About

Dustcovery is Vancouver’s annual Official Burning Man Regional Decompression event, bringing our community together for a one night extravaganza, with multiple stages, fantastical art, theme camps, performances, and more!

PARTICIPATION!

On top of the 10 guiding Principles that shape burner events, the most significant difference between a “typical” festival and Burning Man Regional events like Dustcovery is community participation.

Whereas at most commercial events, you pay your admission and in exchange become a spectator for whatever entertainment the producers have prepared for you, at Dustovery all activities, stages, theme camps, workshops, art, and performances are independently produced by participants and offered free of charge for the benefit of everyone.

What’s a Burning Man Official Regional Event?

This official status allows GVIAS and the Dustcovery Production team to utilize the trademarked logo and words such as ‘Burning Man’ in their materials and promotion. The Burning Man Vancouver Regional Contacts are tasked with overseeing and ensuring that the event adheres to all guidelines, requirements and that the event follows Burning Man’s 10 Principles.

Read more about the criteria here: Burning Man Official Regional Event.
Burning Man Regional Network Info: regionals.burningman.org
Burning Man Vancouver Regional News Page: facebook.com/vancouverburners

GIFT YOUR PASSIONS!

The beautiful tapestry of community contributions is what makes Dustcovery special. Participants dedicate their effort and time to the things that they are passionate about, then build them, bring them, and let the others experience this amazing gift. The Dustcovery experience is the sum of a thousand citizens’ passions, laid out for all to experience, like a fantasy carnival midway.

The most rewarding way to experience Dustcovery is to create something that stokes your passions, and share it with all of us! You can DIY and be your own rockstar, or collaborate and create lasting connections with other citizens!

Head on over to the PARTICIPATE section to learn more about getting involved.

To learn more about the local community and all of the ways to connect, see: https://linktr.ee/vancburners

10 Principles

New to Dustcovery or the Burning Man community? These 10 Principles are the foundational roots of this community and participation forward. You’re encouraged to get to know these perspectives. Tune it on how they currently pepper your days. Witness how they can influence your life before, during and after Dustcovery

Radical Inclusion

Anyone may be a part of What If. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.

Gifting

What If 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.

Decommodification

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

Radical Self-Reliance

What If encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.

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.

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.

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 endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

Civic Responsibility

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

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.

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.

Consent

Considered as the “11th Principle” by some, consent respects the autonomy of the individual, who has the right to make their own choice about their own body, property, personal space and privacy. Read more about The 11th principle Consent.

History of Dustcovery

November 16th, 2024
Dustcovery 2024 – Official Decompression Regional Event
PNE Forum
Facebook Event Page

November 30th, 2019
Dustcovery 2019 – Official Decompression Regional Event
East Van warehouse
Facebook Event Page

November 17th, 2018
Dustcovery 2018 – Official Decompression Regional Event
Harbour Convention Centre, Vancouver.
Facebook Event Page – Wrap Up Report

November 11th, 2017
Dustcovery 2017 – Official Decompression Regional Event
The Agriplex at Cloverdale Rodeo and Exhibition Grounds, Surrey.
Facebook Event Page – Wrap Up Report

October 22nd, 2016 – Dustcovery 2016 – Official Decompression Regional Event
Location: The Show Barn at Cloverdale Rodeo and Exhibition Grounds, Surrey
Facebook Event Page – Wrap Up Report

October 17th, 2015 – Dustcovery 2015 – Official Decompression Regional Event
Location: The Show Barn at Cloverdale Rodeo and Exhibition Grounds, Surrey
Facebook Event Page – Wrap Up Report

November 16, 2013
Afterglow – West Coast Railway Association – CN Roundhouse, Squamish –
Facebook Event Page

November 17, 2012
Afterglow Venue – West Coast Railway Association – CN Roundhouse, Squamish

October 1st, 2011 – Dustoff! – Cam Am Importique, Burnaby

October 9th, 2010 – Micropolis – W2 Storyum, Vancouver