Find Your True North: Help Build the Compass at Midburn

In recent months, a group of dreamers has convened with utmost humility, in an attempt to distill the essence of the Temple for the Midburn community in Israel. For the first time, we are creating a unique, local identity for the Temple, just as we’ve reshaped our Effigy into the twin forms of a Woman and a Man (Adam and Eve).

We have studied the history of Burning Man Temple. The installation became a space for processing loss, where people could express emotions of grief and farewell. The Temple in Black Rock City is a fascinating space of healing qualities and renewal, yet we feel that by duplicating its original model at Midburn, it has lost some of this effect here in Israel.

We weren’t even sure there would be a Temple at Midburn this year. We wanted to take a pause and ask ourselves, to ask the community: What is it really?

From conversations with members of the community, with people who have gone through meaningful experiences while visiting the temple at Midburn, several key answers arose in response to the question, “What is the temple for you?”

A place for introspection.
A place to ask questions.
A place to put your intent.
A space to shed what you wish to let go of.
A place where I find myself.
A place for adjustment and finding my true north.

And thus the Compass was born.

The Compass is what we once knew as the Temple, and from here on, it shall be anything we ask it to be.

The fundraising process for the Compass is a fascinating endeavor that helps us create a community discussion about the nature of the Temple. We will encourage the community to discuss this installation’s place at Midburn in order to strengthen the community’s form and identity, following four years of rapid growth that hasn’t given us time to ponder key components of our still-new culture.

We invite you to participate in the journey of the Compass, so that we can complete its construction and transform it into what it should be.

Support the Compass at Midburn 2018

About the author: Roni Kantor

Roni Kantor

Roni Kantor (a.k.a. Polka dot com) is one of the founders of Midburn and is now Special Advisor for Community Development and Communication. A Burner since 2009, she came back to Israel from her first Burn with a new spark in her eyes. She’s a shoe designer, artist and community hacker. On playa, when she’s not running like a child with her Burner son from one art installation to another, you can find her building something colorful or picking up MOOP.

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