Burning Flipside, May 2007: Friday night, A tangled braid of life and technology

Pictures of Flipside at night, and me walking into torches

The most unexpected thing that happened to me at Flipside was that I walked right smack into one of the torches that lit up the central plaza. The torch was actually burning at the time. And yet I didn’t see it. Realizing that I have just hit my head on something bright, I jumped back, and realized the bright thing was fire. I didn’t get burned, though, to K’s big surprise. I could not believe I could do such a thing. Maybe I wasn’t quite well Friday night, after all.

The second most unexpected thing: my cell phone worked in Flat Creek, which is sufficiently far away from civilization that most people weren’t getting a cell signal, including people who use the same wireless provider as me. Two guys who witnessed my phone ringing said I must have magic powers.

A thing that made me laugh. When we were sitting at our camp late at night, I was very tired and tried hard to stay awake, resting my face on my hands. A guy said: “It looks like your face is slipping and you’re trying to keep it in place”. I liked this expression. In the galaxy I am from we call this pose “propping your eyelids with matchsticks”.

Here are more pictures from Flipside at night.

A mutant vehicle that, I think, belonged to the Get Lost camp.

A mutant vehicle at Burning Flipside 2007 — CIMG6009 A mutant vehicle

This is how the beautiful onion dome-like structure of the Get Lost camp looked when illuminated at night. Here is the same dome in the daylight.

Glitter Monkey Gulch street sign. The roads at Flipside were all named after words starting with letters from A to Z. It follows that Glitter represented the letter G.

Inside this booth there were sheets — as in, hanging sheets of fabric — where people could write anything they wanted. On the last night of Flipside they were burned, along with all or most other art.

CIMG6015 A booth with hanging fabric sheets for scribbling on

The sheets inside the booth shown in the previous picture. Perhaps it comes as no surprise that I did not see the makings of the next Great American Novel among these scribblings.

The sheets inside the booth where people could write whatever they wanted — CIMG6020 Sheets inside the booth where people could write whatever they wanted

An art installation of glass beads and tiny glass bottles

An art installation at Burning Flipside 2007 — CIMG6025 An art installation of glass beads and tiny glass bottles

This pyramid must have been the tallest structure at Flipside.

This kaleidoscope sat at the top of one of the decorative structures in the central area of the Flipside. At night it changed patterns in time with the music.

Kaleidoscope at Flipside 2007 — CIMG6028 Kaleidoscope

Fire spinners performed at Flipside, even though it may be fair to say that water, not fire, was the dominant element that year. I was told this firespinner is called Carlos, and the thing behind him is flame organ.

Fire spinners perform at Burning Flipside 2007 — CIMG6029 Fire spinners

According to somebody’s comment, this is “Wulff in front of the flame organ”

Fire spinner performs at Burning Flipside 2007 in front of flame organ — CIMG6031 Fire spinner in front of flame organ

More fire spinners

Multicolored

A decoration of a dance tent in the Ish camp, hanging from the ceiling and consisting of several mirror globes hanging off of something resembling tentacles or horns.

After a good sleep at home on Saturday night, I gathered my resolve and went back to Flipside on Sunday. I’m just the kind of person who won’t even put down a boring book without finishing it. I feel like I won’t be entitled to form an opinion about an experience unless I stay until the end.