AfrikaBurn is an art event, a blank canvas of Karoo gravel on which a fantasy is created by its participants. Anything’s possible on the flat dusty plain of Tankwa Town - all you have to do is make it happen.

You don’t have to be an artist either – all it takes is the will to make shit happen. Collaborate, or don’t, whether you’re a pro or not, it’s simply about self-expression. Go as big or as small as you like: the only limits are your imagination. Within reason, of course – anything dangerous is obviously a bad idea.

In creating your artpiece, consider the following:
  • If your art is large, you’ll need the right transport. Think about weight, size, vehicle, weighbridges and dirt roads.
  • Once erected, your creation needs to be anchored, wind proof, and safe. This includes being lit up at night for safety and to add to the nocturnal landscape.
  • If you’re burning your piece, notify the Art Wrangler before and Rangers during AfrikaBurn. And make sure it doesn’t contain toxic chemicals and that you’re able to clean up and ship it out after.

INTERACTIVITY

Your challenge is make your art interactive – after all, you want the entire community to engage with it and have shared experiences that include the art.

THE ENVIRONMENT

Consider how heavy your art is. Do you have the necessary transport? Tankwa Town is on a long stretch of dirt road, and you have to get your art there, and take it back. Consider your placement, take a look at previous year’s site maps.

MATERIALS: If you are planning to burn your piece, please make sure that the materials you use do not have toxic substances in it, or on its surfaces that will release noxious fumes when burnt. Art created from recycled waste materials and art which will burn during the course of the festival, or be reconstituted in a public space after the event is encouraged.

SAFETY: If your artwork is very tall, please make provision for anchoring it properly, so that it will withstand high winds or any kind of collisions that might occur. In this case please also make sure that you anchor points and guy ropes are well lit at night as well as “softened up”, cut tennis balls, dolls heads… whatever is going to make that piece of rebar sticking out of the ground more friendly so that it will not injure someone on their midnight wonderings.

LIGHTING: Make provision for lighting your piece at night - this is not only a safety issue, but a lot of activity goes on at night, and it would be sad to not be able to partake of your piece all hours of the day

ACCOUNTABILITY: We aim to leave our venue as close to the way we found it as possible. Nothing should be left of your artwork or campsite after we leave, right down to the last stray false eyelash, tent peg, plastic packet or cigarette stompie, the Karoo must be left only with footprints maybe some disturbed earth and good memories.

SET UP: If you have a very big installation, please consider or plan on coming to the venue earlier in the week to have it set up by Thursday the 22 April 2010, so that when the event starts you are not working all hours to set up your piece.


We urge individuals or groups of participants to submit proposals (a description and a sketch) for their art installations. Your artworks do not need to be “approved” (unless it is totally unsafe), so don’t hold off on creating what you wish to create, having an idea of what is coming to AfrikaBurn will allow us to allocate designated space on the binnekring for your piece (if that’s where you want it) but will also enable us to add it into our printed “who, what, where, when” directory that we will be handing out at the gate at AfrikaBurn.

ART INSTALLATION PROPOSALS

PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: if you have missed the deadline for art proposals and theme camps for AfrikaBurn, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BRING ART TO AFRIKABURN. By all means let your creative juices flow and bring your creations to Tankwa Town, it just means that you wont have a pre-allocated space and will not be included in the “what where when” booklet.

Wanna make art at AfrikaBurn?

ART GRANTS OPEN SEPTEMBER 15th!

Contact the Art Wrangler - sam@afrikaburn.com