Burning Man Festival, an artistic exodus to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert takes place every Labor Day weekend. Burners, as festival attendees are called, gather roughly 50,000 strong to dance, drink and love.
A festival that sprouted from a small Baker Beach summer solstice ceremony has morphed into a global attraction for creatives of all kinds. With a little help from the Golden Gate Park Police (GGNRA), who banned literal burning of The Man for risk of wildfire, ,Larry Harvey and the San Francisco Cacophony Society took their festival to the Great Basin.
Black Rock City is erected in a dry lakebed as it has been for twenty years now- installation artists arriving weeks earlier to begin construction on many a wondrous structure. Steel workers, pyrotechnic experts and all around eccentrics join forces to create awe inspiring pieces, many which invite the Burners themselves to participate in live performance art.
Burning Man operates a little differently than any other music or art festival. Once the ticket price is paid (up to $360 this year), there are no cash transactions. In an almost communal format, Burners give and receive freely. In a best case scenario, sexual favors can be used to show gratitude, but are optional of course.
“The currency is creativity,” one artist told TV Free Burning Man on Current (Comcast 107), the first network to cover the festival and engage Black Rock City residents by giving them cameras and broadcasting live. Current TV, started by former Vice President Al Gore and headquartered in San Francisco, was nominated for a news Emmy for their coverage of the 2007 event.
This year’s festival, Metropolis: The Life Of Cities, features theme camps such as Ashram Galactica, Rainbow, The Karma Chickens, and W*H*O*R*E's Oral Moistening Clinic by the World Health Organization. Many such villages are made with renewable or recycled materials and festival goers abide by the 'Leave no trace' ideal.
Love and spirituality are as important to the Burning Man family as art and music. Temples are built where attendees can write messages on the wall- messages to loved ones lost, messages of forgiveness and letting go. The temples will also be burned, taking the inscriptions with them when they go.
“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. . . to truly understand this event, one must participate.”
Tonight The Man burns.
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