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Burning Man is a week-long large-scale desert event focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance" held annually in the
Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...
. The event's name comes from its ceremony on the penultimate night of the event: the symbolic burning of a large wooden
effigy An effigy is a sculptural representation, often life-size, of a specific person or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain ...
, referred to as the Man, the Saturday evening before
Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...
. Since 1990, the event has been at Black Rock City in northwestern
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
, a temporary city erected in the
Black Rock Desert The Black Rock Desert is a semi-arid region (in the Great Basin shrub steppe ecoregion) of lava beds and Dry lake, playa, or alkali flats, situated in the Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area, a silt ...
about north-northeast of Reno. According to Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey in 2004, the event is guided by ten stated principles: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy. Burning Man features no headliners or scheduled performers; participants create all the art, activities, and events. Artwork includes experimental and interactive sculptures, buildings, performances, and
art car An art car is a vehicle that has had its appearance modified as an act of personal artistic expression. Art cars are often driven and owned by their creators, who are sometimes referred to as "Cartists". Most car artists are ordinary people with ...
s, among other media. These contributions are inspired by a theme chosen annually by the
Burning Man Project The Burning Man Project is an American organization that annually plans, manages, and builds Burning Man on the dry lake of the Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada. The company coordinates the year-round, behind-the-scenes work needed to bui ...
. While originally celebrated as a gathering for bohemians and nonconformists, the event has attracted
celebrities Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...
, tech entrepreneurs, and
influencers A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...
in recent years; it has evolved into a cultural destination for the
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
elite. Burning Man originated on June 22, 1986, on Baker Beach in San Francisco as a small function organized by Larry Harvey and Jerry James, the builders of the first Man. It has since been held annually, spanning the nine days leading up to and including
Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...
. Over the event's history, attendance has generally increased. In 2019, 78,850 people participated. Burning Man is organized by the Burning Man Project, a nonprofit organization that, in 2013, succeeded Black Rock City LLC, a for-profit
limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...
. Black Rock City LLC was formed in 1999 to represent the event's organizers and is now considered a subsidiary of the nonprofit organization. The Burning Man Project endorses multiple smaller regional events guided by the Burning Man principles in the United States and internationally. The film '' Stalker'' by Tarkovsky heavily influenced the Cacophony Society, which began in 1986 in the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
and which organized "Zone Trips" for participants. The first burning of a wooden, symbolic man at
Black Rock Desert The Black Rock Desert is a semi-arid region (in the Great Basin shrub steppe ecoregion) of lava beds and Dry lake, playa, or alkali flats, situated in the Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area, a silt ...
, Nevada, occurred on "Zone Trip Number 4" in 1990, laying the foundation for what would become the modern Burning Man.


History


1980s

Burning Man began as a bonfire ritual on the summer
solstice A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly sun path, excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries ...
. Sculptor Mary Grauberger, a friend of Larry Harvey's girlfriend, Janet Lohr, held solstice bonfire gatherings on Baker Beach for several years before 1986, some of which Harvey attended. When Grauberger stopped organizing it, Harvey "picked up the torch", with Grauberger's permission, and ran with it. He and Jerry James built the first wooden effigy on June 21, 1986, cobbled together using scrap wood, to be torched that evening. On June 22, Harvey, James, and a few friends met on Baker Beach in San Francisco and burned an wooden man and a smaller wooden dog. Harvey later described his inspiration for burning these effigies as a spontaneous act of "radical self-expression".() In 1987, the Man grew to tall, and by 1988, it had grown to . By 1988, Harvey formally named the summer solstice ritual "Burning Man" by titling flyers for the happening as such. This was done to ward off references to " wicker man", the reputed Celtic pagan practice of burning live sacrifices in human-shaped wicker cages. Harvey has said that he had not seen the 1973
cult film A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated ...
'' The Wicker Man'' until many years after and that it did not inspire the action.


1990 to 1996

In 1990, a separate event was planned by Kevin Evans and John Law on the remote and largely unknown ''playa'', known as the
Black Rock Desert The Black Rock Desert is a semi-arid region (in the Great Basin shrub steppe ecoregion) of lava beds and Dry lake, playa, or alkali flats, situated in the Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area, a silt ...
, about north of Reno, Nevada. Evans conceived it as a
dadaist Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...
temporary autonomous zone with sculptures to be burned and
situationist The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...
performance art. He asked John Law, who also had experience on the dry lake and was a defining founder of the Cacophony Society, to take on central organizing functions of the events. In the Cacophony Society's newsletter, it was announced as Zone Trip No. 4, A Bad Day at Black Rock (inspired by the 1955 film of the same name). Meanwhile, the solstice burn at Baker Beach was interrupted by the park police for not having a permit. After striking a deal to raise the Man but not to burn it, event organizers disassembled it and returned it to the vacant lot where it had been built. Shortly thereafter, the legs and torso of the Man were chain-sawed, and the pieces were removed when the space was unexpectedly leased as a parking lot. The Man was reconstructed, led by Dan Miller, Harvey's then-housemate of many years, just in time to take it to Zone Trip No. 4. Michael Mikel, another active Cacophonist, realized that participants unfamiliar with the environment of the dry lake would benefit from knowledgeable persons helping to ensure they did not get lost in the deep dry lake and risk dehydration and death. He took the name Danger Ranger and created the Black Rock Rangers to assist them. Thus, Black Rock City began as a fellowship organized by Law and Mikel, based on Evans's and Grauberger's ideas and Harvey's and James's symbolic man. Drawing on experience in the sign business and with light sculpture, Law prepared custom neon tubes for the Man starting in 1991 so it could be seen as a beacon to aid navigation at night long before there were any planned roads. In its early years, the community grew by word of mouth alone, and all were considered (and generally not invited until they could be expected to be) participants in their contribution to the cacophonous situationist vibe. There were no paid or scheduled performers or artists, no separation between art and life nor art space and living space, no rules other than "Don't interfere with anyone else's immediate experience" and "no guns in central camp". 1991 marked the first year that the event had a legal permit through the BLM (the
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...
). It was also the year that art model and fire dancer (and later Burning Man's first art director) ''Crimson Rose'' attended the event. 1992 saw the birth of a smaller, intensive, nearby event named "Desert Siteworks", conceived and directed by William Binzen and co-produced (in 1993 and '94) with Judy West. There were about 20 participants the first year, and approximately 100 in the second and third year. The annual, several weeks-long event, was held over summer Solstice at various fertile hot springs surrounding the desert. Participants built art and participated in self-directed performances. Some key organizers of Burning Man were also part of Desert Siteworks (Law, Mikel) and Binzen was a friend of Harvey. Hence, the two events saw much cross-pollination of ideas and participants. The Desert Siteworks project ran for three years (1992–1994). 1996 was the first year a formal partnership was created to own the name "Burning Man" and was also the last year the event was held in the middle of the Black Rock Desert with no fence around it. Before the event opened to the public in 1996, a worker named Michael Furey was killed in a motorcycle crash while riding from
Gerlach, Nevada Gerlach, Nevada is a census-designated place (CDP) in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The population was 130 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Prior to 2010, Gerlach was part of the ...
, to the Burning Man camp in the Black Rock Desert. Harvey insisted that the death had not occurred at Burning Man, since the gates were not yet open. Another couple were run over in their tent by an art car driving to the "rave camp", which was at that time distant from the main camp. After the 1996 event, Law broke with Burning Man and publicly said the event should not continue.


1997 to 2013

1997 marked another major pivotal year for the event. It had to be moved because the permit for Black Rock was denied for the 1997 event. A team conducting land speed trials had a conflicting permit that took precedence. Fly Ranch, with the smaller adjoining Hualapai dry lakebed, just west of the Black Rock desert, was chosen as the alternate location. This moved Burning Man from Pershing County/federal BLM land into the jurisdiction of Washoe County, which brought a protracted list of permit requirements. In 1999 to comply with the new requirements and manage the increased liability load, Harvey and five organizers formed Black Rock City LLC with the assistance of "Biz Babe" Dana Harrison. The LLC founders consisted of Larry Harvey (chief philosophy officer), Harley K. DuBois (chief transition officer), Marian Goodell (CEO), Crimson Rose (art transition officer), Will Roger Peterson (Nevada relations director), and Michael Mikel (historian and archivist). Will Roger Peterson and Flynn Mauthe created the Black Rock City Department of Public Works (DPW) to build the "city" grid layout (a requirement so that emergency vehicles could be directed to an "address"), designed by Rod Garrett, an architect. Garrett continued as the city designer until his death in 2011, at age 76. He is also credited with the design of all of the Man bases from 2001 through 2012, the center camp café and first camp. 1998 saw a return to the Black Rock desert, although not to the deep playa, along with a temporary perimeter fence. The event has remained there since. As the population of Black Rock City grew, the BLM added more restrictions, and changes were made in how people were invited to the event, notably the addition of publicized online ticket sales to all comers; further rules were established concerning its survival. Some critics of the later phase of the event cite these rules as impinging on the original freedoms and principles, diminishing the scope of the experience unacceptably, while many newer attendees find the increased level of activity more than balances out the changes: * A grid street structure. * A speed limit of . * A ban on driving, except for approved "mutant vehicles" and service vehicles. * Safety standards on mutant vehicles. * Burning of any art must be done on an approved burn platform. * A ban on fireworks. * A ban on animals. Another notable restriction to attendees is the 9.2-mile- (14.8 km) long temporary plastic fence that surrounds the event and defines the pentagon of land used by the event on the southern edge of the Black Rock dry lake. This 4-foot- (1.2-meter) high barrier is known as the "trash fence" because its initial use was to catch wind-blown debris that might escape from campsites during the event. Since 2002, the area beyond this fence has not been accessible to Burning Man participants during the event. One visitor who was accidentally burned at the 2005 event unsuccessfully sued Black Rock City LLC in San Francisco County Superior Court. On June 30, 2009, the California Court of Appeal for the First District upheld the trial court's grant of
summary judgment In law, a summary judgment, also referred to as judgment as a matter of law or summary disposition, is a Judgment (law), judgment entered by a court for one party and against another party summarily, i.e., without a full Trial (law), trial. Summa ...
to Black Rock City LLC on the basis that people who deliberately walk toward The Man after it is ignited assume the risk of getting burned by such a hazardous object.


2013 to 2019

In December 2013, following negotiations between founders, Black Rock City LLC was made a subsidiary of a new nonprofit entity known as the
Burning Man Project The Burning Man Project is an American organization that annually plans, manages, and builds Burning Man on the dry lake of the Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada. The company coordinates the year-round, behind-the-scenes work needed to bui ...
. On September 3, 2017, a 41-year-old man, Aaron Joel Mitchell, fought his way past a safety cordon of volunteers and firefighters and threw himself into the flames of the Man. Mitchell died the next day due to cardiac arrest, bodily shock, and third-degree burns to 97% of his body. His death was ruled a suicide.


2020 to 2021

On April 10, 2020, the Burning Man Project announced that Burning Man was canceled for 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, making 2020 the first year Burning Man did not happen since its inception. They then decided to offer ticket refunds despite the tickets being sold explicitly as non-refundable. On September 7, 2020, an estimated 1,000 Burners celebrated on San Francisco's Ocean Beach. San Francisco Mayor London Breed tweeted about the event, "This was reckless and selfish. You aren't celebrating, but are putting people's lives and our progress at risk. No one is immune from spreading the virus." Several thousand also showed up in the Black Rock desert for an unofficial event and some described it as a return to the "old days". The 2021 event was canceled on April 27, 2021, due to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite progress on vaccination, organizers said that "uncertainties that need to be resolved are impossible to resolve in the time we have". On May 14, 2021, the Burning Man Project released tickets on their website for online events slated between August 22 and September 7, 2021. The unofficial event was more extensive than in 2020, with an estimated 20,000 attending. Various groups loosely coordinated it, including Black Rock Plan B and Rogue Burn. The
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...
implemented restrictions including no structures other than shade structures and no fires other than campfires. There was a massive illuminated drone display outlining the Man instead of the burning of a Man effigy.


2023

The 2023 Burning Man had rains and subsequent flooding on Labor Day weekend, with a lockdown preventing vehicle movement throughout the site. Organizers arranged for some cellular service and shared a 2023 Wet Playa Survival Guide: "no driving is permitted until the playa surface dries up, with the exception of emergency services… Participants are encouraged to conserve food, water, and fuel, and shelter in a warm, safe space" and told attendees about Burning Man Information Radio (BMIR) 94.5 FM and Gate Information Radio Station (GARS) 95.1. One person died following the flooding, with thousands more stranded.


2024

On August 25, 2024, the first day of the 2024 Burning Man festival, a female participant died. On August 26, it was reported that tickets remained unsold for the festival for the first time since 2011. An epic dust storm was reported on the final day of the event, snarling departure traffic and causing lines to last more than four hours. The Burning Man Project is currently engaged in a fundraising campaign that began in October 2024. The campaign aims to collect $20 million. On December 19, 2024, CEO Marian Goodell emailed supporters that the project still requires $14 million to meet its financial goal for the 2025 festival.


Event timeline

The statistics below illustrate the growth in both the scale and scope of Burning Man in terms of location, height of the central Man sculpture, population, ticket price, and several registered camps and art. After starting at and growing taller each of the next three years, the height of the titular Man remained at between 1989 and 2013. During those years, changes in the size and form of the base on which the wooden Man stood accounted for the differing heights of the overall structures. In 2014 the construction of the Man changed to a tall figure standing directly on the ground with no base. From 2015 to 2019 the Man returned to in height.


Population counts

The population count is a stipulation of the Special Recreation Permit (SRP) granted to the Burning Man Project, formerly Black Rock City, LLC (BRC), by the BLM, for the event each year. Originally used to calculate fees, it's now used to ensure that the event does not exceed the maximum authorized population as specified in the SRP. Not everyone at the event is included in the population count. Exempted from the count are government personnel and government contractors; however, this has changed over time. The population count was originally used to calculate fees owed to the BLM. It was not long until the BLM began considering putting a limit on the number of people that would be allowed to attend the event. This became a point of contention as early as 1998 when the BLM proposed a complicated usage formula, effectively limiting the size of the event to that of the previous year. Starting in 2006, the SRP stipulated that BRC manage "ticket sales in a manner to keep the maximum population of the event from increasing more than 6% above the highest population recorded in a previous year." Fees were based on the daily population counts of Black Rock City at noon. This was the first year where fees were explicitly exempted for BRC staff.. In 2011, the fee structure changed to be based on adjusted gross income and was no longer tied to daily population counts. The 2012 SRP further defined who was to be counted in population counts. The term "participant" was introduced, as defined in that year's Environmental Assessment (EA), to include "all attendees of the event, including paid participants and volunteers. The population does not include government personnel, Humboldt General Hospital emergency service providers, vendors and contractors." The maximum authorized population now applied to "participants". In 2014, volunteers were explicitly exempted from the population count and the population cap was further refined to now apply to "paid participants". In 2019, the definition of "population" changed again, this time to include BRC staff and volunteers, now collectively referred to as "attendees". This coincided with the necessity of a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 2019–2028 SRP application which introduced this change in definition. The Burning Man Project reported a population of 78,850 for that year, an increase of about 8,600 people from the previous year, noting that "everyone" was now being counted in the maximum population count."*Now including everyone!" This roughly correlates with the Burning Man Project's 2019 Form 990 disclosure which states it employs 986 people and has 10,000 volunteers. In 2022, an additional restriction on the total number of attendees for the entirety of the event was introduced. "The cumulative maximum authorized population for the 2022 event is 87,000 total attendees." The maximum number of attendees on the playa at any one time remained as it was in 2019 at 80,000.


Principles

Because of the variety of goals fostered by participatory attendees, known as "Burners," Burning Man does not have a single focus. Features of the event are subject to the participants and include ''community'', ''artwork'', ''absurdity'', ''decommodification'' and ''revelry''. Participation is encouraged. The Burning Man event and its affiliated communities are guided by 10 principles meant to evoke the cultural ethos that has emerged from the event. They were originally written by Larry Harvey in 2004 as guidelines for regional organizing, then later became universal criteria of the general culture of the multifaceted movement. The 10 Principles are: * radical
inclusion Inclusion or Include may refer to: Sociology * Social inclusion, action taken to support people of different backgrounds sharing life together. ** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabilities sharing various aspects of lif ...
* gifting * decommodification * radical self-reliance * radical self-expression * communal effort * civic responsibility * leaving no trace * participation * immediacy The descriptions in quotes are the actual text:


Radical inclusion

"Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community." This was written with a broad stroke for general organizing, meaning anyone is welcome to the Burning Man culture. Prerequisites for the Burning Man event are: participants are expected to provide for their own basic needs, follow the guidelines in the annually updated event "survival guide", and purchase a $475 ticket to get in.


Gifting

"Burning Man 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." Instead of cash, burners are encouraged to rely on a
gift economy A gift economy or gift culture is a system of exchange where valuables are not sold, but rather given without an explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards. Social norms and customs govern giving a gift in a gift culture; although there ...
, a sort of
potlatch A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Scienc ...
. In the earliest days of the event, an underground
barter In trade, barter (derived from ''bareter'') is a system of exchange (economics), exchange in which participants in a financial transaction, transaction directly exchange good (economics), goods or service (economics), services for other goods ...
economy also existed, in which burners exchanged "favors" with each other. While this was originally supported by the Burning Man organization, it is now largely discouraged. Instead, burners are encouraged to give one another gifts unconditionally.


Decommodification

"To preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience." No cash transactions are permitted between burners. Cash can be used for a select few charity, fuel, and sanitation vendors as follows: * Café beverages such as coffee, chai,
lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored drink. There are many varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In some parts of the world, lemonade refers to an un-carbonated, traditionally, homemade drink, using lemon juice, water, and a sw ...
, etc., which are sold at Center Camp Café, operated by the organizers of the event. Citing cost, decreased need, environmental impact, and decommodification, beverage sales were halted in 2022. *
Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
sales benefit the local Gerlach-
Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
school system. * Tickets for the shuttle bus to the nearest Nevada communities of Gerlach and Empire which is operated by a contractor not participating in the event: Green Tortoise. * A reentry wristband, which allows a person to leave and reenter the event and may be purchased at the gate upon exit. * An airport use fee, payable at the airport upon first entry. * Diesel and biodiesel sold by third-party contractors. * RV dump service and camp graywater disposal service. * Private portable toilets and servicing, which can be arranged with the official contractor.


Radical self-reliance

"Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise, and rely on his or her inner resources." The event's harsh environment and remote location require participants to be responsible for their subsistence. Since the LLC forbids most commerce, participants must be prepared and bring all their own supplies with the exception of the items stated in Decommodification. Public portable toilets are also available throughout the city; some of these are, like art cars, decorated in imaginative ways by volunteers.


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." Burners are encouraged to express themselves in a number of ways through various art forms and projects. The event is clothing-optional and public nudity is common, though not practiced by the majority.


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." Burners are encouraged to work with and help one another.


Civic responsibility

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


Leave 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."


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." People are encouraged to participate, rather than observe.


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."


The Temple

The Temple is the secondary major recurring art installation at Burning Man after the Man, and is considered just as important to the event culture. According to the Burning Man Project, "The Temple is a community shared space that is an important part of Black Rock City. It is not a temple in recognition of any religion; it's a neutral, non-denominational spiritual space where everyone can gather to share in the experience of remembering the past, honoring or cursing the present, and pondering the future to come." The prime function of the Temple is to be a canvas upon which people can leave words and objects behind to be burned, and to serve as "a place of contemplation, a place to rest, a place of reflection, a place of rituals, weddings, reunions, etc". During the event, 400 volunteer Temple Guardians monitor the Temple 24 hours a day. The Temple is burned on the eighth and final night of the festival, following the "Man burn" on the previous night.


Timeline

Source:


Art

A hallmark of Burning Man is large-scale interactive installation art inspired by the intersection of
maker culture The maker culture is a contemporary subculture representing a technology-based extension of DIY culture that intersects with hardware-oriented parts of hacker culture and revels in the creation of new devices as well as tinkering with existing ...
, technology, and nature. Many works invite participation through climbing, touch, technological interfaces, or motion. At night much of the artwork is illuminated by fire or LEDs. Creative expression through art is encouraged at Burning Man in many forms. Music,
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
, and guerrilla theatre are art forms commonly presented within the camps and developed areas of the city. Artwork is placed in the open playa beyond the streets of the city. Each year hundreds of works of art, ranging from small to very large-scale, are brought to Black Rock City. Art on the playa is assisted by a department of the Burning Man Project called the Artery, which helps artists place their art in the desert and ensures lighting to prevent collisions, burn platform to protect the integrity of the dry lake bed and that fire safety requirements are met. Art grants are available to participants via a system of curation and oversight, with application deadlines early in the year. Grants are intended to help artists produce work beyond the scope of their own means, and are generally intended to cover only a portion of the costs associated with creation of the pieces, usually requiring considerable reliance on an artist's community resources. Aggregate funding for all grants varies depending on the number and quality of the submissions (usually well over 100) but amounts to several percent (in the order of $500,000 in recent years) of the gross receipts from ticket sales. In 2006, 29 pieces were funded. Various standards regarding the nature of the artworks eligible for grants are set by the Art Department, but compliance with the theme and interactivity are important considerations. This funding has fostered artistic communities, most notably in the Bay Area of California, the region that has historically provided a majority of the event's participants. There are active and successful outreach efforts to enlarge the regional scope of the event and the grant program.


''No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man''

In 2018, the
Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...
of the
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...
in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, brought art from Burning Man to the nation's capital. The exhibition took over the entire Renwick Gallery building and surrounding neighborhood. The exhibit featured room-sized installations, costumes, and jewelry, while photographs and archival materials from the Nevada Museum of Art trace Burning Man's growth and its bohemian roots. Large-scale installations form the core of the exhibition. Individual artists and collectives featured in the exhibit include David Best, Candy Chang, Marco Cochrane, Duane Flatmo, Michael Garlington and Natalia Bertotti, Five Ton Crane Arts Collective, FoldHaus Art Collective, Scott Froschauer, HYBYCOZO, (Yelena Filipchuk and Serge Beaulieu), Android Jones, Aaron Taylor Kuffner, Christopher Schardt, Richard Wilks, and Leo Villareal. In addition, multiple large-scale public Burning Man art installations were exhibited throughout the neighborhood surrounding the museum, for an extension of the show ''No Spectators: Beyond the Renwick'', which included works by Jack Champion, Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson, HYBYCOZO, Laura Kimpton, Kate Raudenbush, and Mischell Riley. All outdoor works had been installed as honorarium artwork at Burning Man in years past, except for the artwork by Hybycozo. This outdoor exhibition was co-produced by a first ever collaboration with the Golden Triangle BID (Business Improvement District in Washington DC), curated by Karyn Miller.


Mutant vehicles

Mutant Vehicles are purpose-built or creatively altered motorized vehicles. The term "Mutant Vehicle" was coined by organizers of the Burning Man event to delineate a type of "Art Car" that was more dramatically modified than simply decorating an existing vehicle. Burning Man participants who wish to bring motorized mutant vehicles must submit their designs in advance to the event's own DMV or "Department of Mutant Vehicles" for consideration. If a vehicle design meets the "Mutant Vehicle Criteria," the vehicle is invited to the event for a final physical inspection and licensing at the event. Not all designs and proposals are accepted. The event organizers, and the DMV, have set the bar high for what it deems an acceptable MV each year, in effect capping the number of Mutant Vehicles. This is in response to constraints imposed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which grants permits to hold the event on federal property, and to participants who want to maintain a pedestrian-friendly environment. Vehicles that are minimally altered, and/or whose primary function is to transport participants, are discouraged and not invited. One of the criteria the DMV employs to determine whether an application for a proposed Mutant Vehicle is approved is "can you recognize the base vehicle". For example, if a 1967 VW van covered with glitter, dolls' heads, and old cooking utensils can still be recognized as a VW van, the DMV would consider it an "Art Car," but it would not be sufficiently altered to meet the Mutant Vehicle Criteria. There were over six hundred approved Mutant Vehicles at the event in 2010.


Bicycles

Bicycles and tricycles are popular for getting around on the dry lake. Mountain bikes are generally preferred over road bikes for riding on the dried silt, which is normally hard but becomes loose with traffic. Participants often decorate their bikes to make them unique. Since lighting on the bikes is critically important for safety at night, many participants incorporate the lighting into their decorations, using electroluminescent wire (a thin, flexible tube that glows with a neon-like effect when energized with electricity, also known as el wire) to create intricate patterns over the frame of the bike. Every night during Burning Man, thousands of people on their bikes and art cars, illuminated sculptures and stages create a unique visual effect.


Theme camps


Electronic music

Camps focusing on
electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
, often played by live DJs, began to appear in 1992, an influence of the
rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
culture of the San Francisco area. Terbo Ted was identified as the first ever DJ in Burning Man history, opening with a
Jean Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompan ...
song played off a
vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...
. DJs typically occupied an area on the outskirts of the Playa nicknamed the "Techno Ghetto". In later years, certain spokes of the main camp were designated for "sound camps", with limits on volume and speaker positioning, angled away from the center of Black Rock City. To work around the rules, mutant vehicles with live DJs and large sound systems began to appear as well. A number of major electronic music camps have been well-known returnees at Burning Man, including Opulent Temple and Robot Heart. Major producers and DJs representing various eras and genres have performed at Burning Man, however DJ events or "lineups" are discouraged from being publicized in the spirit of decommodification and immediacy. In recent years, concerns began to surface among attendees that a growing number of "mainstream"
electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...
acts had begun to appear. In 2015, organizers established a new area known as the "Deep Playa Music Zone" to serve as a new host for art cars featuring live DJs.


Black Rock City

Black Rock City, often abbreviated to BRC, is the temporary city created by Burning Man participants. Much of the layout and general city infrastructure is constructed by Department of Public Works (DPW) volunteers who often reside in Black Rock City for several weeks before and after the event. The remainder of the city including theme camps, villages, art installations and individual camping are all created by participants.


City planning

The developed part of the city is arranged as a series of concentric streets in an arc composing, since 1999, two-thirds of a 1.5-mile (2.4-km) diameter circle with the Man at the center. Radial streets, sometimes called Avenues, extend from the Man to the outermost circle. The outlines of these streets are visible on aerial photographs. The "missing" third of the circle, along with the open interior, is used for art installations. The innermost street is named the ''Esplanade''. The remaining streets are given names to coincide with the overall theme of the burn, and ordered in ways such as alphabetical order or stem to stern, to make them easier to recall. For example, in 1999, for the "Wheel of Time" theme, and again in 2004 for "The Vault of Heaven" theme, the streets were named after the planets of the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
. The radial streets are usually given a clock designation, for example, 6:00 or 6:15, in which the Man is at the center of the clock face. 12:00 is in the middle of the third of the arc lacking streets, usually at a bearing of 60° true from the Man. These avenues have been identified in other ways, notably in 2002, in accordance with "The Floating World" theme, as the degrees of a compass. For example 175 degrees, and in 2003 as part of the Beyond Belief theme as adjectives ("Rational, Absurd") that caused every intersection with a concentric street, named after concepts of belief such as "Authority, Creed", to form a phrase such as "Absurd Authority" or "Rational Creed." These proved unpopular with participants due to difficulty in navigating the city without the familiar clock layout. The Black Rock City Airport is constructed adjacent to the city, typically on its southern side .


Center Camp

Center Camp is along the midline of Black Rock City, facing the Man at the 6:00 position on the Esplanade. This area serves as a central meeting place for the city and contains the Center Camp Cafe, and a number of other city operations such as camps supporting public radio (BMIR 94.5 FM), Earth Guardians, Recycling Camp, Ranger Outposts, BLM and ESD (Emergency Response), and Arctica (ice).


Villages and theme camps

Villages and theme camps are along the innermost streets of Black Rock City, often offering entertainment or gifts to participants. Theme camps are a collective of anywhere between several, to several hundred participants, representing theirselves under a unique value offering. To qualify as a "theme camp", and therefore be granted placement in BRC, you must apply through official Burning Man placement channels, and remain in good standing to be placed for future years. Furthermore, "Villages" exist in Black Rock City and are collections of theme camps which share common values, and coordinate resources between their "village" of individual theme camps. Theme camps and villages, as well as "open campers" who are free to camp outside of Placement boundaries, form to create an atmosphere in Black Rock City that they have collectively envisioned. As Burning Man grows it attracts an ever more diverse crowd. Subcultures form around theme camps at Black Rock City similar to what can be found in other cities.


Volunteers

The Burning Man event is heavily dependent on a large number of volunteers.


Safety, policing and regulations

Black Rock City is patrolled by various local and state
law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...
agencies as well as the Bureau of Land Management Rangers. The local police issue $1,500 fines for drug use and serving alcohol to minors. Burning Man also has its own in-house group of volunteers, the Black Rock Rangers, who act as informal mediators when disputes arise.
Firefighting Firefighting is a profession aimed at controlling and extinguishing fire. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter or fireman. Firefighters typically undergo a high degree of technical training. This involves structural fir ...
,
emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services, pre-hospital care or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to d ...
(EMS), mental health, and communications support is provided by the volunteer Black Rock City Emergency Services Department (ESD). Three " MASH"-like stations are set up in the city: station 3, 6, and 9. Station 6 is staffed by physicians and nurses working with a contracted state licensed ALS Medical provider. Stations 3 and 9 are staffed by Black Rock City ESD personnel. While Station 3 and 9 provide emergency services and basic life support, the volunteers are generally doctors, nurses, EMTs/ paramedics, and firefighters. Both station 3 and 9 have a small fire engine available in addition to a Hazardous material/Rescue truck and quick response vehicle for medical emergencies. In
documents A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ', which denotes a "teaching" or "lesson": ...
from February 2013 first made public in August 2015, it was revealed that in August 2010, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
had sent a memo to its field offices in Nevada stating that it would patrol Burning Man to "aid in the prevention of terrorist activities and intelligence collection". Although a threat assessment performed by the FBI determined that drug usage and crowd control were the only major threats to Burning Man, the Bureau still sent an unspecified number of undercover agents to the event, with "no adverse threats or reactions".


Black Rock City design evolution


1986–1991

From the very beginning on Baker Beach, to 1991 when Burning Man was set into its desert home, there was no real organizational structure to the city. According to Rod Garrett, designer of Black Rock City, "The original form of the camp was a circle. This was not particularly planned, but formed instinctively from the traditional campfire circle and the urge to 'circle the wagons' against the nearly boundless space." This didn't work much longer, as attendance was reaching into the hundreds, and such a large gathering required some planning.


1992–1995

The
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...
took notice of the event, and required that plans be drawn up to maintain safety. They required the Burn to be registered as an official event. In response, four
cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
roads were added emanating from center camp. The Man was located west of Center camp, due to the camp being oriented with the path of the sun across the sky, as opposed to north-to-south. The center circle from the birth of the event was maintained. In 1993, the first sound camp was opened. It was known as the Techno Ghetto, and it was located two miles north of Center Camp. It was not a usual theme camp, but was instead a mini hub on its own. There was a small "center camp" with a message board and Port-a-potties. The center was surrounded by a circle of camping area across. Six massive sound systems faced out from the circle. The Techno Ghetto was placed separately to keep the 'rave' out of the main event. As time has progressed, music has become more and more closely tied into the core culture of Burning Man, even spawning a unique genre known as Playa Tech.


1996

With the population growing to 8,000 in 1996, more structure was essential to both appease the Bureau of Land Management and to maintain safety. A ring around Center Camp, named Ring Road, was added to provide for a second circle of theme camps. The eastern section of the circle around Center Camp, in a cone shape, was declared a "No Man's Land", devoid of all art installations and campsites. The goal was to provide a picturesque view from Center Camp of the Man in the distance. In addition to the camps circling the center, there were camps lining the outside of the No Man's Land cone. The techno ghetto had its last year in 1996. Regardless, the spark of music had ignited, and other sound camps followed.


1997

In 1997 Burning Man was relocated off of the Playa to the Hualapai Flat, due to political problems with Washoe County. Black Rock City truly became a city in 1997, with formal, labeled streets, zoning, and registration for vehicles and theme camps. Rod Garret was brought on board as the lead designer of Black Rock City from then on. In his design, Center Camp remained the starting point, with two angular arms reaching out on either side to form a shallow "V" shape around the Man. These main arms consisted of six annular roads, and two outlying plazas. 1997 was the first year of a Ranger-patrolled perimeter, and the first year of one entry gate.


1998

Burning Man returned to the playa in 1998, and the basis of the modern layout was implemented. The idea was to "recreate some of the intimacy of our original camping circle, but on a much larger civic scale". Rod Garret's design smoothed out the angular "V" from 1997 and implemented the arc. In 1998, it stretched less than half-way around the circle. The radial streets were numbered North 1–20 and South 1–20, instead of the modern clock face system of names such as 11:30 or 5:15. There were four large plazas, each occupied by a major theme camp.


1999–2010

In 1999, for the Wheel of Time theme, the great arc of the city was expanded to the full 240° ( of a circle) that it is today. The streets were renumbered to correspond to a
clock face A clock face is the part of an analog clock (or watch) that displays time through the use of a flat dial (measurement), dial with reference marks, and revolving pointers turning on concentric shafts at the center, called hands. In its most basi ...
. The Man was in the center, Center Camp at 6:00, and streets every 30 minutes (15°) 2:00 through 10:00. 2000 saw the introduction of the Temple as a fixture on the playa, and it has grown to be easily as important as the Man. It was placed at 12:00 out in the deep playa in the open third of the circle. 2000 introduced the concept of a loud side. A quiet side was replaced by the rule that large scale sound camps would be placed at the 10:00 and 2:00 edges, facing out into the deep playa. Extra annular streets have been added, as need has increased.


2011–present

In 2011, extra radial streets were added, from G street out, to make outer-city navigation easier. These streets were added at intervals of fifteen minutes.


Transportation


Road access

Highway 34 provides access to the main entrance to Black Rock City. The highway connects to Highway 447 north of Gerlach, which then runs south to Highway 427 in Wadsworth near
Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...
. Vehicles then proceed from the Highway 34 entrance north to the main gate via Gate Road, a desert dirt road with a speed limit of 10 mph. All vehicles driving into the city must have the appropriate vehicle pass. All occupants are required to have valid tickets in order to get in. Vehicles are searched for any items that are prohibited in the city. For those who have their tickets held at Will Call, the booths are located between the Highway 34 entrance and the main gate. All tickets and vehicle passes must be bought in advance. They are not directly sold outside the gate or at the Will Call booths. Unless they have a valid early arrival pass for the pre-event set up, any vehicle who arrives before the gate opens is turned away and told to go back to Reno, and not to wait along the side of the road on either Highways 34 or 447, which would be a safety hazard, nor stay in Gerlach, and overcrowd the small town. When the Burning Man ends, and the mass exodus from Black Rock City begins, a
road traffic control : ''For the road traffic science, see various articles under :Road traffic management, Road traffic management.'' Road traffic control involves directing vehicular and pedestrian traffic around a construction zone, accident or other road disruptio ...
procedure called "Pulsing" is used to direct vehicles out of the city. At regular intervals, usually an hour during the peak periods, all vehicles are "pulsed" forward all at once for about a mile along Gate Road. This allows vehicles to stop and turn off their engines, while those at the southernmost mile of the multi-lane Gate Road slowly merge and then turn onto the two-lane Highway 34.


Commercial airports

The airport with regular commercial service closest to the event is the Reno–Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, over two hours' drive away. In 2018 an estimated 18,000 burners arrived and departed through Reno's airport for the event, giving the airport an $11 million boost. Inside the airport that year, a Burning Man-specific information table was created and placed near the baggage claim area. San Francisco International Airport, nearly six hours away by car, is the nearest airport with a high volume of international service. Other prominent airports, albeit with less international passenger traffic and more domestic services, are
Sacramento International Airport Sacramento International Airport is an international airport located in Sacramento, northwest of Downtown Sacramento in Sacramento County, California, United States and covers . It serves the Sacramento Metropolitan Area, and it is run by th ...
, a 4.5-hour drive from Black Rock City, as well as other Bay Area airports such as Oakland International Airport and San Jose International Airport. Salt Lake City International Airport, serving
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
, Utah, and Harry Reid International Airport, serving
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
, Nevada, are both an 8.5-hour drive to Black Rock City.


Temporary airport

A section of the Playa is used for a temporary airport, which is set up before each event and completely erased afterward. It serves both general aviation and charter flights. Pilots began camping there about 1995. Once compelled to add structure, in 1999, it was established in a form acceptable to the BLM through the efforts of Tiger Tiger (Lissa Shoun) and LLC board member Mr. Klean (Will Roger). In 2009, it was recognized by the FAA as a private airport and designated 88NV. It is found on the Klamath Falls Sectional, using a CTAF of 122.9 MHz. Black Rock UNICOM and the airport are operational on that
frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio ...
from 6:00 am to 7:30 pm PDT each day during the event. The
runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...
is simply a compacted strip of playa, and is not lighted. Because of the unique air traffic and safety issues associated with the airport, pilots are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with published information and procedures provided by, for example,
AOPA The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is a Frederick, Maryland-based American non-profit political organization that advocates for general aviation. AOPA's membership consists mainly of general aviation pilots in the United States ...
. Because of the changes in the surface of the playa each year, information about the airport is subject to change.


Shuttles

There are prepaid shuttles originating in Reno and San Francisco that move participants to and from the event. During the event there was also a paid shuttle between the event and the nearby towns of Gerlach and Empire, but this has been discontinued. Exiting and reentering the event requires an additional fee, and is highly discouraged.


Other

Participants share rides and hitchhike, although walking or bicycling into the event is not allowed.


"Leave No Trace" policy

Burning Man takes place in the middle of a large playa. While not inhabited by humans itself, the area around the playa is home to many animals and plants. Supporters of Burning Man point out that participants are encouraged to leave no trace (LNT) of their visit to Black Rock City (BRC) and to not contaminate the area with litter, commonly known as MOOP (Matter Out of Place). Despite the BLM and
LLC A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...
's insistence on the practice of LNT, the amount of residual trash at the site has increased over the years. While fire is a primary component of many art exhibits and events, materials must be burned on a burn platform. From 1990 through 1999, burning was allowed to take place directly on the surface of the playa, but this left burn scars (fired pinkish clay-like playa surface). When it was determined in 2000 that the burn scars do not dissipate with the annual winter rains and flooding, the organization declared that fires had to be elevated from the playa surface for its protection. When it was discovered by two of the founders of the Friends of Black Rock / High Rock (Garth Elliott and Sue Weeks) and BLM Winnemucca district director Terry Reid that burn scars from prior sites (numbering 250) still remained, they were eradicated in 2000 by the DPW clean up crew headed by Dan Miller. On the last day of the event, public shared burn areas are prepared for participants to use. It is an ongoing educational process each year to encourage participants to protect the environment and other participants by not burning toxic materials. Even gray water is not to be dumped on the playa. Used shower water must be captured and either evaporated off or collected and carried home with participants or disposed of by roving septic-pumping trucks, which also service RVs. Methods used for evaporating water often include a plastic sheet with a wood frame. The
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...
, which maintains the desert, has very strict requirements for the event. These stipulations include trash cleanup, removal of burn scars, dust abatement, and capture of fluid drippings from participant vehicles. For four weeks after the event has ended, the Black Rock City Department of Public Works (BRC – DPW) Playa Restoration Crew remains in the desert, cleaning up after the temporary city in an effort to make sure that no evidence of the event remains. In spite of the festival's clean up policies, Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen has stated that each festival "typically leaves a fair amount of detritus littered across the desert". He said that the leftover trash, including abandoned vehicles, was particularly heavy after the 2023 event.


Lawsuit against geothermal energy exploration

In 2023, Burning Man filed a lawsuit against exploration of
geothermal energy Geothermal energy is thermal energy extracted from the crust (geology), crust. It combines energy from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay. Geothermal energy has been exploited as a source of heat and/or electric power for m ...
, a renewable green energy source, in the Nevada desert. Subsequently, county commissioners rescinded a permit for the geothermal energy exploration, putting the project indefinitely on halt and potentially scuttling it all together. The Burning Man organization celebrated the move.


Environmental and sustainability efforts

Black Rock Solar: In 2008, Black Rock Solar was established to extend the Burning Man ethos of environmental responsibility beyond the festival. The organization provides solar power installations and training to underserved communities, aiming to promote clean energy and economic development. This initiative aligns with the festival's values of Leave No Trace, which encourages participants to minimize their environmental impact. Fly Ranch Acquisition: In 2016, the Burning Man Project acquired Fly Ranch, a 3,800-acre property near the festival site. Fly Ranch serves as a space for year-round experiments in sustainable living and art installations, furthering the community's environmental goals. The acquisition reflects Burning Man's shift towards creating lasting impacts beyond the annual event.


Criticism


Negative effects on the environment

Burning Man's carbon footprint is primarily from transportation to the remote area. The CoolingMan organization has estimated that the 2006 Burning Man was responsible for the generation of 27,000 tons of carbon dioxide, with 87% being from transportation to and from the location. In 2010, The Sierra Club criticized Burning Man for the "hundreds of thousands" of plastic water bottles that end up in landfills, as well as ostentatious displays of flames and explosions. Burning Man's 2007 theme, "Green Man," received criticism for the artwork ''Crude Awakening'', a oil derrick that consumed of jet fuel and of liquid propane to blast a mushroom cloud high into the sky. In an attempt to offset some of the event's carbon footprint, 30- and 50-
kilowatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
solar arrays were constructed in 2007 as permanent artifacts, providing an estimated annual
carbon offset Carbon offsetting is a carbon trading mechanism that enables entities to compensate for offset greenhouse gas emissions by investing in projects that reduce, avoid, or remove emissions elsewhere. When an entity invests in a carbon offsetting ...
of 559 tons. The Burn Clean Project is a volunteer organization that has helped replace the use of
fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a flammable carbon compound- or hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms (animals, plants or microplanktons), a process that occurs within geolog ...
with
biodiesel Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel, a form of diesel fuel, derived from biological sources like vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made from fats. The roots of bi ...
. In 2023 a group of climate activists blockaded the road into Black Rock city. Scientists have noted "scars" on the playa, the dry lake bed the festival takes place upon, especially during rainy years. The playa hosts fairy shrimp, water fleas and tadpole shrimp eggs which hatch only after rain and which may be harmed by mechanical damage to the playa during the event. Burning Man also increases wind erosion, which changes the way that the playa absorbs rain in the future.


Gentrification

Burning Man has attracted a number of billionaires and celebrities, many of them from
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
and Hollywood. It has become a networking event for them, with
Tesla Motors Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from hom ...
CEO
Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...
once stating that Burning Man "''is'' Silicon Valley." These billionaires have paid for more luxurious camps to be set up in recent years. Derisively nicknamed "plug-n-play" or "turnkey" camps, they in general consist of lavish RVs and luxury restroom trailers that are driven into the city and connected together to form ''de facto'' gated areas. These billionaires then fly in to the airport on private planes, are driven to their camps, served by hired help, nicknamed "
sherpas The Sherpa people () are one of the Nepalese ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal, India, and the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. The majority of Sherpas live in the eastern regions of Nepal, namely the Solukhum ...
", and sleep in air-conditioned beds. One venture capitalist billionaire threw a $16,500-per-head party at his camp. In 2017, Google employees shipped in a box of lobsters for a meal. Despite allowing the rich to participate in Burning Man per the "radical inclusion" principle, many traditional attendees have spoken out against their exclusive practices. Larry Harvey wrote that they also conflict with the "radical self-reliance" and other principles, but has also said that permitting the wealthy to attend is beneficial to Burning Man. Vandalism that occurred at the White Ocean sound camp in 2016 was said to have been a "revolution" against these attendees, describing them as a "parasite class" or "rich parasites". Meanwhile, the regular admission price has increased over the years. In addition, Nevada lawmakers have modified the state's entertainment and sales tax code to include nonprofit organizations like Burning Man that sell more than 15,000 tickets. As a result, an individual ticket, including taxes, cost $424 in 2016. Even tickets sold under Burning Man's low-income program are subject to these taxes. Including transportation, food, camp fees, clothing and costumes, and gifts,
CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...
estimated in 2016 that the total cost of attending could range from $1,300 up to $20,000. In 2017, ''
Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...
'' magazine estimated an average total cost of $2,348 to attend. According to the racial makeup of Burning Man attendees in 2014, 87% of them identified themselves as White, 6% as Hispanic / Latino, 6% as Asian, 2% as Native American, and 1% as Black (figures rounded). (Nevada's population, per the 2022 census, is 51% White, 29% Hispanic, 11% Asian, 2% Native, 11% Black). When interviewed by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' about these figures, Harvey replied, "I don't think Black folks like to camp as much as White folks... . We're not going to set racial quotas.... This has never been, imagined by us, as a utopian society." While there has been criticism that Burning Man has " jumped the shark," this proposition was criticized by cultural anthropologist Graham St John in 2020, who said that Burning Man was never a utopia in the first place.


Criticism from conservatives and religious fundamentalists

Some conservative commentators have criticized Burning Man as
sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...
ful and
hedonistic Hedonism is a family of philosophical views that prioritize pleasure. Psychological hedonism is the theory that all human behavior is motivated by the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. As a form of egoism, it suggests that peopl ...
. For example,
Ben Shapiro Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (born January 15, 1984) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator, media host, and attorney. He writes columns for Creators Syndicate, ''Newsweek'', and ''Ami Magazine'', an ...
writes that Burning Man's ten principles are a " paganistic morality" which cover for hedonistic acts of sex and drug use. He holds the event as an example of "countercultural garbage that eats at the roots of fundamental societal institutions" in America. Similarly, James Goll and Lou Engle write that Burning Man "exalts
Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...
, mocks God, and demeans Christianity" because of its nudity, open sexuality, and neo-paganism.


Photography restrictions

The terms of the Burning Man ticket require that participants wishing to use photo and video-recording equipment share a joint copyright of their images of Black Rock City with Burning Man and forbid them from using their images for commercial purposes. This has been criticized by many, including the
Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...
(EFF). The amount of casual nudity at the event has significantly decreased over the years, due to the rise of ubiquitous cell phone cameras and the ability to easily upload photos to the Internet. A Burning Man spokeswoman replied that the policies are not new, were written by a former head of the EFF, were used when suing to block pornographic videos, and ultimately arose from participant concerns: "We're proud that Black Rock City (a private event held on public land) is widely acknowledged as a bastion of creative freedom. t that protection f participants' freedomsdoes necessitate the acceptance of some general terms of engagement when it comes to cameras.... EFF seems to think that anyone attending any event somehow has an absolute right to take photographs, and then to do whatever they want with those images without any effective restriction or manner of enforcement. While we believe that such rights do make sense for any of us taking pictures in purely public spaces, this is not true in the private space of Burning Man – if it were, it would mean that Burning Man couldn't protect participant privacy or prevent commercialization of imagery." The Burning Man organization has since worked with the EFF and with
Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...
and other parties and has revised and clarified the photography policies.


Regional events

Burning Man's popularity has encouraged other groups and organizations to hold similar events, some of which serve as an epilogue for participants. Burners have created smaller regional events modeled on Burning Man, such as Burning Flipside in Texas; Apogaea in Colorado; Playa del Fuego in Delaware;
Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
in New England; Kiwiburn in New Zealand;
Blazing Swan Blazing Swan is an annual regional Burning Man event held adjacent to Jilakin Lake near the town of Kulin, Western Australia. It is promoted as an experiment in temporary community and artistic expression, guided by eleven main principles, inclu ...
in Australia;
Transformus Transformus is a List of regional Burning Man events, regional Burning Man art festival in Stokes County, North Carolina, held on the third weekend of July and previously hosted on Marvin's Mountaintop in Masontown, West Virginia, Masontown, West ...
in West Virginia; AfrikaBurn in South Africa; NoWhere near
Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
in Spain; Midburn in Israel; and many others. Some of the events are officially affiliated with the Burning Man organization via the Burning Man Regional Network. This official affiliation usually requires the event to conform to the 10 principles and certain standards outlined by the Burning Man organization and to be accompanied by a "Burning Man Regional Contact," a volunteer with an official relationship to the Burning Man Project via a legal Letter of Agreement. The Netherlands was the first country outside the United States to have an event officially associated with Burning Man named Where the Sheep Sleep since 2016. In exchange for conforming to these standards, the event is granted permission to officially communicate itself as a Burning Man Regional Event. The regional event organizers are enabled to exchange best practices with each other on a global level via online platforms and in-person conferences, which are partly sponsored by the Burning Man Project.


In popular culture

* In an episode of ''
The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...
'' 06E16Jim comments that he and his wife, Pam, conceived their child at Burning Man. * ''The Man Burns Tonight: A Black Rock City Mystery'', a 2005 novel by Donn Cortez nowiki/>Don DeBrandt">Don_DeBrandt.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Don DeBrandt">nowiki/>Don DeBrandt is set at Burning Man 2003. * The 2010 ''South Park'' episode "Coon vs. Coon and Friends" features Eric Cartman, Cartman manipulating the Dark Lord Cthulhu to do his bidding, which includes destroying Burning Man. * Cory Doctorow's 2013 novel ''
Homeland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic natio ...
'' opens at a near-future Burning Man. * The 2016 video game '' Watch Dogs 2'' features the characters visiting a Burning Man-themed event. * ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'' 2014 episode " Blazed and Confused" features "Blazing Guy", an event based on Burning Man, with one character even referencing "Burning Man" before correcting herself to "Blazing Guy". * The first Google Doodle, a playful adaptation of the Google logo, announced the founders' attendance at Burning Man in 1998. * The plot of the 2005 ''
Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons consisting of 151 episodes. The ...
'' episode "Burning Man" takes place during the event. * The 2007 '' Xavier: Renegade Angel'' episode "Escape from Squatopian Freedom" features protagonist Xavier going to an event known as "Burning Person".


Films

* '' Dust & Illusions'', a 2009 documentary about 30 years of Burning Man history from the perspective of 20 interviewees. * '' Taking My Parents to Burning Man'', a 2014 film documenting the adventures and misadventures as Bryant Boesen takes his parents on their first Burn. * '' Spark: A Burning Man Story'', a 2013 documentary about Burning Man, which includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the founders.


See also


Festival gatherings

* Böögg * Holika Dahan * Lohri * Rainbow Gathering * Robodonien * Rubber Tramp Rendezvous *
Saint John's Eve Saint John's Eve, starting at sunset on 23 June, is the eve of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, feast day of Saint John the Baptist. This is one of the very few feast days marking a saint's birth, rather than their death. The Gospel of Luke ...
*
Vijayadashami Vijayadashami (), more commonly known as Dassahra in Hindi, and also known as Dashāhra or Dashain in Bhojpuri, Maithili and Nepali, is a major Hindu festival celebrated every year at the end of Durga Puja and Navaratri, Navarahtri. It is ob ...
*
Zozobra Zozobra (also known as Old Man Gloom and sometimes branded as Will Shuster's Zozobra) is a giant marionette effigy constructed of wood, wire and cotton cloth that is built and burned on the Friday of Labor Day weekend prior to the annual F ...


Music festivals

* Boom Festival *
Boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although t ...
* Creamfields * Fusion Festival *
Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...
* Mysteryland * Ozora Festival * Psy-Fi *
Tomorrowland (festival) Tomorrowland is a large-scale annual electronic dance music festival held in Boom, Belgium, Boom, Antwerp Province, Antwerp, Belgium. Taking place within De Schorre provincial recreational park, it held its first edition in 2005, from an idea ...
* Transformational festival


Yoga festivals

* Bhakti Fest * Wanderlust Festival


Places

* Arcosanti * Auroville * Temporary Autonomous Zone


Others

* Wicker man * Folk festivals in the United States * Hexayurt


References


Further reading

* Bőnner, Bertine 2005. ''Das Burning Man Projekt – Religiosität und Spiritualität in Black Rock City? Eine ethnologische Perspektive. Magisterarbeit.'' Grin Verlag * Bowditch, Rachel. 2010. ''On the edge of utopia: Performance and ritual at Burning Man''. Seagull books. * Chen, Katherine K. 2009.
Authenticity at Burning Man.
''Contexts'' 8(3): 65–67. * * Chen, Katherine K. 2012.
Artistic Prosumption: Cocreative Destruction at Burning Man
" ''American Behavioral Scientist'' 56(4): 570–595. * Cortez, Donn 2005. ''The Man Burns Tonight: A Black Rock City Mystery''. * Doherty, Brian. 2004. ''This is Burning Man. The Rise of a New American Underground''. Boston/New York: Little, Brown and Company. * Diehl, Ronny. 2010. The American Frontier in Acoustic Space. MA Thesis. Humboldt-University of Berlin. Grin Verlag. * Gauthier, François. 2013. "The Enchantments of Consumer Capitalism: Beyond Belief at the Burning Man Festival" in
Religion in Consumer Society
', ed. François Gauthier. Ashgate, 143–158. * Gilmore, Lee and Mark Van Proyen, eds. 2005. ''AfterBurn: Reflections on Burning Man''. New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press. * Hockett, Jeremy 2004. Reckoning Ritual and Counterculture in the Burning Man Community: Communication, Ethnography, and the Self in Reflexive Modernism. Dissertation. Albuquerque, New Mexico: The University of New Mexico. * Kreuter, Holly. 2002. ''Drama in the Desert: The Sights and Sounds of Burning Man''. San Francisco: Raised Barn Press. * Kristen, Christine. "Reconnecting art and life at Burning Man" in: ''Raw Vision'', Nr. 57 (Winter 2006), S. 28–35. * Morehead, John W. 2007. Burning Man Festival as Life-Enhancing, Post-Christendom 'Middle Way'. MA Thesis. Salt Lake City, Utah: Salt Lake Theological Seminary. * Nash, A. Leo. 2007. ''Burning Man: Art in the Desert'', Introduction by Daniel Pinchbeck. New York: Harry N. Abrams. * Pike, Sarah M. 2001. Desert Goddesses and Apocalyptic Art. Making Sacred Space at the Burning Man Festival. In: Mazur, Eric Michael/McCarthy, Kate (Hrsg.): ''God in the Details''. American Religion in Popular Culture. London/New York: Routledge, 155–176. * Post, George P. 2012. ''Dancing with the Playa Messiah: A 21-Year Burning Man Photo Album''. Richmond, CA: Dragon Fotografix. * Roberts, Adrian, ed. "Burning Man Live: 13 years of Piss Clear, Black Rock City's alternative newspaper" San Francisco: RE/Search Publications. * St John, Graham. 2017
Blazing Grace: The Gifted Culture of Burning Man
'NANO: New American Notes Online'', 11. * St John, Graham. 2018
The Big Empty
''Aeon'', September 10. * White, Carolyn L. 2020.
The Archaeology of Burning Man: The Rise and Fall of Black Rock City
'. University of New Mexico Press
online review


External links

*
Burning Man page
Annual coverage from SFGate.com and the
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

FBI file on Burning Man
{{Authority control 1986 establishments in California 1986 in San Francisco Articles containing video clips Black Rock Desert Cacophony Society Counterculture festivals Culture of San Francisco Festivals in Nevada Intentional communities in the United States New Age in popular culture Pershing County, Nevada Recurring events established in 1986 Rituals Traditions involving fire Transformational festivals