Last Wednesday i went to the elective ' Building Bridges, Forging Links' by Philippa Hadley Choy - which was so fascinating and entertaining and useful to me and my project. It started with showing a video of Patti Smith spontaneously singing in the street to an unexpectedly large audience who had flocked to see her friend Robert Mapplethorpe's exhibition in London. It had been rumoured that Patti was to be there, hence the crowds. People were pushing to get into the tiny exhibition space so she decided to go outside and talk to them all and sing a song. She asked everyone to join in, saying that she knew it was a bit lame, but to all...unite, and it made the moment purely about being in this space at this time with all these people and all being connected this way. The song she sang was 'Because The Night', which was the song that made her career. The music had been given to her by Bruce Springsteen and she had written the lyrics for her partner, back in 1975. Apparently Springsteen had known what a huge hit the piece of music would be, and still he gave the music to Smith as a gift.
At the moment i'm really into the idea of the group and inclusion. I went to a gig the other night, with this in mind and i was so consumed with thinking about how everyone was connected due to our common interest and being in that place at the same time. I think that was the first time that i have ever actively immersed myself in a group mentality without thinking of myself as an individual within it. I felt as though my presence was blended into the atmosphere.
Anyway, without going off on too much of a tangent, by the end of the session, we had started talking about manifestos. Here's the 'Ten core priciples' of The Burning Man Festival.
Ten Principles
Radical Inclusion
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.
Gifting
Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.
Decommodification
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.
Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.
Radical Self-expression
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. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.
Communal Effort
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.
Civic Responsibility
We value civil society. Community members who organize 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 local, state and federal laws.
Leaving No Trace
Our community respects the environment. 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.
Participation
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 achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.
Immediacy
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience. 
Patti Smith covering Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. Oh lovely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvR-JBPhnxI&feature=player_embedded
