MSNBC Coverage of Burning Man 1997 | Three Articles by MSNBC on the 1997 gathering
Burning Man: Underground fête catches desert fire
Can a festival of the unusual survive the mainstream?
By Sharon McKenna
SPECIAL TO MSNBC
On the last evening of the Burning Man festival, revelers ignite a 50-foot "man" made of wood and burlap, Photo: Maggie Hallahan (1996)
It’s just another day in the office, weeding the yard, paying the bills and driving the kids to camp, so how do you break the repressive monotony of social convention? You brave the scorching hot Nevada desert to mingle, party and rebel with thousands of other people at Burning Man.
Participants come to build a temporary city on the desert floor, display their art, dance with abandon and set fire to a very large, wooden man.
Every Labor Day weekend, tens of thousands of artists, extremists and free spirits travel via a dizzying array of vehicles into some of the most difficult terrain on earth to share their art, shed their inhibitions and torch a 50-foot-high effigy. They travel to Burning Man.
Perhaps you first heard about Burning Man at a gallery opening in San Francisco’s ultra-cyber SOMA district. Or maybe someone shouted about it at an underground rave. But just as likely you’ve read about it in the mainstream media. Indeed, the once-obscure-but-now-ubiquitous Burning Man festival may be the only noncommercial entertainment event to have generated widespread publicity without ever having asked for it.
For the uninitiated, Burning Man is difficult to define, though journalists and critics have exhausted many a society-in-upheaval theory trying to label the event. In short, Burning Man, which takes place every Labor Day weekend in the Nevada desert, is a gathering of thousands who come to build a temporary city on the dusty desert floor, display their art, commune with friends, listen to and play music, dance with abandon (often sans clothes) and set fire to a very large, wooden man.
So, what’s so fascinating about that? Plenty.
What takes place at Burning Man exemplifies the best of what society offers. Depending on the perspective from which you view it, the festival is either sublimely creative and deeply altruistic or radically self-indulgent and flippantly anarchist. Still confused? Imagine Cirque de Soleil, only on acid, with a little bit of pre-millenium revolution thrown in.
“Burning Man leaders emphasize that attendees are responsible for their own survival.”
Some might say the timing for such an organized insurrection is exquisite. Under the surface, mainstream America may be roiling with confusion over what it means to be part of a community today, where cyberspace fits into our lives and why the heck traffic is so bad. In contrast, Burning Man invites everyday people to both embrace and exorcise the chaos of modern-day life in an open way, without having to go completely off the deep end. The fact that the celebration occurs in one of the most hostile environments on the planet yet continues to grow in numbers indicates that Burning Man is much more than an excuse to party without penalty, as critics have charged.
Still, the event has inspired venomous attacks from a wide range of groups, including the religious right and environmentalists. An equally eclectic consortium of supporters includes the new cyber-elite, anti-government ranchers and emerging artists seeking the ultimate outlet for their creativity. The only thing these folks seem to agree on is that Burning Man is a phenomenon that shows no signs of abating.
In fact, this year’s theme is fertility, an appropriate choice, since attendance is expected to grow from 12,000 to 20,000 people — or more. That’s quite a change from Burning Man’s humble beginnings in 1986 when 12 friends gathered on a San Francisco beach to observe the summer solstice by burning a much smaller wooden figure of a man.
Event founder Larry Harvey says he isn’t surprised by the growth, but it has come with some logistical nightmares. In response to an influx of nonpaying “tourists in cars” and, some say, building opposition from Gerlach, Nev., residents, Burning Man moves this year from the Black Rock desert to private ranch land in Northern Nevada that extends to the Haulapai Playa. The playa, a vast, dry lake bed, is a region administered by the Bureau of Land Management but reachable only through the private ranch entrance, ensuring better crowd control. And a finite space means admission can be charged easily, helping to offset costs of hosting the event. Cars will be confined to their campsites to avert another “Mad Max” traffic free-for-all like the one that marked last year’s event and resulted in one death and several injuries. No one may drive on the playa, where the “downtown” area and art installations will be located.
“The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a performance-art group from San Francisco, perform marriages at Burning Man.”
Despite these precautions, intense preparation is paramount for anyone interested in attending this year’s event. Fittingly, the site is a place of extremes: searing hot and cruelly bright by day; shadowy and chilled by night. Daytime temperatures can soar above 100 degrees, and you can’t just run to the local 7-Eleven for ice and food. Burning Man leaders emphasize that attendees are responsible for their own survival, although a team of rangers will be on hand to help those in need.
People say they come to Burning Man to shed the increasingly uncomfortable suit of ‘regular’ life and metamorphose into someone else entirely.
The provision of specially-trained rangers and a host of other amenities and festival programs demonstrate that the so-called hippie freaks and anarchists behind Burning Man are as organized and ambitious as any Silicon Valley start up. The extensive Web site [ed note: Link is to 1997 Website] includes detailed information on how to build a theme camp or create a village, and overviews of the art installations, which run from the highly intellectualized (“Temporal Composition,” inspired by the forms and concerns of Egyptian solar temples) to the simply hilarious (“Kill Your Television” in which dummies crash test a giant TV.) Event tickets ($65 in advance, $75 at the gate) may be purchased online.
Although Burning Man remains free of sponsorships, it does have its own book, recently released by Hardwired. And you can even get your own Burning Man cap or T-shirt. Can the feature film be far behind?
Harvey counters that there will be more art, theme camps and villages than ever this year, bolstering his point about Burning Man’s focus on individual and collective creativity, not commercialism. He says that Burning Man really doesn’t have any direct competition in terms of entertainment. And though Harvey admits that the opportunity is there to snag big bucks through sponsorships, it’s a prospect he says he refuses to even consider.
Those attending wouldn’t have it any other way — and they are a varied lot. Burning Man draws participants from across the demographic spectrum all the way to its outermost fringes. Beneath the alter egos and crazed self-as-theater posing, one might find a nurse, a banker, a Deadhead or a punk, wandering across the desert expanse in search of art free of gallery walls, community without government or perhaps just an undiscovered part of themselves.A mud bath provides welcome relief from the heat of the Nevada sun at Burning Man.
Indeed, some of these people say they come to Burning Man to shed the increasingly uncomfortable suit of “regular” life and metamorphose into someone else entirely. When asked, participants sometimes can’t recall exactly what creative impulse inspired their particular costume, artwork or camp theme, or the swirling, painted designs that spill over the canvas of their skin. And, they will tell you, that is exactly the point.
MSNBC Survival Checklist for Burning Man
Don’t get burned at Burning Man. The festival site is many miles (and hundreds of years) from what we call modern civilization. You’ll need to pack a few things.
The desert can be an unforgiving place: hot, cold, windy, dusty, you name it.
The Nevada desert is one of the most beautiful — and dangerous — regions in the country. Temperatures regularly soar above 100 degrees and the sun is merciless. Sudden windstorms can be blinding. Locations for gas, food and lodging can be hours away.
So, in order to safely enjoy Burning Man, you have to be prepared. You must provide your own food, shelter and water and fuel — enough to last four or five days. Workaholics, take note: there are no phone lines available at the site. Invest in a cellular modem, or better yet, leave your work at home. Burning Man officials suggest you also bring the following:
Two gallons of water per person per day. Keep a bottle of water with you at all times;
Enough food, beverages and ice for your entire party;
First-aid kit;Bedding and shelter of some type — the winds can reach 50 mph;
A good camp tent and warm sleeping bags;
One shovel per car;
Garbage bags;
Any required prescriptions, contact-lens supplies, or whatever else you need to maintain your health and comfort in a remote area with no services.
Sunscreen and sunglasses;
Shade structures, umbrellas, parasols, hats, sheets — anything to break the cruel midday sun.
A cooking stove if you expect to heat food or liquid;
Flashlights and spare batteries;
Bicycles (mountain bikes or “cruisers” with balloon tires are best);
Earplugs (if you care to sleep at all);
A set of warm clothes for cold desert nights;
Watertight protective bags for any cameras or electronic gear you may bring;
Lotion and lip balm to treat cracked skin;
Insect repellent;
Portable ashtrays (for smokers);
Costumes, musical instruments, props, banners, signs and anything else you can think of that might make the experience more fun for you and your Playa neighbors;
A citizens band radio;
Common sense, an open mind and a positive attitude.
YOU HAVE YOUR CHANCE this weekend, in the barren expanse of the northern Nevada desert, to bring your wildest fantasy to life. At Burning Man, art doesn’t imitate life so much as dictate it.
The fervent community spirit of the event has spawned villages, theme camps and art salons … it literally pulses with music, various performances and plenty of other stuff that denies categorization.
“Theme camps serve as both a temporary residence for those at the event as well as a medium for creative expression. ”
While the Man itself is a pre-arranged constant of the event, theme camps have evolved organically. And while many of these camps have evolved into well-organized “small neighborhoods” within “cities” (Burning Man villages) some of the most inventive creations are spontaneously produced. Which brings us to you and your fantasy.
If you are heading to the festival and want to build a theme camp, consider these tips: Theme camps should feel inclusive. Create an environment where everyone feels welcome; Burning Man team members suggest you and your group become another animal, vegetable, mineral, character, period, or concept. The overall event theme this year is fertility, so many theme camps will in some way or other reflect that, but nothing is mandatory.
At Burning Man, the body is a canvas.
A sampling of this year’s theme camps include: the Lawn Games Camp, sponsored by The Harpo Marx Memorial Croquet Society; Frequency Publica, an interactive radio station where participants can “beam their poetry, spoken word or music into the receptive ears of the Burning Man masses,” Sketch City, home of the world’s largest Etch-A-Sketch; and Womb with a View, where you can discover the stages of fetal development as you walk though a 74-foot long replica of a pregnant female. In short, when it comes to theme camps, anything goes.
From the Laughing Scorpion puppet theater to a scrap-metal sculpture entitled “The Agony of Man,” Burning Man is hopping with art, music, performances and plenty of other stuff that denies categorization. This year promises more art installations than ever before, perhaps even too much to see over the weekend.
Check out the Burning Man Web site for highlights of what’s in the works and learn how to register your art, performance or event with Burning Man.
Burning Man is an event that, above all else, values community. Becoming part of a village offers an opportunity for more interaction with others outside your own theme camp, with an emphasis on community and sharing. Villages may sponsor their own social events, build a communal kitchen and participate as a group in the Burning Pageant on Sunday night.
Burning Man attendees create elaborate sculptures of all kinds on the desert floor. Photo: Maggie Hallahan