- Green neon
- The Green Man stood atop the Mountain which was a huge meditative space centered around a sand garden.
- The Mountain was flanked by the Hills - two long, rolling structures, which housed information and displays on cutting edge advances in ecological technology.
- Surrounding the Man Mountain and Foothills was a ring of simulated trees fashioned from recycled industrial materials, dubbed the "Mangrove".
- "The Trees" by Jack Haye, Noah Elias, Jiri Jacknowitz, and Mike Hollibaugh.
- Early Tuesday morning during a total lunar eclipse an arsonist scaled the shade cloth of the Pavilion and set fire to the Man.
- The Man Crew, Hot shop crew, DPW and many others worked around the clock to rebuild the Man who burned at the appointed time on Saturday
- The sternum from the original Man was transformed into the outline of a phoenix and placed on the face. This was meant to symbolize the rebirth of not only the Man, but of the community as well.
Big Rig Jig by Mike Ross, 2007
Photo by: Heather Gallagher (CameraGirl)
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Crude Awakening: Oil Derrick Explosion @ Burning Man 2007 -film Max Fancher
Crude Awakening by Dan Das Mann, Karen Cusolito, Black Rock FX, Pyrokinetics, Nate Smith, Mark Perez and MonkeyBoy, featured a 100’ tall wooden oil derrick that afforded grand views of Black Rock City from its upper deck. Its eight large metal figures featured participant-operated flame effects. A loud air raid siren summoned the masses and after an inspiring fireworks show, a pressurized gas explosion engulfed the oil derrick, bringing about its fiery demise.
During the early hours of Tuesday morning, while a total lunar eclipse darkened the skies above the playa, an arsonist scaled the shade cloth of the Pavilion and set fire to the Man. All the decisions concerning rebuilding the Man were made quickly. Approximately five hours after the Man was set on fire, leads from the Man, Man Base, Support Services, DPW and Neon teams met to discuss the rebuild. The Man would be rebuilt within the Pavilion, and would be completed in two and a half days (rather than the normal five to seven). Finding the neon was particularly problematic, since green is a very rare color for neon. The Neon team lead quickly drove to Reno and was lucky to find the exact same color neon as the first Man had.
With careful diligence and attention to detail, the sternum from the original Man was transformed into the outline of a phoenix. This was meant to symbolize the rebirth of not only the Man, but of the community as well. Using a piece of the burnt neon for the eye, this symbol captured all the high energy and emotion that ran rampant throughout the rebuild. It was agreed that this phoenix would be attached to the face of the new Man, heralding the Man coming out of the ashes of the arson, while being a fitting tribute to the team who worked at high speed – without a pause – to rebuild it.
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- Fashion Show, & Trashion show
- Mermen
- The Big Black Man Show
- Friday Night Variety Show with Reverend Billy, Foufou Ha!, Cupcake Pussy Posse, Hobogoblins, Phat Mandee, Burning Band, Erica Candycane, The Saloon Ensemble, The Lloyds and more!
- Aerial every weekday in the afternoon.
Really, what more could you possibly ask for?
In 2007, Burning Man had an art theme that proved to be as life-altering as it was inspiring. The Green Man ideal truly became part and parcel of the Burning Man Project’s core, effectively overhauling how the organization functions, the infrastructure of the event, and the day-to-day lives of the staff… not bad for an art theme.
On-playa operations also saw dramatic changes, including running the event’s generators on bio-diesel, and powering the Man Pavilion and the Man’s neon with a massive solar array (the panels from which would ultimately be donated to and installed for the Gerlach School and Pershing County Hospital).
Black Rock City was made up of far more participants than ever — 47,097 people living in thousands of camps, occupying 37,500,000 square feet of camping space (20% more than in 2006) — who were drawn to this incredible experience in the desert, and spurred by a theme that gave voice to a paradigm shift that desperately needed to be examined. That voice was expressed through the science, art and creative expression of tens of thousands of participants seeking change in how we relate to the natural environment.
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Finally, in case 2007 wasn’t memorable enough, we shared the singular experience of seeing the Man burn twice at Black Rock City. The original Man was set ablaze by an arsonist early Tuesday morning of the event, during the lunar eclipse. Then, after the Man Crew worked with countless individuals from numerous departments to build a new Man in record time (two and a half days), right there at the event site for all of the Burning Man community to see, the Man was released in flame… at the appointed hour.
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- The Man and Man-Base Pavilion were powered entirely by solar panels donated under Nevadas new solar incentives. After the event the panels were permanently installed on the Gerlach High School and the Pershing General Hospital as part of Burning Mans community outreach efforts.
- The Green Theme marked the first political theme since 1996.
- Al Gore sent Black Rock City, LLC a video message in which he thanked Burning Man for its dedication to the environment with the Green Man theme.
- The playa was home to over 300 registered art projects, including 30 Burning Man-funded pieces.
- Crude Awakening, an art piece by Dan Das Mann, consisted of a 99-foot oil derrick and a group of large metal figures in worshipping poses to illustrate human beings dependency on oil. On Saturday night the derrick shot the tallest fire ever seen at Burning Mana 1,000-foot column of flame. The derrick was then burned to the ground.
- The overall footprint of Black Rock City was increased, and there was approximately 20% more camping space, due to adding more blocks to Black Rock City.
- The location of Black Rock City was moved approximately one-mile northeast so the increased size of the city would fit better on the playa.
- A joint project with Google led to the creation of Burning Man Earth, a virtual map of Black Rock City that can be viewed with Google Earth software.
- Over 750 camps registered as theme camps, and 681 were placed as part of Black Rock Citys urban planning efforts.
- In the second year of the Yellow Bike Program, Burning Man received an anonymous donation of 1,000 bicycles! Volunteers from the Black Label Bike Club in Reno painted, assembled and transported the bikes to the playa. Burning Man staff and volunteers, on a Critical Mass-style historical ride, transported the remaining bikes from Black Rock Station to the playa, where they were put to good use by participants.
- A total lunar eclipse was visible from the playa early Tuesday morning.
- Around the time of the eclipse, an arsonist set the Man on fire endangering the lives of several people who were underneath the Man, including two participants who had fallen asleep while watching the lunar eclipse. The perpetrator was apprehended by the Black Rock Rangers and turned over to the local Sheriff. The Man Crew volunteered to rebuild the Man on-playa and completed the monumental task in 35 hours so the Man could burn safely as scheduled!
- The Burning Man Regional Network grew to 133 Regional Contacts in 93 locations around the globe, with 50 more applications waiting to be processed. The Burning Man Project hosted the first-ever Regional Summit at Burning Man Headquarters. Organizers of other Regional events converged on San Francisco to share information and make connections.
- John Law, one of the owners of the Burning Man trademark and one of the early organizers of Burning Man (who dropped out in 1996) filed a trademark lawsuit against Black Rock City, LLC; Larry Harvey, Michael Mikel and PaperMan, LLC. (PaperMan is the organization that owns the name Burning Man, and Law, Harvey and Mikel are its three owners.) The suit was eventually settled, whereby Law relinquished his interest in the trademark.
