Genre: Installations and Performance
Participant: Anna Frants
A video screening prepared by Anna Frants (USA) based on materials from the contemporary art festival Burning Man. Starts at 6:00 PM.
From the festival press release:
“Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never participated in the event is like trying to describe a color to a blind person.”
The festival’s history dates back to 1986, when it was founded by Larry Harvey and Jerry James. In 1990, the park police, concerned about the risk of fire, opposed the annual fire ceremonies. This prohibition led to the creation of an international festival that now annually draws about 25,000 people to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.
Since 1987, every year Burning Man transforms the desert into a stage for showcasing a new format of art. It rejects the dead-end concepts of minimalism that have stripped art down to its barest elements and the fashionable gallery politics of major metropolitan cities. This art form not only attempts to discover and reinterpret its genetic ties with past styles and ideas, but also bursts into entirely new, unexplored realms. It refutes the notion that art is either a market commodity or a divine creation. It frees itself from imposed social constructs and rules, allowing artists and viewers simply to think about art — and live it…
Art no longer imitates life. It is Life itself, born in the labyrinths of consciousness and becoming the eternal essence of beauty.
Weekend.RU November 22, 2004