17/03/15
David Best: interview
In
recent years, Californian artist David Best’s temples have become synonymous
with the annual Burning Man event in the
Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA, where he first built one in 2000. Their burning
on the final night of the week-long event offers a more peaceful and
contemplative finale after the previous night’s burning man extravaganza. Over
the years, Best’s temples have grown in size and attracted increasing numbers
of visitors – many of whom bring personal artefacts, letters, photographs and items
of clothing to pin to the interior or place at the altar, seeking, in the
ultimate fire, a sense of release, often from violent and turbulent events,
such as rape or suicide.
This
March sees Best’s first grand-scale international temple being constructed –
and ceremonially burned – in Derry~Londonderry, Northern Ireland, a place where
bonfires have a significant past of their own dating from the Troubles. Studio
International met Best (born 1945) in London shortly before construction began.
To read this interview, please go to: http://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/david-best-interview-people-temple-burning-man-derry-londonderry