This year the Dancetronauts Art Car at The Playa, has been banned from Burning Man for being “too loud“; is it right for a festival to curb it’s own given right to freely express and endorse creativity?Β
Festivals have always been a space for people to come together and celebrate, to be away from the hustle of the city, and create a hustle of their own. When you think music festival, you think fun, frolic, and a lot of people enjoying the show. But what if the show get’s a little unbearable? At Burning Man, which is an almost 1000-acre city created solely to be able to do everything a music festival warrants sans any regulatory impositions, this year, one of the art car sets was banned for being, “too loud”. Albeit, yes, there were complaints about their volume levels drowning out the sound of another set of performers, and violations of code due to the antics of one of their own DJs; both of these were dealt with.
While dealing however, the DMV Council at Blac Rock City, banned the art car from participating in Burning Man for one year, and the Burning Man Organisation justified the ban by decibel level regulation.
It does indeed paint an unfortunate picture for all other art cars at The Playa, and as of now, Burning Man Organisation has not made an official statement regarding the ban – but other agencies like Dancing Astronaut, Burners.Me, and a few more have asserted their stance on the issue, claiming, just like us, that noise is no reason to ban creative expression and talent!
With the pace of growth that festivals are experiencing these days, the fate of many are at stake, and it due to this that lots of dissent has been voiced over this issue, attendees, artists, and others have made sure their concerns are heard, only time will tell what happens next.
(All Images Courtesy: Dancetronauts Facebook)