Above: At Burning Man 2005, I started a small art project of creating and distributing "Gifting Credit" cards made out of those annoying fake credit cards that so many of us get as junk mail each week. The idea started by being mad about receiving a hunk of plastic that has zero use. Junk mail is one thing, but when you add a useless piece of plastic, thats just really wasteful. Burning Man exercises a "Gifting Economy" where transactions and value isn't based on money. Since our economy is so dependent on "credit", I thought how silly that notion would be at Burning Man. So I transformed the cards into one of a kind pieces of art and gave them to friends an strangers. I have been making them every year I have attended since.
Above: My design was selected to be one of the backdrops on the base of The Man sculpture in 2004. Other participants then used to space for interactive theater. My camera died right away that year, so I don't have many pictures of it sadly.
Below are examples of large banners displayed at our Burning Man camp, Disorient. The project is the brainchild of Jason McHugh, who had the idea of using his parent's body of work as source of icons and imagery, and remix them with the spirit of the Disorient art collective style and with the yearly art theme at the Burning Man event. Jason's parents, Joe and Irene McHugh, started one of the first psychedelic poster publishing houses, East Totem West, where their art and art from others they produced helped to define the look and lore of psychedelic art. Check out the book "The White Rabbit and Other Delights: East Totem West: A Hippie Company, 1967-1969"
Flyers, ads, stickers and other designs over the years.
My photos of Burning Man:
www.pbase.com/1969/burning_man_as_seen_through_the_eyes_of_jason1969
www.pbase.com/1969/burning_man_as_seen_through_the_eyes_of_jason1969