Blazing Swan

Blazing Swan is one of Australia’s several regional Burning Man events. It is held every year in the town of Kulin, Western Australia. The festival is run by a volunteer committee of Australian burners that have also been involved in organizing AfrikaBurn and Burning Seed.

Burning Man is an annual counterculture festival described as an experiment in community and art. Founded in 1986 by Larry Harvey, Jerry James and a group of friends, it takes place every year in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, United States. Burning Man has become so popular over the years that many countries now host regional burns. Some countries have more than one Burning Man event and Australia is one of them.

As Australia is one of the world’s largest countries which occupies an entire continent, it hosts three regional burns, one on the west coast (Blazing Swan in Western Australia) and two on the east coast (Burning Seed in New South Wales and Modifyre in Queensland). All three events are run by volunteers and coordinated by Burning Man Australia.

Blazing Swan is a non-profit company run by a volunteer committee of artists and producers. The organizers of the festival carry out the overall coordination and take care of logistics, but the rich and diverse program of Blazing Swan is the result of a community effort. Every year the participants build a temporary village with interactive theme camps, mutant vehicles and exciting live performances.

The Blazing Swan festival is a week-long event packed with performances, interactive activities, art installations, demonstrations of mutant vehicles, and other events and activities promoting self expression, understanding and identity. As the festival’s name suggests, there are a lot of fire-related events such as bonfires, fire shows, pyrotechnic displays, and effigy burning. The festival culminates in the burning of a giant swan-shaped wooden effigy. Of course, all necessary safety precautions are taken to prevent any fire accidents.

Blazing Swan is based on the 10 Guiding Principles of Burning Men originally formulated by Larry Harvey in 2004. One of these principles is “Leaving no trace”. The participants of the festival respect the environment and leave no physical trace of their activities, cleaning up after themselves wherever they gather.