Afrikaburn
Art in Cape Town

AfrikaBurn is a participant created event run by volunteers.
AfrikaBurn is the spectacular result of the creative expression of a community of volunteers who, costume, theme camps, gather in the Tankwa Karoo to create a temporary city of art, once a year, music and performance.

AfrikaBurn is the spectacular result of the creative expression of a community of volunteers who, once a year, gather in the Tankwa Karoo to create a temporary city of art, theme camps, costume, music and performance! For those that have been no explanation is necessary, for those that haven’t none is possible. Does it have a Mission Statement or Guiding Principles which inform the event, and the culture? Just as our community is made up of volunteers, so is the organisation that stages the annual AfrikaBurn event and related initiatives. AfrikaBurn is wholly owned by Africa Burns Creative Projects Non Profit Company (NPC). AfrikaBurn is a participant-created movement, an experiment in inclusive community building, decommodification, creativity, self-reliance and radical self-expression. AfrikaBurn is a community of participants who come together to create art, burning structures, costume, performance, theme camps, music, mutant vehicles and much, much more. All of this is created through the volunteer culture of the citizens of Tankwa Town in the Karoo once a year. AfrikaBurn’s aim is to be radically inclusive and accessible to anyone. The touchstone of value in our culture will always be immediacy: experience before theory, moral relationships before politics, survival before services, roles before jobs, ritual before symbolism, work before vested interest, participant support before sponsorship. To really understand AfrikaBurn, you should check out the eleven principles, which act as guidelines for the event and culture. They’re not rules, or commandments, but understanding them will unlock the magic of the experience for you. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value. In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience. AfrikaBurn encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources. Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction. Community members who organise events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with national and local laws. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them. Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We make the world real through actions that open the heart. As a self-reliant community, we believe the responsibility of spreading our culture lies with each and every one of us.