Does Your Art Party Need a Philosophy?

Whenever a discussion of Burning Man’s philosophy gets big enough, someone who isn’t enjoying themselves always tries to ruin it for everyone by playing the “do we even need a philosophy? Aren’t you all just missing the point?” card.

Which is another way of saying, “That thinking is making me uncomfortable so stop it right now and go dance around a mutant bus where a DJ from Budapest is pretending to be spontaneous, like sensible people do.”

When the argument is presented that way, as an insulting attack on all you thinky-people, it deserves to be met with laughter and ridicule. Because, come on: thinking is a form of Radical Self-expression too. Philosophy is no weirder or less pertinent a way of expressing ourselves than is building a giant sculpture out of pianos or blowing up penis-shaped buildings. Saying “Your thinking is ruining our good time” is the hipster equivalent of being the pastor in Footloose declaring: “There will be no dancing in THIS town!” 

Oh yeah? Just try and stop us, old man! 

So there’s that. We can do this just because it’s fun. 

But there’s another level at which this is a legitimate question. Sure we can toss the philosophy of Burning Man back and forth, preferably naked in a hot spring, as much as we want. But that doesn’t mean it’s important, or any more relevant than that statue that you saw last year … you know, the one at the place, that had the blinky lights on it. 

Unless … it is? Is there actually some reason why it matters if people are thinking about Burning Man philosophy, and doing so rigorous and well? Is it important? Does our art party actually need a philosophy?

The answer — not surprisingly — is: “It depends.” It depends on what you want to do with your art party.

If all you’re doing is having a party? If you just want to get together with some friends and make some art and light it on fire and then go home and it has nothing to do with the rest of your life? Then … kinda no. No, actually, you don’t really need a philosophy. Go and have a good time. Get out of your head.

Which is the way most people relate to most parties and festivals, right? Nobody goes to the big music festivals and says, “I want to change the world so that it’s more like Woodstock!” Nobody tries to organize their lives around the premise of Coachella. You don’t go to a birthday party and say to yourself “I like birthday parties so much that maybe I need to quit my job and do something more in line with the spirit of birthdays!” 

None of those things need a philosophy, just a premise. Their marketing materials may allude to a philosophy, but they don’t actually have one (just marketing materials) and they don’t need one. 

But Burning Man hasn’t been a small family picnic or a party on the beach in a long, long, time. Something about Burning Man inspires people to want to turn it into a culture, and to bring the spirit of this culture into the rest of their lives. They’re not told to do it, they want to do it. And if that’s what you want to do … if you want to have your home be “more like Burning Man,” and your career be “more like Burning Man,” and your life be “more like Burning Man,” then … yeah, it’s kind of important that you figure out what it is you’re trying to do. To understand what distinguishes it and how it works and why. 

Your art party needs a philosophy the moment people start trying to make it more than an art party. 

Or rather, you have a philosophy the moment people start trying to do that. Because whether or not they think it through carefully, whether or not they are rigorous about it or insightful about it, or wise about it, they have at least a rudimentary sense of what they’re trying to do and why. When they start using Burning Man culture to do community clean ups or refugee support or put more art in their communities, they have SOME sense, right or wrong, about what it is they are trying to bring from a Burning Man event to this other aspect of life, and how. To take it from here to there. They have a philosophy of Burning Man. 

And at that point, it’s very helpful if it is thought through. It matters if they get it right. 

Which highlights another important aspect of Burning Man philosophy — it is about doing. It exists not to make some abstract claims about the nature of the universe (although, go ahead if that’s fun for you) or to be more correct than that stupid Hungarian DJ that you hate. It exists to help you do things in and with Burning Man’s culture. To make it accessible, to extend it to new people, to other areas of your life, to make it more potent and avoid reducing it. The philosophy exists to support the things people do, not the other way around. Burning Man isn’t about a philosophy, but understanding its philosophy can be helpful and supportive.

This is how it originated. Larry was asked by the Regionals to develop some language that people doing Burning Man where they lived could talk to their communities and neighbors about what they were doing and why. The philosophy emerged out of a need to communicate, it didn’t emerge out of a desire to prove some abstract point. Larry didn’t develop it from a desire to tell people what to do, he developed it by watching what people were already doing when they were successfully engaging in our culture, and describing that. 

When we want to use “Burning Man” culture to do something, it matters that we can describe what we want to do. Especially to keep our description free of bullshit. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but people say a lot of bullshitty things about Burning Man. A whole bunch of nonsense. I don’t mind if it’s funny, in fact that’s great, but most of the time it’s just stupid. I don’t know about you, but I could use a lot less stupid in the world. 

Now some people just get Burning Man culture intuitively: they take to it, they’re good at it, they don’t really need anything explained, and they are wonderful ambassadors for it in new domains. Those people are awesome, and I really admire them, and most of the time they don’t need to get all thinky. Which is great. Some of us, though … we’re not so cool. Figuring out how to Burn, how to organize, how to engage, can be hard for us. When we get stuck, having access to some high quality thinking about this culture we’re in can be really helpful. Even a pleasure.

That’s what it’s for. Not to tell anyone what to do, but to help people make their goals and passions more accessible. If all you want to do is show up to a Burning Man space and enjoy yourself, maybe you don’t need it. (Although if you want to understand what’s going on, it could be helpful.) If you want to create a Burning Man space, then understanding the underlying philosophy is probably going to be a lot of help. And if you want to take Burning Man culture out of the spaces where it is native and into other cultural spaces, understanding its philosophy is probably essential. 

And yeah, sometimes we need that. Even DJs. 

Cover image of Burner at sunset, 2019 (Photo by Juan P. Zapata)