On Cartharsis
This past Labor Day weekend. Anna and I went up to Camp D with about 50 other people. It's a small camp out on a farm in the Catskills. I brought my sound system (with new amplifier) for the tunes. There's not much organized at Camp D so peopole bring stuff to do. We had Debarchery(don't ask), Gun shooting(I shot a pistol and shotgun for the first time), propane antics, bonfires, swimming, lobster cooking and of course in true Burning Man Fashion we burn an effigy.
Last year Anna and I did the effigy. It was a lobster(because we always cook lobster on the fire up there) and was great fun to build and burn. It burnt nicely although it wasn't a great piece of art. I had a great sense of accomplishment in making it. Here's a pic of it here:
Fast forward to this year. I had a lot more time to think about and design the effigy this time. It was determined we would do a Unicorn. Because, Playa Del Fuego the Delaware regional burn has a pony and of course we have to be better than them with our unicorn. I drew it up before I went up there. Anna, Sly and I built it in a couple of hours in the afternoon. I had gotten in touch of someone who had access to to fire works and he wire the thing up to make it pretty.
About an hour before dark we dragged it to the small rock island in the middle of the pond and loaded it up with firewood and gasoline. I decided it would be cool to set off the piece with a roman candle. So, at dark and after waiting for everyone to actually get there to see it. I shot off the roman candle. It took a few tries to hit it, but I did, and nothing happened.. Then I got another firework that just burns and used that, nothing. I tried a flare, but bounced off and went into the water. Finally, we went and got more gas to throw on. That did it. Well, all said and done. I wasn't completely happy with the way it burned. After wards, this guy Ben(nickname: Touch) said "So, how'd it go?" I was like "eh". And he replied "Not as Cathartic as you wanted it to be huh?"
Which of course got me thinking about catharsis and expectations and all the things that can go wrong with planning art work. the first time everything was off the hip and unexpected and therefore was much more cathartic. This time, I planned and planned, thought ahead and when it didn't go right I was disappointed. SO, I guess there's some sort of inverse relationship between expectation and catharsis, multiplied by how it actually went.
Here's a link to all the pictures of the Unicorn building/burning.
http://flickr.com/photos/13628397@N00/sets/72157600283232145/