Spotlight

Burning Man

Burning Man is a festival held in the Nevada high desert every year in the week leading up to Labor Day. It's held on Black Rock Desert, an ancient dry lakebed of enormous proportions. It is so huge, and so flat, that the current land speed record of 736 mph was set on Oct 15, 1997 by the Thrust SSC II, powered by 2 Rolls Royce jet engines. During the rowdy early years of Burning Man, people would set their own speed records. This was stopped after some tragedies.

Besides being an amazing art festival, one thing that makes Burning Man unique is that it's completely non-commercial. You can't even barter -- it's an experimental gift economy. If someone approaches you, it can only be to offer you something: some fruit; performance art; a random invitation to a tasty feast. And gift givers don't expect anything in return, except a smile. This changes the dynamic between people in a wonderful way.

There is some "official" sponsored art--which can be spectacular--but Burning Man is primarily the collective creation of ~~10,000~~ ~~20,000~~ ~~30,000~~ ~~40,000~~ 50,000 inventive folks, independent of each other. Who might not be 100% sure if what they're bringing will work. But it usually does; and if not, that's Burning Man too.

Here are photos from Burning Man, organized by year from 2001 on. You can also see a selection of my favorite Burning Man photos in my Burning Man Gallery.

8 sections / 791 photos