It struck me recently, while walking around a large public art gallery, how like a mausoleum an art gallery can be. People tiptoe around in respectful, reverential silence. There are “Please do not touch” signs and stern guardians in each room, watching to ensure visitor compliance.

Visitor rather than audience. Viewer rather than participant. The artworks are magnificent. Created by humans, often both beautiful and devastating. But the artworks feel dead, held up for post mortem, their sole purpose to be looked at. It’s a cultural spectator sport.

Stripped of their interactions with people, apart, isolated, gazed upon, the artworks seem forlorn, like they have reached the end of their lives and have been laid to rest for us to reflect upon

Burn art by contrast is alive. Quivering with tension, artworks at a Burn are bursting to participate. They exist in the world beyond the confines of the stark white gallery walls, well known in art theory as the White Cube and they want to live and engage with people. Burning is not a spectator sport. Engagement is what keeps the art alive and growing, dynamic and in relationship with us.

How invigorating and refreshing it is to come across dynamic living art, designed to be touched and interacted with! Art that invites the audience in to participate, collaborate and contribute to its ongoing creation. Art that is immersive, bold and unafraid, commanding and full of life. Art that is temporal, ephemeral, only available for a finite time and invites you to experience the principle of Immediacy. Art that responds to the site and Country. Art that plays a role in social justice and change. This kind of art expects collaboration, engagement, demands Participation.

I’ve long been inspired by the art movement that is the Burning Man Project. I knew about Burning Man and Burning Seed for many years but never made it to a burn event until 2019 - my first Burning Seed. I love the very early days of Burning Man and the whole reason it came into being. I’m inspired by Larry Harvey’s ideology on art and have embraced this in my own art practice over the last 20 years.

In 2019, I built a Catbus in collaboration with my husband and teenage kids, as a kind of Flintstones-esque costume to take to festivals. Our family absolutely loves the movies of Studio Ghibli and Catbus has long been one of my favourite characters from the movie My Neighbour Totoro. Reminiscent of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, Catbus is an imaginative, playful, warm and friendly character who only appears when someone needs help and takes them where they need to go.

We got a grant from BOSS (Burners of Sydney & Surrounds) to take Catbus to Burning Seed Zoophemism in 2019. And we loved it - Burning Seed was an awesome experience. It completely changed our world! The amount of effort people went to with the art, art cars, theme camps and spaces was absolutely mind boggling. We felt very privileged and humbled to be a part of that with Catbus.

Our highlight was taking Catbus to Art Cars at Sunset Island and running around the packed dance floor with him – then parking Catbus with the other art cars. He looked pretty small compared to the fire breathing double-decker Bhima the Dragon bus!

Taking Catbus out for walks around the Paddock and spreading some furry joy was lots of fun. And it was awesome that we had plenty of people who wanted to step in and drive / crew for him, as well as play with him.

We came home from Burning Seed full of inspiration and brimming with ideas for future outrageous art pieces. And keen to create Catbus v2 as a kinetically powered vehicle.

For me, Burning Seed is all about the audacious art and the creativity. Art really is the beating heart of the event. Without the art, Burning Seed is just another doof doof festival.

One of the main inspirations for me about Burning Seed and the art of Burning Man is that the art is alive. It is outside of the elitist realm of galleries and in the hands of the people. I love the idea of setting art free. Of allowing it to exist in the wild. And I love inviting people in to engage with art, because when people are given permission to be creative, amazing and unexpected things emerge.

I’m all about creating places and spaces that enable creative people to get together and experiment with radical ideas and concepts, collaborate, share knowledge and pull off the impossible.

I look forward to seeing how ARTery enables artists to create amazing things and realise their ambitious ideas, as the team collaborates with a bunch of passionate and visionary people.

I truly believe that art is at the heart of building healthy communities and of human wellbeing, and that art is a powerful force for innovation, problem solving and change making. Through art, we have the power to challenge the status quo, reimagine and create better, more compassionate and inclusive futures.

I personally can’t wait to build something amazing for this year’s Burning Seed AND help to enable others as well.

Hope to see you on the Paddock!

Bea “Spike” Pierce

ART is ALIVE

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