The Mind Shaft Society is a collaboration of artistic scientists
who go on Expeditions every winter and recreate the findings
then present them at Burning Man.
Choose links from the menu at the left for each year.
Below is a synopsis of the each year's expeditions.

Fertility 2.0
2012
Black Rock City is a kind of Petri dish.
Theme camps cling in fertile clusters
to its latticework of streets, artworks tumble out of it,
like pollen on the air. These nodes of interaction mutate,
grow and reproduce their kind, only to effloresce
and spread across five continents.
This year's art theme contemplates
the tendency of any being or living system
to create abundant life.

Rites of Passage
2011
There are moments of crisis and frisson
in our lives which inform us that we've somehow
crossed an inner threshold and are changed.
Thus moving from one state of being into an
unknown other obliges us to face our innermost insecurities,
and it requires faith, a willingness to leap off the ladder
of ordered existence. Our theme this year invites participants
to join with others in creating rites of passage.

Metropolis
2010
Great cities are organic, spontaneous,
heterogeneous, and untidy hubs of social interaction.
At Burning Man 2010, we will inspect
the daily course of city life and the future prospect of civilization.

Evolution
2009
Nature never made a plan,
nor does it seem to copy very well.
No living thing is ever quite
the same as others of its kind.

Charles Darwin called this Natural Variation.
There is a kind of subtle chaos,
a supple element of chance and change,
residing at the core of living things.
Our theme this year prompts three related questions:
What are we as human beings, where have we come from,
and how may we adapt to meet an ever-changing world?

The American Dream
"In 2008, leave narrow and exclusive ideologies at home
and carefully consider your immediate experience.
2008
What has America achieved that you admire?
What has it done or failed to do that fills you with dismay?
What is laudatory? What is ludicrous?
Put blame aside, let humor thrive,
and dare to contemplate a larger question:
What can America contribute to the world?"

The Green Man
He does not
speak or sleep;
he waits!
2007
Humanity's relationship to nature.
Do we, as conscious beings,
exist outside of nature's way,
or does its force impel us and inform
the central root of who and what we are?

"His name means the Green One or Verdant One,
he is the voice of inspiration to the aspirant and committed artist.
He can come as a white light or the gleam on a blade of grass,
but more often as an inner mood. The sign of his presence is the
ability to work or experience with tireless enthusiasm
beyond one's normal capacities...".
~William Anderson

The Future
Hope! and Fear!
2006
The Mind Shaft Society has recreated
an ancient Time Portal
to simulate the examination
of your Hope! and Fear!

Psyche
The Conscious
The Subconscious &
The Unconscious
2005

The Mind Shaft Society once again chartered Playa Air,
"a shitty airline, but it gets you there".
We flew south of the border deep
into the Youcantan Peninsula
where under the direction of Dr. Roxie,
the resident Mind Shaft Society psychologist,
we discovered the secrets of an undiscovered
Mayan God ~ Huracan.

Vault of Heaven
search for the Cosmic Giggle
2004

The Mind Shaft Society embarked on
a search for the Cosmic Giggle. We have all
experienced it one or more times in our lives.
Some of us get it easily, others have to look harder.

Beyond Belief...
examine your beliefs!
2003

Feeling stuck in dogmatic rut?
Join The Mind Shaft Society as we recreate
the findings from our Expedition to Marsohpotamia
where we believe we discovered
the Origins of Belief!

Inspire...
or be inspired!
2002

Inspiration Island may be just what you need
to adjust your attitude! Feeling dazed and confused
from all of the recent world events? Perhaps you
feel you have the answer and can inspire others.
Visit The Mind Shaft at Inspiration Island
for some cosmic stimulation.

Expiate...
undo bad ideas
2001

Visit the Mind Shaft for a moment or an hour.
Give us your Mind and we'll give you the Shaft.

The Mind Shaft Society will help you
undo your bad ideas,
take back past mistakes,
expiate your greed,
leave your dead dot.com,
your fourth ex-husband or wife,
that left turn into the desert,
in The Mind Shaft.

 

Choose your links from the menu at the left.