I wonder the same thing,
does some of it have to do with space?
I mean, like the shear size of some of those things, where could you put up
something like that?

Is it just that one big project a year is all they
have time and energy for?

These are IMHO legitimate reasons, but I wonder what happens to the art projects afterwards...do
they get incorporated into a community or put on display somewhere outside of BM/BRC to inspire others?
Or do they just go into some trash heap?

I suspect that standing a circle, facing the back of the person in front of you, and giving them a reach around, is a lot like "Giving to the community" at burning man.

They should adopt the motto: FOR BURNERS, BY BURNERS, PAID FOR BY BURNIES.

--S

If you go to my blog posts, I have an anti-BM rant from last year. That was one of the points I made. . .

Go to Burning Man once, hurray for you
Go to Burning Man twice, well, ok, that can be cool
Go to Burning Man every year, you're a CULTIST

People that go to Burning Man every year are obviously putting the majority of their spare cycles into Burning Man and not into their RL - Real Life. It's the same obnoxious mentality where Greeters say, "Welcome home". For me home is wherever my ass is grounded RIGHT NOW. Unless you're a trust fund baby (believe me I know some) or living in your parents' chums' basements, Burning Man is a HUGE time sink.

I was inspired by my Burning Man experience to create community in chicago, and that's what I'm doing. Going to Burning Man frequently would just eat up whatever little spare time I have to make my own life better. Going to Burning Man every year is a total circle jerk, as another poster wrote.

Madame7 writes:

"Granted, they have to go to work and keep up with "real life" and not everyone has the luxury to make art all day. But if the intent is there, the means will manifest."

I would have to respectfully but strongly disagree with that, but in response to this

" Why don't people put forth that level of creative effort to make art and inspire community in their everyday lives?"

I would agree that this is a real question, especially when, as has been pointed out elsewhere, the rising population density of "Black Rock City" has rendered one of the basic rationales of Burning Man (the presence of effectively infinite space to play with) obsolete; per person, even in a high density older city like Chicago, most of us will have more space to work with back home, at a much lower cost. If one gives up the amplified music, drugs, nudity and fire and just focuses on the art, one ends up with something that may well be hostable in a city forest preserve.

That much having been said, when I tried to get something like that going back home, I only found one taker; people seem to either want the drugs, nudity and fire or a PTA event, with practically nobody open to exploring any possibility between those two extremes. What's worse is that, at least here, they seem to want to wait until "things get going" before getting involved, even on the level of just posting a message to a mailing list saying "hi", unless it is something like "hi and would you help me with this Nigerian bank transaction" or "Hi, and let me flame you for not agreeing with my personal brand of political whackiness". This became a problem for some of us when, with the intent of getting local (non-bmorg affiliated) events going, we moderated an alternative Midwestern Burning Man list

groups.yahoo.com/group/chi-burning

a problem which we never were able to get past. Eventually, all we could do was give up. Given the attitude, I'd say that Burning Man becomes the place where all of the effort goes, because Burning Man is where all of the effort has gone - it's a vicious circle.

That, and because for many, the art is just a cover for that cringeworthy blend of drugs, nudity and fringe politics.