Burn2: Getting The Burning Man Alight

By Klaus Bereznyak

Saturday 28 October at 1600hrs the traditional Man Burn ceremony started on the Burn2 playa with the lamplighters turning out to dance to eclectic ethnic beats provided by Dj Cuga Rajal.  Each year, the festival reaches its climax and conclusion as the landmark Man and Temple are set on fire and burned to the ground in separate ceremonies. To give organizers the best chance of success at the Man Burn, scheduled for 1700hrs, the Black Rock sim was closed to all but the Man Builders and Burn2 Rangers. Spectators gathered at strategic vantage points on the edges of adjoining sims where a good view could be had of the flammable wooden Man in its surrounding 'Temple of the Golden Spike'.

However, after the lamplighters had walked off the area, leaving it to the Man Team to start the fire, crews ran into technical difficulties with scripts on the sim. A lively camaraderie settled on the crowd, waiting in the certainty that it was going to be an "awesome burn". Calls went out for builders on Black Rock to temporarily turn off scripts on their builds, AVs shed their Animation Overrides to minimize lag, and spectators were requested not to try camming in and touching the Man while the team was working on it.

To pass the time, refreshments and other free stuff was shared among the punters, and helpful suggestions about rubbing sticks together or throwing a zippo out to the team were made. Someone was even picking a banjo. Generally everyone stayed upbeat and, as one AV commented, "I'm content sitting here in the glow of radical inclusion." Down on the ground, over in Black Rock, the Man Team worked steadily in the dark at the base of the Man, who continued to defy their efforts to set it alight.

At 1738hrs, nearly 40 minutes after schedule, iSkye finally announced, "BURN IS READY!". The crowd primed their cameras and, moments later, a series of explosions went off around the Man, followed by the red flicker of a flame. The whole structure was quickly engulfed in flames and began to break apart as ground crew hurried out of the way of falling debris and the crowd whooped with delight. It was over in a few minutes; the remains of the man lay smoldering on the desert floor and everyone agreed it was a great "burn!"

The Temple Burn was scheduled for Sunday, beginning with a lamplighter's procession at 1000hrs. The Temple burns at (approximately) 11:00am and this was preceded by a public readout of all the messages that had been posted in the Temple Censer during the week. For those missing the first event, there was the chance to see that again at 1600hrs, with the Temple being ignited at 1700hrs. The best view of these was from Black Rock, along the sim edge.

Although the events schedule concluded on Sunday, all the builds are staying up through to the 4th November for visitors to admire and enjoy, and 'Skin Burn', a reprise of the Man Burn, will take place on Saturday the 4th at 1100hrs and 1700hrs.

The Temple SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Burning%20Man-%20Mirage/116/80/24
The Man SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Burning%20Man-%20Black%20Rock/113/153/25
Main Entrance SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Burning%20Man-%20Deep%20Hole/117/18/25
Events Program: http://www.burn2.org/calendar
Flickr Group: https://www.flickr.com/groups/burn2/pool/

Klaus Bereznyak

* * * * *

Addition: Bixyl Shuftan contributed a few pictures.

 The crowd just before the burning of "The Man."

"The Man" just before the burn. "Should we save The Man from being burned?" the crowd was asked, "Or do we let him burn?" The crowd of course wanted fire, "Burn him!" "Let him Burn!" One person spoke, "Yes, let him burn, but burn him with *love.*"

 The first few lights.

And "The Man" becomes aflame.

 The fire quickly spreads.

And it isn't long before "The Man" is in pieces, sooner than in most previous burns Yours truly remembers.

The supporting structure continues to burn.

Marianne McCann and Pygar Bu watch the fire from next to the plunger, which they apparently pressed to start the fire.

 Those nearby are invited to go up and enter the fire.

"Anyone up for a game of pickup sticks?"

Burn2 in Second Life

by Grease Coakes

Burn2 in Second Life was an exciting event to participate in. Not only did I DJ a few times at the dj stage which was a large wooden ship I also was in the lamplighter procession traveling from sim to sim. In fact I had to end my dj set at 11am SLT for the procession between the sims to begin.

For those who might not know, Burn2 is the inworld version of the Burning Man festival, an annual event in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. It’s based on a few principles such as "radical" inclusion, self-reliance community cooperation, civic responsibility, gifting, decommodification, participation, immediacy and leaving no trace and self-expression. It’s based on a temporary community of sharing art through music and sculpture all for bringing pleasure to the participants. Burn rangers and other avatars rented the sims every year for this grand event.

Second Life has brought that same atmosphere to inside your computer as I was a DJ to share my music. To adhere to the principles, I wasn’t allowed a tip jar and I was not allowed to ask for tips. I was sharing my music as part of the Burning Man theme.

Timothy S. McTaggart (tsmt01 Resident) said he himself has been to Burning Man and he had this to say as he was one of the builders, “Dusty and crazy but worth the trip.” In addition, he said, “This is the only real-life Burning Man sanctioned regional that burns 'The Man.' ” In other words Second Life is the only other place Burning man is allowed.

The Burning man is exciting even in a virtual universe and was fireballs of fun. If you get the chance come participate in Second Life or if you’re lucky go to the real one in Nevada.

As my DJ set ended, Burning man requested that the limbo sim be cleared for the lamplighters to prepare their parade like procession rangers guided us from one sim to the other. It was fun as they asked me to help carry the lamps Fifi Candyfloss and Franja Russell were lamplighters and firedancers among others. One of the burners Ratatosk Independent wrote this poem as self expression.

 Eye music
------------
Firework is like music for the eye.
Flowers and thunder in the sky.
Magicians send up flowers with ease
Patterns and wonders and buzzing bees!
It's one of humankind's better invention!
Love and laughter its only intention.

Laura loves the Fire Workers of Burning Man 2015

As I carried the lamps I heard drums like native American music with chants and rhythmic beat that was entrancing. Towards the end I was watching the fire dancers do amazing dances with torches. It was a no brainer that Burning Man was a hot event when I was djing and watching the fire dancers

Near the end of the event on Saturday there was an effigy burn as part of Burn2, the "Burning of the Man." There was avatars EVERYWHERE. Everyone and their dog was chanting BURN HIM. Based on "The Man" from this year's Burning Man, the wooden figure was smaller than on most years, but it burned hot and bright just the same.

For those who haven't been to the Burn2 area, or haven't seen the whole thing yet, the art exhibits will still be up for two or three days. You can marvel at the drawings of Leonardo DaVinci's genius come to life, or rezz a mutant vehicle and have some laughs as you drive around in a martini glass or red wagon.

Grease Coakes

Burn2: The Burning of the Man

By Bixyl Shuftan

Saturday October 24 was the day of the "Burning of The Man" at the Burn2 Art and music festival. In the Burning Man Black Rock sim, the effigy of "The Man" was set up on top of a maze of circus signs, made to look like a wooden structure lit up by neon tubes.

The maze was made of of signs from carnivals and freak shows of old. Though a few were just parodies of them done to poke fun at things.

Underneath "The Man," a couple of the volunteers were presumably making last minute checks to make sure all was set.

The map showing the numbers of people in the surrounding sims. The greatest number were in Looking Glass, the closest to the effigy.

Many of the onlookers in Looking Glass were on this walkway near "The Man."

 Me with a couple friends, watching as sparks of flame appear.

Just sparks at first, but they'd soon grow.

An explosion sends fire and smoke around The Man.

And the first supports of the structure begin to fall off. Unlike The Man in previous years I've seen, the neon tubing stayed lit.

 More pieces began to fall. Once again, a difference from previous Burning of The Man events becomes clear. It's not falling apart from the head down, but all over.

A major piece of the head falls off, though the rest is still atop the burning the structure, refusing to fall.

More parts of the effigy fall as it burns.

Another explosion, but still The Man maintains it's basic shape.

By now, it's clear in real life, The Man would have at least partially collapsed.

 The head of The Man continues to defy gravity, even as most everything else is burned away.

 Finally the structure is completely down.

The head, usually the first big piece to fall off, was among the last this time.

Dawn begins to break as the Burners are invited to head to the wreckage and dance among the flames.

 Looks like one Burner made an ass out of himself.

The burning of The Man didn't go completely as expected. I guess someone like me who's been to several is just used to the structure falling apart from the top down like it would in real life. Still, it was an enjoyable event well worth going to. And there was the Temple Burn which would take place the next day.

Bixyl Shuftan

Going to the Burn

This weekend, the Burn2 art and music festival opened in Second Life. Taking place across six sims and eight days, there's a lot to see and experience with over a hundred arrests and dozens of live musicians and DJs apiece.

Heading over to the entrance at the Playa in 

Burning Man - Deep Hole, (84, 9, 24), I was greeted by one of the staff, Tee Auster, "Heya, welcome to Burn." Talking to her, she described the weekend as "pretty busy. … we had a great turnout last night for the Lamplighters." She gave me a notecard with a list of landmarks, and if I had any questions let her know."

Green arrows led from the entrance into the festival grounds, the trail looking like tire tracks in the Black Rock Desert. I soon came across a few teepees with packages of freebie goods, which included mutant vehicles and funny hats. Although it stated "backpack, wear me," there was no backpack in there, but there were plenty of other freebies.

Passing a few mannequins, there was the DMV (Department of Mutant Vehicles) Diner, which I stopped at to take a break. There was also a map of the six sims, with the Guru stage in the northeast of the sim of the same name, and Newser writer Gemma Cleanslate's partner DJ Qwark having a place in Burning Man - Deep Hole.

I ran into one other Burn2 staff member, Chrisssy (Chrstenhp), "Welcome Bixyl to Burn2." Asking her who was coming to the festival, she answered there were "a lot of" newcomers attending, reasoning they saw it in the Second Life Destinations Guide, but there were plenty of seasoned residents coming too.

Within sight, there were a number of exhibits. There was a 3-D maze that looked promising. But I saved that for later as it seemed a little crowded. One exhibit close to the entrance was Caro Fayray's "The Maypole, the Brain, and the Beanstalk," which had a few more freebie items such as a brain hat that sparked and a walking stick that made one's avatar dance. Other exhibits included a garden DJ stage, a flower garden with birds and bees, three giant spiders throwing webbing over an avatar-sized empty chair, and many others. And around the sims were the decorated toilets that appear every year. I also noticed a pet kitty walking the grounds of one exhibit. No doubt set there by the artist as company while building the place, and left there since he seemed happy enough.


There was only so much one can see in a few hours. Clearly, one will need to come back more days to get a good look. And of course there's the Burning of The Man and the Temple Burn next weekend.

Burn2 is based on the real life Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, which is considered by some to be a partial inspiration for Second Life as some Lindens attended it during the development of the virtual world. For several years, Linden Lab sponsored a Second Life version of the festival, which then was called Burning Life. But eventually Linden Lab stopped it's sponsorship. The people running the festival rented a few sims and renamed the event Burn2. Today the Burners, as the serious fans of Burn2 are called, are more active than ever with smaller events with the theme elsewhere in the year. But there's nothing like the big event.

For a list of landmarks, Daniel Voyager had these listed in one Burn2 article of his:

Gate Road & Freebies (SLURL)
The Man (SLURL)
The Temple (SLURL)
Center Camp Stage (SLURL)
BURN2 Osiris Stage (SLURL)
Guru Stage (SLURL)
Lamp Lighters (SLURL)
BURN2 Ranger HQ (SLURL)
Literary Camp (SLURL)


For the Burn2 Flickr, Click Here.

For the Burn2 website: http://burn2.org/about

Bixyl Shuftan