Nowhere (event)

Last updated
Nowhere
Nowhere 2009 fabian.jpg
Nowhere 2009 festival site
A regional burn event in Europe
Location: Monegros Desert, Monegros, Aragon, Spain [1]
Type of event:Arts, Music, Costumes, Participation. [2] Inspired by the Burning Man Festival.
Participants:3000+
Most recent event:5–10 July 2022
First year:2004 [3]
Website: www.goingnowhere.org

Nowhere is a Burning Man regional event in Spain, the biggest such regional event in Europe. [4] [5] [6] It began in 2004 and is held annually in July in the Monegros Desert, located in Aragon in north-eastern Spain. [3] [7]

Contents

As an official regional event, Nowhere embraces the Burning Man principles. [4] [8] [9] There are now around 3600 participants. [10]

Features

Nowhere, like any Burning Man event, differs drastically from a music festival. Participation is the key element of the event and every attendant is expected to be involved in some way. [2] [9] Every task ranging from setup over maintaining the gate and perimeter up to first aid are volunteer based. There is no hired workforce aside from transport and logistics. Further, there are no scheduled performers or stages. Participants pay everything they contribute out of their own pocket as there is a strict rule of non commerce. [2] [8]

Being situated in the region of Monegros near Zaragoza, Nowhere is characterized by its dry, desert climate. [11] Because it is Europe's largest burn event, Nowhere has historically drawn a nationally diverse crowd.

Barrios

A Barrio is a group of people who camp together, share infrastructure (kitchen, shade structure, etc.), and usually provide a service or attraction to the other participants. Barrios must register for the event and be assigned a location based on their size and sound zone preferences.

Barrios are a vital part of Nowhere [12] and in 2018 the event hosted about 50 Barrios ranging from large sound camps to meditation camps. [11] There are special Barrios like Werkhaus, which house core event volunteers.

Freecampers

Aside from the Barrios, there are many free camps for independent campers who are not affiliated with a Barrio where the majority of participants stay. They are referred to as Freecampers. In these areas, some Freecampers create their own shade structures and artwork. Others set up public areas within free camping areas. Middle of Frickin Freecamp is one of the most well-known (MOFF). MOFF, which has become a Nowhere institution, allows for gatherings and workshops.

No open fires

Nowhere does not include fire as a key feature of the event. [13] [14] Due to the dry area, which is on wildfire alert during the summer, it is strictly forbidden to have any kind open fire, therefore no art is set on fire. [13] [14] Fire spinning [13] is restricted to a controlled area with fire marshals on duty. The burning of an effigy happened only once in 2016 after coming to an agreement with the local authorities.

Layout

Nowhere is created solely by the participants and driven by theme camps which are called Barrios. During the last incarnations Nowhere used a layout that resembled a compass. This leads to an arrangement of the Barrios in a circle-like shape. Nowhere further divides the camps into four distinct sound zones reading from the blue zone which has a no sound policy to the red zone which hosts the dance camps. The same goes for the free camping areas.

Art

Art is the core of any burn event and Nowhere does not differ from this. [11] Despite this, large scale artworks are rare at Nowhere. This is in part due to the strict non burning policy. The logistics of transport, setup, takedown and removal are more challenging to the participants because of this. Nowhere gives art grants for artists up to €3000. [15] Artworks that are meant to be built on the playa require prior registration.

Public infrastructure

The event has a central shade structure known as Middle of Nowhere (MoN). It is a public space for relaxing, dancing, workshops and socializing. Other public infrastructure includes: NoInfo which serves as the general point of information, La Cantina which offers volunteers a free meal and Werkhaus, which sets up and keeps the public infrastructure intact.

History

Nowhere in 2009 From mountain nowhere 2009 3 small cropped.jpg
Nowhere in 2009

The roots of Nowhere date back to 2002 when UK burners started to organize a decompression party in London. [3] [4] Nowhere has been held in several different locations in the Navarra and Aragon regions of Spain. It began in 2004, in Bardenas Reales. The current location is near Sariñena in the Province of Huesca. In 2016, attendance was about 1000 people; [11] in 2017, about 1000 [16] or 1500 people; [17] and in 2018 and 2019 around 3600 participants. [10] Nowhere was cancelled in 2020 and 2021. The 2022 event sold 3600 tickets.

Principles

Nowhere is built on the following key principles, inspired by Burning Man, however they have been adapted and re-edited in an inverted order:

  1. Self-expression – The freedom to be yourself: Be the person you are. Be the person you want to be. We respect and value you, and expect the same from you. You have the freedom to be yourself. Become who you are.
  2. Self-reliance – You are responsible for you, mentally and physically: From food and water to a hug or quiet, you need to take care of yourself in Nowhere’s challenging environment. Give yourself what you need – and ask others for help when you need it.
  3. No commerce – Forget about money – there’s nothing to buy: By removing commerce from our community, we create co-operation and participation. We plan ahead and work together. We live without money to remind us of what’s really important.
  4. Leave no trace – From dust to dust, we leave only footprints: We care for the environment, and we take care of our home. We clean up after ourselves; we leave nothing behind; we leave no trace we were there. From dust to dust, we leave only footprints.
  5. Participation Get involved – Nowhere is what we make it: The more you do, the more you get back. When you join others in play and in work, you are part of Nowhere. Your contribution is more valuable than you realise.
  6. Inclusion – Everyone is welcome to be a Nobody: We welcome everyone for their unique contribution to our community. Include others as you want to be included, with respect, consideration and tolerance.
  7. Gifting – We give our time, effort and gifts freely: We give to help others and because it makes us feel good. From a cold beer to digging out a tent pole to a small badge, our gifts are from our heart.
  8. Co-operation – Together we are stronger: From how we work together to how we communicate, co-operation is at Nowhere’s core. If we can make life easier, we will. If we can make life better, we will. Together we are stronger.
  9. Community – A family of individuals, we look after each other. A diverse group of separate self-reliant beings, we are united in our need to be part of something larger than ourselves. Community, others, self – united by tolerance and joy.
  10. Immediacy – Make now count: Be now here, be nowhere. Make now count. All this will soon be gone, so enjoy now. Experience, participate, be. This is all there is, so enjoy it!

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burning Man</span> Annual experimental festival based in Nevada, United States

Burning Man is a week-long large-scale desert event focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance" held annually in the western United States. The event's name comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred to as the Man, that occurs on the penultimate night, the Saturday evening before Labor Day. Since 1991, the event has been at Black Rock City in northwestern Nevada, a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles (160 km) north-northeast of Reno. According to Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey in 2004, the event is guided by ten stated principles: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy.

Tech house is a subgenre of house music that combines stylistic features of techno with house. The term tech house developed as a shorthand record store name for a category of electronic dance music that combined musical aspects of techno, such as "rugged basslines" and "steely beats", with the harmonies and grooves of progressive house. The music originally had a clean and minimal production style that was associated with techno from Detroit and the UK.

Burning Flipside is an annual effigy burn, display of creative arts, and self-expression of performances staged in Central Texas near Austin. Modeled on and associated with Burning Man, Flipside was the first regional Burning Man event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coachella</span> American annual music and arts festival held in Indio, California

Coachella is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. It was co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen in 1999, and is organized by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Presents. The event features musical artists from many genres of music, including rock, pop, indie, hip hop and electronic dance music, as well as art installations and sculptures. Across the grounds, several stages continuously host live music.

Playa del Fuego, also known as PDF, is a regional event held annually in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. It is inspired by the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada. The event is held in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. twice annually. The spring event is held over Memorial Day and the fall event is held over Columbus Day weekend. The event draws national participation from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other states. The 2024 event is scheduled for May 23 to May 27 in Tamaqua.

Transformus is a regional Burning Man art festival in Stokes County, North Carolina, held on the third weekend of July and previously hosted on Marvin's Mountaintop in Masontown, West Virginia. The community forms a temporary city called Mysteria during the third weekend in July which includes art installations, neighborhoods, lively nightlife and camps which offer services to the community. Since 2006 Transformus has distributed over $207,747 in art grants to the community. It remains one of the most art-centric Burner events in the U.S. Transformus celebrates Burning Man's 10 principles of radical inclusion, radical gifting, radical decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation and immediacy. Transformus also focuses on consent as its 11th principle.

Apogaea is an annual collaborative outdoor arts and music festival held as a Colorado regional counterpart for the Burning Man event. Typically held in late spring in southern Colorado, Apogaea ("Apo"), establishes a temporary autonomous zone where radical self-expression, inclusiveness, and self-reliance are the hallmarks of its participants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flaming Lotus Girls</span>

Flaming Lotus Girls is a volunteer-based group of artists who make large-scale kinetic fire art. FLG has been described as a "women-focused anarchist art collective." The group began in 2000, in San Francisco, California, as a group of six women and two men who wanted to gain the fabrication skills and design experience needed to create large sculptural installations. The group includes over a hundred members of all genders, and a majority of the members are women. Many of the sculptures have interactive elements, allowing the audience to control the lighting, flames, sound, or other effects. The collective's work has appeared throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dance Dance Immolation</span>

Dance Dance Immolation was an interactive performance piece by fire art group Interpretive Arson based out of the artist work space known as NIMBY in East Oakland. It is a modified version of Dance Dance Revolution where players are shot with fire if they perform poorly. Participants are not harmed since they wear a fire proximity suit with forced-air respirators. Numerous other safeguards are built into the system to ensure the players are not subject to direct flame exposure or inhalation of superheated air. The piece was premiered in 2005 and ran at various festivals and private events internationally. It was retired in 2013 at Burning Man, where all the components were gathered into a pile and a piano was dropped on it.

The Black Rock Beacon is a newspaper made by and for burners, or fans and attendees of the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada. It was started in 2005 by former staff members of the Black Rock Gazette when that newspaper no longer received funding from Burning Man LLC. It continues to publish annually. The newspaper aims to publish daily editions during the annual Burning Man event. The print paper is ad-free and is funded through donations, with all of its content is made available under a Creative Commons license.

The Red Bull Music Academy (RBMA) is a world-traveling series of music workshops and festivals that was founded in 1998 by Red Bull GmbH. The main five-week event is held in a different city each year. The public portion of its program is a festival of concerts, art installations, club nights and lectures by influential figures in contemporary music. The other part of the program is by invitation only and is held in a building that has been custom-fitted with a large recording studio, a lecture hall, a radio booth and 8–12 bedroom-sized studios. There, 60 up-and-coming producers, singers, sound artists, DJs and musicians from around the world learn from and collaborate with top industry professionals.

Kiwiburn is a regional Burning Man event based in Hunterville, Manawatū-Whanganui, New Zealand celebrating principles such as inclusion, radical self-expression, gifting, participative art and culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AfrikaBurn</span> Burning Man regional event in South Africa

AfrikaBurn is an official Burning Man regional event, held at Quaggafontein in the Tankwa Karoo, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It is centered on the building of a temporary creative community in a semi-desert environment, involving ephemeral artworks, some of which are burnt towards the end of the event. Many attendees wear elaborate costumes and some create decorated "mutant vehicles". These mobile art cars are officially called Desert Mutant Vehicles.

Symbiosis Gathering is an expressive arts, music, and community event based on transformational development, notable for its international festival collaborations and lack of corporate sponsorship.

<i>Spark: A Burning Man Story</i> 2013 American film

Spark: A Burning Man Story is a 2013 independent documentary film with its world premiere at the South by Southwest film festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. That is about some 60,000 or so people that gather from around the world for a week at the annual Burning Man festival in Black Rock Desert of Nevada to collaborate building a temporary city that operates on a "gifting" economy where nothing is bought or sold. Participants bring in everything; food, water, and shelter. The week features large-scale art installations and partying, at the conclusion of the week a celebration in the ritual burning of a giant effigy, and after one week, take it all away.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Wilkinson</span>

Simon Wilkinson is a British transmedia artist. His work incorporates audiovisual, installation, virtual reality, electronic music, and online and performance media, often combining all of these forms simultaneously. Wilkinson describes transmedia as 'the practice of telling a story through multiple platforms; so that, for example, instead of making a website ‘about’ the theatre piece, the website becomes an embedded part of the narrative.' He often uses transmedia platforms in order 'to disrupt consensus reality and immerse audiences in experiences which blur the line between truth and fiction.'

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blazing Swan</span>

Blazing Swan is an annual regional Burning Man event held near Jilakin Lake in the Shire of Kulin, Western Australia. It is an experiment in temporary community and artistic expression, and is guided by eleven main principles, including radical inclusion, gifting and radical self-reliance. The event occurs around Easter each year, usually over a period of seven days. The event location is on bushland adjacent to Jilakin Lake, and is referred to as Jilakin Rock City. A wooden effigy is built and burned at the culmination of the event.

Desert Siteworks was an event held on the Black Rock Desert for three years (1992-1994). Participants built art and participated in self-directed performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moff Gideon</span> Fictional character in the Star Wars franchise

Moff Gideon is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise who first appeared in the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian, where he is the main antagonist of its first three seasons. Gideon is the leader of a remnant of the fallen Galactic Empire and wielder of the Darksaber responsible for the Purge of Mandalore, who attempts to capture the young Force sensitive child Grogu, who is being protected by the title character of the series, planning on using Grogu's blood to imbue numerous clones of himself with Force sensitivity.

References

  1. ↑ "Nowhere Festival". Escapism Travel Magazine . 12 December 2017. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  2. 1 2 3 Drysdale, Lisa (20 June 2007). "Dress to impress at Glastonbury". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-04-30– via www.theguardian.com.
  3. 1 2 3 Booth, Amy (30 August 2015). "Catching fire: Burning Man is sparking sister festivals around the world". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-04-30– via www.theguardian.com.
  4. 1 2 3 Garber, David; Carswell, Vonecia (19 April 2018). "Skip the Dust and Head to These Five Burning Man-Inspired Festivals Instead". Vice . Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  5. ↑ Das Nowhere Festival – via Spiegel
  6. ↑ "Utopia Is Nowhere". HuffPost UK. 22 July 2011. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  7. ↑ "7 transcendental festivals out in the middle of nowhere". The Independent. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  8. 1 2 Hillier, David (9 March 2016). "How Burning Man Culture Changed Festivals Around the World". Vice . Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  9. 1 2 Madigan, Compiled by Chris (17 June 2006). "40 great things to do this summer". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2019-04-30– via www.theguardian.com.
  10. 1 2 Nowhere Participants Census 2019 (page 4) (PDF)
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Didn't Make It to Burning Man? Try These 5 Festivals Instead". Vogue. September 2015. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  12. ↑ Granola, Jimi. "Nowhere: How I Found The Soul Of Europe's Most Insane Festival". Sabotage Times . Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  13. 1 2 3 "7 mini-Burning Mans (with easier-to-get tickets)". Reno Gazette Journal. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  14. 1 2 "Six desert festivals that are worth the travel – Desert fairylands". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  15. ↑ Art Grant: Aims & Guidelines. Goingnowhere.org
  16. ↑ Robinson, Melia. "Burning Man has wild copycat festivals around the world — here's what they're like". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  17. ↑ Mullins, Deirdre (23 June 2016). "Guide to 2016's Best European Music Festivals".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

41°38′N0°11′W / 41.633°N 0.183°W / 41.633; -0.183

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.