Cluster Fork
  Our Camp Theme for Burning Man 2007 is the Cluster Fork.

 

   We chose the cluster fork as a theme to help illustrate the odd disconnect that has arisen out our general collective seperation from what we put on our plate and eat v/s where the food came from as an origon of animal or vegetable. "Gee,honey, I wan't to eat fish tonight". Ok, so where did that fish come from?

 

   I didn't go fishing lately, did you?

 

   A big Symbolic Fork will be placed outside of our camp entrance. Set around the fork will be a selection of various exagerated foods a in variety of shapes and colors. People participating at Burning Man are invited to interact with the icons of food and think of the fork, perhaps, as a tool of comsumption. The size of the Fork (12 foot tall) helps put us into a context as potential food ourselves. Moving and arranging the food around the fork can offer an insight in which to place ourself in the food chain. Many forget we are a part of the natural order of this system (eat or be eaten).

   The aim is to encourage people to think about what we eat and how we fit into the cycle. Cluster Fork intends to provoke re-thinking about the food we consume and how it affects our position in the global picture. Purchasing food from corporate sources seperates us from the natural origon of what we put on our plate. (why not go to the farmers market?) The seperation of the common man from the agrarian culture into the consumer based instant gratification economy of the modern "convient" store society we now live in is not sustainable. This has local and global implications.

   Camp Cluster Fork will be available for the Black Rock residents as a demonstration for the execution of greater awareness of how the vital foods we eat daily impact our lives, now and into the future. In this manner, it is our goal that the symbolic placement of Fork, food, and the interaction there in may bring home the concept of placing ourselves in the food chain responsibly. This is vital for a sustained human culture.  

   The use of the word "cluster-fork" in our camp theme, relates to the complexity of mans relationship to our food comsuption in this modern time. (and I think it is funny when people mis-pronounce it) You know, farm, processing marketing etc... Greater awareness of this idea may lead towards a better balance of what we eat and where our food comes from.

             "What? milk dosen't come from a box at the store?" As a child I actually said that. Disconnect is a very real and everpresent part of our culture. Lets mend this and find a more balanced approach to our food. Fork on.

 

 

                                                                                JB 6-12-07