Artistic nude male and female statues are generally not a problem. Unlike 20 years ago, when display of many of these classic figures were more controlled (or had a hat hung over them for comedic effect), these days you'll find many of the great artistic nudes in G-rated material, children's textbooks and the like. That brings us to Burning Life and an artistic female nude figure in virtual marble (the work of Hobo artist Cheen Pitney), standing on a PG Burning Life plot.
The sudden appearance of figleafing boxes marked "CENSORED" started to draw a crowd, with about twenty people arriving over the next quarter hour. Vicero Lambert and Poid Mahovlich (organizers for Burning Life this year) turned up about an hour later, and onlookers attempted to speak with them.
Lambert and Mahovlich then did something that bemused onlookers, and some say added insult to injury. Instead of answering right away, they began - inexplicably - to dance, instead. Lambert put on "yellow duckie shoes", and the pair danced silently for several minutes, to the increasing frustration and annoyance of onlookers.
Then the pair calmly explained that they had been asked by Linden Lab to place the censorship boxes, and that they were working on finding a mature BL parcel for the statue - referring all discussion on the matter to Iridium Linden. After several minutes of being danced at, however, the people gathered at the site were less than receptive.
Censorship instructions from Linden Lab have been the most prominent and notable feature of Burning Life since its commencement, often gaining more awareness than any other aspect of the event.
"I wonder why they align it with Burning Man in that case -- if ever there was a place where censorship would not be tolerated," said one observer, "I really think they should call it something else. Some of us have actually been to Burning Man. We get it."
"This event is a Linden Lab event," asserted Lambert, "anything Linden Lab requests has to be done."
Lambert went on to strongly disassociate Burning Life from Burning Man, asserting that this was a Linden Lab event, rather than a community event and as such had rigid rules that had to be adhered to.
Of course, this isn't the first time that Burning Life has been the subject of a censorship battle. In fact, it's happened every time so far.
Iridium Linden was unavailable for comment.
[UPDATE: Noon Wednesday SLT - We've got a followup to this piece. Find it here]
1. There is NO spirit of "burning man" here. None at all.
You get a much better feeling of freedom in Baku, at the home of w/hat.
I love those guys. Creative and insane.
I don't bother going to ANY Linden sponsored event, and this is just another example of why.
Posted at 3:23AM on Aug 29th 2007 by Kahni Poitier