Mars or Bust Burning Man Body Painting Theme
Body painting Mars or Bust theme (part 2)
BURNING MAN 2001
“When the Man burned…a series of dust devils rose from the Man’s pyre, hundreds of feet high…like skinny tornadoes emerging from the Pit of Hell.”
Ivan Stang, Burning Man 2001 participant
After an unusual winter, Black Rock city was covered with a layer of over one inch of dust in 2001. Dust was everywhere like never before, but there was compensation in the spectacle created by the dust devils that formed and went spinning in the air when the Man began to burn.
The Man was planted atop the Temple of Wisdom, thus rising 70 feet above the ground.
THE THEME
For 2001, Black Rock city became a giant board game, with seven sections ranged outward from the center, each representing one of the Ages of Man: the Cradle, the Playground, the Chapel, the Coliseum, the Temple of Wisdom, the Maze, and the Mausoleum.
Participants had to go through each of the stages, getting a stamp on a special passport. Once all the rituals had been completed, they were allowed to go into the Temple of Wisdom and perform one last act of initiation, leading to contemplation of the spectacle that is Black Rock city from the top.
Part of the CHAPEL section, the Wedding Chariot by Jim Mason was built from junkyard scraps. It was at one time a bicycle for four, a giant drink blender and a spectacular flamethrower. Couples marrying at the translucent two-story chapel made from recycled plastic (signed by Finley Fryer), were taken for a blazing ride on the Chariot.
One of the year’s most powerful artistic statements, NRA Package Deal by John Ricker of GUNS INTO ART was a life size coffin made of more than 120 smashed guns. The installation was part of the MAUSOLEUM.
Black Rock city’s first public transport vehicle, Draka the Dragon, provided the citizens with rides across the playa. Draka had been created by Lisa Nigro in 2000.
Check out this Burning Man 2001, Emmy Nominated documentary originally produced for KTNV-TV in Las Vegas: Burning Man 2001 documentary
