To the Grants Committee;

Thank you for the chance to apply for a grant to support CAROUSEL NUMINOUS at Burning Man 2003 - a multifaceted, community-focused art project that interacts with the human spiritual environment to propel our sense of myth and divine mystery beyond current systems of hierarchical, mediated religious belief.

Project Description
Imagine you are walking along the Esplanade at night and in the distance you see a tower or pillar topped by intermittent flames. You make your way towards the fire and a glittering installation of three Carousels surrounding the central flaming pole comes into view. Each Carousel is equidistant from the central tower, and all are crowned with flames. They are 10 feet tall and 16 feet around, each with four carriages ornately designed as such religious icons as Devils, Angels, Buddahs, Hindu deities and Rabbits, among others.

It is very dark and still, a bubble of luminous serenity in the midst of the blossoming of color and sound that is the Playa at night. In the center of each Carousel are mirrored panels decorated with, and reflecting visages of, all the Gods humans have known. These images and sculptures embody the pantheon of religious experience.

There are other wanderers who have stumbled across the Carousels. They speak in quiet voices and examine the art machines, scrutinizing the swirling designs that glow yellow, red, blue, indigo and orange in the flickering light. You step forward, curious, and notice there are seats and pedals in each of the deity carriages. The urge to participate flares up as you realize you can power this project as easily as riding a bicycle. You and your new friends get on board and start pedaling, causing the Carousel to spin. Suddenly the entire installation lights up. Music begins playing. Objects built into the central structure and on the floor planks of your carousel begin to move from the mechanical motion of the Carousel. Yin-Yangs spin, Vodoo Vevers move up and down, crosses jerk back and forth, Mandalas light from the inside and spin. The motion that you have initiated has in turn set a multitude of mechanical events in action. The Carousel moves smoothly and easily. Others approach and get in the other two carousels, causing them to also light up.

You then notice that the Carousels are connected to the middle flaming tower that brought you to Carousel Numinous in the first place. The pole turns in the opposite direction of your carriage. All the Carousels are reflected in mirrors that cover the central pillar. The energy you are putting into your Carousel is causing the central tower to turn and the installation to light, calling more to come and participate.

As you ride around, transfixed by the glittering of the Carousels, you notice buttons, levers, handles and rings in the shape of candles, chalices, gya ling (Tibetan oboes), Caribbean Santeria drums, crystals, shells and other ritual implements on the inside of your carriage. You start pressing buttons and discover that they trigger sound- and motion-events in your Carousel - in an angel car you might hear snippets of the Hallelujah Chorus. A friend jumps on a demon car and starts setting off the theme from the Exorcist or cackling screams. Chants, thunder, a child crying and prayers begin to swirl through the air as all the participants begin using these ritual tools. People are pedaling together and the mechanical structures are moving faster and faster. All the sound events are merging into one grand cacophony that rises up and can be heard out on the Playa. You have created and experienced the metaphor that is the Carousel Numinous.

Longevity - Life Beyond The Playa
The Carousel Numinous carnival rides have longevity beyond the timeless moment that is Black Rock City. The equipment will be built to last, and can be housed in large-scale artspaces or outdoors facilities as an ongoing art experiment that provokes both immediate experiential delight, and thoughtful reflection on how humanity's essentially divine nature extends "beyond belief" to new realms of possibility.

Project Concept
Just like religion, the Carousel Numinous is an interactive experience that invites anyone to take part in the circular motion of life and belief systems. The metaphor of Carousel Numinous embodies is that all religions arise from human interaction with a phenomenon they feel is outside of themselves. The three Carousels sit upon the playa a step above the earth, supported by human machinations of axels and wheels. Each houses deities that are selected and ridden by participants. These deities represent the manifestations of numinous force. As participants interact they transfer energy- from feet, gears, chains and up into flame and light. This energy transfer serves as a beacon to others to come join the fantastical spinning.

Project Team
Carousel Numinous is the product of the fertile imagination of artists Jenny Bird Alcantara and John Mosbaugh - the masterminds behind Burning Man 2000's fanciful and outrageous Headless Maiden Camp.

• Jenny Alcantara is a San Francisco artist who received her B.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute. She has exhibited her work locally, and at Burning Man 2000 via the theme camp Headless Maiden.

  "My work stems from a very basic need for expression. From the time I was young I found that the most comfortable places were the ones that I had imagined. For me, Art is the most natural way to enter that world. My art is born out of fairy tales, nightmares, isolation, reflection, cycles, kinks, humor, cynicism, moodiness, and the need to understand and be understood. I have a strong painting background, but recently have been moving towards creating an environment with pieces that speak to each other and alter space. One step beyond creating such an environment is enabling people to interact within that environment. That is what I hope to accomplish with Carousel Numinous."

• John Mosbaugh is a San Francisco based writer and mechanical artist. Everything he has learned about fire sculpture, he learned at Burning Man. He is editor and writer for the Yahoo Education Pamphlet, and was organizer, engineer and artist-contributor for the Headless Maiden 2000 theme camp. He has also been a volunteer for the Burning Man Organization SF in various incarnations.
• Shane Kelley is a longtime burner who brings valuable welding, construction and engineering expertise to the Camp Numinous. He built many of the structures for the Headless Maiden 2000 camp and is leading up the Carousel Numinous construction in conjunction with John and Jenny.
• Marc Richardson worked on the BRC café and storefront in 1997 and the Seemen UFO car in 1999. He brings valuable artistic, construction and engineering expertise to the Camp Numinous. David Buf Zinn has attended Burning Man for 6 years; was a Greeter for 3 years; currently with Playa info.

Resources & Funding
Please see the attached project budget for a detailed breakdown of Carousel Numinous costs and materials. Carousel Numinous will be constructed from re-used/recycled materials whenever possible, saving money and making use of materials that would otherwise be disposed of by the planned obsolescence of consumer culture.

Cleanup and Emergency Remediation
Carousel Numinous has a negligible environmental impact. There will be no open fires burning on the playa. Camp members will conduct daily sweeps of the surrounding region to ensure loose materials are not blown to the horizon. Paints, glues, and art-making materials will be selected for minimal environmental impact. There will be four holes augured into the playa. These holes will be no more than 6 inches in diameter and they will be filled and packed when the project is uninstalled. The installation will not be burned, but will be disassembled for return to San Francisco for "Life Beyond the Playa."

Camp Numinous has several emergency-aware Burning Man veterans who will be responsible for monitoring the structures for mechanical integrity. Safety checks will be performed throughout the event. We will also provide fire extinguishers in the slim chance of a fire. No propane tanks over 75 lbs will be used for the fire events. We will also monitor the safety of any participants at all times and have a contingency emergency plan that includes knowing locations of the nearest medical facilities in Black Rock City.

What is the Numinous?
The encounter with something outside of the human experience was explored by Rudolf Otto when he wrote in the early 1900's of a "sense of an otherness" that he felt was all-pervasive and, when encountered by the human mind, is often a source of wonderment, awe, ecstasy or dread. Otto's work built on that of Immanuel Kant, who discussed the concepts of transcendence in relation to the rational mind and morality. Otto added the additional concept of encountering what humans perceive as the sacred, divine or "Numinous."

Our project is a physical manifestation of this concept of encountering and interpreting the Numinous - and how it may quite possibly be the underlying factor for most human religious beliefs. Karen Armstrong, in A History of God, writes about this experience of something sacred that lies outside of us when she writes:

"In the South Sea Islands, they call this mysterious force mana; others experience it as a presence or spirit; sometimes it has been felt as an impersonal power, like a form of radioactivity or electricity. It was believed to reside in the tribal chief, in plants, rocks or animals. The Latins experienced numina (spirits) in sacred groves; Arabs felt that the landscape was populated by the jinn. Naturally people wanted to get in touch with this reality and make it work for them, but they also simply wanted to admire it. When they personalized the unseen forces and made them gods, associated with the wind, sun, sea and stars but possessing human characteristics, they were expressing their sense of affinity with the unseen and with the world around them."

Otto wrote that this concept of the numinous encompassed five possible manifestations: 1) ultimacy, 2) mystery (mysterium), 3) awe (tremendum), 4) fascination (fascinans), and 5) satisfaction. Carousel Numinous will incorporate all of these manifestations, and will include an organic smattering of Gods, Goddesses and other deities that include good and evil, life and death, creation and destruction and various other dichotomies. The three carousels will incorporate three triads : Body-Mind-Soul, Hell-Earth-Heaven and Electrons-Neutrons-Protons.

Riding the Carousel Numinous is a metaphor for participation in the Sacred in all of its forms. It is an exercise in encountering the Numinous and taking away your own intimate interpretation of it.

Concluding Statement
Thank you for the chance to apply for a grant to support Carousel Numinous. We hope, with your help, to make the Carousel Numinous one of the most memorable and interactive Projects on the Playa in 2003, and beyond. We have included budgets and artistic and engineering specs with this letter. If you have any questions or need more information, you are welcome to contact us at any time at (415) 664-3988.

Numinously,