Inspiration Island is an art project for Burning Man 2002, to be held August 26 to September 1 in Black Rock Desert, Nevada.

The Inspiration Island theme camp features a giant flower garden, once used as a sacred ritual site by the legendary Bamboodu tribe. In the center of the garden is a recently excavated Mind Shaft, occupied by a giant octopus. Once worshipped as an oracle by the Bamboodus, this remarkable creature is still alive, and can inspire modern seekers as it did in ancient times.

Burning Man visitors will be invited to ask the oracle for inspiration, as well as give inspiration to others, through the age-old Babmboodu Inspiration Ritual. The results will be posted in our Big Book of Inspirations, to be published on the web in fall 2002. Be sure to sign-up here to get it by email. For a sneak preview, check out our First Book of Inspirations, collected at the recent Burning Man Launch Party in Esprit Park.

Inspiration Island is presented by The Mind Shaft Society, an unprofessional anthropological association devoted to the study of consensual hallucination rituals. Distinguished members include Dr. Fabio, Dr. Really, Dr. Matisse, Dr. Rheingold and other media juggernauts. We are pleased to share our findings from Inspiration Island, which reveal in full detail the remarkable story of the advanced Bamboodu civilization. For the full story, check our press release. See also Dr. Really's fascinating play-by-play documentation of the Inspiration Island Excavation Process.

Last year, our Burning Man Camp featured an abandoned Mind Shaft where participants were invited to undo bad ideas from their past. Over a thousand people wrote up and expiated past mistakes, which were posted in our Big Book of Bad Ideas. The Mind Shaft featured the giant skeleton of Mr. Bones, a greedy gold minor who paid with his life for his bad ideas. Our Little Book of Bad Ideas is posted online.

For more info, please visit the Mind Shaft Society Official Site. Our group email address is bamboodu@yahoogroups.com.