AFTERBURN REPORT 2003
DOCUMENTATION TEAM
Every year, artists from around the globe come to Burning Man to create art. Since 1999, the Video Documentation team has set out to capture the creativity that participants and artists bring to Black Rock City.
PRE-PLAYA
In the spring of 2003, we “shot” many San Francisco Bay Area artists
in their studios as they began fabricating their large-scale art installations
for the event, giving us a behind-the-scenes look at how Black Rock City art
is made. Artist Rosanna Scimeca and the crew of Cleavage in Space (also known
as The Chandelier), Michael Christian with Klimax, David Best with the Temple
of Honor, and Nate Smith with Pillar of Fire stand out among all of the artist
we visited not only for the grandeur of their vision but also for their artistic
ingenuity.
We also began transcribing art documentation footage from previous event years. To date, the Video Documentation team has produced more than 70 hours of footage, with 15 hours of artist interviews. After the 2003 event, we had 25 hours of footage that will be transcribed in early 2004.
ON THE PLAYA
This year, Burning Man experienced a 50% increase in art installations
over the previous year. The Video Documentation team met this increase
with the
addition of four new shooters, a new operations manager, and a sound
engineer. We also had a new location for our base of operations on the
playa, sharing
Media Mecca space with the Media Team, the Black Rock Gazette, BLM,
and other media outlets. This new location helped develop team connectivity
and on-site
productivity.
On-site, we had several setbacks, including equipment failure, a very sick team member, and tardy and inconsistent transportation for the team. Plans are in place to remedy the avoidable problems next year.
POST-PLAYA
After the 2003 event, we continued with our transcription efforts; window
dubbing all the footage and cataloguing it. We also connected independent
filmmakers with the footage they needed for their projects. This was
a new process for the team, requiring the adjustment of minor team
functions to
accommodate the growing demands for footage by those outside of the
Project.
In 2004, we plan to finish transcribing the rest of the footage, with
hopes of producing an introspective look at the art installations
of Burning Man,
tentatively called “Art of Burning Man.” Next year, the Video
Documentation team will be adding to our group of experienced shooters—both
to spread out the on-site workload and to insure against technical difficulties
like those this year—as well as to our production assistants.
Submitted by
Hellga, aka The Liberator 
