Blazing Swan

Blazing Swan is an annual regional Burning Man event held near Jilakin Lake in the Shire of Kulin, Western Australia. It is an experiment in temporary community and artistic expression, and is guided by eleven main principles, including radical inclusion, gifting and radical self-reliance. The event occurs around Easter each year, usually over a period of seven days. The event location is in dry bushland adjacent to Jilakin Lake, and is referred to as Jilakin Rock City. Each year a swan-shaped wooden effigy is built and burned at the culmination of the event.

Blazing Swan
Blazing Swan logo spray painted onto an art piece in 2015
Location(s)Jilakin Rock City, Kulin, Western Australia, Australia
Inaugurated2014
Most recentMarch 28 – April 3, 2018
Websitewww.blazingswan.com.au

History

Blazing Swan was started by a collective of artists/producers who have all attended the Burning Man Festival in the US and were inspired to organize an official regional event in Western Australia.

Year Theme Date Participants Ticket price Notes
2014 Inception 24–28 April 1400 $145-$195
2015 Inspiration 1–7 April 1900 $145-$255
2016 Illumination 23–29 March 2500 $150-$250
2017 Elemental 12–18 April TBC $150-$250
2018 Beyond the Black Stump 28 March – 3 April TBC $200-$300
2019 Happy as Larry 17 - 23 April TBC $200-$300
2020 Perception 8 - 14 April N/A $200-$300 Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic[1]

Culture

Eleven Principles

Blazing Swan is understood not as an event, but as referring to a way of life lived consistently with these 11 Principles. They are meant to be taken as a whole, as a set of commonly-understood values.[2]

  • Radical Inclusion: Anyone may be a part of Blazing Swan. We welcome and respect the stranger. No pre-requisites exist for participation in our community.
  • Gifting: Blazing Swan is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.
  • Decommodification: In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.
  • Radical Self-reliance: Blazing Swan encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.
  • Radical Self-expression: Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.
  • Communal Effort: Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote, and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.
  • Civic Responsibility: We value civil society. Community members who organise events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavour to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.
  • Leaving No Trace: Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.
  • Participation: Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.
  • Immediacy: Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.
  • Consent: Compliance in or approval of what is done or proposed by another; specifically: the voluntary agreement or acquiescence by a person of age or with requisite mental capacity who is not under duress or coercion and usually who has knowledge or understanding.

Theme Camps

Theme camps are an integral part of Burning Man culture. These are established by the event participants and contribute to the unique identity of Blazing Swan.

Theme camps at Blazing Swan 2016 include:

  1. The Far Away Tree Tribe - ҒΔTT camp
  2. The Anti-Precludian Reading And Performance Society
  3. Silent Disco: Illumination
  4. Fort Swan
  5. Twisted Jah
  6. Blaze Skate Park
  7. Papazahns
  8. Shiva's Tea House
  9. Warm & Fuzzy Theme Camp
  10. Pirate Pikelets AKA Blazing Swan- Steampunk Pancake Kids Kamp - SPKK
  11. Outrigger Island
  12. Ropespace
  13. KaMp Koasis
  14. Camp Anita Cocktail
  15. Aruma
  16. Kaleidoscope Mandala
  17. Forbidden Fruits
  18. Saraswati's Song
  19. High Flyers Disc Golf Club
  20. Detox
  21. Shadynastys
  22. Flaming Big Kids Funpark
  23. The Alliance AKA The @lliance
  24. Dragon Fire
  25. Fairy Tribe
  26. Serene Green
  27. Fluffs on Tour
  28. Camp Unicorn Powwwwwerrrrr
  29. The Church of Belligerence
  30. Chainsaw Cobra
  31. The Lab
  32. Tribal Tribe
  33. High Tide
  34. Soundscape
  35. Visual Creation Manipulation Station
  36. Fire Tribe
  37. Community Roots
  38. Jam Camp
  39. Pom Pom Palace
  40. The Bomb - Blazing Swan Information Radio
  41. Phoenix Dreams
  42. Moonbase
  43. MoVeMeNt MaDdnEsS
  44. TBC (Heavy Petting Zoo)
  45. Mike Parry & Associates
  46. Art Slut Society
  47. GSN
  48. Booth With No Name
  49. Greasy Pirates
  50. XYZ
  51. No Limit Camp
  52. Liberation Station
  53. The Soup Kitchen
  54. Black Lagoon
  55. Camp Random
  56. Temple Guardians
  57. Tribal Progression

Blazing Swan, Inc.

Blazing Swan, Inc. is the not-for-profit incorporated association dedicated to organising the annual Blazing Swan event. Its headquarters are in Fremantle, Western Australia. As per Blazing Swan Inc.'s constitution, its main objectives are to:

(a) organise, develop and promote:
(i) an annual arts, music, and cultural festival which is inclusive, accepting, and safe;
(ii) other related events promoting self expression, identity and understanding;
(b) foster and create new art projects in Western Australia;
(c) develop and support workshops and training activities;
(d) support and develop community based fundraising events to further the Association’s objects;
(e) train volunteers to facilitate the Association’s objects; and
(f) conduct the Association’s activities in an environmentally sustainable manner.[3]

Community Involvement

Blazing Swan Inc. is involved with a number of community art projects and philanthropic activities in Western Australia. Some examples are:

  • Providing significant art grants to the community to encourage creative expression.[4]
  • Donating $10 from each ticket sold at the 2015 event towards funding a full-time age care nurse to the Shire of Kulin.[5]
  • Partnership with the Australian Government's 'Work for the Dole' program, to help job seekers gain skills and experience that give back to the community and can help them find a job.
  • Donating a three-metre-wide (9.8 ft) metal sculpture created by Matt Bray to the Shire of Kulin, as a permanent public art offering.[6]

References
  1. "A Letter to our Community". Blazing Swan. 2020-03-16.
  2. "10 Principles of Blazing Swan". Blazing Swan. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  3. "About Us". Blazing Swan. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  4. "Art at Blazing Swan". Blazing Swan. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  5. "Blazing Swan Comes To WA". Rotunda Media. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  6. "Blazing Swan memento: Kulin's giant egg". ABC Great Southern WA. 2015-04-14. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
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