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Burning Man is a week-long festival with international draw, held annually. The festival dates incorporate the week prior to and including Labor Day weekend (in early September) in the United States. Its current location is on the playa of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, at or 90 miles (150 km) north-northeast of Reno. The temporary city (housing 36,500 residents in 2005) is put forth as an experiment in community, radical self expression, and radical self reliance. The culmination of the event is the burning of a large wooden sculpture of a man on Saturday night, the sixth night of the event.

Primary focus of the festival

Participation. Burning Man is held to be a "spectator-free" zone—that is, only participants are allowed. As such, all attendees are ostensibly expected to contribute to the community, but the nature of this participation is left up to each individual, and in reality some spectators are present with cameras in hand.

Arts and crafts are featured, particularly outsider art and visionary art. Creative expression through the arts is encouraged at Burning Man. Large-scale art installations, theme camps, music, performance, and guerrilla street theatre are amongst the most common art forms shared at Burning Man. Sculptures and interactive installations are generally placed on the playa, in the open space surrounding the Man. Many are along specific art-walk pathways that lead to and from the central Burning Man complex, while others are scattered throughout the open playa. The largest and most active public theme camps are generally clustered on the Esplanade, Black Rock City's inner circle "main street." The Burning Man Opera was a significant interactive community performance that ran for over four consecutive years. Most recently, the ritual burning of David Best's temple projects have rivaled the burning of the central Burning Man complex in community significance and popularity. The ornately designed, three story high temple buildings borrow from Southeast Asian and Balinese architecture, and are used as repositories for the memories of deceased loved ones. A few years ago, local law enforcement objected to a gay-themed art installation at a camp called "Jiffy Lube." The art was moved to a more private area of the camp, giving rise to charges of censorship and homophobia from a number of quarters. *

Commerce-free event. No cash transactions are allowed at Burning Man. The participants instead rely on a gift economy, a sort of potlatch. Since the earliest days of the event, an underground barter economy has also existed, in which burners exchange material goods and/or favors with each other; however, this is largely discouraged by the event organizers. The only commerce that has been allowed are sales of coffee and ice at Center Camp. Ice sales benefit the local Gerlach-Empire school system; coffee sales fund the structure and contents (including labor) of Center Camp. Additionally, the powers that be at Burning Man contract with Green Tortoise to provide a fee-based shuttle service that provides round trip bus rides into the nearby town of Gerlach, Nevada. In addition, Johnny on the Spot, the company which also services the event's portable toilets, is permitted to charge for the emptying of RV waste tanks. Besides this, participants must buy tickets to attend the event. Tickets are sold through the Burning Man ticket website. Each year an art theme is declared by the Burning Man organization. The practice of annual themes began with the 1995 burn; a list of themes is included in the timeline within the history section. This years(2006) theme is "Hope and Fear: The Future."

Black Rock City

Black Rock City, often abbreviated to BRC, is the name of the temporary urban phenomenon created by Burning Man. The city is arranged as two thirds of a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) diameter circle (resembling the layout of Poverty Point) with the Burning Man complex at the very center. Avenues extend radially from the Man to the outermost circle. In most years, these avenues are given a clock name (for example, "3:00"), presenting the city as a clock in which the Man is the center of the clock. Occasionally, the avenues have been identified as the degrees of a circle (for example, "300 degrees"); however, this has proven unpopular with burners ("000 degree" actually refers to 030 degree on azimuth, often leading to confusion). Surrounding the central complex and extending out toward the back of the playa is an area of empty space reserved for art installations. Within the semicircle of the city, arranged in concentric arcs around the Man, are the streets and villages where the participants camp out. The outlines of these streets are visible on aerial photographs such as those linked below. The names of the streets change each year to coincide with the overall art theme of the burn. For example, corresponding with "The Vault of Heaven" theme for 2004, the streets were named after the planets of the solar system.

BRC has, in recent years, been designated a motor vehicle free zone, with the exception of extensively decorated art cars that have been licensed by BRC's "Department of Mutant Vehicles."

Center Camp

Center Camp is located along the midline of BRC, facing the Man (that is, at the intersection of the Esplanade and 6:00), and serves as a central meeting place for the entire city. Various services, such as first aid and playa information, are found at Center Camp. Similar services can be found at the intersections of the Esplanade located at 3:00 and 9:00. Center Camp also contains art installations, a large comfortable seating area, and performance spaces available to burners.

Theme camps and villages

The innermost circles tend to be the busiest and are usually reserved for theme camps or large villages. Theme camps are designed with a specific theme in mind. Some well-known camps that have been at Burning Man for quite some time include:
  • Thunderdome, where contestants battle in a large geodesic dome, inspired by the film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome;
  • BRCPO, a parody of the post office, which actually does perform the service of delivering mail, both to the event and from the event to the outside world;
  • Eggchair, a camp with a stereo-equipped Eggchair for passers-by to sit in and watch the world go by;
  • The Pancake Playhouse, which serves pancakes to all comers while playing soft rock classics;
  • Kidsville, a camp designed specifically for burners with children;
  • Flight to Mars, a continually reinvented funhouse containing on various years a maze, a ballpit, interactive art, a dance floor, a spinning disc of death and a bar. http://www.flight2mars.com
  • Alternative Energy Zone, the largest Village in Black Rock City, forbids fossil fuel use to generate power during the event and encourages and innovates in the use of alternative energy. Both within and without the official theme village, the Alternative Energy Zone, there are burners who still play hard and have the luxuries of home such as amplified music, lights, and vehicles, but use no generators while in Black Rock City to enjoy these amenities. http://www.ae-zone.org/

Villages such as Shangri La Village, Gigsville, Fandango, WigTown and Hushville are perennial staples of BRC.

Getting There

Black Rock City is located in the remote Black Rock Desert about 2-3 hours north of Reno, Nevada. Most travellers arrive by car, bus, truck, RV, or other motor conveyance. From Reno, take Interstate 80 east to exit 43 (Wadworth), then highway 447 north about 100 miles (160 km) to the town of Gerlach. Just past Gerlach, the road forks. Take the right hand fork (highway 34) and drive 8 miles, (13 km) then exit onto the Black Rock Desert (signs should be posted). The festival requires all participants to hold tickets; they run about $200-300 at the gate, but can be significantly cheaper if purchased months in advance. Attendees from locations too far away from driving usually fly to Reno or San Francisco and either rent cars or other vehicles there, or hook up with local attendees for rides. Rideshare boards are available on the Burning Man Web site. There are special air shuttles offered through Advantage Flight Solutions from Reno and the Bay Area directly to the Black Rock desert for a reasonable price.

The Green Tortoise Bus Company runs a few bus tours from San Francisco to Black Rock City during the event; food, shelter, and transportation are all provided in the tour package.

Black Rock City has its own airport for small private planes, run by volunteers. Mountainous desert regions are extremely dangerous for inexperienced and experienced pilots alike, however, and it's not recommended to fly into this airport unless you are experienced with desert flying.

Transport around festival

Once participants have arrived in Black Rock City, they are expected to leave their cars or other motor vehicles parked and travel around the city under their own power. Cars should only be used in an emergency, or when leaving or entering the city. Law enforcement officials and the Black Rock Rangers will stop vehicles and law enforcement officials may give you a ticket.

Bicycles are de rigueur for most BRC citizens. The alkali dust of the playa may cause severe damage to bikes that are not sufficiently prepped before the event and thoroughly cleaned afterwards, so many attendees bring a bicycle of little value. Bikes on the playa may be disabled by flat tires or other problems, prompting the unfortunate participant to embark on a search by foot for a bicycle repair camp. Participants purchasing inexpensive bicycle inner tubes prior to the event have a better chance of avoiding this dilemma. This happens so often that bicycle repair camps sometimes run out of their supply of spare inner tubes by the middle of the week. A highschool teacher from Empire (a town about 25 miles from BRC) has taken to collecting all the bikes left over after the festival. His collection is by now very large; you can pick up a bicycle from him on your way to the BRC, his number and contact info are at the Burning Man office in Empire. A good lock is also a precaution a few take; many bikes every year are lost, "accidentally" borrowed and later abandoned, or stolen outright. A growing number of participants bring bicycle rickshaws they've created or purchased, with the intention of providing free transportation as their gift to other attendees. Many participants also turn their off-the-shelf bicycle into an art bike through "garage engineering" and decoration with accessories including fake fur, reflective tape, stuffed animals, electroluminescent wire and other materials.

Walking is also a great way to get around; although slower, it's easier to stop and see the many sights if you don't have a big clunky bike to park, lock, unload, etc.

Radically-altered motor vehicles called mutant vehicles, or art cars, are an exception to the no-cars rule in BRC. These cars—or buses, trucks, etc.—must be radically and creatively altered to qualify for the exemption. They must also be licensed by the Black Rock City DMV (Department of Mutant Vehicles). Many art cars have high passenger capacity and will pick up participants on the playa for a ride, but don't expect or demand a ride from anyone. Passengers should be careful when boarding or disembarking; one person died in 2003 stepping off a moving art car.

Flying has been an option to get to Black Rock City for several years. Information on Black Rock's airport can be found here. In addition to arrival by air, recreational hang gliding and sky diving are also popular during the event. Travel by air through the Black Rock Desert is hazardous, however, due to high altitude and sudden, fierce winds and storms.

Burners

Burning Man participants often call themselves "burners." Although this usage may vary with region, a burner is an annual denizen of Black Rock City, and anyone who embraces Burning Man as an expression in sync with their own identity is a burner. In general, the term's use is only practical in contexts outside of the event itself. A burner is usually someone who has been to the event and aspires to return, even if only in spirit. The concept also implies the sentiments and values inspired by the event itself, including a high regard for creativity, especially radical self-expression, and willingness to participate in a gift-based economy. Some burners adopt (or are given) a playa name, a personal nickname a burner may use while socializing with other burners.

A Burning Man "virgin" is someone who is attending Burning Man for the first time or is planning to attend Burning Man in the future. "Yahoo" or "tourist" are pejorative terms used to refer to people who come to Burning Man to spectate rather than participate in the event, often arriving not long before the Burning Man ritual. As the stated purpose of Burning Man is to form community and to promote radical self-expression, non-participants are strongly frowned upon by many participants. This does not prevent spectators from attending the event, however; and in recent years, as attendance has swelled with growing awareness of Burning Man among the general public, friction between participants and spectators has been on the rise.

Nudity and Sexuality

The event is clothing-optional and public nudity is common. Sexuality, rude language, cultural commentary, and weird behavior are all a part of the essential Burning Man experience. Burningman.com Event Preparation

Illicit activities

Burning Man has developed a reputation for public sex acts and drug use.One more Pagan Orgy, Sex Drugs and Glow SticksWhat I Saw at Burning Man Neither one is tolerated by law enforcement. Actual incidence of public sex acts is very low. Recreational drug use is largely kept as a private activity, and it has not been proven to be more prevalent at the festival than in a typical American city. Officers refer to tickets issued for public drug use as the “Stupid Tax”.

Policing

BRC is patrolled by various local and state law enforcement agencies as well as the Bureau of Land Management Rangers. Burners refer to these people collectively as LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers). Burning Man also has its own in-house group of volunteers, the Black Rock Rangers, who act as informal mediators when disputes arise between burners. When the occasional eviction of a burner from BRC becomes necessary, volunteer rangers typically enlist the assistance of LEOs.

Health and safety

The desert environment in which the event takes place requires special attention to personal health. A wide-ranging survival guide, available on the Burning Man web site, is intended to help participants survive the harsh conditions of the desert. Issues addressed range from physical health issues such as ensuring adequate hydration, protection from the sun, and managing temperature extremes to social issues such as finding friends, in and out policy, and dealing with LEOs. Emergency Services is provided by another volunteer in-house department of Burning Man, the Emergency Services Department (also known as ESD). The ESD provides professional Fire Fighting, Medical, Mental Health, and Emergency Communications Dispatch for the citizens of Black Rock City. Modeled after a fire department in structure and organization, it provides public safety services from five stations spread throughout Black Rock City around the clock during the event.

History

The annual event now known as Burning Man began on the summer solstice in 1986 when Larry Harvey, Jerry James, and a few friends met on Baker Beach in San Francisco and burned an eight foot (2.4 m) tall wooden man as well as a smaller wooden dog. The inspiration for burning these effigy figures has been shrouded in mystery by Harvey, who described it as "a spontaneous act of radical self-expression." However, sculptor Mary Grauberger, a friend of Harvey's girlfriend Janet Lohr, had held spontaneous art-party gatherings on Baker Beach on or about the summer solstice for several years prior to 1986, and the burning of sculpture was a central theme. In addition to the burning of sculpture, a key ingredient to the pre-Burning Man gatherings was the fact that Baker Beach is a cove area frequented by nudists. Another notable US-based effigy-burning is Zozobra, which occurs every fall during Santa Fe, New Mexico's "fiestas"; an approximately 50 foot (15 m) ) tall "Old Man Gloom" has been burned every year at Zozobra since 1924.

Harvey attended some of the pre-Burning Man gatherings on Baker Beach, and when Grauberger stopped holding her parties, Harvey picked up the torch and ran with it, so to speak. Harvey asked Jerry James to build the first eight foot (2.4 m) wooden effigy with him, which was much smaller and less artsy than the neon figure featured in the current ritual. In 1987, the effigy had grown to almost fifteen feet (4.6 m) tall, and in 1988 it grew to around forty feet (12 m).

The name "Burning Man" came to Harvey when he was watching a video of the 1986 ritual. A member of the crowd watching the event shouted out "Wicker Man!", suggesting that the burning of the wooden effigy was somehow related to the ancient Celtic ritual of the Wicker Man, signifying rebirth. Harvey was the son of a Freemason, and (for Harvey) the use of wood in building the man had symbolic significance and was a critical part of the ritual; also, according to him, he did not see the movie The Wicker Man until many years later, so it played no part in his inspiration. Accordingly, rather than allow the name "Wicker Man" to become the name of the ritual, he started using the name "Burning Man."

John Law, as well as other members of the Cacophony Society, have been heavily involved in Burning Man since 1989. The event grew quickly, moving from Baker Beach in San Francisco to the Black Rock Desert of Nevada in 1990 after the burn scheduled for the summer solstice was shut down by police. After striking a deal to raise the Man but not to burn it on the beach, event organizers disassembled the effigy and returned it to a vacant lot where it had been stored. Shortly thereafter, the legs and torso of the Man were chain-sawed and the pieces removed when the lot was unexpectedly leased as a parking lot. The effigy was then reconstructed, lead by Dan Miller, Harvey's then house-mate of many years. The Man found his new home in conjunction with the already scheduled Cacophany event sponsored by John Law and Kevin Evans, "Zone Trip #4" in the other worldly, remote and largely unknown, Black Rock desert.

As the event has grown, one of the challenges faced by the organizers has been balancing the freedom of participants with the requirements of various land management and law enforcement groups. Over the years, numerous restrictions have been put in place, such as bans on fireworks, firearms, dogs, and driving non-art cars. A notable restriction to attendees is the 7-mile (11 km) long temporary plastic fence which surrounds the event and defines the pentagon of land used by the event on the southern edge of the Black Rock playa. This 4-foot (1.2 m)high barrier is known as the "trash fence" because it's initial use was to catch wind blown debris that may escape from campsites during the event. Since 1998, the playa beyond this fence is not available to burners during the week of event. Some artists and early attendees believe the underlying freedoms and concepts of the Burning Man event have been reduced or eliminated by these restrictions, leading to criticism of the current event as being too structured and controlled. Others contend that these restrictions are unfortunate but necessary to the survival of the event in the face of growth and notoriety and that in balance the original spark of creative invention is well alive and flourishing. Additionally, other recreational users of the desert believe the event's rapid growth and arid location (where the natural healing effect of the winter rains is not as effective) has caused the surface of the Black Rock Desert change for the worse. The Burning Man organization strongly denies that the event has ever caused any damage. Several documentary films have been made about the event, some of which give a fair representation of the event. Most of these films are available through the Burning Man website.

Timeline

Statistics shown below illustrate the growth of the Burning Man festival, according to a timeline on BurningMan.com and other sources:

(Note: the man has remained close to 40 feet (12 m) tall since 1989, the height and structure of the base has changed, thus the below referenced height figures are misleading)

80 at Black Rock desert in August.
Year Height of Man Participants Theme Notes
1986 8 feet (2.4 m) 20 N/A Larry Harvey & Jerry James build & burn wooden man on Baker Beach on the summer solstice
1987 20 feet (6 m) 80 N/A
1988 30 feet (10 m) 150-200 N/A
1989 40 feet (12 m) 300 N/A First listing of the Burning Man event in the Cacophony Society newsletter.
1990 40 feet (12 m) 500 at Baker Beach in June. Figure erected but not burned. N/A First year the event is held in the Nevada Desert
1991 40 feet (12 m) 250 N/A First year of neon on man
1992 40 feet (12 m) 600 N/A
1993 40 feet (12 m) 1,000 N/A
1994 40 feet (12 m) 2,000 N/A
1995 40 feet (12 m) 4,000 Good and Evil First year with an official theme.
1996 50 feet (15 m) 8,000 Dante's Inferno/Helco First year the man is elevated on a strawbale pyramid.
1997 50 feet (15 m) 10,000 Fertility Driving and guns banned. First year the city has grid streets.
1998 50 feet (15 m) 15,000 Nebulous Entity Forms its first management structure, fund-raises and becomes solvent.
1999 40 feet (12 m) 23,000 Wheel of Time Listed in the AAA's RV guide under "Great Destinations."
2000 40 feet (12 m) 25,400 The Body
2001 70 feet (21 m) 25,659 Seven Ages see Seven ages of man
2002 80 feet (24 m) 28,979 The Floating World First year for FAA approved airport.
2003 77 feet (23 m) 30,586 Beyond Belief Dogs are banned for the first time.
2004 80 feet (24 m) 35,664 The Vault of Heaven
2005 40 feet (12 m) 36,500+ Psyche The Man can be turned by participants
2006 Hope and Fear: The Future

The event has changed considerably as it grew from a small handful of people on a beach in San Francisco to over 36,500 people attending the festival in 2005. The scale of the event has increased enormously, and the Black Rock City LLC has in turn become more structured. In 1997 a group of people began a much smaller festival both as an alternative to and as a parody of Burning Man. The so-called Burning Shithead Festival takes place in Joshua Tree National Park every year at the same time as Burning Man. An Anti-BurningMan also formed with an emphasis on fewer restrictions, occurring just before Burning Man such that the less-ironic could still attend both. It is unclear what has become of it.

Leave No Trace, an ecological concept. Burning Man takes place in the middle of a normally uninhabited large desert playa, an interesting geological formation which many would like to preserve for future generations. Participants are told to be very careful not to contaminate the playa with litter (commonly known as MOOP, or "matter out of place"). In addition, while fire is a primary component of many art exhibits and events, materials must be burned on burn platforms. At one time, burning was allowed to take place directly on the ground of the playa, but the formation of burn scars was observed. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which maintains the desert, has very strict requirements for the festival. Weeks after the festival has ended, a team of volunteers remains in the desert, cleaning up after the temporary city and making sure that no evidence of the festival remains. A similar mantra heard at Burning Man is, "Don't let it hit the ground." An important point to note is that the event survives only so long as the BLM is satisfied that the 10 day event "Leaves No Trace" upon the playa.

It is interesting to note that despite the BLM and LLC insistence on the practice of backcountry ethics and LNT, the amount of residual trash at the site has increased noticeably. See also: http://www.nv.blm.gov/Winnemucca/NEPA/burningman/burningman.htm. Specifically, the Main Document, the graph located on page 18. To summarize, the graph shows that after several years in a more or less stationary location, the amount of trash found in the residential areas of the event has gone from approximately .25 sq. feet/acre to approximately .525 sq. feet/acre. The same document goes on to state, "Regression analysis indicates that if present trends continue the standard could be exceeded in the future." (Burning Man 2006-2010 Environmental Assessment, 3/31/2006 at 18) Compare this with the "background" levels of trash and refuse found on the rest of the playa, which has remained stable, or possibly decreased slightly, over the past 4 years.

The Burning Man 2006-2010 Environmental Assessment also shows that contamination of the playa by automobile drippings is down. But, as of 2004, an estimated 10.6 gallons of hydrocarbon fluids (gasoline, oil, transmission and driveline fluids, etc.) were deposited on the playa. Again, the EA suggests that the waste is broken down by sunlight and dispersed by wind. Therefore, the waste is indeed left behind by event participants. (Burning Man 2006-2010 Environmental Assessment, 3/31/2006 at 19) For other historical documents and evidence, see also http://www.stopburningman.org

Regional events

The popularity of Burning Man has encouraged other groups and organizations to hold festivals similar to Burning Man, such as Xara Dulzura, Fuego de los Muertos in San Diego, Playa del Fuego in Delaware, Toast! the Arizona Regional Burn, Burning Flipside in Texas, Moose Man in Toronto, SOAK in Oregon, and June's 4-day festival Critical Massive in Washington. In recent years, burners wishing to experience Burning Man more frequently than once per year have banded together to create local regional events. These events are typically much smaller than Burning Man itself, often consisting of no more than a few hundred participants. Some of the events are officially affiliated with the Burning Man organization via the Burning Man Regional Network, while others are organized and created by burners independent of the LLC. A good example of the latter is InterFuse in Missouri, Firefly in Vermont, and Transformus in North Carolina.

One type of event is popular with those that find returning to the "default world" to be a little jarring after having enjoyed the experiences of the burn. To relieve this culture shock, burners may participate in decompression parties. These events seek to recapture the spirit of the main event.

Other regional events have been established that connect and grow localized communities of burners. These events build upon the cultural bond of Burning Man, yet add a particular unique flavor of their own. Most regional events last a few days, occur annually, and are much less formal than Burning Man itself.

Burning Man in the media

  • The Simpsons In episode 4 (Lisa the Tree Hugger), Season 12, a guest character called Jesse Grass mentions the Burning Man festival at an environmentalist meeting.

  • South Park In episode 902 (Die Hippie, Die), Eric Cartman briefly makes references to Burning Man while talking about hippie festivals.

  • Comics In X-Force (issue #75), the characters visited a thinly disguised Burning Man festival entitled "Exploding Colossal Man."

References

External links

See also

General

Photo collections

Video

Theme camps

  • Fairyland - based out of San Francisco, Fairyland conducts classes in making tutu's, sock poi and white trash fashion with all materials provided. Fairyland is in the Avalon villiage.
  • Quixote's Cabaret Club & Bar - an international theme camp inhabited mainly by people from the UK and Germany, Quixote's run a Cabaret theater that gives homeless artists a stage on which to perform and showcase their talents, in front of a well-watered audience. QCCB is part of the Avalon village.
  • Pink Mammoth - a San Francisco-based not-for-profit artist collective that provides an underground (i.e. unregistered) pink-themed bar and club, notably operating only during the daylight hours. (See also Wikipedia entry at Pink Mammoth)
  • Disorient - an art collective and a camp at Burning Man with a large sound system
  • Space Cowboys - a San Francisco collective and Burning Man theme camp, featuring DJs and performers, and a large, mobile sound system, mounted to a customized Unimog.
  • Flight To Mars - Seattle-based organization dedicated to art and performance in Seattle and at Burning Man.
  • Hair of the Dog Lounge (HOTD) - Bay area theme camp proudly serving booze on the playa.
  • Space Virgins - Seattle-based arts collective dedicated to freeing people from constraining guilt
  • Hookahdome - Exploring extreme arts of pleasure through flavored tobacco smoking, belly dancing, and fire performances.
  • Radio Electra 89.9 FM - One of several FM radio stations located inside Burning Man that broadcast during the event.
  • Skinny Kitty - Mendocino born teahouse with designated cat relequarium, shade and couches.
  • Pangea - San Diego based collective of smaller, specialized camps organized into a larger more complete whole.
  • Cypress Lounge Bingo The Cypress Lounge has been providing BINGO services since 2003, now offering "flogging" bingo.

Burning Man | Cacophony Society | Great Basin | Nudity

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Burning Man".

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