Burning Man

Burning Man, founded by the artist and landscaper Larry Harvey (b. 1948), is an annual event held for a week culminating in Labor Day. It brings together participants through art, celebration, gifts, and the creation of community. The Burning Man Web site (http://www.burningman.com) describes the project as “an experiment in temporary community, and one that is radically all-inclusive.”

The first Burning Man was a small bohemian gathering in 1986 on Baker Beach in San Francisco, California. [Page 111]Harvey and his friend Jerry James constructed an eight-foot wooden figure to burn at the beach. Accounts of the event note that, once lit, the crowd doubled and instantly created community. Since its spontaneous inception, Burning Man has grown from 20 participants to over 25,000 in 2001. In 1990, the venue changed to Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Each year, participants and project staff create a temporary city, called Black Rock City, in the desert, with infrastructure, newspapers, radio stations, and camps for the week-long event.

Burning Man community is created by and for participants (called Burners) who share a commitment to free art and expression, participation, and a spirit of giving. In a speech at the 1998 Burning Man, Harvey stated, “We've given all of you a chance to live like artists out here … that means you can give everything away and live on the edge of survival”” (Harvey 1998). Burners come from various backgrounds and geographical regions, and membership in the community is open to anyone who can purchase a ticket and attend the event. The price of tickets (between $165 and $225 for the 2003 event) and additional costs (for food, artistic materials, and so on) of attending are potential limitations to membership. Within the larger community dedicated to free expression, participants represent a diverse group of interests and communities. They include performance artists, musicians, nudists, fire dancers, hedonists, and activists. Many Burners create elaborate costumes or new personas for the event. Media reports often describe Burning Man as an amalgam of various facets of counterculture coming together for wild celebration in the desert. While the association with counterculture is accurate, Harvey and other members of the Burning Man organization stress the importance of artistic expression, involvement, and giving as key to the creation of the Burning Man community.

Art is an essential element of community in Black Rock City. Planned and spontaneous art installations and performances occur throughout the city. At the center of the city stands the man, an enormous wooden figure ranging from forty to seventy feet. The climax of the week comes when participants gather for “the Burn,” a metaphorical purification in which the wooden man is set on fire, followed by a wild citywide celebration including fire dancing performances, drumming, and burning of various art installations.

Participants are admonished to bring enough food, water, and supplies to last a week in the desert, remove everything brought in upon leaving (including trash), [Page 112]and observe rules of safety and well-being. Although the gradual increase in rules in Black Rock City is unpopular with some members of the community, the Burning Man organization maintains that those few rules (for example, concerning fire safety) are necessary and enhance the community. One of the few protocols guiding Burners is the no-spectator rule, which encourages participation in the community. Rather than just watching the festival, participants are expected to get involved in the creation and maintenance of community through art, free expression, volunteerism, and interaction.

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