Burning Man's in-your-face, counterculture vibe has meant that the festival has always been something of a media darling. But when the event sold out for the first time in 2011, there was a marked increase in the commentary about its history, current status and future. When, in 2012, a new random lottery system for tickets left so many long-time attendees ticketless, that commentary deepened. Questions about the evolution, meaning and value of Burning Man as an experiment in community, self-sufficiency and anti-capitalism are being raised, and Playa Dust seeks to answer them.

Playa Dust is a compilation of essays by authors who are part of the universe of Burning Man or who envisage the many ideas and landscapes on its periphery. By juxtaposing an unusually array of voices and stories, the volume reveals the complex nature and range of this annual pilgrimage to the desert, now in its 27th year.

Contributors include those who built the first wooden effigies on San Francisco's Baker Beach from 1986 to 1990, in the gatherings that would later become Burning Man; artists who have installed works at the festival; musicologists, photographers and filmmakers who have made work there; writers who have written about their Burning Man experience; architects who have built there, sociologists who have studied Burning Man's experimental nature and even lawyers who have brokered Burning Man's controversial existence.

Author: Samantha Krukowski
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Black Dog Press
Published: 10/21/2014
Pages: 256
Weight: 1.74lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.89d
ISBN: 9781908966643

About the Author
Rachel Bowditch: is a theatre director, performance studies scholar, and an assistant professor in the Arizona State University School of Theatre and Film. She is the author of On the Edge of Utopia: Performance and Ritual at Burning Man (Seagull Books, 2010).
Jessica Bruder: Award-winning journalist whose writing focuses on innovation and creative thought, with an emphasis on contemporary subcultures and the D.I.Y. renaissance. She writes Start, the New York Times blog on new indie businesses, and is the author of Burning Book: A Visual History of Burning Man.
Manuel Gomez: is an associate professor at Florida International University College of Law, before which he was a Teaching Fellow and Lecturer at Stanford Law School, where he earned his masters and doctoral degrees.
Jerry James: built the first Burning Man effigy in 1986 and continued to build them through 1989. He founded Acker & James Construction in 1987 and FR James Construction in 2003, both in San Francisco. He has been in carpentry and construction since 1977.
Mark Van Proyen: is an artist and art critic based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is associate professor in the Painting and Art History Departments at the San Francisco Art Institute, and is a corresponding editor for Art in America.