Playa Artifacts
Material Culture
Welcome to the wonderful world of material culture. The objects and gifts that people give one another at Burning Man reveal a great deal about their personalities and give us information not recorded elsewhere about ways of life, religious beliefs, customs and values.
Gift-giving on the playa joins creative expression with joyous acceptance. These objects are often given spontaneously for the pleasure of giving and receiving. We delight in the charm of a six-inch man-doll handmade of toothpicks and puzzle over our diploma from the Ancient Order of Genuine Galilean Water Walkers. Sometimes they are given for utilitarian reasons: to obtain a drink of water or to attract friendly attention. In any case, Burning Man seems to inspire the urge to create and give, and anyone inclined to make a gift object is assured an appreciative reception.
Burning Man's repository of playa gifts has grown to include such ephemera as stickers, decals, stamped pennies, temporary tattoos, buttons, trading cards, coins, gambling chips, cigarette lighters, embroidered patches, postcards, notepads, photocopied booklets and matchbooks. It also contains arts and crafts, including silk-screen prints, etchings, silver charms, blown glass pendants and seals, Fimo beads and medallions, and tiny wood-burnt gourds.
Not all of the objects Burning Man collects are mass-made playa gifts. Some are one-of-a-kind artworks. Some are artifacts from events, theme camps and art installations. And some are mementos given to volunteers in the various departments.
To add your items to our archives, please download and fill out our Playa Artifacts PDF form here.
Then: On the Playa, bring the form and the Playa Artifacts to the Artery in Center Camp.
Off the Playa, mail this form and your Playa Artifacts to:
Material Culture
c/o Burning Man
P.O. Box 884688
SF, CA
94188-4688
You can also participate in our online Material Culture Archives: http://pa.burningman.com/
As with our Image Gallery, you can submit JPEG's of your playa gifts and information about them. If you contribute digitally, please send the artifacts and form to us as well, for our office archives. These objects are displayed at the Burning Man office and will be used for future exhibits.
Please send any questions or comments about the artifacts to
ladybee (at) burningman (dot) com.
