COURTESY OF KA PILINA / ILLUSTRATION: KIP AOKI / KAOIKI@STARBULLETIN.COM

Art on Fire

During late August to early September each year in the barren Black Rock Desert in Nevada, thousands converge to create a free-wheeling arts festival of radical expression famously known as the Burning Man festival. With 25,000-plus assembled, either giving, sharing or bartering their arts and services, it becomes the fifth-largest "city" in the state for one week.

Burnal Equinox With Ka Pilina Where: Anna Bannana's, 2440 S. Beretania St. When: 8 p.m. Saturday Admission: $10, 21 and over; $15, 18-20 Info: www.kapilina.org

It's the international gathering of the tribes that stokes Andi Cuniberti's own fire. He's the festival's rep for the Hawaii region, and his organization Ka Pilina once again brings together our own mini-Burning Man with the 2005 Burnal Equinox interactive art show at Anna Bannana's Saturday night.

There will be flames (in controlled circumstances) both inside and outside the Moiliili club, in the form of fire dancing by the Hawaii Fire Artists and in the display of art pieces shaped by and containing fire. There also will be drummers and musicians, a couple of deejays, the rock band Second Hand Sin, information booths and a suspension performance (no fire per se, but trained people hanging by hooks embedded in their skin).

Cuniberti said a similar event was held at Anna's in November called "Decompression," so named because it came after the group's return from Burning Man. Ka Pilina has been around "since the summer of 2002. Our first two years, we held living art experiences at Makua Beach, and a year ago we did our first urban event, 'Lunacy,' at the ARTS at Marks Garage last June.

"It's all about interactive activity and community," he said. "This is our little say, where we're able to grow and nurture an arts community and build social capital."

Cuniberti moved here from San Francisco in 2001, and while he initially met a couple of fellow festival-goers here, "there was no regional group, and I was surprised, considering this natural place has its own resources and a deep, rich cultural history."

He assures that all flames at Saturday's Burnal Equinox will be totally controlled and monitored, having taken care of liability issues. The Hawaii Fire Artists will perform outside, behind the club, juggling torches and dancing with poles and spinners ablaze. Guest British artist Luke "will bring a couple of his large, inflatable shapes," and the winner of the evening's costume contest will probably get a piece of "burn barrel" art. "They're usually a 55-gallon acetone drum with the top cut off and petroglyphs cut into it with an acetylene torch. They're good for making contained fires on the beach."