DECOMPRESSION
HELSINKI 2024

Decompression is a place for anyone – you – to create art or perform. We want to break the barriers between artists and participants and encourage everyone to suggest what they want to make. Content and program created by the participants is the core of Decompression’s magic, like in all Burning Man type of events.

Are you dreaming of creating a big interactive installation? A small one? A performance? Free hugs? A world of its own? A collective dance? Music? A trolley for give away smoothies? An army of friendly drones? A workshop? A silent place to meditate? Something else? This is a play ground for adults, we don’t ask titles or merits.

ART

We want to make art again an interactive, participatory and shared experience of creative expression. Community-driven, inclusive and interactive art is vital to a thriving culture.

PERFORMANCES

Too often performance means the accomplishment of a given task measured. Here, performance means creation. Presenting feats of creativity to and with the audience.

WORKSHOPS

Through workshops the masters and apprentices meet. By teaching and actively taking part we share our expertise and knowledge to others. But by teaching we also learn ourselves.

MUSIC

To celebrate the life and to relieve the stress levels produced by the rat race, the raw expression of music and dance are paramount for successful decompression.

Art grants are financial support for project costs that each creation can apply for. The source of these funds is the ticket sales. As the funding based on the tickets sales will vary so will the amount of reimbursements vary. Not all creations will be granted financial support. If you apply for support and you are accepted, it means that some of your direct project costs may be reimbursed. Announcements on granted support will come in late March. So be prepared to handle your own total budget. The more we sell tickets, the more likely is your project supported - so you can help out by promoting the event to your friends!

The event is about equality and inclusiveness. Everyone is a co-creator and makes the event possible. For this reason, everyone has to purchase a ticket. Even the DJs, performers, organisers and artists buy a ticket.

The money from the ticket sales are used to cover the cost of hosting the event and given back to the community in the form of art grants.

But we wouldn't consider it as a payment, but rather as an investment in the common dream, because as much of the money will be given back as possible in the form of grants to those who create the program.

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.

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.

RADICAL SELF-RELIANCE

Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.

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.

CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY

We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavour to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.

RADICAL INCLUSION

Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.

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.

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 endeavour, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

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.