By Ria Greiff
Well, if you ever sat around and contemplated Burning Man in retrospect and wondered, “When will the Bmorg allow animals into Black Rock City?” your wait for that answer is officially over, because this year, there will be ruminant ungulates all over the goddamn Playa. And I don’t mean that there will be gyro stands everywhere, even though as a Greek, that might be nice, except I don’t eat animals.
What I mean is that there will be, for your adoption pleasure, a bunch of sheep roaming around. According to their shepherds’ website “all they want is to mingle with the city residents, ready and lit” and “they bear gifts of bareback rides” and “good times.” But don’t get your furry costumes out yet folks, because these baaaad boys are actually robotic.
iSheep is a Burning Man 2018 honorarium art grant recipient. iSheep can be flocking to a theme camp near you IF you adopt them to be all yours. Otherwise, you may see them come and quickly go like the mythical lime green communal bikes that supposedly also show up every year at Black Rock City never to be seen by mere mortals like the 99% of us.
And it is affordable. If your camp has at least 50 members (and if it doesn’t, you guys might already be a bit much into sheep; go meet some people), 10 bucks a head gives you a sheep that does not give head, but may consent if you ask nicely to let you play with it. I will be there at some point as an ishepherd so don’t try to pull any hard wool over anyewe’s eyes if you know what I mean.
The absolute best part is that you can personalize your iSheep, which might come in handy if some silicon bro decides to take it because he feels entitled to everything. According to Bardia Saeedi & DC Regional Artists, the team of Burning Man vets and virgins from Alexandria, Virginia that is bringing you ewe, “A group of friends or a theme camp can adopt a sheep for $500. You then get to decide what your sheep says and in what voices (you send us recordings), design their character, name them, and decide on what they look like (accessories). Send an email to adopt@isheep.art for more info and to receive the application.” There’s also some additional background on the website at www.isheep.art and at www.gofundme.com/isheep.
Oh and did I mention that there is going to be an iWolf?