By Bixyl Shuftan
Last month from Friday October 7 to Sunday October 16, the Burn 2 art and music festival took place. A virtual reflection of the yearly Burning Man event that takes place every late summer in Black Rock Nevada, it's been one of the more notable yearly events here in Second Life. It's been taking place for over a decade, following the change from the "Burning Life" festivals that were sponsored by Linden Lab but stopped in 2010.
The theme this year was "Waking Dream."
As usual, there were greeters near the entrance during the hours most dropped in.
And there were numerous art exhibits.
Among the artists there was Moya, who has gotten the attention of the Newser a few times.
There were vehicle rezzers from the Department of Mutant Vehicles, including smaller ones for tinies.
I noticed an arena in the grounds.
Some of the grounds around the middle of the area looked fairly empty.
The most noteable and important of the builds was "The Man."
Inside the base were a number of pictures.
The other very notable build was the Temple.
I would see one dance being carried out there.
Which included one tiny participant.
Speaking of tinies, the wee folk of Raglan would have liked this exhibit.
Marianne
McCann, better known for her Bay City events, would hold one party at
Burn2 on the night before the burning of "The Man."
A smaller "man" would be burned down at her event, the "Mini Man Burn."
Saturday October 15 had the Man Burn, preceeded by a Lamplighter show by iSkye Silverweb (iSkye Silvercloud).
Standing over the people watching, The Man remained as it had throughout the event, for a time.
I had my attention turned away for a moment, and it returned to see The Man ablaze from his legs to his chest.
It's left arm lowered when the flames reached the shoulders.
And it was soon completely on fire.
Eventually, the flames started turning the wood to char and ash.
And it was falling apart.
Fire doesn't travel down as fast as up. But the base eventually was ablaze.
And "The Man" was eventually just a pile of burning char and embers.
Eventually the all clear was given, and people went to walk and dance on the remains.
The burning of The Man would be recorded on Youtube (link).
There would be one or two other burns of The Man. The following day was the Temple Burn, which I was unable to attend.
I would explore a little more on the last official day of the festival on Sunday the 16th.
There were a few last-minute events, plus a few impromptu unscheduled ones in the following few days, plus a "Thank You" on Saturday the 22nd.
Burn2 was a good event, but not all was well. Maybe it was the empty space, but things seemed a little smaller. I didn't notice as many of the whimsical porto-potties as before. And some of the optimism I saw at previous events, "It was better next year" was tempered. What is known that a number of artists over the course of several months before the event either left or were dismissed from the Burn2 groups. Many would have their own event that began just as Burn2 was finishing, the "Renegade Burn."
Still, it was an event like no other, and looking for the one next year.
Bixyl Shuftan
