The concept of the Temporary Autonomous Zone has been around for some time now. The basic premise is that it is possible to create a space outside the confines of everyday society and culture that allows for a more fully expressible aspect of self. A common example given of a TAZ in practice is the Burning Man festival that occurs every fall in the Nevada desert.
While the concept has some merit and certainly can be a useful tool for more extreme social experimentation than is allowed in every day human culture I would argue that the system itself creates a false positive in terms of results and at best does nothing to change the status quo and at worst reduces the willingness and capacity for people to engage in real social change.
Why would this be the case?
Using Burning Man as an example we see a system that purports to create an anarchist utopia where all social conventions have been questioned. A space where the economy of supply and demand has been replaced by a gift economy. Where imagination is limitless and possibility endless.
While this is a lovely vision, by creating a space wherein one can feel as if this freedom is true, it reduces the chance that most people who experience it will work towards such possibilities in the real world outside the festival gates. I am not saying that the experience can not be amazing and profound. What I am saying is that by creating a scale model of that possibility one need not manifest it in their daily lives since they know they have access to it, like clockwork, every September. I am of course leaving out that subset of the attendees who go only for easy sex and access to drugs. What I am talking about are those who do sincerely believe in the utopian qualities of the festival.
The reality of such spaces is that they exist by virtue of the economic systems we have in place outside the zone. Not everyone is equal or has equal capacity since we only have what we bring inside the zone which, again, is determined by where we are in the outside world. The very structures that gave rise to the abundance there are reinforced upon reentry to the real world. After all, we need to make even more money this coming year so we can have even better blinky gadgets to give away next fall.
Because the feeling of radical freedom has been met in this space there is little to no need to make that potential a reality. It is uncountable the number of people I have met who spend 360 days out of the year in buttoned down desk jobs only to “let their freak flag fly” during a week of adultery and debauchery that is made permissible by some idea that the rules are different in Black Rock City. While the actions may, from some perspectives, be permissible, the consequences of those actions remain beyond the confines of the event.
The irony of course is that far from freeing themselves from the confines of social structures and rules they are wholly adopting the rules and confines of a different culture. No true questioning has gone on. What has happened is the wholesale transference of one externally imposed value system with another. The rules are the rules and they will simply follow them even if the rules change. The freak who emerges from the desert is not the “true self” but simply a mirror of the same rule following self within a different context. Not only that, but they are probably more willing to accept the structures of daily life knowing they will have an outlet in the fall.
I do not want to deny that there is the occasional true transformation. However, I would contend that this is by far the exception rather than the rule.
This relates to performance in some very interesting ways.
First, what we create between the performers and the audience is a kind of TAZ. The rules of reality have been suspended as we all go into the collective hallucination of the performance piece. Be it a play, musical, dance, opera or music piece we are, for the duration of the work, transported, in spirit if not in body, to somewhere wholly other.
At the same time the very trap of Burning Man and other TAZs also exist. We, the makers of the work, create this space and this experience for our audience and ourselves. But what happens next? What guarantee, if any, do we have that the ideas and transformations from within the work will in any way transition out to the real world and effect true social change?
This may not be a concern for most people who work in live performance. After all, there are plenty of people whose primary concern is simply to create a diversion. A little entertainment to take the edge off the stresses of every day life. But for those of us concerned with truly transformative works of art how do we proceed? How do we take the possibility and potential in the work itself and build from that the beginnings of alternative social structures.
How can we facilitate not just the temporary transformation of a few hundred audience members, but of society as a whole? Is that even the role that art and performance can play?
If it is, I would argue that we need to get beyond the TAZ and out into the very social fabric upon which the zone rests. The TAZ may provide us with a nice laboratory setting, but unless and until we are getting real world results, the efforts are nothing more than experiments on mice in mazes.
Tags: burning man, performance, taz, theory
Lucas, thank you for saying what I’ve felt about Burning Man for a long time: that if the huge amount of money, time, and effort that people put into Burning Man projects, supplies and just GETTING THERE was redirected, we could effect some *serious* social change. It makes me feel like people would rather have fun for a week than make life better for their fellow humans. Not that some people don’t do both, and not that people don’t deserve vacations – we certainly do! – but it seems like a terrible waste to me. I would love to see more people be inspired by their experience at Burning Man, or just the idea of it, and then bring that inspiration to their real lives: pursue their true passion, change the world, go after their dreams. That’s what I wish.
Yes! The energy and potential is amazing. But so is the waste and apathy. Glad you liked the piece!
I have thought about this quite a bit, and I made sure to read your post a few times to ensure I was taking it all in properly and also to make sure I didn’t skim it like I do most material I peruse in my day-to-day review.
I have had this page open all week, and because of my job I have not had time to sit down and write my response, but when I do, it will surround a few points. Firstly, the concept that all escapism can be folded into your definition and argument (all theatre, hedonism, etc). Secondly, your assumption that just because people work at button-down jobs, means they are in some way inherently less mindful or aware of what type of healing the planet needs, is a very poor one and I will illustrate the danger of making that when I elaborate.
Most importantly, I feel that there is simply greater inherent difficulty in enacting change in some places than others. While I do not condone adultery, irresponsible drug use or other suffering-inducing activities, they will happen, and to pretend they won’t is fantasy. People die from being irresponsible and not just at Burning Man or parties. While I completely agree it is necessary for there to be some decompression and utilization of the experiences learned at BM or ANDC’s or in Theatre, sometimes its possible, and sometimes its not.
You are making my arguments much more extreme than what I am actually saying. Nowhere did I say this relates to all of any group. You seem to be indicating that I am assuming some reverse causality along with the arguments I am making, which is not the case. When you say, “your assumption that just because people work at button-down jobs, means they are in some way inherently less mindful or aware of what type of healing the planet needs, is a very poor one,” I would agree.
But I am not saying that people in button down jobs are inherently anything other than people with button down jobs. What I am saying is that there is a danger in treating something like Burning Man as an inherently transformative experience when for many it is just a steam valve which allows them to more deeply buy into the flawed and sick system that Burning Man culture supposedly critiques.
There are plenty of people who hold down regular job type jobs who are working for the betterment and healing of the planet. That is a wonderful and good thing. I would like there to be more. What I was saying in my piece is that for many people the effect of things like BM is to mitigate the inner drive and desire to actually do more in their daily lives.
What I said was “The irony of course is that far from freeing themselves from the confines of social structures and rules they are wholly adopting the rules and confines of a different culture. No true questioning has gone on. What has happened is the wholesale transference of one externally imposed value system with another.” This is a far cry from assuming anyone is “inherently less mindful” than anyone else.
I am not laying blame or acting superior. I am pointing out the dangers inherent in such radical potential.
[...] week I pulled on some low hanging fruit to make an argument about live performance and social change. While there has been some interesting dialog about that, the focus has largely been on the example [...]