The Gift of the Mayan Warrior
Life is a Festival #136: Pablo González Vargas (Mayan Warrior)
Mayan Warrior is one of the most iconic mutant vehicles at Burning Man and its impact goes far beyond the Playa. This week on Life is a Festival, founder Pablo González Vargas talks about gifting, Mayan culture, and the challenges of bringing an art car 8,000 kilometers to That Thing in the Desert.
On the show Pablo shares his initiation into Burning Man culture and the difficulties the car faced in its first years. We talk about the physical, communal, and spiritual value of Burning Man. We explore gifting, Mayan culture, and collaboration. Finally we talk about how Mayan Warrior brings the best of Burning Man back to Mexico.
Pablo is the founder and designer of the Mayan Warrior Mutant Vehicle, a collaborative project that has united artists, craftsmen, photographers, designers, technologists, architects and musicians from Mexico City and Northern California. He is the founder of Mexico’s Sr. Pago, one of Latin America’s leading e-payment platforms, Vargas as well as EXA Radio and TV. Director of multiple productions for the Dish/MVS TV network, Vargas remains a passionate supporter of the Visual and Performing Arts. Pablo is also a cofounder of the foundation Planet Buyback who’s mission is to inspire and motivate people around the world to take actions in their own communities that lead to a better quality of life and a healthier planet.
You can catch the Mayan Warrior in LA for their Halloween party Sat, Oct 29, in San Francisco Sat, Nov 19, and at this year’s Art Basel in Miami.
Timestamps
:04 - Pablo’s early work in sound for parties
:09 - The challenges of brining Mayan Warrior to Burning Man
:14 - Three values of building at Burning Man - physical therapy, community, and spiritual
:22 - Gifting & the cost of Mayan Warrior
:33 - Mayan Warrior’s relationship to Mayan culture
:43 - The intention of Mayan Warrior and bringing the playa back to Mexico
:48 - The inspiration of Mayan Warrior’s collaborators
:53 - Pablo taking his father to Burning Man
Editing by Ariel Villafane
Graphics Designed by Ali Agus
Audio Engineering by Trevor Coulter
Theme song ““Peculiar Colors” [Manjumasi]“ by dj atish
