The flagship AfrikaBurn event takes place in the Tankwa Karoo, at Quaggafontein Farm, located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, around the end of April every year.
AfrikaBurn is the largest of many events across the globe that share Guiding Principles through affiliation with the Burning Man Regional Network.
Image credit: Kim Steinberg
Originally called Afrika Burns, the first planned event in 2007 at Stonehenge Farm in the Northern Cape, was cancelled due to flooding. The inaugural event ‘Tribe’ took place in November of that year.
The event was renamed through a public participation process to “AfrikaBurn” in 2008, due to concerns about negative interpretation. The emphasis was shifted from something (‘burns’) that happens to Africa, to something (a ‘burn’) that happens in Africa.
In 2010 the event was moved earlier in the year to the end of April because the mild autumn weather better suited the event, and so that a South African public holiday (or two) would fall over the event period.
2019 was the last year AfrikaBurn was held at Stonehenge Farm. In 2022 AfrikaBurn was hosted on Quaggafontein for the first time.
Paul Jorgensen met Larry Harvey at Burning Man 2002 and indicated an interest to instigate an event in South Africa. In 2004, he secured approval for a regional event in South Africa and was awarded funding by the Black Rock Arts Foundation the following year.
By 2005, there were two groups emerging who were concurrently hatching plans for a South African burn event, and by the end of 2006, they joined forces.
Lil Visser, Michael t’Sas-Rolfes, Monique Schiess, Richard Bowsher, and Robert Weinek founded an organisation along with Paul in 2007, for the purpose of running the event.
A venue was identified at Stonehenge Farm in the Northern Cape, which became the event site or “home” from 2007 to 2019.
Every year, the event has a theme around which the artists and community focus their projects. To some it’s a critical factor in their yearly experience, and for others it matters less. From Play to Mirage to The Elastic Kraal-Art Burning Test, the theme serves as a springboard to inspire and engage people – hopefully sparking ideas and experimentations. That’s the whole point of this thing, isn’t it?
Image credit: Roger van Wyk
Image credit: Michiel Prins
Much like Burning Man has ‘The Man’, the AfrikaBurn community has a central effigy that is burned at the culmination of the year’s efforts. It’s an important part of the experiment and experience, and as such, has resulted in many adventures and stories to tell.
The Clan History page will give you an overview of all the amazing scuptures and the teams that built them.
The main annual AfrikaBurn event takes place in the Tankwa Karoo, located in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, at the end of April every year. Beyond this, a number of year-round activities take place across South Africa and include:
AfrikaBurn’s aim is to be radically inclusive and accessible to anyone. The touchstone of value in our culture will always be immediacy: experience before theory, moral relationships before politics, survival before services, roles before jobs, ritual before symbolism, work before vested interest, participant support before sponsorship.
To really understand AfrikaBurn, you should check out the Eleven Principles, which act as guidelines for the event and culture. They’re not rules, or commandments, but understanding them will unlock the magic of the experiences available to you.
AfrikaBurn is a participant-created movement, an experiment in inclusive community building, decommodification, creativity, self-reliance and radical self-expression. It is a chance to invent the world anew.
Created as guidelines for how we gather, and keep us united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society.
There’s a passionate organisation that holds the legal and fiduciary responsibilities of running the AfrikaBurn movement.
It’s hard to walk the tightrope between anarchic self-expression and dedicated civic responsibility.
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