OzBurn - The First Australian Burning Man

Hey all, I have only heard about this on the Grapevine and decided to look it up, and thought there should be a thread on this.
Does anyone have any further info or opinions on Oz Burning Man?

Burning Man Australia

OzBurn Seed 2010
June 10th - 14th

(June long weekend 2010)

Where: Near Bellingen, Northern NSW

A man (structure) will be burned on the Sunday Night around 9-10pm.

The aim is to gather momentum to stage a full scale 'Australian Region' - Burning Man Event - in the Australian desert, or suitable outback region, in the not too distant future.

Full Info: Burning Man Australia

I have been considering going if there is a Perth contingent of spinners (though most Perth spinners are going to BM this year) but still don't know how to bring my fire and med gear...

yeah i heard about this crew mid last year just after they have the first 'burning seed' event to launch the idea.

FYI, Burning Demon already goes on a salt lake somewhere in south australia i think over winter sometime - but that even less organised that a burningman style event which does try to spell out the hippy values a bit more.

ill probably head along if im in the area - but am already planning on heading bm usa again this year so it wont be a big priority if im out of town.

*bump* ok - ive decided to go to this. everything seems to have fallen in place, so spontaneously bought a ticket and will ride down.

ill be staying with the Mad Hatters camp (look for the tent next to the evil looking black motorcycle) and ill be helping Rusty out with fire/pyro stuff.

D.

see you there Dentrassi! I'll be helping out at the nargile lounge and the fire camp. Lookin like it'll be an awesome festival, hope it doesn't rain on the Sunday (touch wood)!

your in the fire camp - is that with Rusty and co?

I'm in the Nargile camp but i'll definitely be in and around the fire camp a lot. hopefully teaching some workshops, performing and playing a lot!

cool. will track you down - look for the guy attempting doubles contact staff tricks with a wineglass and failing spectacularly.
james.

Is it all happening.....

you all suck for not going.

this definitely ranks extremely high on my favourite oz parties list - almost on equal ground to commonground.

I really cannot imagine in any way how it could have turned out any better.

im still trying to crystalise in my mind the exact words to attempt to explain why it worked so well - as im due to send an report back to my usa burningman crew - but here some rough ideas at present.

- The best thing was how it recreated the burningman usa vibe sooo well. Every single person i met was so unbelievably chilled and cool. There was a noticable absense of 'clicking' groups who mainly party amoungst themselves - and all the larger groups there mad an enormous effort to be inclusive and outreaching. you could go up and talk to absolutely anyone and have a really lovely connection.
- The zero dickhead factor. seriously i did not encounter a single dickhead for the entire party. I think the fact that it wasnt a doof as such, the price, and the distance meant only dedicated contributors would make the effort
- which leads onto to a festival of participants, not spectators. Ive never seen so many people willing to volunteer time and effort, even after buying a ticket.
- I loved how it has a much more family vibe, but was still a wicked party. i love doofs where theres less munters and more kids running around.
- incidently there was bitching at the price tag. $113 for 4 days? whats a doof nowadays... $30 bucks for a night? i dont think it was unreasonable at all.
- the music was great! to be honest im a little over psy, and wouldnt go to a 4 day doof anymore - but there was everything - at any point in the day there was sets ranging from james brown to minimal tech to an impromptu 2 hr acoustic jam in the camp area during lunch.
- There were some very dedicated crews making a really effort to show the 80-90% of attendees who hadnt been to the nevada burn understand why this is different from other parties, and what can be created with very little time, planning, or money. This is why its call the seed event - to plant the seed of potential creation for those returning next year
- fancy dress - definitely the most overdressed/absurd effort ive ever seen at a festival in australia - and i love it! thank you Costume Cult!
- 500 odd people was the perfect number - at night it was cranking and yes more people could fit on site - but since they want to grow the festival i think thats fine. It was the perfect amount and mix for the seed event.
- and just personally how everything fitted into place... i decided 3 days prior to go. I got a ticket from gooble warming, loaded up my motorbike with everything from firestaffs to a wetsuit (one of Rustys mad fireshow ideas...) and tootled on down.

I think the plan is to grow the seed event for a couple more years, and relocate to a desert location in 2013.

Im absolutely going next year no questions asked. Im going to leach some of the better photos from various friends and google searches over the coming days.

Peace out,
D (of the 'Madder than Hatters' Tea Party)

I'm glad it was awesome!
It interfered with uni in the end... and once most of the Perth people pulled out
will hopefully be going next year.

Sounds brilliant! Photos!

And here I was thinking that Australia thought outside the box and did it's own thing...

err... please clarify your opinion?

Something about Burning Man Australia feels wrong. It's like McDonalds inside the Kremlin. IMO, it would be awesome to see an epic event that had its roots in Australia. Cultivate something beautifully, uniquely Australia.

mcdonalds inside the kremlin???

hmmm...

i think that metaphor is a little extreme mate.

well look australia already has loads of amazing festivals which have created and evolved in their own direction. folk, rock, trance, hippy, circus etc etc whatever you want!
if you came over here you would find no shortage of epic events, without having to resort to mcdonalds.
if fact when the organisers of the seed event announced this event, one blogger eloquently asked the question "as awesome as burning man is, do we really need another bloody festival??"

having seen some festivals evolve from creation to the end, it will be interesting to see how this evolves. there is no particular desire to attempt to recreate Nevada, as we especially wish to see this maintain an australian flavour, but the 10 principles is an extremely good framework to start a new festival and see how it evolves.
considering most of the organisers and participants were australians its kind of hard seeing it turn into an american brand.

Screaming for PICTURES!!!!

What's the basic spirit of the "Burning Man"?

Is it along the lines of "freedom of (artistic) expression" "be yourself" and "feel free"?

However, the festival is not called "Burning Man Australia" but "OzBurn"... and of all American values I feel that the spirit of Burning Man is one which is totally worth exporting all over the planet.

I've been to some festivals here in Germany and some became quite big (like Fusion) - I feel it's best to enjoy festivals as long as they are in their early stages but it will take me two more years to visit this one.

OZ 2012 that's the plan

Sorry I take it back - it IS called "Burning Man Australia" ... [sigh] the way of successful marketing

Lol, I forgot about this thread. Maybe a little extreme.



Yet none of them a worldwide trendy festival like 'Burning Man', which is a good thing. I personally think BM is all playa'd out and sold out to the contradictory capitalism they originally sought to escape.



<----Lived in Brisbane in '98 and '99 BC I felt left out of the big wide world outside of little Aotearoa.(Not to offend the Kiwis on HoP) It's not living all over Australia, but I have been to much of Australia. Not a question of coming over to find out.



Please remain calm everyone.... but.... Step back and be realistic. Much of Australia has been homogenised to the point of being North America already!

I'm not saying that this will be the case here. I am just saying that this is a chance for it to happen.

Moving on... I hope you enjoyed yourself and I agree with FT, pictures of OZBM would still be nice to see.