The 2-day Venice Afterburn event was, again, a huge success. To make this year so special was the new location, Windward Plaza, by the old skate park and right in front of the beach. It was the best feeling ever to realize that it’s not so bad to come back from Burning Man when you can decompress so well in your own home base. It truly felt special as people were dancing to the beats of the Charlie the Unicorn art car, and the sun was setting west and the full moon rising from east, breathing the ocean breeze and in front of our home ‘playa’. That’s when the magic happened..

Aside from the beloved Unicorn car, a new addition this year were the Giant Peacock car, with its big feathers that almost reached palm tree height and lit up the area at night; the Piano Art Car, a smaller mutant vehicle with a built-in electric piano and a small stage where a cello player and a singer performed an improv set together at sunset; a cozy airstream, ‘Viking Extreme’, that offered an indoor lounge with music and a TV screen connected to a real time outdoor camera, so you could see what was happening outside like if you were home watching TV..and 2 small carts called ‘Broken English’ that offered comfy seat for tired dancers to recharge.

We also had our own little ‘temple’ which consisted in a portion of the original Otic Oasis piece built in 2011 and 2012 at Burning Man by architect Gregg Fleishman, now an icon in the festival community, a piece made of inter-lockable wooden pieces and featuring 2 pyramids and a climbable pod.

On Friday afternoon, Fleishman showed up with a hand wagon carrying his cube-like table and chair – made with the same interlockable system – set them up in front of his creation, and spent the rest of the day there explaining to small groups his ‘theory of the lost triangle’, just like a visionary mathematician as he is.

Naira Hart painted an amazing live mural on the graffiti wall… and with equally amazing spirit she let go of it, as locals with an over-territorial attitude decided to cover it overnight with more graffiti.

We also had a delightful presence of the Mar Vista art scene, with live painter Mitchelito and his poetress.

A pyramidal steel structure, lit up at night, invited participants to climb on top just like at Black Rock City.

People loved playing with the interactive installation pieces by Leif Maginnis and Alex Andre, while Robert Hoehn’s sculpture generated sound just with the ocean wind.

On Friday evening, local photographer and burner Eric Schwabel came to the event with his full-on ‘Human Light Suit’, a self-made  wearable photo lighting system while Venice performer Amy Kaps wearing her typical black and white striped fabric was striking poses for him.

A giant unicorn head dancing, a moving shopping cart that looked like a disco light.. shiny dancers around giant candy canes, a furry yellow submarine, dusty bikes, and so much more playa love.. while people danced to the beats of Jason Bentley, Jeremy Sole, Marques Wyatt, Diva Danielle, Henry Pope Massio and many other great DJs.

We’d like to thank from the bottom of our hearts everyone who helped with donations; this shows more than ever how amazing of a community we are. Donations allowed us to host this event free of charge in this wonderful new location.

Special thanks to Farmers Belly Cafe and Farm Fresh to You.  Thank you to Venice Beach Recreation and Parks’ staff and LAPD for being so patient with us and to Venice Chamber of Commerce that made this event possible.

Thanks to Mike Bonin and Abbot Kinney Street Festival.  Most of all, thank you to all the volunteers that worked so hard before, during and after the event.

And thank you to everyone that we are forgetting right now because our heads are still full of Unicorns, Double Rainbows and Love.

From dreamers and event creators…

Daniela Ardizzone, Sunny Bak and Eduardo Manilla.

Until next year!

For Venice Art Crawl info, visit www.VeniceArtCrawl.com