Afrika Burns is primarily an ART festival, creating a temporary community based on radical self-expression and radical self-reliance in a non-commercial environment.  Art is an absolutely vital part of this project.  As such, think of Afrika Burns as a blank canvas on which you can put anything you wish to.  Think outside the confines of the art world, move away from the idea of reviews, sales or a relationship between an individual artist and an educated (consuming) elite. Think of the idiosyncratic, the personal, and a big wild, free, diverse and celebratory community. This is a free and positive art-making environment.

Art at Afrika Burns can be everywhere and anywhere; generally though, our camping will be confined to one side of the property, in a half circle facing the beautiful mountains. The open area opposite the camping half circle, we are calling the binnekring. This is where most art installations will be placed.  In the centre, will be our centre piece; a representation of our emblem, the san painting of a mish-mash of people, many heads and many legs blending into one. This is our version of the “man” of Burning Man, it will be the burning “clan” and it will burn on the Saturday night of the event.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE AN ARTIST TO CREATE ART AT AFRIKA BURNS

Anyone can display what they have created – at Afrika Burns there is no judgment, competition or censorship.  This is a free and positive, art-making environment. Most works at Burning Man are created collaboratively with many untrained artists and people from all walks of life. This is an opportunity or platform for you to flex your creative muscles if you don’t necessarily do this in your everyday life.

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN DESIGNING YOUR PIECE OR HATCHING YOUR PLAN:
Anyone making a commitment to creating art at Afrika Burns must take responsibility for all aspects of that creation. From developing a dialogue with us, arrival at the site, protecting your art, cleanup and accountability. Art installations vary in size and complexity and can be placed in your campsite, on your body, on the entrance road (within the property) or in binnekring, around the inner circle according to their size and depending on whether they burn or not. 

• INTERACTIVITY:  our challenge to you is to create something that is not just aesthetically pleasing but that will engage, inspire, question, amuse or just titillate the citizens of our temporary village.  Think collectively, collaboratively, inclusively, of accessibility, humour and play, anything that grows community; art works that are meant to be hands-on, touched, climbed-on, played with, made to change over time. Interactive art convenes society around it and the shared experiences in art creation give it meaning and value.
• THE CHALLENGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT: this is an outdoor event 2 and a half hours drive out of Cape Town. Consider that your piece, or the loose components thereof, will have to be transported out to the Karoo, withstand whatever the weather might be and then either be removed or burned. Also consider where sound stages are situated in that area - ranging from a loud zone to a still reflective area.
• MATERIALS: If you are planning to burn your piece, please make sure that the materials you use do not have toxic substances in it, or on its surfaces that will release noxious fumes when burnt.
  ART created from recycled waste materials and art which will burn during the course of the festival, or be reconstituted in a public space after the event is encouraged.
• SAFETY: If your artwork is very tall, please make provision for anchoring it properly, so that it will withstand high winds or any kind of collisions that might occur.  In this case please also make sure that you anchor points and guy ropes are well lit at night as well as “softened up”, cut tennis balls, dolls heads… whatever is going to make that piece of rebar sticking out of the ground more friendly so that it will not injure someone on their midnight wanderings.
• LIGHTING: Make provision for lighting your piece at night - this is not only a safety issue, but a lot of activity goes on at night, and it would be sad to not be able to partake of your piece all hours of the day
• ACCOUNTABILITY: We aim to leave our venue as close to the way we found it as possible (see leave no trace).  Nothing should be left of your artwork or campsite after we leave, right down to the last stray false eyelash, tent peg, plastic packet or cigarette stompie, the Karoo must be left only with footprints maybe some disturbed earth and good memories.(see moop)
• SET UP: If you have a very big installation, please consider or plan on coming to the venue earlier in the week to have it set up by Thursday, 16 October, 2008, so that when the major fun starts you are not working all hours to set up your piece.
• GRANTS-FUNDING: At the moment there is no funding to assist art projects – we are working together towards that eventuality for future events, in fact it is one or our primary goals (see mission statement-intentions). So at the moment, create what you can afford to create, give what you can afford to give. Share costs with a collective of friends, or embark on fund-raising ventures to sponsor your requirements... materials, construction, transport, erection of art installation - all need careful consideration and are hugely gratifying!
  AFRIKA BURNS will be well documented [promotion for future events and archival material for the BURNING MAN project] and will provide dialogue and exchange between local and international artists participating in regional events around the world. Your art will be partaken of by many more than will ever visit a gallery.
  
• ART INSTALLATION PROPOSALS
  We urge individuals or groups of participants to submit proposals (a description and a sketch) for their art installations.  Your artworks do not need to be “approved” (unless it is totally unsafe), so don’t hold off on creating what you wish to create, having an idea of what is coming to Afrika Burns will allow us to allocate designated space on the binnekring for your piece (if that’s where you want it) but will also enable us to add it into our printed “who, what, where, when” directory that we will be handing out at the gate at Afrika Burns. The deadline for Proposals is 10th August 2009 please email proposals to Monique on info@afrikaburns.com starting the subject title with “ART” and followed by your pieces name/working title/your name
  
  

PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IN YOUR PROPOSAL:

• Indicate where you think your piece should be (loud or quiet zone), and if it involves acoustic elements that need to be heard.
• Also mention whether your piece will burn or involves fire - If so, for safety reasons, what materials are burned - metal, wood, fabric [no toxic substances please!] and what method of combusting is used - petrol, paraffin, wax? 
• What are the dimensions of your piece? 
• Does your piece require power of any sort - electricity, battery, steam, solar or wind energy? 
• How do you intend to illuminate your piece at night - fire, gaslight, candles, Elwire, solar-powered spotlights? 
• Does your piece involve moving elements - i.e. wheels, fins, sails, blades?
• Does your piece have a name, and the motivation/inspiration for your piece? 
• Is your piece interactive i.e. are participants invited to contribute or collaborate during the festival?
• Will you need heavy equipment like a crane or digger to erect your piece?

PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: if you have missed the deadline for art proposals and theme camps for Afrika Burns, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BRING ART TO AFRIKA BURNS. By all means let your creative juices flow and bring your creations to the village, it just means that you wont have an allocated space and will not be included in the “what where when” booklet.

top