The vibe is real. Playa magic. Secret sauce. Atypical serendipity. Whatever you call it, it’s being studied by social scientists around the world and written about in the annals of academia. 

The vibe is real, but that doesn’t mean we must deny our Dada roots. We can yield a toilet plunger like a royal scepter. We can celebrate porta-loo beautification, and its absurd juxtaposition, as a legit art experience. We can invent a vibe-sensing device that has no sensors. 

Stuart Mangrum talks with Dr. Graham St John, cultural anthropologist, author of many books and academic articles about Burning Man culture, festival culture, EDM, psychedelics, and other scholarly adjacencies. Listen in and learn the true meaning of “efflorescence” and “ephemeropolis.”

Burning Progeny Project

Wurst Storm Rising (Journal of Festive Studies)

The Big Empty (aeon Magazine)

dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture

Black Rock Gazette, Sept 5, 1999

Burning Man Phrase Generator, Javier F. Barrera

[email protected]

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