Lightning in a Bottle 2008: art notes
Well it ain’t no Burning Man, that’s all I can say.
The best art there at Lightening in the Bottle was the stages and other shade structures made of bamboo, fabric and other “natural” (well non-petroleum based) materials. An artist named “Shrine” did the Treehouse Stage and Gerard Minakawa did the Bamboo Stage as well as the shade structure at the Fishbon encampment. These are truly inspiring; we were planning on doing something with bamboo and now we have so many ideas! I hope to post some of the images soon of what others did and what we plan to do as we do it.
You could also call all the ornamented dreadlocks and skin art. I didn’t see too much creativity in dress (lots of the road warrior aesthetic, stuff that looks handmade but was made by someone else rather than the wearer, lots of the vaudeville-esque tutus too).
I expected to see more henna art but the weather meant most people kept covered up. I know the henna artwork by Karen at Kawoni Studios in Ventucky that adorned my leg was covered most of the time.
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art predator 
we trifle where we truffle
how could I have forgotten the joy of manually spinning the beuateous whirligig contribution by Jason–one fo the rare examples of art to stumbleupon out there?
you can find Jason’s blog at tacit moi, on my blogroll…
I am a “Bottler” . I love what happens in the mountains above the Santa Barbara.
What got real old, real fast at LIB, was peeps coming up and starting off by saying “You a Burner, You a Burner? I’m a Burner. I’ve been ___ times. (All were 3 or more. One guy went all the way back to the beach in SF.
I am so sure that Burning Man is the coolest and I hope to go someday, but if eveything breaks down into LA Style self absorbed camps that are defined by “How many trips have you made to the Man” or “You can’t possibly be as cool as me because I have been to Burning Man ____ (fill in the blank).
I am old and I saw this kind of circling the wagons or defining my Kewl index in the ’60’s and ’70’s and I didn’t like it then. Art doesn’t divide, it is our common language.
Like Dude, I think a message needs to go out to the Burners that like the Bottlers, our mutual sh*t stinks.
With Love
Urban
Dear Urban,
Thanks for taking the time to respond so thoughtfully and with such depth.
My Burner friends had been trying to get us to join them at LIB since the beginning, and I went expecting too much. Now that I have attended Electric Daisy Carnival, I understand why so many people are thrilled with LIB–it offers much more than people on E and in cuddle puddles.
It’s just that Burning Man offers sooooo much more. This could be why people who saw you appreciating the Burning Man-esque aspects of LIB recognized you as being of the same species, as a Burner type. Consider taking it as a compliment.
As one who’s attended 10 burns from 1992-2007, it gives me a point of reference to know when a person first went to Burning Man and how many times they’ve gone. I think this exchange is common among Burners for similar reasons.
People may have used this info as a talking point, as a way to convince you to go instead of being self-absorbed.
Re the circling of the wagons: I have observed a major change in the B Man culture from one full of front porches where all would gather to one of various private courtyards. It’s a huge loss for the community.
Thanks again for writing. I hope you’ll come visit again!