USA TODAY International Edition
WHAT IS BURNING MAN? WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE
Asking people to describe Burning Man nets you as many answers as there are stars in the sky.
“Freedom of choice.” “Oogmoo.” “Community.” “Life- changing.” “Summer camp for people with ADD.” And so on and so forth.
The reality is that there’s no way to adequately describe Burning Man in a few hundred words. I’ve often used “overwhelming” and “constant” in talking about it to friends and family, but that implies a level of negativity I don’t intend.
Let’s start with this: At its heart, Burning Man is a week- long event in a remote Nevada desert, where about 70,000 people congregate. They build elaborate camps, an airport, a medical center, dance stages and massive sculptures. A week later, it all disappears, only to be built again next year.
Participants generally need tickets, which cost about $ 400, more if you want to bring in a car or RV. Burning Man organizers, who run the camp around 10 principles, require that everyone be self- sufficient. In fact, the only things you can buy here on the playa are ice and coffee. The ice is to keep food fresh, and the coffee helps spur community in the center camp area. Proceeds get donated to local schools.
Organizers also lay out the camp’s curving streets, commission artwork to be installed in the desert past the encampment, and ensure there’s enough portapotties to meet everyone’s needs. ( You’re responsible for water and toilet paper, however.)
Local law enforcement and federal rangers patrol the city, although Burning Man’s volunteer Black Rock Rangers generally keep the peace, help participants meet their community obligations and ensure nothing gets too out of hand.
Oh, and pretty much nothing is centrally scheduled. Parties with free food or drinks might start at 10 a. m. or 10 p. m. People have electronic dance music parties but it’s not like anyone tells them what time they can start. There’s an orgy dome and free massages and shamans doing reiki.
In other words, you get to create your own experience.
“You have such genius here that is bored by everyday circumstance,” says Paul Engel, an engineer for the tech firm SurveyMonkey. “You get rid of the computer and still hone your craft.”
Engel says this to me while wearing nothing but shiny gold pants, and he’s hammering crosses adorned with Barbie dolls for an art project.
His build partner, Angela Schultz, says she sees Burning Man as a way to create community anew each year: “It’s about building anything you want, anything you can think of and dream of.”
Away from the camp, artists have dreamed up amazing things, from fire- breathing dragons to contemplative temples. Someone this year built a giant gramophone, and another group hauled the fuselage of a retired 747 jumbo jet out into the desert, which is known as the playa.
The event itself tries hard to be egalitarian, but some obvious facts stand out: 80% of participants are white, 40% are from California and nearly 60% of the people here live in households earning more than $ 100,000 annually.
All that money means people can afford to give away food and drink. Some camps host open bars each day, while others give away waffles or grilled cheese or cold- brewed iced coffee. Participants adopt playa names and generally wear elaborate costumes, in part to block the ever- present dust.
Other people wear nothing at all, or go around “shirt cocking,” which is when a man wears a shirt but no pants. There’s lots of bare flesh on display, and the community self- enforces against outright ogling or exploitative photography. Reporters even have to agree to Burning Man’s strict control on copyright, and get no special treatment.
In short, the whole idea is to create a community where pretty much anything goes, without judgment or recrimination or guilt. But then again, that’s a pretty abstract way to describe it all.
Jim Simpson, a longtime “Burner,” said he and his friends came up with the concept of “Oogmoo,” which is a word to describe something you have to see for yourself.
“We had one friend, for five years, we tried to explain Burning Man to him,” Simpson said. “He finally came, turned to me and said ‘ Why didn’t you tell me it was like this?’ Because you can’t describe it.”
“You have such genius here that is bored by everyday circumstance. You get rid of the computer and still hone your craft.” Paul Engel, an engineer for the tech firm SurveyMonkey