Networking

Digital workers demonstrated that they benefit from BM experiences in relation to networks burners access in relation to their BM participation. This finding may seem surprising as BM has a reputation for anti-corporate themes (Turner 2009) and takes place in a decommodified environment, yet the style of networking that stems from BM experiences differs from conventional corporate networking. As BZ explained, “it’s almost frowned upon to be doing a Linkedln style meeting at BM”, whilst FC, founder of two tech start-ups, pointed out that at BM, “you’re in the desert; you don’t have a business card”.

Rather, burners build networks by doing things together and forging deep personal connections by doing so. The types of activities that interviewees recounted doing with others included: planning to go to BM, planning and building art installations, travelling to BM, setting up camp at BM, working on on-site projects, camping together, preparing food, consuming narcotics, exploring the site, partying and sharing other experiences. Of course, some of these networking behaviours, as we saw, contributed to either negative or positive social capital building, such as consuming narcotics versus planning art installations. Engaging with art was central to these experiences, as burners created art, took art-based workshops or explored and interacted with the art on offer. Through doing these things, burners developed networks that stem from their BM experiences, and subsequently collaborated with people in that network on professional projects in the default world. At the start of their BM journey, the networks burners were part of are typically loose affiliations; however, through their BM experiences, they subsequently develop established networks which they access in their professional lives. For example, BZ calculated that “there’s probably ten people who I have had as speakers at conferences” whom he met at BM, whilst software developer HI explained how through his BM experiences, he has gained “a lot of great contacts throughout the industry - those who have helped serve my career since”, and AD has gained clients in relation to her BM experiences.

Interviewees explained how such networks evolved. Conversations at BM typically were not focussed on work-related themes initially but could evolve into discussions about work. For example, in his interview, BZ explained that he developed good network contacts through his BM experiences, but when asked how he met such contacts, he explained, “I didn't actually talk to them about tech, like on the last day, I was like, ‘oh, what do you do?’, ‘Oh, cool. Me too!”’. FC, who met people at BM who later invested in his start-up company, also explained how such contacts were made at BM:

I did meet other people that are collaborating on the project today from an engineer who works at [famous tech company] to investors - some of the investors that have invested in the company also went to Burning Man, and they love the idea that part of the conception of the project happened there. So yeah, there’s definitely a network that starts to develop... After coming back, you try to keep in touch with the people you meet, the ones that you got to know. Many or most of my conversations were with people that I don’t have any contact details for, but the few that you get the contacts for, they definitely become part of the network afterwards.

In discussing the evolution of networks that grew out of BM experiences, interviewees described the high degree of trust that exists amongst burners as being a contributing factor that helps to bind burners together within such networks. For example, BZ explained how BM “helps people build trust in a really significant way, because you can trust that every burner around you is there giving and has got your back”. As BZ described further, “if you have people who have been up that scaffolding with you, or had this preposterous idea they need made real, or you did something remarkable, it's almost like an induction ceremony”. For BZ, being a burner was akin to being welcomed into an exclusive club that had a religiosity about it (the secret handshake) which was transformative and had an artistic element to it. To illustrate this emotion, he recounted an important meeting he had at a leading tech firm:

I went into an office, and there was a gigantic picture of the playa [Burning Man site]..., like a panoramic shot on the wall behind the desk. And the person I was meeting said, “hey, how ya doin’?, Good to meet you — do you know what that is?” I looked at it and said, “yeah, that's the playa”. He said, “okay”, and that was like a secret handshake.

As such, the networks that burners form with other burners did not necessitate that they actually met at BM. As BZ explained, “there’s the sense of, we have a shared experience, you have validated yourself, and somehow, we can be more candid”. Such networks can provide burners with increased career opportunities, as indicated by the following story recounted by JD, where she describes how creative and artistic experiences at BM and outside it can be life-changing. It is sharing the arts experiences at BM that is part of the transformative experience:

So many people have gone far from their life because this project has shown them what they can do - and now they can do so much more. For instance, a friend of mine was telling me how he’s been collaborating with these Scandinavian artists and how he’s just came back from Milan where he was building stuff for Fashion Week, and now he’s going to Venice to work on the Biennale stuff. He’s a carpenter and he’s been able to realise so many things that he couldn’t even imagine. And I think that’s it ... It’s about the relationships that have emerged from that, and now we’re able to go and realise amazing things.

In sum, BM provides opportunities for participants to gain access to new, high-trust networks which they can exploit for personal, professional or commercial gain. Their networks and transformations are facilitated by arts experiences that range from art installations they created or experienced at BM to arts experiences that they can discuss that occurred somewhere else, such as the Venice Biennale. Networks evolve from loose affiliations through to established networks, through doing things together, or the acknowledgement of shared experiences, artistic, digital and networked.