26 Aug 05
"I'm not sure where the idea came from," ponders Lisa, a graphic designer from Berkley, California. "I love the shape of cupcakes and I love pop art and scale underscaled or overscaled things." The cupcakes are all slightly different, but all have electric motors from wheelchairs or electric golf carts. "Ours are chain-drive," says Greg, a software engineer. "The motor is attached to the forks which means that you can turn the handle bars 180 degrees and go backwards". "We can spin and do muffin dances across the Playa," interjects Lisa.
"Burning Man is like the final exam for your creativity," explains Greg. "You want to produce something really cool and you work your butt off to get it finished, but then driving around is such fun." Lisa adds: "We never made it more than 15 feet without people stopping us to chat or to take photos. I love the creativity of Burning Man, seeing other people's art. I like the gift economy, and just the fact that I can walk around in my pyjamas all day if I want to."
The climax of the week is the burning of the Man on Saturday night. For the first time, you can get a sense of just how many people - and art cars - are there. Fireworks blast into the air and as the Man topples, the crowd rush forward like moths to a flame and run, whooping and hollering, in a frenzied circle around the fire.
After a night of hard partying, the exodus back to reality begins. "Leave no trace," preach the event organisers. In a week's time, the barren environment will be deserted, and you'd never know this magic microcosm of madness had ever existed.
