Once a year, tens of thousands of people gather in the desert of black Rock in Nevada for the Burning Man festival, dedicated to art, self-expression and confidence. The eight-day event is a unique experiment to create a community of radical self-expression, while fully relying only on themselves.
source: flickr.com/Bureau of Land Management /CC
This year the festival runs from 27 August to 4 September. The participants together create Black Rock City, a temporary metropolis, where, like mushrooms after the rain, there are various art installations, often fantastic forms. Some of the modern art creators are burned during the Burning Man festival. The fire , in principle, plays a significant role in this celebration of life, as the culmination of the festival is the burning of a huge wooden statue of a man, which occurs in the last evening, after sunset.
source: flickr.com/Bureau of Land Management /CC
source: flickr.com/Bureau of Land Management /CC
source: flickr.com/Bureau of Land Management /CC
In General, the atmosphere of the festival is a bit like a post-apocalyptic Thriller. Here drive hundreds of cars — mutants the most incredible forms, the participants go in crazy costumes or no. Arrived in the desert musicians actively perform to entertain the motley crowd with their creativity. On several dancefloors are working around the clock DJs.
source: flickr.com/Duncan Rawlinson /CC
source: flickr.com/Duncan Rawlinson /CC
While each participant is responsible for their own survival and well-being. What I mean is, any one caught at Burning Man must take care of the food, water, protection from heat, wind and cold, place to sleep, and so on. All this need to be taken care of in advance, and ensure that after the festival you left garbage, because it is always important to remain human.
source: flickr.com/Duncan Rawlinson /CC
source: flickr.com/Duncan Rawlinson /CC
source: flickr.com/Duncan Rawlinson /CC
At the Burning Man festival has no specific purpose, but there is a specific theme (this year it sounds like «Radical ritual»). The festival is created by the participants, called burners, which are more than a week in the atmosphere of General merriment. The organizers are calling for active participation in all that is happening around, because the visit as an observer is quite frowned upon.
source: flickr.com/Duncan Rawlinson /CC
source: flickr.com/Duncan Rawlinson /CC
The first Burning Man festival, incorporating the burning of a small wooden man was held in 1986 on a beach in San Francisco. Then there were only 20 participants. But over the years the celebration of art and self-expression grew and had to move to the desert. Last year, almost 30 years after its inception, the festival was attended by 70 thousand people.
source: flickr.com/Duncan Rawlinson /CC
source: flickr.com/Duncan Rawlinson /CC
source: flickr.com/Duncan Rawlinson /CC
