The Man burns during the Burning Man 2013 arts and music festival in Black Rock Desert
Burning Man is organized by the Burning Man Project, a non-profit organization that, in 2014, succeeded a for-profit limited liability company (Black Rock City, LLC) that was formed in 1997 to represent the event's organizers, and is now considered a subsidiary of the non-profit organization. In 2010, 51,515 people attended Burning Man. Attendance in 2011 was capped at 50,000 participants and the event sold out on July 24th the attendance rose to 70,000 in 2015. The Burning Man Project endorses several smaller regional events, inspired by the Burning Man principles both in the United States and internationally.
A Burning Man Ranger guards the inner perimeter around the effigy of The Man
Because of the variety of goals fostered by participatory attendees, known as "Burners", Burning Man does not have a single focus. Features of the event are subject to the participants and include community, artwork, absurdity, decommodification and revelry. Participation is encouraged.The Burning Man event and its affiliated communities are guided by 10 principles that are meant to evoke the cultural ethos that has emerged from the event. They were originally written by Larry Harvey in 2004 as guidelines for regional organizing, then later became a universal criterion of the general culture of the multifaceted movement.
Café beverages such as coffee, chai, lemonade etc, which are sold at Center Camp Café, operated by the organizers of the event.
Ice sales benefit the local Gerlach-Empire school system.
Tickets for the shuttle bus to the nearest Nevada communities of Gerlach and Empire which is operated by a contractor not participating in the event: Green Tortoise.
A re-entry wristband, which allows a person to leave and re-enter the event and may be purchased at the gate upon exit.
An airport use fee, payable at the airport upon first entry.
Diesel and biodiesel sold by third-party contractors.
RV dump service and camp graywater disposal service.
Private portable toilets and servicing, which can be arranged with the official contractor.
The burning of a temple, as well as the Man, has become a tradition activity at the event. It takes place the evening after the burning of the Man. Sculptor David Best's temple projects were ritually burned from 2000 to 2004. The tradition of participants inscribing the surfaces of the piece with personal messages has continued through all of the iterations of the temple.
As the population of Black Rock City grew, further rules were established in relation to its survival. Some critics of the event cite the addition of these rules as impinging on the original freedoms, altering the experience unacceptably, while others find the increased level of activity more than balances out the changes.
Every year Burning Man Arts issues a small number of grants for the purpose of partially funding specific art projects for installation at the Burning Man ...
A grid street structure. A speed limit of 5 mph (8 km/h). A ban on driving, except for approved "mutant vehicles" and service vehicles, Safety standards on mutant vehicles.
Burning of any art must be done on an approved burn platform.
A ban on fireworks.
A ban on animals.
Sculpture from Burning Man 2015
Awakening, Burning Man 2016 Burning Man Festival 2016 in Nevada. The theme was "Da Vinci's Workshop"
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FoldHaus, Shrumen Lumen, 2016. Photo by Rene Smith.
Vasily Klyukin's Pulsating Heart sculpture
Bjarke Ingels and Jakob Lange Launch Fundraiser for Giant Reflective Orb at Burning Man 2018 | ArchDaily
Mutant Vehicles, often motorized, are purpose-built or creatively altered cars and trucks. Participants who wish to bring motorized mutant vehicles must submit their designs in advance to the event's own DMV or "Department of Mutant Vehicles" for approval and for physical inspection at the time of the event. Not all designs and proposals are accepted. The event organizers, and in turn the DMV, have set the bar high for what it deems an acceptable MV each year, in effect capping the number of Mutant Vehicles. This is in response to constraints imposed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which grants permits to hold the event on federal property, and to participants who want to maintain a pedestrian-friendly environment. Vehicles that are minimally altered, and/or whose primary function is to transport participants, are discouraged and rejected. One of the criteria the DMV employs to determine whether an application for a proposed Mutant Vehicle is approved is "can you recognize the base vehicle". For example, if a 1967 VW van covered with glitter, dolls' heads, and old cooking utensils can still be recognized as a VW van, it is considered to be "decorated not mutated" and is less likely to be approved. This criterion led to the exclusion of some "Art Cars", which historically have been a staple of the event. There were over six hundred approved Mutant Vehicles at the event in 2010.
Duane Flatmo's latest mutant vehicle (Rabid Transit) spews fire from animatronic metal animals during the Burning Man festival, Black Rock City 2017.
Burning Man 2014 Rhino Redemption mutant vehicle by Kevin Clarck | by Dust To Ashes
Artist Bruce Tomb created this startling mutant vehicle by mating an excavator to an old El Camino and joining them byan armature lifting passengers high off the ground and tilting them at odd angles."Scott London/Scott London/Scott London
This art car, built to resemble a 1980s-style ghetto-blaster, was fashioned by Los Angeles artist Derek Wunder and crew."
The project creators, who’ve dubbed the exhibit “The 747 Project,” worked four years to make the airplane into a mobile art car, which comes equipped with both a bar and lounge in it. This, of course, isn’t the first time the former aircraft was transported to Black Rock City, as the Boeing jet made its debut at the festival in 2016. However, the team behind “The 747 Project” has made drastic changes to the airliner before every Burning Man, including removing the aircraft’s roof for Burning Man 2018. In addition to the cost of transportation, getting the massive jet to Black Rock City wasn’t easy, as Big Imagination had to get Nevada Power, AT&T, Sierra Pacific and Union Pacific all to assist in disconnecting power and phone lines that stood in its way. As if that wasn’t difficult enough, the city of Gerlach, Nevada also agreed to go dark for a few hours, as power officials needed to shut down most of the cities infrastructure to allow the 747 to travel through. The plane, which is now void of a roof, landing gear, tail and wings can be towed around Burning Man, making it the official mutant vehicle of the festival. And considering it’ll be safely on the ground, those with fears of flying can finally fulfill their dream of becoming a member of the mile high club.
Mutant vehicles drive across the Playa during the Burning Man 2013 arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada
The mutant vehicle Abraxas travels across the playa as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gathered for the annual Burning Man arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada
The Story
I first thought of Nova Star in 2014 at the Burning Man festival at Black Rock City, Nevada
I've decided to transport in style for the following year at Burning Man with something that would express in an artistic way my beliefs about extraterrestrial life. I was in shock that no one has ever done anything like it before. After being referred to Lucky 13 Creative who had the crew that was able to build it with me, I started to re-design and brainstorm how to bring my idea to life. It took a group of welders, mechanics and electricians to achieve that.
This art car was named after my Sci Fi film in development.
I hope this art piece brings joy and awareness to generations to come.
NOVA STAR This vehicle is dedicated to all benevolent extraterrestrial beings in this vast multidimensional multiverse. The Message
The message is simple. Extraterrestrials are very real. It's not an imaginary fantasy so get over it folks.
It's a "reality", it's here and it has been on this planet for a long time now.
The secrecy, controversy and disinformation about this complex and vast reality has been necessary for now to hide the truth that is in a minority's best interest to remain that way to keep in control of power.
If the powers at be would admit or release the whole truth about this topic, the system will collapse in every level. Educate yourself about it, there's enough information from true experiencers out in the open.
Humanity it's at the brink of big upheavals that only a small minority is aware of.
Rest assure the present and the upcoming future holds the unavoidable truth about this topic.
Behind the Scenes
Nova Star started being constructed sometime in April 2015 and was 60% done and delivered by the end of Burning Man 2015.
The process to get it done was exciting, full of joy, extensive and at the same time increasingly stressful and beyond over budget tours the completion deadline.
Eight months after the popular festival ended, some of the building crew resumed the final touches and eventually got it done by mid April 2016.
It went into small refurbishing of the interior and a complete do over of the electrical work by Left Coast Electric.
Special thanks to the Art Car Garage
for the major upgrades and all the people that builded it, repaired it and put their hearts into it.
The vehicle is now gaining popularity and finally ready for the world to see, experience and enjoy.
Burning Man's New Favorite Art Car—Mayan Warrior—To Make Appearance at Ondalinda in Mexico
Camps focusing on electronic music, often played by live DJs, began to appear in 1992, as influenced by the rave culture of the San Francisco area. Terbo Ted was identified as having been the first ever DJ in Burning Man history, opening with a Jean Michel Jarre song played off a vinyl record. DJs typically occupied an area on the outskirts of the Playa nicknamed the "Techno Ghetto". In later years, designated spokes of the main camp were designated for "sound camps", with limits on volume and speaker positioning (angled away from the center of Black Rock City). To work around the rules, mutant vehicles with live DJs and large sound systems began to appear as well. A number of major electronic music camps have been well-known recurrents at Burning Man, including Opulent Temple and Robot Heart. Major producers and DJs representing various eras and genres have performed at Burning Man, including Armin Van Buuren, Carl Cox, Markus Schulz, Francois Kevorkian, and Freq Nasty among others.
BLACK ROCK CITY, NV - SEPT 2: First-time Burner Sonja Lercer
In recent years, concerns began to surface among attendees that a growing number of "mainstream" electronic dance music acts(Such as Skrillex and Diplos's Jack U in 2014) had begun to appear. In 2015, organizers established a new area known as the "Deep Playa Music Zone" (or DMZ), to serve as a new host for sound trucks featuring live DJs.
A section of the Playa is used for a non-permanent airport, which is set up before each event and completely erased afterward. Burning Man's 2007 theme, "Green Man", received criticism for the artwork Crude Awakening, a 99-foot oil derrick that consumed 900 gallons of jet fuel and 2,000 gallons of liquid propane to blast a mushroom cloud 300 feet high into the sky.
2007 Burning man: Crude Awakenings the Derrick erupts in a big huge fireball propane fireball Burning
Just because you're not buying anything at Burning Man doesn't mean it's cheap: The main cost is the ticket, which ranges from $425 to more than $1000. You can also apply for a $190 low-income tickets,
"There's a whole application process. You have to write what your job is, why you don't have any money, what you can contribute and why you want to go,"
Other expenses to budget for include costumes, food and water, a vehicle pass if you're driving to the event and camp dues if you're staying in one of the camps, which form the backbone of Burning Man. Depending on the camp, dues will cover things like family-style meals and showers.
"If you're new, you're a 'virgin burner,'" "And they make you get out of your car, ring a bell and roll around in the dust, as your initiation."The wild costumes are a big part of Burning Man and they require time to find and make,
Other necessities are goggles for dust storms, sunglasses, sunscreen, flashlights, a Camelbak, battery-operated fan and "a lot of garbage bags.Also, "bring an alarm clock," she says, because you don't want to miss any sunrises. "The sunrises out there are just breathtaking. It feels like you're right on the edge of the earth and the sun is right there and it's so magical."
"A lot of people want to see the man and leave afterwards," says Agustini, but you can stay for the Temple burn on Sunday. "It's very different from the man burning. It's completely quiet. It's dead silent. There's no music, no talking. It's a place where people go to remember. And when it goes up, there's this extreme energy that releases. It's pretty heavy and deep."
The biggest misconception about Burning Man is that "it's a music festival, like Coachella," says Breza. "It's not that. It's hard to explain what it is. We always tell people, 'Just go. We can't explain it to you. You just have to go.'"
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Campers gather at Medusa Madness during Burning Man on September 6, 2015. In its first years, the community grew by word of mouth alone, all were considered participants by virtue of surviving in the desolate surreal trackless plain of the Black Rock Desert. There were no paid or scheduled performers or artists, no separation between art-space and living-space, no rules other than "Don't interfere with anyone else's immediate experience" and "no guns in central camp." 1991 marked the first year that the event had a legal permit, through the BLM (The Bureau of Land Management).
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The Temple of Promise burns on September 6, 2015. Another notable restriction to attendees is the 9.2-mile (14.8 km) long temporary plastic fence that surrounds the event and defines the pentagon of land used by the event on the southern edge of the Black Rock dry lake. This 4-foot (1.2-meter) high barrier is known as the "trash fence" because its initial use was to catch wind-blown debris that might escape from campsites during the event. Since 2002, the area beyond this fence has not been accessible to Burning Man participants during the week of the event.
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The Man goes up in flames during the Burning Man 2015 “Carnival of Mirrors” arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, on September 5, 2015. One visitor who was accidentally burned at the 2005 event unsuccessfully sued Black Rock City, LLC in San Francisco County Superior Court). On June 30th 2009, the California Court of Appeal for the First District upheld the trial court's grant of summary judgement to Black Rock City, LLC on the basis that visitors who deliberately walk towards the Burning Man after it is lit assumes the risk of getting burned by such an obviously hazardous object.
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People gather at the art installation Serpent Mother on September 1, 2015. On September 3, 2017 a 41-year-old man, Aaron Joel Mitchell, fought his way past a safety cordon of volunteers and firefighters and threw himself into the flames of the primary Burning Man effigy. Mitchell died the next day due to cardiac arrest, bodily shock and third-degree burns to 98% of his body. While a reputable member of the DPW claims this was the result of a dare to run thru the flames, his death was ruled a suicide.
Aaron Joel Mitchell
July 12th, 2014 - Element 11 came to a tragic halt when one of the attendees died after jumping into a ceremonial bonfire. The three-story structure, built after a character from Maurice Sendak's 'Where the Wild Things Are', had been burning for 30 minutes as part of the event's festivities, when the man now identified as Chris Wallace ran into the fire.
Aaron Joel Mitchell Death caught on Video
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Sarah Tang wears a unicorn headpiece as she dances during Burning Man on September 5, 2015. Jim Urquhart / Reuters - Another festival that styles itself on the Burning Man also has an event each year:
ELEMENT 11’S CULTURE
We began as one of the very first official Burning Man Regional Festivals in the world. Since then we have evolved into a dynamic, year-round, active community whose mission is to ignite a sustainable culture of creativity and self-expression!
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Shandi Trolson (left) and Jordan Lenaburg kiss as they are married during a wedding ceremony at Burning Man 2015 on September 2, 2015. To support our mission, our community has formed a 100% volunteer supported 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization known as Element 11, the same name as our annual festival. We are committed to not only producing a world-class festival the second weekend of July, we are also committed to creating year-round fundraising opportunities, community training programs, social events and service projects. All designed to support and inspire our community of artists and to make a positive difference in the world.
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Artist Swig Miller is covered in dust during the Burning Man 2015 “Carnival of Mirrors” arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada on September 6, 2015. Our Board of Directors and community leaders are committed to continue to support the evolution of the Utah Burning Man community of artists. We see art in all forms, in all ways, in all people and in life itself. We provide a canvas for our community to come together. To play, dance, evolve, create & ignite!
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People ride past the Black Rock Bijou, a movie theater far out on the Playa, during Burning Man on August 31, 2015. Our community’s core culture is built on the values reflected in The 10 Principles established by the Burning Man Organization. Today, Burning Man has become more than an annual event, it has become a worldwide culture. The culture is defined as a way of life lived consistent with The 10 Principles. These principles have arisen because of the commitment the Burning Man Organization has for the sustainability of their annual festival. The 10 Principles inspire and guide people all over the world to live in a way that creates sustainability in their lives, families, communities and the world.
Image Above - Element 11 Festival - Element 11 is a unique community. Together we create a vibrant, important and strong subculture within Utah, a very conservative state. We consider ourselves a tight-knit community and family. We are bound together by love for one another, our community, our mission and for life.
We invite you to participate with us in any way that inspires you. We also encourage you explore and incorporate “The 10 Principles” in your life, your communities and your world.
Sihouetted revellers at a Burning Man wedding, Black Rock, Nevada
