Burning Man

The event is named after its Saturday night ritual, the burning of a wooden effigy.

Burning Man is an annual event held in the Black Rock Desert, in Northern Nevada. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening.

The event is described by many participants as an experiment in community, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance.

The event is open to the public for 8 days. It begins on the last Monday in August and ends on the day of the American Labor Day holiday (the first Monday in September). It opens on the Monday of the week before, at 12 AM (00:00). Some organized volunteers, however, arrive a few weeks in advance to prepare the infrastructure of Black Rock City, the temporary city created by Burning Man participants in what is flat high elevation desert before and after the event.

The event is organized by Black Rock City, LLC. In 2008, 49,599 people participated in The Burning Man Project

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. [23]

The Burning Man event is governed by the 10 principles of Burning Man, which are radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy. [24]

Radical inclusion

Anyone is welcomed and there are no prerequisites to be part of Burning Man. [24] All participants are expected to bring a ticket, provide for their own basic needs, and follow the minimal rules of the event.

Gifting

Instead of cash, event participants are encouraged to rely on a gift economy, a sort of potlatch. In the earliest days of the event, an underground barter economy also existed, in which burners exchanged material goods and/or "favors" with each other. While this was originally supported by the Burning Man organization, this now is largely discouraged. Instead, burners are encouraged to give gifts to one another unconditionally.

No cash transactions are permitted at the event in accordance with the principles of Burning Man, with the exception of the following: [25]

  • Admission tickets, [26] although tickets for the 2008 event are only available in advance at select stores, by mail or via the Burning Man ticket website.
  • Café beverages such as coffee, chai, lemonade, etc., which are sold at Center Camp Café. [27]
  • Ice, available for purchase at three places in the city: " Camp Arctica" in Center Camp, "Ice Cubed" at the 3 o'clock portal and "Ice-9" at the 9 o'clock portal. [28] Ice sales benefit the local Gerlach-Empire school system.
  • Tickets for the shuttle bus to the nearest Nevada communities of Gerlach and Empire which is operated by contractor Green Tortoise. [29]
  • A re-entry wristband, which allows a person to leave and re-enter the event and may be purchased at the gate upon exit. [30]
  • An airport use fee, payable at the airport upon first entry. [31]
  • R V dump service and camp graywater disposal service, available for cash from Johnny on the Spot, the official contractor. [32]
  • Diesel and biodiesel, supplied by Sierra Fuels, the official contractor.
  • Private portable toilets and servicing, which can be arranged with the official contractor.

Radical self-reliance

Because of the event's harsh environment and remote location, participants are expected to be responsible for their own subsistence. Since the LLC forbids any commerce, with the exception of the items stated in Decommodification, participants must be prepared and bring their own supplies such as water, food, proper clothing and shelter, just to name a few. [33] Nothing is provided by the event with the exception of portable toilets. [34].

 

A nude woman dancing at the 2006 Burning Man. Nudity is common at this eight-day annual event

Radical self-expression

Participants 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. [35] [36]

Communal effort

Burning Man is a cooperative and collaborative event. Participants are encouraged to work with and help fellow participants. [37]

Civic responsibility

Participants are encouraged and assume responsibility to be part of a civil society in which federal, state and local laws are obeyed and communicate this to other participants.

Bring your virgins, your newbies, your dust free friends and introduce them to burners

WHAT IS BURNING MAN?

Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind. In this section you will find the peripheral definitions of what the event is as a whole, but to truly understand this event, one must participate. This site serves to try to paint a picture of the Burning Man experience to those who are new to the project, as well as to give those participants looking to keep the fire burning in their daily lives an environment in which to connect to their fellow community members. For a brief yet eloquent overview of the entire event from the time of arrival to the time of exodus, please read " What is Burning Man?", an essay written by participant and one-time web team member, Molly Steenson. Please see archived sections for each year to read more about the art themes, art installations and theme camps for each year.

Here you will find links that will take you on a trip through the past - through the history of Burning Man - from its early days on a small beach in San Francisco through its evolution into the bustling city of some 48,000+ people that the Burning Man event has become today. These people make the journey to the Black Rock Desert for one week out of the year to be part of an experimental community, which challenges its members to express themselves and rely on themselves to a degree that is not normally encountered in one's day-to-day life. The result of this experiment is Black Rock City, home to the Burning Man event.

There are no rules about how one must behave or express oneself at this event (save the rules that serve to protect the health, safety, and experience of the community at large); rather, it is up to each participant to decide how they will contribute and what they will give to this community. The event takes place on an ancient lakebed, known as the playa. By the time the event is completed and the volunteers leave, sometimes nearly a month after the event has ended, there will be no trace of the city that was, for a short time, the most populous town in the entire county. Art is an unavoidable part of this experience, and in fact, is such a part of the experience that Larry Harvey, founder of the Burning Man project, gives a theme to each year, to encourage a common bond to help tie each individual's contribution together in a meaningful way. Participants are encouraged to find a way to help make the theme come alive, whether it is through a large-scale art installation, a theme camp, gifts brought to be given to other individuals, costumes, or any other medium that one comes up with.

The Burning Man project has grown from a small group of people gathering spontaneously to a community of over 48,000 people. It is impossible to truly understand the event as it is now without understanding how it has evolved. See the first years page and Burning Man 1986 - 1996 for the legendary story of Burning Man's beginnings and to understand how the event has come to become what it is today. The timeline gives a short overview of what each year looked like. Please also check out the detailed archives for years 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Within each of these years are descriptions each year's art theme, theme camps, large art installations, as well as maps, journals of our city being built, the newsletters to the community for each year, issues of the Black Rock Gazette (a daily news publication produced and printed on the playa), and clean up reports for each year, including a list of those sites that failed to "leave no trace". These pages help understand the larger scope of the entire experience, from the planning that happens year-round to make each event possible, to the clean-up efforts which take place for sometimes months after the city has disappeared.

The impact of the Burning Man experience has been so profound that a culture has formed around it. This culture pushes the limits of Burning Man and has led to people banding together nation-wide, and putting on their own events, in attempt to rekindle that magic feeling that only being part of this community can provide. The Black Rock Arts Foundation promotes interactive art by supporting public art that exists outside the event, and has a special interest in supporting art at regional events. Additionally, Burning Man has over two thousand volunteers who work before, during and after the event (many who work year-round) to make the event a reality. To give of your time and talents, please see the Participate section of the website.

If this is your first visit to this site, a good starting point is the FAQ page, the glossary, and the timeline. From here you can stroll through the carefully archived sections for each year. Community, participation, self-expression, self-reliance; these tenets of Burning Man are lifeblood of the Burning Man experience. Whether you are new to this site or are returning for your umpteenth visit, you are encouraged to delve into these pages to expand your viewpoint and definition of these ideals, and to connect with yourself to find your niche in our community. The giving of yourself is the greatest gift you can give to the Burning Man community, and is imperative to the survival of this unique experiment.

BURNING MAN 2009 ART THEME:

The human species, Homo sapiens, has existed for approximately 200,000 years. The genus known as homo has a lineage stretching back two million years. Homo erectus, the first human ancestor to walk upright, and Homo habilis, the toolmaker, are among our relatives. We are a bud belonging to a twig of this ancestral tree.

The process of trial and error that has made this possible is called Natural Selection. Genetically encoded traits that aid survival tend to spread throughout entire populations. Living entities that bear these genes endure and reproduce, but maladaptive traits are not passed on. This causes species to evolve to better fit the world in which they live. However, this rigorous weeding out of 'unfit' individuals has gradually ceased to occur within our species. Medicine and mutual aid assure that nearly anyone is able to survive and reproduce. Now adrift in our own gene pool, we have encountered a new phase of evolution. We've become a conscious breed of culture-bearing animals. Black Rock City is a kind of Petri dish, and Burning Man is an experiment in generating culture. We've learned that culture's a spontaneous phenomenon. It thrives as a result of numberless and unplanned interactions. All that's really needed is a fitting social vessel to sustain it. This happens best within communities that harbor many different modes of self-expression. We've also learned that cultures effloresce when human beings feel free to offer up their gifts.

Our theme this year prompts three related questions: What are we as human beings, where have we come from, and how may we adapt to meet an ever-changing world?

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