BURN

Burn: Into the flames of burning art

A Visual Chronicle and Personal Journey

Winner of the 2018 Fine Art and Best Book Award at the South African Independent Publishers Awards (SAIPA).

Once a year, deep in the Karoo desert, a barren stretch of land transforms into Tankwa Town – a temporary city of imagination known as AfrikaBurn, the largest official Burning Man regional gathering. For a single week, over 10,000 participants create a transient city devoted to radical self-expression, performance, monumental to minuscule sculpture and kinetic burning art. The community is self-sustaining and money-free, built entirely on creativity, cooperation and participation. Towering sculptures, interactive installations, and fantastical Mutant Vehicles populate the landscape leading to a crescendo of celebration that culminates just as quickly – leaving no trace and nothing but desert silence.

Photographer, AfrikaBurn emeritus member and participant Simon O’Callaghan captures this extraordinary gathering over 7 years with more than 600 images, presenting the first authorised visual chronicle of AfrikaBurn.

This officially sanctioned collection features:

Introductions from founders, artists, and Burning Man’s Regional Network Director
Over 600 breathtaking photographs
The Clan, central signifier effigy, changes over the years
Monumental to minuscule art installations and kinetic burning art
Legendary Mutant Vehicles
Portraits of participants in their desert element
A chronicle of the Vlam-I-Stoff crew’s pilgrimage to Burning Man

A powerful visual archive, this book is a must for Burners, dreamers, makers, artists, collectors and anyone curious about one of the world’s most extraordinary transformative cultural gatherings.