Monthly Archives: June 2014

Jun 30 2014

BELIEVE In Reno

Laura Kimpton and Jeff Schomberg’s massive word sculptures are a popular fixture at Burning Man. Now, Reno residents and visitors can enjoy last year’s “BELIEVE”, which has moved from the Playa to the Plaza. From Reno.gov:

Burning Man art sculpture BELIEVE finds temporary home at City Plaza

The BELIEVE art sculpture, part of a word series that has become a fixture at the annual Burning Man event, is being installed today at City Plaza, next to Reno City Hall. It will be on temporary display until the week of July 14, according to artist and Reno resident Jeff Schomberg.

“I’m really excited to be working with the City of Reno and the arts community,” says Schomberg, who creates the large steel sculptures along with fellow artist Laura Kimpton. “It’s an honor to have BELIEVE displayed on the plaza.”

The sculpture is one of a series of words that have been featured at Burning Man for the past five years, joining MOM, LOVE, OINK and EGO.

“BELIEVE creates an inspirational community gathering space and photo opportunity, which will highlight downtown Reno’s river corridor and our partnership with local artists and Burning Man,” says Christine Fey, Resource Development and Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Reno.

The City of Reno is asking for the community’s help to keep BELIEVE in Reno. Donate here.

For more information about the City of Reno’s Arts & Culture programs, visit Reno.gov. Extra info about the artists and sculptures is below, under the images.

BELIEVE-BurningMan-Reno

BELIEVE-BurningMan-Reno-2 Laura Kimpton and Jeff Schomberg have been collaborating on their Monumental Words series that began back in 2009 at the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada. “LOVE” is the third word of six in a series that includes MOM, OINK, EGO, BELIEVE and BE. Each word can mean different things for different people. Viewers are encouraged to interact with each word on their own terms. The words often evoke varied emotions and interpretations.  

Kimpton and Schomberg’s Monumental Words have been displayed at the Sundance Film Festival, TEDx Conference and the University of California Riverside. In 2012, one of the “LOVE” sculptures was purchased by Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa, California as part of its Permanent Sculpture Collection. Commissions of Monumental Words are included in many prominent private collections across the country.

Articles on and images of Monumental Words have been featured nationally in Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, the Press Democrat, Town and Country, and INC. These installations have been exhibited in Salt Lake City, Reno, Riverside (California mother fucker) and San Francisco, as well as internationally in Puerto Rico and China. They’ve also been included in Exhibitions at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and Santa Rosa Junior College Museum.

Kimpton is a mixed-media artist, painter and sculptor. Locally, she has been included in an Exhibition at the Di Rosa Preserve. She is widely exhibited in museums and galleries across the nation with major shows in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Texas. She lives and works in Sausalito.

Schomberg is a sculptor and installation artist. His unique style incorporates welded steel, stone and found objects. He has exhibited in New York, San Francisco and Nevada. He lives and works in Reno.

For more information, visit jeffschomberg.com or laurakimpton.com.

There are two outdoor art galleries mentioned in this story that I highly recommend. Di Rosa in Napa contains more than 2,000 artworks, including some of David Best’s original, non-Burning Man art cars (that’s right, he is an accomplished artist outside of Burning Man, who creates much more than just Temples). Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa features an incredible outdoor sculpture garden, with several pieces that will be familiar to Burners.
photo by Peter Ruprecht, ruprechtstudios.com

photo by Peter Ruprecht, ruprechtstudios.com

Jun 29 2014

How To Get Laid At Burning Man 2.0 [Updates]

In the past we brought you “10 Ways To Get Laid At Burning Man”, which is still our #2 ranking post of all time.

Well, thanks to the Bureau of Erotic Discourse (B.E.D.) other Burning Man facebook group, we have some other practical suggestions. [Update: this image is not officially from B.E.D. The official B.E.D. guide is here. There are also other tips on the Interwebz from Dr Placebo, AZ Burners, Tribe, Yahoo Pamphlet, Piss Clear, and Sex Nerd Sandra]

how to get laid BED 2

orgy

Good luck Burners! Pro tip: some camps are easier to get laid in than others.

Apologies in advance to anyone in the LGBT community who are celebrating their “pride” this weekend, because these suggestions come from a “hetero-normative” perspective. That still applies to 85% of Black Rock City, which is about as straight as San Francisco. Here are the latest stats:


Black Rock City’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Burners are 15.4% of the overall population, but that data alone cannot paint the wider panorama that is gender and sexual orientation on the Playa. Remember as you review the information that both gender and LGBT status is self identified, and that these questions were asked of all Burners, not just the subsection of those identifying as LGBT.

LGBT
Of all females, 15.6% identified as LGBT, compared to 14.1% of males.

Of Burners who listed their gender as “fluid or neither,” 61.7% identified as LGBT.

Another Census question asked about sexual orientation, with options wider than just “gay, straight, or bi*.”

LGBTorientation

gay pride 2014 gurlzThe largest percentages for the overall, male, and female samplings represented heterosexual Burners, however, for the group identifying as fluid/neither gender, only 17% of them chose heterosexual as their orientation. The overall data depicts the Playa as a largely hetero, but bicurious environment. The same was true for females Burners. However, the male population was largely hetero with the second-most reported orientation as gay, while the fluid/neither Burners were mostly bisexual and refused labels.

LGBTcomparison.update
If you compare Black Rock City to these cities in the United States, it is most similar to the urban areas of San Francisco or Seattle, which is representative of where many Burners come from, and where the event was originally birthed.

[Update 7/1/14] Burner Kuja Duncan, a hater who thinks this is a shit article, has kindly contributed “How To Get Laid At Burning Man – The Non-Sexist Version”. Hope it helps!

“Stop gendering strangers. Stop assuming that the women you’re attracted to are attracted to people of your gender. Stop using words like ‘wussy’ to explain why you don’t fit into certain stereotypes. Treat the people you want to have sex with like human beings, cus they are. Find someone you are attracted to and would like to have sex with. Have a conversation with them. Decide if you still want to have sex with them. Ask them if they’d like to have sex with you, while being respectful. (Remember that whole ‘they’re a human being thing’?) If you do not get enthusiastic consent, find someone else.”

Still seems kind of sexist to me – some people are attracted to men! If anyone else has “non-sexist” and “non-genderist” tips, please share.