the political economy of burning man

1. Burning Man:
The Pop-Up City of Self-
Governing Individualists

4. A T.A.Z. is a liberated area “of land, time or
imagination” where one can be for something, not
just against, and where new ways of being human
together can be explored and experimented with.
Locating itself in the cracks and fault lines in the
global grid of control and alienation, a T.A.Z. is an
eruption of free culture where life is experienced at
maximum intensity. It should feel like an
exceptional party where for a brief moment our
desires are made manifest and we all become the
creators of the art of everyday life.
Boyd, Andrew, Mitchell, Dave Oswald, Beautiful
Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution (OR Books,
2012).

6. Crisis
Larry
John law

7. Liberty:
Act according to one's
will without being
physically hindered
from performing that
act.
Only chains or
imprisonment can
prevent one from
acting, so all subjects
have absolute liberty
under sovereignty.Thomas Hobbes

8. But though this be a state
of liberty, yet it is not a
state of license.
Men have a natural moral
state. But these need to
be enforced.
John Locke

9. file:///.file/id=65
71367.954760

12. “Cities have the capability
of providing something for
everybody, only because,
and only when, they are
created by everybody.”
Jane Jacobs,
The Death and Life of Great American Cities

13. By its nature, the
metropolis provides what
otherwise could be given
only by traveling; namely,
the strange.”
Jane Jacobs,
The Death and Life of Great American Cities

18. The powers
delegated by the
proposed
Constitution to the
federal
government are
few and defined.
Those which are
to remain in the
State governments
are numerous and
indefinite.
James Madison

20. Who the fuck do you
think you are playing
god?

21. Who the fuck do you think
you are playing god?

22. lib liberty
equality
community
efficiency

31. agency

35. The
Maker
City

36. President Obama on the
White House Maker Faire
“We cannot wait to see more of that innovative spirit later this year
when we host our first ever White House Maker Faire. We already
have a White House Science Fair. This new event is going to
highlight how Americans young and old -— tinkerers and inventors
—- are imagining and designing and building tools and machines
that will open our minds and power our economy.”
(remarks at the White House Student Film Festival, Feb. 28, 2014)
“Our parents and our grandparents created the world’s largest
economy and strongest middle class not by buying stuff, but by
building stuff -- by making stuff, by tinkering and inventing and
building; by making and selling things first in a growing national
market and then in an international market -- stuff “Made in
America.” — President Barack Obama at the first-ever White
House Maker Faire, June 18, 2014

42. June 30, 2015
2
You might ask, “Who is this president, to call on Burning Man?”
A year ago when I began working with OSTP Tom Kalil, Assistant to the President for
Science and Technology Policy said to me, unprompted " Our strategy is to get cities to
realize they have the ability to create temporary autonomous zones, and those can drive
innovation." When I asked where a White House reference to the founding principles of
Burning Man came from, I was reminded, "don't forget, your president is a community
organizer..."
I’ve come to learn the White House team respects the burner network as a large, capable and
smart. They and are curious to understand how the Burning Man org is leveraging that
resource for civic benefit, learning, engagement and community building.
Jenn, I know you have been engaged in linking Burning Man's cites, the regional network
and the Maker movement together. The President would like to call on Burning Man's
support in making this happen as part of the National Week of making. I hope you and
Stephanie speak soon so that our nation might call on one of its most unique and creative
communities in the greater mission of building a Nation of Makers
Regards,
Peter Hirshberg
Co-Founder,
The Maker Cities Project
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