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 lake of enormous proportions. It is so huge, and so flat, that the current land speed record of 736 m.p.h. was set on Oct 15, 1997 by the Thrust SSC II, powered by 2 Rolls Royce jet engines. During the rowdy early years people would set their own speed records with whatever they had at burning man. This was stopped when there were 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 give 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 to a large extent burning man is the collective creation of 30,000 or so creative and 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.

I recently added a Burning Man section in my photo gallery, feel free to check that out.

Cheers,

John Kane

	Burning Man 2007 Art theme is "The Green Man." 7 pages. 97 photos. [click for more]
	Burning Man 2006 Art theme is "Hope and Fear: The Future." 9 pages. 138 photos. [click for more]
	Burning Man 2005 Art theme is "Psyche." 9 pages, 178 photos. [click for more]
	Burning Man 2004 Art theme is "Vault of Heaven." 7 pages, 110 photos. [click for more]
	Burning Man 2003 Art theme is "Beyond Belief." 7 pages, 49 photos. [click for more]
	Burning Man 2002 Art theme is "The Floating World." 7 pages, 79 photos. [click for more]
	Burning Man 2001 Art theme is "The 7 Ages." 7 pages, 60 photos. [click for more]