Helsinki Decompression

Burning Man has established ten principles over which it has built the Burning Man culture. They were crafted not as a dictate of how people should be and act, but as a reflection of the community’s ethos and culture as it had organically developed since the event’s inception. Helsinki Decompression is built over these fundamental principles.

GIFTING
Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.

PARTICIPATION
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.

RADICAL SELF-EXPRESSION
Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

RADICAL SELF-RELIANCE
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.

DECOMMODIFICATION
In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.

CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY
We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.

RADICAL INCLUSION
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.

COMMUNAL EFFORT
Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.

LEAVING NO TRACE
Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavour, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

IMMEDIACY
Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.

The applications for Helsinki Decompression 2025 opens soon

Installations, spaces & visual arts applications (link coming up)
For Performing arts, music acts & DJs (link coming up)
For Workshops and activities (link coming up)

(Final deadlines for all applications is announced when the applications open.)

Art grants are financial support for project costs that each creation can apply for. The source of these funds is the ticket sales. As the funding based on the tickets sales will vary so will the amount of reimbursements vary. Not all creations will be granted financial support. If you apply for support and you are accepted, it means that some of your direct project costs may be reimbursed. Announcements on granted support will come after all the receipts are provided and the time for applying grants has ended. So be prepared to handle your own total budget. The more we sell tickets, the more likely is your project supported - so you can help out by promoting the event to your friends!

No financial support will be paid before the event. Possible support will be paid against receipts after the event only. So this not a personal grant but support for costs. You will not be reimbursed, if you don't have receipts or have not cleaned up the event space properly after your project.