We are creating this to give the people of Christchurch a chance to write out their experiences and release them through fire. The Temple concept is not one that would normally spring to mind. We are not talking about a building devoted to a god, demigod or other religious practice; we are talking about creating an open and safe space to allow people to let go of their emotions. The Temple we are
making is in the style of David Best and the Burning Man festival. The tradition started in 2000 when David’s friend died in a vehicle accident while David was preparing to go to Burning Man. He ummed and ahhed over whether to go, but in the end David decided to honour his lost friend’s memory by attending the festival and building a structure dedicated to him. Inspired and moved by this first Temple, other participants wrote their own dedications to lost love ones. By the end of the event, the structure was covered in all sorts of dedications and was burned on the last night. David Best continued to build the Temple every year until 2007. Since then, a number of different art crews, including IAM, have built the Temple in the Nevada desert as well as starting the same tradition at the many regional Burning Man events around the world, including New Zealand’s own Kiwiburn. Over the years, the Temple has developed a life and culture of its own. It is a place for people to write their deepest sorrows or greatest joys; to mourn their lost loved ones or to celebrate their love for life; a place for people to cry and a place for people to celebrate. Poems, photos, shrines, letters and mementos are pinned, posted and penned all over the Temple walls, helping to create an ever-growing communal dialogue about what touches us deeply as individuals and the shared experience of our humanity. The cathartic climax of the Temple is reached on the last day of the festival when it is burned in front of tens of thousands of people, who bear emotional witness to the promise of release and renewal that fire brings. It is a moving and emotional experience. This is the Temple we are trying to create: a space for the people of Christchurch to let go of some of the emotions that have built up over the last 14 months and to help them move on with their lives.
