BM 2006: Logan's Burn
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Burning Man veterans all wonder how each year will vary. What new vibe, breathtaking
art, or random insanity will assault the senses this year? How to prepare? What
new costumes to create? Camp art? Some sort of instillation? What's the deal
with the theme? 
In 2006, the BM theme was "Hope, Fear… The Future", beckoning us to consider the options and choose direction. Hopefullness, fearfulness. What will the future bring? What shall we bring to the future?
For Kostume Kult, it was to be another exciting year. New people were coming together, strange majick was afoot. Costumes had been secured from points south and the funds had been raised via several most excellent events.
Creative ideas were bandied and what to be/ what to do was considered… Ultimately, DJ Mic Rage suggested a Logan's Runs theme… A vision of the future with both hope and fear. He had created an excellent website and the creative juices were aflow.
Logan's
Run was a 1976 Sci-Fi film that came out the same year as the original Star
Wars. It starred Michael York and, in a lesser role, a young Farrah Fawcett.
It was set in a post-apocalyptic domed future city of beauty and pleasure. The
only catch was that, at age 30, you had to report to the "Carousel"
ceremony to be "renewed" in the city's cycle of life. Ritual death
to be reborn as an incubated child.
This arrangement, it was ultimately revealed, was just about population control
with no renewal, and our Hero, the intrepid former cop Logan, went on the run
in search of the mythical place "Sanctuary" and longer life. This
tour led him on a trip to the now-healthy world outside the domes, involved
ankh pendants (keys to life), sanctuary and liberating the rest of the city
population to renewed possibilities.
Thus, Kostume Kult sought to marry this film to our annual costume giveaway camp with extra doses of absurdity.
With a Costume Dome on our traditional spot on the Esplanade, a DJ booth (first year) and dance/chill area, our theme was to be "Carousel" in honor of ritual rebirth and the possibilities of the future. For us, it was to be hopefullness and exceptional silliness at Burning Man 2006. We produced Kostume Kult Ankhs (the keys to "sanctuary" in the film) for playa gifting, created big Ankh signs and hung "Carousel Babies" (made from donated children's winter jumpers) from the roof of our dome.
For
Black Rock City, in general, it twas a most, most awesome year…. Practically
perfect weather and the best art in years, it really felt special this year.
A year with a fresh vibe and, it seemed, much more to see, touch and experience
than in recent years past.
This year's art deco man, seemed a tad understated and was designed to rise & fall per hope or fear (although I never saw it do its thing) and this years "Temple", not designed by David Best (the traditional temple designer), was so understated it was hard to find.
Hard to find because the "Beligan Waffle" was the main focal point
of this year's playa art. A magnificent structure, I was flumoxed when I heard
that this was not the temple. Made from hundreds of thousands of dollars worth
of 2x3's (lumber), this structure, which looked truly awesome by day, became
other-worldly at night when it glowed green and was the center of the BM energy
vortex for 2007. A cool place to hang out, with DJ's playing all night, our
bikes were often pulled into its orbit when pedaling by.
Another most memorable thing for me were the massive, mobile flowers… Two grand flower instillations built on mobile cherry pickers these flowers- one a venus flytrap, were everywhere, often in the center of the action, glowing by night and cranking moving tunes, these were often beacons for whatever was going on.
And finally, no sci-fi geek anywhere could resist the awesomeness of the HG Wells Tripod from War of the Worlds… A menacing view of the future, this powerful spectre staring down at you made you feel most vulnerable. Most of the time, there was a ladder of metal hoops you could climb up and it would rotate scanning the surface with its one evil red eye. When it turned to face, and focus, on you, you sensed that the power beam was about to blow you away (all sci-fi geeks, that is :) .
But,
back at the ranch, Kostume Kult was hard to escape. The Costume Giveaway station
was more popular than ever with lines at noon every day. Over several days we
made hundreds happy with new fashion options. Our DJ's played all day and, various
campers (had about 100 this year) BBQ'd providing abundance for all who stayed
around.
Our Thursday Midnight party rocked better than ever with the Logan theme being practiced by some, but mostly being about the music and free booze to all. With lounging in the dome and a packed dancefloor outside, our musical vibe was born.
The rest of the week was, as always, a blur. The parties, beautiful people
and ultra-present creativity overwhelmed the senses leaving the photos as the
primary mode of memory. Somewhere in there renewal was achieved leaving us most
hopeful for the coming year ahead. 
Along the way an inspired Kostume Kultist demonstrated how pleasant this year's winds were by stringing together hundreds of black & white balloons across the sky (and, some said, to the other side of the playa). A simple and unique project that had people from all over BM coming by to see what was up. We gave them barbequed meats and love.
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Postscript: Since this year's burn several notable folks have been "Ankhed"
(given Ankhs and indoctrinated into Kostume Kult) including Deborah Harry, (Pink
Floyd great) Roger Waters and, most fittingly--- Logan himself, Sir Michael
York… RENEW!
More photos of
Kostume Kult's camp (& Logans Run theme)
