Application and Approval

It seemed that if I wanted to nail something down out on the playa, I was going to need some sort of official OK. To figure out how to proceed, I started by visiting burningman.com and looking for information.

I found lots of information about the 2009 theme, previous art, art groups, etc. I didn't find much that told me what I needed to do. Turns out they were busy changing the back-end IT stuff around and didn't have the links up for a while. Eventually forms.burningman.com launched and it has all the forms for art projects, mutant vehicle registration, camp placement, etc. Note this site has its own registration system, because you know you wanted another username/password to remember. I also like that it runs on plone, which we have been using at work for some time now.

Even after getting registered, it still takes a bit to actually find the dang form (tiny link way at the bottom of a page; time to get a UX expert on board guys). But after that it is pretty straightforward. Unless you are dealing with fire. If you are, you will have a TON of questions to answer about how you are not going to roast anyone.

Since the karmabox is a pretty modest project, all I really needed to do (besides described it) was make a little diagram. I just grabbed an image of a box from google and used Skitch to draw some arrows and text on it.

I did all this on the first week that forms.burningman.com went up, so I got a pretty quick response. Jonesy Jones, an Artists' Advocate, called me back pretty quick. We basically rehashed everything I put on the forms (the nature of the project, how big, lighting, etc.). I think this was to make sure I was not an idiot. He also really emphasize the need to make sure your art is nailed down to the playa and well lit. I appreciated that he was very supportive and not harsh or judgmental in any way. I was also added to the playa-art-announce mailing list.

Since I don't need a lot of setup and am not (too) picky about location, all I need to do is head to the Artery once on-playa and they will assist in placing the art. I hope this means driving me out to the location in a truck because moving it by hand would be a pain.

Next few posts will be about the karmabox itself (with pictures) !