The event is described by many as an experiment in community, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance. It’s governed by the 10 commandments of Burning Man — radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, immediacy, and most importantly, participation.
Organizers have said, “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.” There are no rules except to never directly or indirectly interfere with someone else’s experience of the event.
People come to Burning Man to entertain each other, not to be entertained. It’s not a consumer event — no one is catering to you, so you must provide for your own survival. Nothing is provided by the event with the exception of portable toilets, with the only items for sale being ice, coffee and lemonade, as the LLC forbids any commerce aside from decommodification.
The event takes its name from its Saturday night ritual, the burning of a wooden effigy. The Man itself has remained close to 40 feet (12 meters) tall since 1989. Art is an essential ingredient of the festival with innovative sculpture, installations, performance, theme camps, art cars and costumes.
Participants are encouraged to express themselves in a number of ways through various art forms and projects. Clothing is optional and public nudity is common, though not practiced by the majority.
Revelers are committed to a leave-no-trace event, striving to leave the area around them in better condition than before their arrival to ensure their participation doesn’t have a long-term impact or footprint on the environment.
But most impressive of all is the setting — a 100 mile (160 kilometer) lakebed known as the playa on which the temporary city of Black Rock City is constructed complete with roads, street signs, and cafes.
The annual event of Burning Man began as a bonfire ritual on June 21st in 1986 when Larry Harvey, Jerry James, and about 20 friends met on Baker Beach in San Francisco and burned an 8 foot (2.4 meter) wooden man and a smaller wooden dog which brought a crowd of onlookers — and the birth of a festival. Harvey has described his inspiration for burning the effigies as a spontaneous act of radical self-expression. The event has evolved into a 1-week experimental festival attracting 48,000 people to the Nevada desert.
Each year is based around a different theme.
A main piece from burning man 2005. The back of the head was an entrance hole where
people squat in a circle inside to escape the heat.
Burning Man 2006.
Burning Man 2007.
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