What: Kiwiburn 2012: Disaster Holiday, New Zealand's official Regional Burning Man event

Where: Whakamaru Domain, Mangakino

When: 18–23 Jan 2012

Attend: Contact us and send your photographer

Kiwiburn is almost here, carrying on the tradition of the world famous Burning Man Festival in the USA.

Featured on every 'Top 50 Things To Do Before You Die' list, the original Burning Man attracts over 50,000 participants annually. Its unique culture has grown worldwide and in 2012, New Zealand's 8^th annual Kiwiburn (an officially sanctioned Burning Man event) celebrates the most inspired interactive art, music, performances, and costumes from our great land and around the world.

Many New Zealanders journey to Nevada, USA every year to participate in Burning Man, and 2011 saw more Kiwis than ever head to the USA as volunteers to help build the Temple of Transition, inspired by the vision of Aucklander Chris 'Kiwi' Hankins.

Kiwi is head of a small group of dedicated 'burners' known as The International Arts Megacrew (IAM), and has designed and built Kiwiburn's central figure, The Man, for the past seven years, and will create it again in 2012.

Currently available for interviews, Kiwi is passionate about the massive undertakings which have captured the hearts and minds of 'burners' worldwide. Being involved in every Burning Man and Kiwiburn since 2004, Chris has forged strong local and international relationships resulting in his amazing art collaborations. 

One of the highlights for him in 2011 was the Temple of Transition that the IAM envisioned for the Burning Man festival in Nevada – a huge temporary art structure in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. The Temple and The Man are iconic structures of ‘Burns’ around the world, and Kiwi's foray into building the Temple for Burning Man in 2011 was the first time an international team built the Temple, which, at 120 feet tall, was the tallest structure ever built in the desert basin. The Temple is the sacred heart of the ‘burning’ city; holding the hopes, dreams and memories of participants for a week before it burns in a solemn ceremony on the last night of the festival.

The Temple and The Man at Kiwiburn look set to be major highlights  for the 2012 event. Work is already well underway on these two art structures, which are being built offsite, before being transported to the site. Travellers will arrive from North America, Australia and Europe to be part of Kiwiburn 2012. For many, it's a life-changing experience.

What drives a ‘burner’ to build art in a desert halfway around the world, and in a paddock in NZ? Have a chat to Kiwi and discover his passion and dreams. Call him on 021 112 5018 to arrange an interview. He has many stories to share!

More information:

• Follow the progress of the 2012 Kiwiburn Temple: http://kiwiburntemple.blogspot.com.
• Temple of Transition (Burning Man USA), visit http://temple2011.org; see how it came together here https://www.facebook.com/temple2011?sk=photos.
• All about Burning Man: http://www.burningman.com
• You can learn more about the culture, community and history of Kiwiburn by downloading the Kiwiburn Media Kit (pdf format): http://kiwiburn.com/media-kit and for more information, go to www.kiwiburn.com/