Modifyre

Modifyre
Begins	5 July 2017
Ends	10 July 2017
Frequency	Annual
Location(s)	Goondawindi Shire, Queensland, Australia
Years active	3
Inaugurated	2014
Website
www.modifyre.org

Modifyre is a Burning Man regional event held in Queensland, Australia. It is a not-for-profit event run entirely by volunteers with the shared goal of creating a year-round community dedicated to participatory arts, self-expression, de-commodification, and self-reliance. Each year the highlight of the event is the burning of bug themed effigy.

Vision and Organization

Modifyre was conceptualised by a collection of Brisbane burners in 2013. This resulted in a private event called "Preconception" for 100 participants in Yarramalong QLD. The first Official Modifyre happened the year after, a public event held at Famunity in the Numinbah Valley and attracted around 225 people.

In September 2016 Modifyre's team incorporated as a not for profit known as "BURN Arts", Brisbane United Regional Network of Arts, and this legal entity is now responsible for the event.

Modifyre Culture

Modifyre is built on the ten principles of Burning Man. These are

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.

Deccommodificanion: 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 promotes social interaction through collective acts of gifting. We value 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. Organizers must also assume responsibility for abiding by national law and district bylaws.

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 condition 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 in experience. 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, appreciation of 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.

The Modifyre Event

Presentations

A private event called "Preconception" for 100 participants was held in Yarramalong QLD with a view to setting up a Queensland Regional Burn Event. The first Official Modifyre happened the year after, a public event held at Famunity in the Numinbah Valley and attracted around 225 people. Despite its small size it featured the usual hallmarks of a regional burn, such as gate, greeters, a center camp, an effigy and temple. The event grew to 350 patrons in 2016, but was forced to move to a backup site that created heavy noise restrictions. As a result, the call was made to move further west near Inglewood QLD in order to secure a site the event may grow into and maintain a relationship with the same local area and council year to year.

Presentation	Theme	Location	Dates	Participants	Tickets
Preconception 2014		Yarramalong	14 - 15 November	100
Modifyre 2015	Modifyre (moth)	Natural Bridge	2 - 5 July	225
Modifyre 2016	Transformation (bee)	Yarramalong	8 - 10 July	350
Modifyre 2017	Once Upon A Time (mantis)	Inglewood	5 - 10 July	?

Contact

Official Site: *http://www.modifyre.org
Facebook page: *https://www.facebook.com/ModifyreOfficial