Burning Man – the counterculture festival that has a new theme each year – has announced it’s theme and ticket information for this year.
The theme for this year is ‘Caravansary’. The term refers to a chain of oases and sanctuaries (or roadside inns) that lined the 4000-mile Silk Route from Europe to East Asia. In addition to shelter from arid wastelands, they were centers of cultural exchange that brought together traders, monks, nomads and all kinds of adventurers from all across the globe to share their stories.
Here’s what the folks at Burning Man had to say:
This year we will create a caravansary that occupies the crossroads of a dreamland: a bazaar of the bizarre wherein treasures of every sort, from every land and age, flow in and out to be flaunted, lost, exploited and discovered. This is not aΒ tourist destination, but a home for travelers who come here bearing gifts. Amid the twisting and the turnings of its souk, participants will come upon an inexhaustible array of teeming goods and unexpected services. Anyone may pose as ‘merchant’ here, and anyone may play a ‘customer’, but nothing in this strange emporium shall have aΒ purchase priceΒ β no quid, no pro, no quo β no trade at all will be allowed in this ambiguous arcade. According to a rule of desert hospitality, the only thing of value in this ‘marketplace’ will be one’s interaction with a fellow human being.
Also, this year, the colossal wooden figure that stands in the midst of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada will be implanted directly on the ground. This will be the first time it will be placed there since 1997. After many grievances by Burning Man attendees regarding the effigy being ‘unreachable both physically and psychologically’, the organizers decided to place it directly on the ground instead of resting it on high platforms.
This is going to be one hell of a spectacle! August, you are eagerly awaited!
When: August 25 – September 1, 2014
Where: Black Rock Desert, Nevada