Burning Man – Must See Festival

Burning-Man-Unicorn

A magnificent unicorn struggles to emerge from the cracking dust-covered playa

Burning-Man-Flames

Rotating installation that breathes four hot streams of fire into the air at night.

Sand(wo)man made out of metal bowls celebrates the universe with outstretched arms, a fertile womb and dancing feet.

Over 200 feet long and 50 feet high, this awe-inspiring Conexus Cathedral, built in 2006, was a hallowed place that inspired both reflection and dancing.

Burning Man

Never knew what it was. Now I know … a bit.

Freelance Journalist Meredith Price describes the magic of the Burning Man Project, held yearly in the Nevada desert, with the help of some truly amazing photos.

Every year, over 40,000 people come together in a Utopian experiment showing the most stunning artwork, grandiose costumes and outlandish art cars and there is some fire too.

Held in Black Rock City, Nevada, the festival is named Burning Man after the ritualistic burning of a wooden effigy in the shape of a man.

Via the Tripbase Blog

The 10 Burning Man Principles are:

  1. Radical Inclusion
    Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.
  2. Gifting
    Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.
  3. Decommodification
    In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.
  4. Radical Self-reliance
    Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.
  5. Radical Self-expression
    Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.
  6. Communal Effort
    Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.
  7. Civic Responsibility
    We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.
  8. Leaving No Trace
    Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.
  9. Participation
    Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.
  10. Immediacy
    Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.

Amazing Food Art – Dominique Davies

Radish-Ravioli-fat_duck_1lg

Not planet Saturn, but Radish Ravioli

Apple pie caramel with edible wrappers fat_duck_4

Not some new weapon or a couple of invading aliens, just Apple Pie Caramel with edible wrappers

Oyster-Passion-Fruit-and-Lavender-fat_duck_5lg

Not an alien wedding party light years away, just an oyster with passion fruit and lavender

All these beautiful photos have in common that they were made by Dominique Davies in a series for the Big Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal of the famous Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, UK….Hm I still have an invitation for dinner there ….. once…

On my bike to TodaysArt 2009 (#TA09)

20090925 On-my-Bike-underway-to-#TA09-_MG_1277a
The Big Church of The Hague

Yesterday, like today, it was gorgeous weather. Around 06.00 PM I jumped on my bike (yes, sometimes I do bike) to visit the TodaysArt festival in The Hague City Center. From my bike I took this photo of the Big Church of The Hague and you can see how crisp the air was.
Maison-de-Bonneterie-in-The-Hague-Centre-_MG_1279
Maison de Bonneterie, A fashion temple right in the The Hague City Center shopping area.
Spuiplein-just-before-the-start-of-TodaysArt-2009-_MG_1280
I arrived at Spuiplein, the center of TodaysArt festival just before it taking off.

Spuiplein is the huge square next to The Hague Town Hall and in front of the music hall (the building with the red triangle) named after Anton Philips. The Lucent Dance Theater is adjacent to Anton Phillips Hall and to its right. The two buildings in the back are Dutch Government offices and the blue building to the right is the The Hague Mercure hotel.

#TA09 Dance by Hiroaki Umeda

Hiroaki Umeda is a pluridisciplinary artist: choreographer, dancer, sound, image and lighting designer with roots in hip-hop, classical dance and photography. He was born in 1977 and currently lives and works in Tokyo. In 2000 Hiroaki Umeda founded his own company “S20″ and since he has started making own pieces. His work is minimal and radical, subtle and violent, and is created to be ‘experienced’. He is now recognized more as a visual artist rather than a choreographer, a mover rather than a dancer. By using projections, Umeda becomes one with his environment, controlling sound and light with his movements.

Via Todays Art 09 Platform

The Hague – City of Peace killing Free Speach?

The-Hague---International-City-of-Conflict

Last week an anti terrorism squad lifted the director of the The Hague Todays Art festival from his bed with brutal violence and force. The reason was the posters the Todays Art Festival organization had spread over the town, just before the Dutch Queen addressing Dutch Parliament for the opening of the Dutch Parliamentary Year and just after remembering 09/11. I can understand that the Dutch anti terrorism persons are a bit itchy, especially after the 2009 Queens day attack by just another moron, but this action is a bit (to say the least) far fetched.

Todays-Art-2009-Poster-Conflict

Here you see the Peace Palace against a lot of smoke.

A bit suggestive poster, yes off course, but that’s what art is about sometimes…get people thinking about their situation. A poster in blue….a bit suggestive no more than that. How worked up can you get when you claim that such poster invites terrorists to copy the outcome…..

Todays-Art-2009-Poster-Conflict-Town-Hall

Here you see a crater and some damage of the The Hague Town Hall.

This action of the Dutch police makes me think the repression by governments, their agencies and the politicians is going way too far again and we may need another 60ies movement to make people aware of the idiocies of repression. Luckily the director refused to take the posters down

This year’s Todays Art festival has as theme Conflict.

On Twitter they are known as @TodaysArt. I’m asking my readers for a bit support for them. Getting lifted from your bed and being interrogated by an anti terrorism squad is not nothing, if your only aim is to give the city a nice festival.

I’m looking forward to this fifth edition. Last year I enjoyed myself tremendously.