Burning Man is an event focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance held annually in the western United States. The name of the event comes from its culminating ceremony: the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy, referred to as the Man, that occurs on the penultimate night of Burning Man, which is the Saturday evening before Labor Day.
The event has been located since 1991 at Black Rock City in northwestern Nevada, a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert about 100 miles (160 km) north-northeast of Reno. As outlined by Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey in 2004, the event is guided by ten principles: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy.
The event originated on June 22, 1986, on Baker Beach in San Francisco as a small function organized by Larry Harvey and Jerry James, the builders of the first Man. It has since been held annually, spanning the nine days leading up to and including Labor Day. Over the event’s history, attendance has generally increased. In 2021, the unofficial event had an estimated 20,000 attendees.
Every Burning Man festival has a unique theme, announced well in advance of the event, and virtually all aspects of the festival reflect that theme. For example, in 2000 the theme was “The Body,” and the streets of the city were given names such as “Head Way” and “Feet Street.” The many camps and villages within the city are founded on relevant subthemes and may be organized further around particular foods, sports, learning disciplines, or arts.
Artwork at Burning Man includes experimental and interactive sculptures, buildings, performances, and art cars, among other media. These contributions are inspired by a theme that is chosen annually by the Burning Man Project. An anonymous attendee once elaborated that “Burning Man is about ‘why not’ overwhelming ‘why'”.Participation is a key precept for the community, so there is much controversy in the community over the problem of non-participatory influencers and elite at the event.
According to britannica.com; en.wikipedia.org. Source of photo: internet
