When you first wandered onto the Binnekring (the Americans call it the Playa) to see this year’s art creations did you ever wonder how they were created? This year we watched the magic unfold on the biggest and best on the Binnekring … the Clan.
Once upon a time a bunch of friends burnt an effigy of a man on a San Francisco beach. Fast forward to today, and 70,000 people flock to Black Rock City in Nevada to celebrate Burning Man. And the highlight is a very improved effigy of a man, which is burnt once again. To be creative and distinctive, AfrikaBurn adopted a very unique San rock painting as the design for South Africa’s effigy. And called it the Clan, not the Man.
My phone peeps. A WhatsApp message. From Laurence, my former Hekpoort neighbour. “They’ve chosen us for this year’s Clan!!” The fun is about to begin. With a highly talented and experienced architect at the helm, the probability of a successful build is all but guaranteed. Let us examine the long and winding road on this journey to Tankwa Town.
Provided I don’t reveal any secrets Laurence invites me into his facility in the Magaliesberg mountains. Nearly a thousand miles from the final destination. Mind-blowing what needs to be accomplished to design, procure materials, build with volunteers and transport by road. Not for the faint-hearted. And not a penny in compensation.
Here’s Laurence in his cave with the design model used to impress the art judges at AB headquarters.
That effort requires creative thinking but now begins the hard part – turning it into reality. With his track record on the previous year’s Tree of Stories build, the list of volunteers to inveigle into doing it again is on hand. Coming at him are skills in many forms, from straight up labour to providing highly sophisticated woodworking machinery. And there is a brand new, high roofed workshop perfect for the task.
The highly skilled crew has heaps of experience on a complicated project. Even Mons, the Goddess of the Tankwa, is part of the build crew.
What is fascinating is how the Burn influences life in the default world. Vivienne, a friend, has an embroidery machine. She will never attend the burn but reacted very positively when told about the Clan and its origins.
Way back in 2019, Mumu had gifted me the colourful ceramic necklace. Vivienne went to work programming her machine to mass produce a beautifully embroidered pocket badge. Soon enough there were sufficient for Laurence to reward his build crew with a memento for their efforts.
The hidden magic of the art creations on the Playa is made by thousands of man (woman) hours of volunteer work. It is fascinating to see the dedication to projects by people without a paycheck attached.
Once all the components are assembled, the next assignment is the transportation to Tankwa Town. For those who did not arrive by luxury bus the roads will be remembered as terrible. Major tar freeways are jammed with convoys of trucks keeping the economy alive now that the railways are broken. Once that hell run is conquered the dreaded R355 is waiting to finish you off. Corrugated, dusty road and flinty stones await to destroy your tyres over a 100km endurance test. My admiration to all the drivers of the big trucks delivering large cargoes to Tankwa Town.
The build crews are on site in a quiet Playa. A month before the event the worker bees arrive to assemble what was born a thousand miles away. The hidden blood, sweat and tears that create the magic.
And voila! It all comes to fruition. The Playa is filled with amazing art pieces with the Clan, the piece de resistance. Laurence gifts me a ride in his charabanc. We tour the playa after visiting the Clan to check the solar panels are pumping electricity.
After more than half a year, the creation is made real for 12,500 burners to enjoy.
And at the end of the week, it all comes to a fiery end. Reminding us all that life is ephemeral. We have only a short time to enjoy a conscious existence before it all ends.
The burn was also magnificent. The choreography could not have been better. A fitting conclusion to a magnificent effort. Well done to Laurence, Melissa and all their crew on a job extremely well done.
Solar Santa
Pretoria
May 2025
