Identity Construction and the Post-Museum of Burning Man: Exploring David Best's 2012 Temple of Juno
Date of Award
5-10-2014
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Art and Design
First Advisor
Susan Richmond
Second Advisor
John Decker
Third Advisor
Kimberly Cleveland
Fourth Advisor
Jeffrey Trask
Abstract
Since 2000, artists have built elaborate temple structures in the Black Rock Desert during the annual Burning Man festival, the purpose of which is to act as ritualized spaces to experience catharsis by way of contemporary death rites. The temple is destroyed on the last day of the week-long event. The method by which both the space of Burning Man in the desert and the temple structure operate is by facilitating a negotiation in participant identity through liminality and self-enacted identity negotiation, both of which, as well as the event and the art, are ephemeral. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the 2012 Burning Man Festival (themed “Fertility 2.0”) with a specific focus on the Temple of Juno by artist David Best. This thesis will examine how this artifact is activated through a multiplicity of audience participation while simultaneously allowing the participants to further explore their negotiated identity.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/5519773
Recommended Citation
Langley, Christopher R., "Identity Construction and the Post-Museum of Burning Man: Exploring David Best's 2012 Temple of Juno." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2014.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/5519773