, Friends and Family. As this year draws to a close I can’t help but think how lucky we were that some how a talented group of people coalesced in one place for months to push forward this vision. I hope for more of the same for 2010.
Happy Holidays to all, may art and creativity fill your life in 2010.
A creative celebration of evolution
Jason Hodin1, Cory D. Bishop2, Fred A. Sharpe3 & Ruben E. Valas4 ARTS REVIEWED: -Burning Man 2009: Evolution
Black Rock Desert, Nevada
31 August–7 September 2009
A creative celebration of evolution
A sporadic eruption of desert art nods to humans’ ability to adapt.
The Burning Man festival is a unique happening. For one week in September every year, the featureless Black Rock Desert in Nevada hosts a temporary community of artists, technologists and
photo by stuart updegrave
visionaries. Lacking paved roads, water, electricity and any permanent structures, Black Rock City emerges from the ephemeral lakebed, or playa, with a population of nearly 50,000. Afterwards, it disappears without trace, only to be reconfigured a year later.
Fittingly for the 2009 iteration of this social experiment, this year’s theme was ‘Evolution’. In the 23 years that Burning Man has been replicating, certain behaviours have been selected for by the inhabitants: radical inclusion and tolerance, self-reliance coupled with extreme altruism, a gift economy and a leave-no-trace environmental ethic. Add intense creativity, conscious participation, ingenuity and a propensity for hedonism, and the outcome is an unparalleled celebration of the human spirit.
The principal vehicle is art, from giant sculptures and lavish pyrotechnics to countless instances of the most basic art of human interaction: giving and receiving. The ‘man’ effigy is the centre of the festival, both figuratively and literally. This year, the 12-metre human shape hovered over a thorny forest — a tangled bank — atop a giant double helix. The DNA molecule provided a powerful artistic
meme, representing both life’s capacity to evolve through genetics, and perhaps something that needs to be overcome through non-genetic evolutionary paths. Viewed from a different angle, the man seemed to float above a field of sea lilies, placing this celebration of human consciousness in an ancient evolutionary context.
The ‘man’ effigy is the centre of the festival, both figuratively and literally.
by Cheryl Fralick
The most striking image at this year’s Burning Man, expressed in various ways across the city, was the famous “ascent of man” progression from great ape through to modern human, with the Burning Man icon representing the next step. This sequence resonated with the advance in human culture realized in Burning Man. One vision was the Fishbug, Chimera sententia, a creature rising out of the playa with an arthropod tail, amphibian body, mammalian trunk and oversized primate brain.
We created a zone at Burning Man that explored atavisms — reappearances of past events in new contexts — in human social evolution. At our Atavism Camp we created ‘The Spandrel’, a shade structure built with materials salvaged from the ‘boneyard’ at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Marine Lab: leftover materials from past experiments, now reborn for a new purpose. At a symposium entitled ‘Evolution and Society’, we asked how society has interpreted evolution and whether, despite its shadowy past, its principles can guide us to a much-needed behavioural shift towards
sustainability.
In the rampant transfer of culture at Burning Man, on a par with endosymbiotic events, we see hope. Evolution is evoked here on many levels: the adaptation and thriving of the individual in this extreme environment, the various camps as interactive and artistic spaces, the city as it
photo by Jess Hobbs
alters over the seven days and from year to year, exhibiting emergent properties of altruism, shared community and free expression. ‘Burners’ become extremophiles. With resources scarce in the desert, intense sharing is the most efficient practice, suggesting that humans may yet realize a sustainable evolutionary trajectory.
Next year’s theme of ‘Metropolis’ moves the festival a step further. Cities embody the best and worst of humanity, and Black Rock City is no exception. With its preponderance of oversized gas-guzzling camper vans, fossil-fuel-powered generators and gratuitous combustion, it is no Utopia. But the City’s Alternative Energy Zone, with its huge bank of solar panels, multiple experiments in grey-water evaporation, and wind-powered cocktail bar, is paving the way.
Exodus from the barren plain brings us to the comparative paradise of juniper, sage and pinyon jays. Likewise, evolution beyond Burning Man embodies what happens off the playa, how we share and act upon our experiences.
Can you believe it? We are now hours away from packing the Fishbug and taking off for her dusty debut. As I write, I hear grinders, welders, and tinkering; the sound of finishing touches. We are all pushing ourselves, many late nights, last minute work arounds, and general dashing to a fro to get ‘er done. But I think it is worth it the piece is beautiful, and the crew is fantastic. Here are a few quick images of all the final touches.
We are having a wonderful time meeting the public and introducing our creation. Not only is the crowd wonderful we are also amongst some other amazing artists and friends. Come join us tonight or Saturday night for a little fire and fun.
We are installing at Fire Arts Festival as I write.