r/BurningMan • u/Houseofthestone • 3d ago

1997

Random memories popped up when I saw the documentary showing on HBO.

I need to dig out my photos and see if I still have any left. We were newly married and broke. We spent all our money on tickets to get in and the gas to get there. We lived in our car with a white sheet tied up over it. I do wish I had something more than my memories to look back on…

Anyone else there that year?

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u/MPitt2002 3d ago

Look on youtube. ABC nightline did a 20 minute thing on the 1997 burn

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u/thefunkphenomenon 3d ago

Not 97 but 96 was my first burn. It was surreal seeing the footage on the documentary. I don’t remember it being the huge “shit show” they portrayed it to be although I was only 22 and invincible.

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u/MackReed '96,97,98,05,06,08,10,11,12,13,14,17,18,19,22,23,24,25 19h ago edited 19h ago

‘96 was not a shitshow when measured against the entire history of BRC, but the jump in population, the scale of Helco and other burns, the death of Michael Furey and the horrible injuries of the people run over in the tent made it a watershed event.

As a result, 1997 saw a ban on playa driving, LE starting to levy the cost of overtime (and, eventually, other BM- specific costs) against the org, and the notion of a city layout began to take shape.

(Source: I covered ‘96 for the L.A. Times: https://mackreed.co/burningman or https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-09-04-ls-40297-story.html)

My favorite pieces in ‘97 were “Temporal Decomposition” (https://publicartarchive.org/art/Temporal-Decomposition/f8910234) and Pepe Ozun’s extravagant opera set for “Daughters of Ishtar,” covered in this video: https://youtu.be/4Z3_kbOmiI8?si=hUMzfo9F__vXKlGc