In this clip, taken outside the historic Fox Theater in Oakland after a Beats Antique concert, a spontaneous crowd gathers around a portable sound system playing break beats, funk, dub step, and the occasional Michael Jackson mega hit. The Occupy Oakland Movement and the eclectic and irreverent spirit of the night owls light a fire in the middle of Telegraph Avenue. The police block all the feeder streets and for over two hours, people from all walks of life gather and dance in feverish spring air.
I love these sorts of spontaneous eruptions of creativity. How can you plan such an opportunity to dance, crowd surf, hula hoop, and watch a fire burn in the middle of a busy street, celebrating the human spirit in a strip of land normally overrun by automobiles?
This sort of place is what poet, post-left anarchist, and Sufi, Peter Lamborn Wilson called, the “Temporary Autonomous Zone” or the “socio-political tactic of creating temporary spaces that elude formal structures of control.” How amazing is that! I loved spontaneously finding myself in such a vital, creative space. And check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_Autonomous_Zone for more information on the Temporary Autonomous Zone.
About The Ground of Creativity Video Series: The creative universe that has given rise to the world as we know it is dynamic, interdependent, and deeply mysterious. In this series of one minute videos, I invite you to slow down and return for a moment to the Ground of Creativity, the Ground of Creativity that supports the world we experience, the Ground of Creativity that is always at play, the Ground of Creativity that has given rise to each and every one of us.