USA TODAY International Edition
Nev.’s Burning Man still defying labels
‘It is what you want it to be ... pure magic.’
RENO Thousands of people flocked to the desert to build a temporary city from scratch for a week before burning and tearing it down.
The annual event known as Burning Man officially began Sunday, drawing 70,000 people to an otherwise inhospitable desert plain two hours north of here. Participants will build an airport, stage all-night dance parties and bask in a dusty free-for-all with rampant nudity and outrageous costumes.
Within days of its end Sept. 4, the entire city will vanish, and the desert will return to its natural state for another year.
Burning Man is not exactly a concert or a music festival, although it has those elements.
Instead think fantastical, whimsical art scattered through a tent city, where half-naked people give away french toast near an orgy dome, while neon-lit buses cruise through and techno thump thump thumps all night long.
Tickets — which started at about $500 and sold out immediately — come with a long list of conditions of participation, including self-reliance, “radical inclusion” and de-commodification.
“This is having fun for the sake of having fun, making art for the sake of making art, as opposed to having an agenda,” said Tracy Gillan, 38, a 10-year “Burner” and account executive for an online search engine in New York City.
Of course, de-commodification applies only on site, and as they gear up in Reno, participants spend millions of dollars at bigbox stores stocking up for a week in which there are no commercial transactions — except ice, coffee and RV pump outs — and they just bring in everything they’ll need to eat, drink and wear. Advertising and sponsorships are banned.
Staged annually for decades outside the 200-person town of Gerlach, Nev., the ephemeral Black Rock City draws internationally but especially appeals to young, California-based software engineers, app developers and tech workers. The event draws its name from the burning of a wooden effigy, which will stand 40 feet tall and will burst into flames amidst a massive fireworks display Sept. 2.
“It is what you want it to be. Music. Art. Dancing. Food. Design. A party. It’s what you go looking for,” said Jacob Wilson, 31, who works in content marketing in Manhattan and is attending for his second time. “You’re inhabiting a piece of land no human should be in. It’s pure magic.”