Burning Flipside
Encyclopedia
Burning Flipside is an annual alternative arts and performance festival staged in Central Texas near Austin
. Modeled on and loosely associated with Burning Man
, Flipside is one of several Regional Burns around the USA
.
Burning Flipside was started in 1998 by Burning Man participants from Texas
. Lasting five days during the Memorial Day
weekend, it is significantly smaller than Burning Man, with 2007 tickets sold in 2007, compared to about 50,000 participants for Burning Man. Participants build a temporary city called Pyropolis; nearly all of the structures in this city are dismantled and removed at the end of the event. The main structure, the "effigy
", is burned the last night, as are many other pieces of art around Flipside.
The corporation
which sells the tickets to Flipside, Austin Artistic Reconstruction, LLC claims to prohibit all commercial use of photographs, video, film or any other medium taken at Burning Flipside without written permission. Therefore, media from Flipside is inherently non-free content. This prohibition on commercial use of imagery appeared as early as 1999.
Many of the core values of Burning Flipside are borrowed from Burning Man, and the same short, memorable terms are used for them, namely:
Art Installations -- Flipside community members bring art to the event for display, including large free-standing works, fire art, and interactive pieces.
Theme camps -- Groups of participants who build a structure or area for public entertainment with an underlying theme. (Example: Casineaux Camp - A camp with a Casino Theme with real gambling style games, but using donated prizes and fake coins.)
Performances -- Flipside has a number of performance spaces that are used by musicians, theatre groups, DJs, pageants, and interactive performances.
Much like the Black Rock Rangers, the Pyropolis Rangers mediate disputes and maintain security at the event; they wear a similar khaki
uniform as well. Unlike Burning Man, however, the event is not regularly patrolled by law enforcement, although they arrive quickly in the event of an emergency. The Pyropolis Rangers try to be as non-intrusive to their fellow participants as their Black Rock City cousins.
Flipside has some other differences from Burning Man. Flipside's location is in a private camp area in the wooded, grassy Texas Hill Country, unlike the stark, otherworldly feeling of the flat, Black Rock Desert
where Burning Man is held. The Texas Hill Country features creeks, swimming holes, and tree-covered groves that make camping a more pleasant experience than the harsh high Nevada
desert. Flipside is more strict about the vending rule: the only thing sold is ice. The smaller size of the event creates a sense that one could meet everyone, as part of a temporary community
that encompasses all the event participants. Almost every participant of Flipside, including the event's organizers, pay to get in regardless of how much time they put in volunteering. For the past few years, Austin Artistic Reconstruction, LLC has awarded 3 free tickets: 1 to the designer of the sticker, and 2 to the designer of the ticket.
Additionally, unlike Burning Man where the central effigy
of a glowing neon man stays essentially unaltered from year to year (with alteration to its base and other design elements), the Flipside effigy changes radically with each event. For example, participants built and burned a 6-armed, cowboy hat-wearing Hanuman
effigy in 2004, a rocket ship at the 2005 event, and a chalice
at the 2006 event.
From 1998 through 2005, the event was held at Recreation Plantation (30.118830°N 98.180544°W), a private campground in neighboring Dripping Springs, Texas
. Having outgrown that space, the event moved to a larger property in 2006, Flat Creek Crossing (30.283342°N 98.205479°W). While this location allowed for potential future growth, the land is also more primitive, lacking in amenities such as flush toilets, although showers were built by participants prior to the 2007 event. Due to the presence of large cliffs, scorpions, mountain lions, and other hazards, some believe that the land is more dangerous than even the Black Rock Desert
. In 2010 the event moved to Apache Pastures near San Gabriel, Texas and Rockdale, Texas
. The endemic pecan trees offered shade and participant created trails provided access to the San Gabriel River
, a larger body of water than was present at Flat Creek Crossing.
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. Modeled on and loosely associated with Burning Man
Burning Man
Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event starts on the Monday before the American Labor Day holiday, and ends on the holiday itself. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening...
, Flipside is one of several Regional Burns around the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Burning Flipside was started in 1998 by Burning Man participants from Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Lasting five days during the Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...
weekend, it is significantly smaller than Burning Man, with 2007 tickets sold in 2007, compared to about 50,000 participants for Burning Man. Participants build a temporary city called Pyropolis; nearly all of the structures in this city are dismantled and removed at the end of the event. The main structure, the "effigy
Effigy
An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer,...
", is burned the last night, as are many other pieces of art around Flipside.
The corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
which sells the tickets to Flipside, Austin Artistic Reconstruction, LLC claims to prohibit all commercial use of photographs, video, film or any other medium taken at Burning Flipside without written permission. Therefore, media from Flipside is inherently non-free content. This prohibition on commercial use of imagery appeared as early as 1999.
Many of the core values of Burning Flipside are borrowed from Burning Man, and the same short, memorable terms are used for them, namely:
- No Spectators. Every attendee is expected to participate in some way for the event, with a performance, art piece, other form of creative expression, or volunteering to help.
- Radical Self-Expression. Art and gatherings at the event have few restrictions; many emphasize taboo subjects and dangerous situations.
- Self-reliance. All participants are responsible for their own food, shelter, water, and other necessities at the event.
- No Vending. Flipside is a non-commercial event; sales of any commodity (the one exception being ice) for cash is not allowed and may cause eviction from the event. Instead, a gift economyGift economyIn the social sciences, a gift economy is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards . Ideally, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within the community...
is used. Giving one gift in exchange for another is considered good form, but any kind of quid pro quo is a violation of the gift-economy rules - Leave No Trace. An extension of the self-reliance principle applied to outdoor living, requiring all participants to respect their environment and clean up everything they bring in. Since the event takes place on a rented campground, used by other events during the year, participants try to leave the site cleaner than they found it rather than in an identical condition.
Art Installations -- Flipside community members bring art to the event for display, including large free-standing works, fire art, and interactive pieces.
Theme camps -- Groups of participants who build a structure or area for public entertainment with an underlying theme. (Example: Casineaux Camp - A camp with a Casino Theme with real gambling style games, but using donated prizes and fake coins.)
Performances -- Flipside has a number of performance spaces that are used by musicians, theatre groups, DJs, pageants, and interactive performances.
Much like the Black Rock Rangers, the Pyropolis Rangers mediate disputes and maintain security at the event; they wear a similar khaki
Khaki
This article is about the fabric. For the color, see Khaki . Kaki, another name for the persimmon, is often misspelled "Khaki".Khaki is a type of fabric or the color of such fabric...
uniform as well. Unlike Burning Man, however, the event is not regularly patrolled by law enforcement, although they arrive quickly in the event of an emergency. The Pyropolis Rangers try to be as non-intrusive to their fellow participants as their Black Rock City cousins.
Flipside has some other differences from Burning Man. Flipside's location is in a private camp area in the wooded, grassy Texas Hill Country, unlike the stark, otherworldly feeling of the flat, Black Rock Desert
Black Rock Desert
The Black Rock Desert is an arid region in the northern Nevada section of the Great Basin with a lakebed that is a dry remnant of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan...
where Burning Man is held. The Texas Hill Country features creeks, swimming holes, and tree-covered groves that make camping a more pleasant experience than the harsh high Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
desert. Flipside is more strict about the vending rule: the only thing sold is ice. The smaller size of the event creates a sense that one could meet everyone, as part of a temporary community
Temporary Autonomous Zone
T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism is a book by anarchist writer Hakim Bey published in 1991 by Autonomedia...
that encompasses all the event participants. Almost every participant of Flipside, including the event's organizers, pay to get in regardless of how much time they put in volunteering. For the past few years, Austin Artistic Reconstruction, LLC has awarded 3 free tickets: 1 to the designer of the sticker, and 2 to the designer of the ticket.
Additionally, unlike Burning Man where the central effigy
Effigy
An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer,...
of a glowing neon man stays essentially unaltered from year to year (with alteration to its base and other design elements), the Flipside effigy changes radically with each event. For example, participants built and burned a 6-armed, cowboy hat-wearing Hanuman
Hanuman
Hanuman , is a Hindu deity, who is an ardent devotee of Rama, a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and one of the dearest devotees of lord Rama. A general among the vanaras, an ape-like race of forest-dwellers, Hanuman is an incarnation of the divine and a disciple of Lord Rama in the...
effigy in 2004, a rocket ship at the 2005 event, and a chalice
Chalice (cup)
A chalice is a goblet or footed cup intended to hold a drink. In general religious terms, it is intended for drinking during a ceremony.-Christian:...
at the 2006 event.
Event history
"Burning Man Texas" was held in June of 1998 by George Paap. It had 30 attendees, and featured the burning of a straw man built on site. Burning Flipside (named by Melody Byrd in Prost's backyard) began in 1999.From 1998 through 2005, the event was held at Recreation Plantation (30.118830°N 98.180544°W), a private campground in neighboring Dripping Springs, Texas
Dripping Springs, Texas
Dripping Springs is a city in Hays County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,548 at the 2000 census; it was 1,828 in the 2008 census estimate....
. Having outgrown that space, the event moved to a larger property in 2006, Flat Creek Crossing (30.283342°N 98.205479°W). While this location allowed for potential future growth, the land is also more primitive, lacking in amenities such as flush toilets, although showers were built by participants prior to the 2007 event. Due to the presence of large cliffs, scorpions, mountain lions, and other hazards, some believe that the land is more dangerous than even the Black Rock Desert
Black Rock Desert
The Black Rock Desert is an arid region in the northern Nevada section of the Great Basin with a lakebed that is a dry remnant of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan...
. In 2010 the event moved to Apache Pastures near San Gabriel, Texas and Rockdale, Texas
Rockdale, Texas
Rockdale is a city in Milam County, Texas, United States. The population was 5,440 at the 2000 census.Rockdale was the site of a large Alcoa smelting operation, which could produce 1.67 million pounds of aluminum per day. The ALCOA plant was closed in late 2008 - early 2009.Author George Sessions...
. The endemic pecan trees offered shade and participant created trails provided access to the San Gabriel River
San Gabriel River (Texas)
The San Gabriel River is a river that flows through central Texas. The San Gabriel River is formed in Georgetown, Texas by the confluence of the North Fork San Gabriel and the South Fork San Gabriel, both of which originate in Burnet County. There are two major impoundments of the river: Lake...
, a larger body of water than was present at Flat Creek Crossing.
| Year | Location | Theme | Effigy | Participants | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Recreation Plantation | Countdown to Armageddon | HA | |||
| 2000 | Recreation Plantation | Pyropolis | The City | >500 | ||
| 2001 | Recreation Plantation | Home on the Strange | The Stranger | |||
| 2002 | Recreation Plantation | Down the Rabbit Hole | The Joker (House of Cards) | 750 | effigy dismantled and burned in Charlie Smith's art piece, Synapse Naust | |
| 2003 | Recreation Plantation | Dreams of Chromatic Distraction | The Sandman | 950 | ||
| 2004 | Recreation Plantation | Glitter Monkey Rodeo | Hanuman | 1200 | ||
| 2005 | Recreation Plantation | Innergalactic Circus | Rocket | 1500 | ||
| 2006 | Flat Creek | Fall from Grace | Chalice | 1800 | First year at Flat Creek | |
| 2007 | Flat Creek | Symphony of Construction | The Conductor | 2007 (max. tickets) | ||
| 2008 | Flat Creek | Dr Tiki's Combustible Medicine Show | The Hula Girl | 2345 (max. tickets) | ||
| 2009 | Flat Creek | Freakalicious Safari | The Freak | 2468 (max. tickets) | Effigy did not burn at Flat Creek. Dismantled and relocated to North Texas for the burn at Myschievia. | |
| 2010 | Apache Pastures | Post Apocalyptic Prom | The Texas Tango | 2469 (max. tickets) | First year at Apache Pastures (adjacent to Apache Pass River Theatre) | |
| 2011 | Apache Pastures | Bad Idea | Burning Bridges | 2470 (max. tickets) |
External links
- http://www.burningflipside.com/