A blog series inviting us to re-imagine
the relationship between art and money
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A publication of Burning Man’s Philosophical Center.
Introduction
Art, Money, and the Renaissance: Re-Imagining the Relationship
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series Silicon Valley didn’t invent the “gig economy.” On the contrary, the life of a contractor with neither benefits nor security would have been very familiar to Leonardo da Vinci. According to Dr. Matthew Landrus, a member of the history faculty at Oxford and …Read More
2016 Art Theme
Burning Man 2016: Da Vinci’s Workshop
Burning Man’s 2016 art theme is inspired by the Italian Renaissance of the middle fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. …Read More
Posts in the Series
Can Burning Man Balance the “Art” and “History” in “Art History?” Should It Have To?
If we can’t take the topics that our community has passion for and fear about ... and use art and self-expression and community to discuss and play and advance and heal … well then, what are we doing here? …Read More
Burning Book Club: da Vinci Uncoded
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series Since the theme for Burning Man 2016 is da Vinci’s Workshop, the Burning Book Club now turns its attentions to the Italian Renaissance and our posthumous guest of honor. Yet despite Leonardo’s unassailable status as a Culture Hero, he is surprisingly under-represented in world literature. …Read More
What Powered the Renaissance? (Could It Have Happened Without Cash?)
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series We know that money can’t buy happiness (though it often doesn’t hurt), and we know that it can’t buy talent (though again …). But can it buy a Renaissance? Can money buy a thriving art scene that isn’t just busy in the present, but …Read More
Da Vinci’s Workshop: The Piazza
Learn about the rotating Man (!!), the Campaniles, and Guild Workshop Spaces to be featured in this year's Man Base, and how you can participate! …Read More
The Renaissance’s $ecret Weapon for Arts Funding
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series If you think the economy is weighed in favor of the rich now, you should have seen the Renaissance. Not only was it still a feudal system where people could essentially own other people; not only was there no social safety net; but in …Read More
How Burners are Reinventing the Artists’ Workshop
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series One of the defining features of Burning Man art is its collaborative and inclusive nature, offering would-be artists the chance to learn by doing in a group environment. To those of us raised with the peculiar 20th century notion that art can only be learned …Read More
Following the Money: The Florentine Renaissance and Black Rock City
By Larry HarveyIf Burning Man is to be more than a refuge, and if we believe that it is destined to do work in the world, we should invest our efforts in creating a society that conditions how money behaves. …Read More
You’re Doing It Wrong! Stop Burning Your Art and Start Burning Your Art!
By SavonarolaBurning Man is grateful that legendary 15th-century Florentine Friar Savonarola has agreed to write an occasional feature for our Renaissance series called “Savonarola’s Corner.” This is the first installment. Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series Savonarola’s Corner Fellow servants of Christ: I was thrilled to learn that for almost 30 years, …Read More
Art, Gender, and the Renaissance: Where My Matrons At? (Introduction)
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series Introduction When the subject of the Renaissance and the system of patronage comes up in discussion, inevitably it evokes images of a gilded age of art, music, philosophy and the flowering of religious thought. It brings to mind certain names, artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, …Read More
Art, Gender, and the Renaissance: Where My Matrons At? – Part 1: Mrs. Cellophane
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series (Read the Introduction to Art, Gender, and the Renaissance here) What a Difference a Century Makes The ideology that shaped the brave new world of the Renaissance was obsessed with the ideal: the ideal state, the ideal social structure, the ideal man and, of course, the …Read More
Art, Gender, and the Renaissance: Where My Matrons At? – Part 2: Take Me To Church
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series (Read the prior sections of Art, Gender, and the Renaissance here) Matronage, Patronage… What’s in a Name? Words have power. The words we use change how we think, perceive and interpret. Words inforce or challenge the status quo. Words change the questions we ask, or whether we even …Read More
Art, Gender, and the Renaissance: Where My Matrons At? – Part 3: Losing My Religion
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series (Read the entire Art, Gender, and the Renaissance here) Separate But (Not) Equal “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” President Clinton’s famous (or infamous, depending on which side of the aisle you sit) splitting of hairs has gone down in the annals of …Read More
What Have We Learned So Far About Art, Money, and the Renaissance?
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series As we pivot from looking at questions of art funding in the Renaissance to issues of art funding in the modern world, I want to take a moment to discuss why the Burning Man Philosophical Center is producing this series in the first place. Black …Read More
Making Patronage Work for Us: Recognizing That Our Community Creates Value
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series Read a summary of the series so far. Before we talk about 21st century art funding models, let’s talk for a moment about 20th century culture jamming. Specifically the Billboard Liberation Front. If you’re not familiar with the BLF, they were an underground organization established …Read More
Art Gets More Valuable When “Data” Becomes “Relationships”
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series The last article in this series sought to illustrate a fascinating point: that time spent in our community enhances the value of art, and that this added value can be measured in (among other things) financial returns. This wasn’t true back in 1996 – a …Read More
Art, Money, and the Renaissance: Q&A with Larry Harvey
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series At the 2016 Burning Man Global Leadership Conference, the Burning Man Philosophical Center presented on this year’s exploration of art and money through the lens of da Vinci’s Workshop. Caveat moderated a discussion with Larry Harvey and Stuart Mangrum, who then took questions from the …Read More
Embed Artists Everywhere: They Are the Community Innovators the World Needs
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series So far our look at arts funding solutions in the 21st century has focused on the premise that art which moves through our community gains greater value in the marketplace — thus giving artists who are part of our community leverage. But perhaps the …Read More
Redesigning Money: An Alternative Model of Funding From the Burning Man Community
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series “For artists to be rewarded for the value they bring to society,” Will Ruddick says, “the value of the reward must come from that society – rather than based on the fiat based debt of for-profit banks.” When it comes to out-of-the-box thinking about …Read More
Are Theme Camps the New Renaissance Guilds?
Part of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series Stick with me here, because this could be: the future. That’s right, THE FUTURE! Are you ready for it? First let’s review. Key elements that could help working artists that have come up previously series include: The way Burning Man artists are revitalizing the …Read More
What We’ve Learned about Art, Money, and the Renaissance
Conclusion of the Art, Money, and the Renaissance blog series It’s not true that every culture gets the art they deserve. But they get the art they’re willing to sacrifice for. If Burning Man is an artistic powerhouse today, it is because over its 30-year history, its community has been willing to make heroic …Read More