CC meeting 20 July 2015

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# COMBUSTION CHAMBER MEETING

# MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

# FACILITATOR: Decibel

# STACK: Breezy

# SCRIBE: Chim-Chim

ATTENDEES (26): Decibel, Adam, Wrinn, Beth, Problem, Thomas, Izzi, Princess, Gyesika, Pixie, Turtlebunnie, Kate, T-Rey, Very Scary, Kate, Breezy, Chim-Chim, Clovis, Monkey, Casey, Bonobo, Psyche, Sam, Will, and two guests

# 8:09pm        MEETING BEGINS

# AAR/LLC UPDATE (Problem/Adam)

  • A Letter of Intent and Lease application have been submitted for a new warehouse; Location is 183/Mopac area; The potential new warehouse is double in size of area; Includes an HVAC system; Located near Austin Beerworks
  • Met with the Gate crew to discuss how Gate went and how to do better [for next year]
  • Had a face-to-face with the Safety volunteers involved in response to the flood; Ghost facilitated; A coherent document will be released publicly soon

# 8:13pm        REGIONAL UPDATE (Clovis)

  • A participant from Transformus passed away
  • Tickets are out there for Burning Man
  • Still negotiating about a Regional use agreement

 

# 8:15pm        AF UPDATE (Wrinn)

  • Shortcake is the new Site Prep Lead!!!
  • Leads/Volunteer appreciation is this weekend

# 8:16pm        TOPIC: PHOTOGRAPHY (Kate)

  • Discussion over the current policy on photography, and issues pertaining to asking permission to take a photograph, and posting on social media
  • Once a pic is posted onto a social media site, it becomes property of that site (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
  • Another issue with photography is taking photos of art, especially those that state NO PICS of the project
  • Regarding the current policy: There are distinct differences between the laws of the land, Texas, and the rules/feels within Flipside; Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean you should; Different rules apply in contrast to taking photos in the streets of Autin
  • Current policy for Flipside: The AAR/LLC is not going to commercially distribute photos or works of video productions, moving video, audio, recordings, or performance art pieces (e.g. dance, art, sound); Every element is its own piece, and everyone is protected by the AAR/LLC because, in the state of Texas, on private property, unless otherwise negotiated, it’s 50/50 with the landowner; If you sign documents, you are protected as arranged in advance
  • What happens if the AAR/LLC are not involved? The challenge is figuring out how the community can get involved
  • There is a difference between taking advantage of art and ruining someone’s life; The AAR/LLC would rather the community don’t do that; There needs to be education; Distinction is important
  • Edjumication is a poor substitute for culture; There is an interest in figuring how to reinforce culture in protecting each other and other people and how to get people to be in a different mindset; You’re not attached to recording devices [at Flipside]; You have to use them consciously; The reason we have different rules is because we have a different environment and different risks; We are trying to build a culture that expresses differently and privately; Because of that, we need difference in media; The issues are complex, important, and too big for us; We should focus on things where we are different and apply; For people’s safety and lives, we need to get people to understand that cameras and media are special; As long as people get the point, we should be fine dealing with the rest of the stuff (contracts, ad hoc, etc.); We need to build into the culture intentionality consent in recording other people
  • Photos of inanimate objects are also an issue at Flipside
  • “If there is so much to lose, then why attend?”: Enculturation; It impacts self-expression, community, people who have contributed a lot even though they go ahead and take that risk; It’s not just edjumication; Attitude is out there; It speaks about autonomy; It speaks to the interrelationship with the art we create and who gets to make the call on that
  • The idea of banning photography—Using villages and zones: In this space, all participants turn off gadgets; The idea should be promoted for immediacy
  • Photography is art in itself; We should not force people to self-edit because of technology
  • Regarding attendance despite the risks involved: You used to not have to think about it; The problem is WE HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT; We would not be where we are today were it for that freedom; We are not as free as it used to be; We are being attacked by ignorance
  • Example: Photos were taken; Phone/Camera was stolen; Can you guarantee those photos won’t get out? Can you really trust the security or intentions? As a community, do we want to start enculturating NO? You can’t necessarily be perfectly safe; We have to further enculturate consent and the risks in media; Younger people at the event who are between the ages of 18-21 have no concept of how dangerous it could be
  • If we add [the education] to the culture, then it will make discussions easier
  • Regarding the creation of immediacy: Change wording to immediacy within your reality; Have community signs in the theme camps saying, “This is an immediacy zone. Please turn off photography.”; The concept of immediacy is mind-blowing to an extent…not limiting, but opening
  • Idea of banning cameras through camera-free zones—May put limits on expression
  • Camera-free zones will dilute the concept—infiltration vs. edjumication
  • There are no clear answers legally or culturally; There is no consent without an argument plus grey zones; Also, FUCK 18-YEAR OLDS

# 9:03pm        MOTION TO CLOSE STACK; NO BLOCKS; STACK CLOSED

  • Offshoot events having the same conversations
  • The concept of the Butterfly effect

# 9:14pm        TOPIC: EDJUMICATION (Kate)

  • Discussion over enculturation, giving money to the cult, cultural smores: Topic is over how to further edjumicate dealing with output of information given to people, and the topic of further enculturation—How to enculture better regarding newbies/virgins
  • Best thing to do is REMIND people
  • Concept of having the Better Burner Bureau where volunteers come and answer questions
  • In enculturation, there is a conflict with the rules; Solution—Have a more open forum
  • Kids are one of our most exploitable resources; One of the ways to have education is to get on YouTube and eat ghost peppers and tell stories we are tired of telling and say things we are tired of hearing until they say, “I GET IT.”; Say it over and over; Repeating our culture has to be one of our cultural values; Figuring how to tell our stories is an important part of our culture; There is only so much that can be our story before it’s too long; The more we incorporate it as our core values, the more it’s a part of us; We aren’t saying, “And you have to adopt them, and they’re yours, too.”, but there is a deal we have to make with people: If you want to be a part of it, you have to think of our values; This is our attempt to express our core values; You’re not one of us if you don’t try; Everyone needs to know these small number of things
  • Look at the tools providing for the community and spit ideas for putting it at the event; The Survival Guide and Better Burner Bureau is not enough; Help the community through tools
  • Communication and Education is not the only answer; You can’t expect someone to get it all; You have to learn through immersion
  • The point is the journey—Remaking/Reshaping it all the time; Distill principles of Burning Man into 6 ½ principles; There is an infinite amount to grow which is why we do it; When it’s not fun anymore, it’ll stagnate; Some are experiential learners; That’s why we don’t have rules; In banning, we don’t make that public so they will learn; We have to have cooperation because we have to work together with self-expression; There is accountability between us all; There is a lot of discussion; WE have to talk about what we know, and get rid of what we need to get rid of; Some things are hard to understand; Conversation is in of itself; TALK TO THE THEME CAMPS
  • Today’s sparklepony is tomorrow’s oldie
  • Regarding awkwardness, creepiness, uncomfortableness: Generally, when you have an experience, it locks in—physical, social, mental which is the key to enculturation because you’ll understand better in five days; Work weekends are good for enculturation; We never stop learning; We tend to change when we are uncomfortable

# 9:53pm        MOTION TO CLOSE STACK; NO BLOCKS; STACK CLOSED

# 9:55pm        MOTION TO DO SOMETHING; BRAINSTORM WHAT CC CAN DO; HAVE CC MEETIING AT EVENT; If anyone has questions and do not know who to ask, email the Combustion Chamber

  • Edjumication Lead? The 360 AF is in charge of the Edjumication Lead; What do we want communicated? Idea of having people with a question mark on their helmet; Idea of worldly information booths; Make questions accessible to the Flipside website and Combustion Chamber; Idea of putting in stupid answers and then real answers

# 9:57pm        MOTION—Questions go to the Combustion Chamber from the website; Reina is the current Edjumication Lead; Send info to her; MOTION SECONDED; NO BLOCKS; MOTION PASSES

# 10:14pm      TOPIC: CC SCRIBES

#10:14pm       MOTION TO PASS UNTIL PROST AND GEORGE ARE HERE; ALSO, PRIORITIZE TO WHERE 360 AF COULD MAKE IT; DO WE NEED SCRIBES? NO BLOCKS; MOTION PASSES

# 10:21pm      COMMUNITY DISCUSSION

  • Kate will be Town Hall producer
  • Location for CC retreat sill being searched
  • If you have a topic, write a brief description and send to Susan
  • Flipside Flood Relief has gone live; $1,000 was donated from the Lava Lounge; $80 in patches were purchased; For more info, see www.flipsidefloodrelief.com
  • There will be a community truck to Burning Man from Austin organized by the people from the Wooden Nickel group, posted on the Burning Flipside Flipizens group page on Facebook

# NEXT MEETING: MONDAY, AUGUST 3

# FACILITATOR: Turtlebunnie

# STACK: Kate

# SCRIBE: Chim-Chim

# TOPICS: SAFETY COMM (Casey); EFFIGY (Bonobo)

# 10:25pm      MEETING ADJOURNED