Burning Man 2020 Goes Burn-From-Home, Courts Potential Global Audience

Yeah, we know. You can’t go to Burning Man this year, and it sucks. But maybe not entirely. Burning Man, the mac daddy, mac mama and mac baby of events/festivals/raves/cultural touchpoints, normally takes place in the Nevada desert at the end of August. But when the in-person event was canceled this year due to COVID-19, organizers got busy mounting a virtual festival recreating many of the highlights and adding a different kind of sizzle. It’s all meant to be experienced from the comfort of your own home, or at least from a safe social distance. And what it loses in the intimacy of Black Rock City (the temporary town of 79,000 that’s Burning Man’s desert home), it makes up in creativity and potential global reach. Anyone around the world with a device can be a virtual Burner. Each year’s Burn has a different theme, and “In a twist of synchronicity,” reads a statement from the Burning Man Project, 2020’s theme was already scheduled to be the Multiverse, the astronomical theory of an unknowable number of universes outside our own. “Little did we all know how truly multiversal things were going to become.” Kim Cook, Director of Creative Initiatives for the Burning Man Project, calls this year’s Burn a “grand experiment.” Just as Burning Man has become a “global cultural force” (Art of Burning Man exhibits have set attendance records at museums in Washington, D.C., Cincinnati and Oakland), the 2020 Burn may be an unexpected opportunity to push the envelope of creativity with virtual technology...MORE

Burning Man Is Going Virtual, and So Are the Orgies

Every year at Burning Man, more than 60,000 people descend on a dusty patch of the Black Rock Desert to erect a small town from scratch, collaboratively shaping it into their version of utopia. COVID-19 has rendered a mass gathering like that unthinkable, and the festival’s organizers called it off—but they didn't actually cancel it. Instead, they announced they’d be moving the event out of Northwest Nevada, and into "the Multiverse." Somehow, they’re going to try to recreate the Burning Man experience—of raging your face off for a week, setting a bunch of shit on fire, and then cleaning everything up and disappearing without a trace—online. "We’re not sure how it’s going to come out," the organizers wrote. "It will likely be messy and awkward with mistakes. It will also likely be engaging, connective, and fun." They haven’t released any details about what, exactly, a virtual Burning Man will look like, other than to say that they’re hoping to draw 100,000 participants, and that everyone will need "some kind of 'ticket.'" Even without knowing what that ticket would be for, several longtime burners told VICE they’re already willing to buy one. The Burning Man Organization might not have a plan for what’s going to happen come August, when the event officially kicks off—but the people who live for it, pouring months of preparation and thousands of dollars into it each year, have some ideas...MORE

Burning Man Ticket Sales Postponed Amid Coronavirus Uncertainty

Burning Man has postponed registration for its main ticket sale. Registration was set to open Wednesday (April 1) at 3 p.m. ET, so would-be Burners could register for the main ticket sale, set to happen April 8. In a statement posted to the Burning Man website on Monday, however, organizers stated that they have not yet set an alternative date for the registration and sale. The first round of Burning Man ticket sales happened last month, with 4,000 tickets priced at $1,400 sold during the March 18 "FOMO" ticket sale; 20,000 tickets priced at $475 each were set to be up for grabs during the main sale. Monday's statement notes that organizers are exploring "every possible option for offering refunds if the 2020 event is canceled. Our terms and conditions state that tickets are non-refundable 'for any reason,' but we recognize how unusual this situation is, and are sensitive to the financial insecurity many in our community are facing." For now, Burning Man 2020 is still set to happen in the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada from Aug. 30 to Sept. 7. In a statement posted March 20, Burning Man organizers wrote that "one of the biggest questions is whether we’ll be able to build and experience Black Rock City 2020. In the current climate of uncertainty it is simply too soon to tell...MORE

Burning Man reveals 2020 temple design

Colorado architect Renzo Verbeck and artist Sylvia Adrienne Lisse have designed an eight-pointed angular structure to serve as the temple at the 2020 Burning Man Festival. 
The video presentation is below:

 https://youtu.be/eONTgFrW53w

Burning Man Sues the Federal Government Over Permitting Fees and a Sketchy Appeals Process

Burning Man, a week-long art party/experimental community held yearly on the Black Rock playa in Nevada, exists on the sufferance of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the federal agency that controls the land on which the annual event occurs.
In a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in D.C. against the Winnemucca District Office of the BLM (plus other involved federal agents and agencies), Burning Man is complaining that the suffering imposed on them in terms of fees and delays while seeking permitting violates their rights and the government's own procedures.
Specifically, the suit (Black Rock City v. Bernhardt et al) claims the event is being harmed by:

the costs imposed by Defendant Winnemucca District Office for the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM"), the process by which those costs have been demanded, the inadequate justification for the costs, and the unreasonable delay confronted by BRC [Black Rock City LLC, which throws the event] during the appeal of those costs.
In addition to unreasonable conduct on the part of BLM, Defendant Interior Board of Land Appeals ("IBLA") has unlawfully withheld and unreasonably delayed decisions in multiple cost recovery appeal proceedings that have been filed by BRC over the past four years. These appeals filed with the IBLA are necessary to challenge the burdensome, unjustified, and excessive costs and other unlawful practices imposed…

The suit goes on to insist that there are not sufficient legal reasons for some of the BLM's "inflated and unnecessary" cost demands, and that the process does not allow Burning Man to do anything other than pay them in order to hold the annual event at its set time, the week prior to Labor Day.
By law, Burning Man insists, the "BLM must provide the permittee with a reasoned, written explanation for all assessed costs supported by the facts of record to demonstrate that such costs are not arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion" and that the agency has failed to do so. (In addition to coverage of their costs in permitting and managing the event, the BLM also takes a straight 3 percent of the event's gross receipts on top of that.)
Burning Man has filed six appeals about the imposed fees, and insist the IBLA has "unlawfully withheld and unreasonably delayed decisions" on their appeals. Since BLM doesn't have to change its cost-imposing behavior until that appeals process leads to some conclusion, the suit insists that IBLA's "unreasonable delay creates a condition of unfettered and unchecked control by Defendant BLM over BRC and threatens the continued viability of the Burning Man Event. IBLA's failure to act is effectively a denial without recourse…."

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A Nobel-Winning Economist Goes to Burning Man

Emily Badger

Mr. Romer, who appreciates a bit of shock value, has been showing aerial images of the city in public talks about urban growth for several years. The world, he says, needs more “Burning Man urbanization.” By 2050, developing-world cities are projected to gain 2.3 billion people. Many of those people will move to makeshift settlements on the edge of existing cities, tripling the urbanized land area in the developing world. “To be a little grandiose about it, this is a really unique moment in human history,” Mr. Romer told me last year. “We’re likely to decide in this time frame what people are going to live with forever.” Urbanization in the developed world has largely come to an end; nearly everyone who would move from farmland toward cities already has. This century, the same mass migration will run its course across the rest of the world. And if no one prepares for it — if we leave it to developers to claim one field at a time, or to migrants to make their way with no structure — it will be nearly impossible to superimpose some order later. It will take vast expense, and sweeping acts of eminent domain, to create arterial roads, bus service, trash routes, public parks, basic connectivity...MORE

Burning Man: Police treating death at US desert festival as suspicious

The death of a reveller at the Burning Man festival in Nevada is being treated as suspicious, police have said. Shane Billingham, 33, was found unconscious in his car at the vast desert party on Thursday evening. The New Zealand national had “poisonous” levels of carbon monoxide in his blood, a post mortem has now discovered. An unidentified “controlled substance” was also found to be an exacerbating factor, the Washoe County medical examiner’s office said in a statement. Following the report, Pershing County Sherriff’s Office said it is investigating the death as suspicious. Witnesses said Mr Billingham was given CPR by bystanders after being discovered in his vehicle at about 6.30pm local time. He was taken to a medical tent but was later pronounced dead...MORE

Burning Man banned an infamous $100,000-a-ticket camp favored by influencers after backlash from fellow attendees

A luxury camp attracting high-rolling influencers and featuring $100,000 campers won't be one of the thousands of attractions at this year's Burning Man. Burning Man, the nine-day arts-and-cultural festival in the Nevada desert, kicked off this weekend. The desert city is expected to draw up to 80,000 attendees for its many art installations, musical performances, and general mayhem. Despite organizers touting principles including radical inclusion and decommodification (there's no money exchanged on the grounds), Burning Man has attracted Silicon Valley elites and influencers ready for a luxury experience. But one such campsite, called Humano the Tribe, won't be at Burning Man this year. Burning Man organizers banned the camp in February after reports that it had not adhered to the festival's rules and was disrupting attendees' experiences. In 2018, Humano the Tribe offered luxury tents and campers ranging from $25,000 to $100,000, as well as "raw and purely organic foods" made by private chefs, Mashable reported. Meanwhile, the costs of tickets for this year's Burning Man range from $210 for low-income attendees to $1,400 for presale admission...MORE

13 unbelievable facts that show just how much people are willing to spend on Burning Man, from $425 tickets to $14,000 private planes

...The cost of admission to Burning Man depends on when you buy tickets. Pre-sale tickets cost $1,400, main sale tickets run for $425, and late registration tickets cost $550. Kids 12 and under can attend for free. # Burning Man also offers a low-income ticket program — approved applicants can purchase tickets for $210 each. # The cost of admission to Burning Man depends on when you buy tickets. Pre-sale tickets cost $1,400, main sale tickets run for $425, and late registration tickets cost $550. Kids 12 and under can attend for free. # Vehicle passes cost $100 for each car you drive in. # There are also transportation costs. Bus tickets can average from $75 to $107, plus fees for luggage or bikes. Plane tickets can range anywhere from $384 to $1,195 depending on where you're flying from. Some rich attendees fly in on private planes, which can cost upwards of $14,000. # Many burners fly into the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. Here, the cost of a rental car for the first four days of Burning Man cost anywhere from $25 to $58 a day at the time of this publication. # For those looking to stay in an RV, CNBC estimates a 22-foot RV to cost $7,460 to rent for the week. One Burner said on a Quora forum an RV rental cost them $4,000 back in 2014...MORE

Man arrested at Burning Man site faces charges of sexual assault, false imprisonment

A man arrested by Pershing County Sheriff's deputies at the Burning Man site on Thursday faces charges of sexual assault and false imprisonment. Oleg Gennadievich Ivanov currently is in custody at the Pershing County Jail with a bail set at $152,500, according to Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen. Sexual assault is a category A felony, the most serious type of felony under Nevada law. Sexual assault is defined as when one person forces sexual penetration upon another under Nevada law. False imprisonment, a category B felony, is the confinement or detention of someone without legal authority. The victim provided an account of the incident and a description of the suspect, as well as the suspect's location. Burning Man officially begins at midnight, Sunday, though Burning Man Project staff, volunteers and artists have been on site already for a month...MORE

A Man Who Has Attended Burning Man for Decades Captured the Event From His Airplane—See His Stunning Photos Here

Each August, a unique gathering takes place in Nevada’s Block Rock Desert, as tens of thousands descend on the Burning Man gathering, an annual spectacle of art, music, and community that has become a cultural phenomena—and, increasingly, a lightning rod—since its founding in 1986. Now, a new book from Will Roger, a Burning Man devotee since 1994, showcases this epic gathering on the playa in stunning aerial photographs, taken on site between 2005 and 2018. It was Roger’s girlfriend, now his wife, Crimson Rose, who first brought him to Burning Man. “There were about 2,000 attendees that year,” Rogers told artnet News. By comparison, Burning Man expects as many as 100,000 people to make the trip this year. It was the explosive growth of the counter-cultural event that led the couple to get more involved. In the late 1990s, Burning Man had grown to a point where it needed a more structured organizational system if it was going to survive. In 1997, Roger and Rose became part of Burning Man’s core team as cultural co-founders of Black Rock City LLC—it has since transitioned to a nonprofit—with Roger serving as the gathering’s first director of operations...MORE

11 Famous People You Didn't Know Go to Burning Man (No. 5 Might Surprise You)

In just a few weeks, approximately 75,000 people will descend on a little patch of land north of Reno for Burning Man 2019. From August 25th to September 2nd, that patch of land will be known as Black Rock City, and it will be home to a microcosm of humanity. Among Burning Man's many inhabitants will be management consultants, nurses, parents, tech CEOs, cancer survivors, millionaire actors, electricians, solopreneurs, writers, teachers, fire-dancers, and chiropractors. There are also no small number of celebrities who attend. Here are a few famous people you might not know like to get down on the playa at Burning Man:..MORE

The 747 rolls back to Burning Man with BLM's blessing. Organizers say they have exit plan

The 747 has landed in Black Rock City again. Last year, the controversial art installation was stuck for nearly a month on playa, leaving questions as to whether it would return this year. Without delay, it returned to the Burning Man event closure area on Sunday as event preparations are in full-swing. Volunteers moved the plane from its holding site on private ranch property to the playa, where it will remain through the duration of Burning Man, this year held from Aug. 25 to Sept. 2. The organization behind it says there's a solid departure plan for the aircraft as well. Big Imagination Foundation CEO Ken Feldman on Monday said that the Bureau of Land Management and the Burning Man Project both reviewed and approved the foundation's plans to transport the plane to the playa and remove the plane post-event. BLM officials issued a separate permit this year to the Big Imagination Foundation, though it has not posted the permit publicly. The Reno Gazette Journal sent a public records request Monday to the BLM to learn cost of the permit and conditions listed in it. The Big Imagination Foundation paid the BLM an additional performance bond that will be returned to the foundation if the foundation meets all expectations in the permit. Neither BLM officials nor Big Imagination Foundation organizers would disclose the cost of the permit or the bond. It is the only art piece at Burning Man that requires a separate BLM permit, BLM spokesman Rudy Evenson said...MORE

White and well-off: Here's what a typical Burner is like, according to Black Rock City census

We all have our own ideas of what a typical Burner looks like. Maybe a shirtless VC bro. Maybe a tall, bandana-wearing Instagram influencer. Maybe an earnest artist with goggles and a leather vest. But since most of us have never been to Black Rock City, we don't really know. However, the 2018 Black Rock City Census Project gives us an inside look at what it's like to be a Burner. The survey runs numbers based on a sample size of about 12 percent of participants from last year's Burning Man. So, what does a typical Burner look like? Based on 8,745 responses, here's what we know: The median age of the population is around 35 years old. Around 59 percent self-identified as men; around 40 percent as women; and around 2 percent as both, fluid, or neither. Participants had a median personal income of $64,700, though more than half of the respondents have a household income of $100,000 or more. Ten percent reported a household income upwards of $300,000. About half of participants burned anywhere from $1,000 to $2,500 on the event in total (pun entirely intended). The BRC population is predominantly white/Caucasian (non-Hispanic): 77 percent of participants self-identifying as such, down six points from numbers collected in 2013...MORE

Burning Man 2019: Sneak Peek At This Years Outrageous Art Installations

Every year at the end of August, over 80,000 people gather in a hot, windy desert on the edge of Nevada to create Black Rock City, a barren place that exists for only nine days August 25-September 2. The annual event known as Burning Man has more than 30 years of history. The dust filled art festival, and communal living experience is filled with incredible installations, fantastical events, and creative individuals known as "burners." Outrageous custom built mutant vehicles drive throughout the camps, appearing like a scene in a Mad Max film. Radical self-expression is what drives thousands of artists from all over the world to present their work at what is arguably the most intriguing and powerful cultural event in the world. This year artists were inspired to create around the theme of Metamorphosis. Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell and her advisory board have curated an amazing collection of inspirational art at this year's festival, with numerous pieces having received an Honorarium grant from the organization. I spoke with many of the artists creating these magnificent pieces, and here are my favorites along with what inspires these creative souls to create and what their participation at Burning Man as an artist means to them...MORE

BLM denies Burning Man growth to 100,000 people, may implement drug screens in future

Burning Man won't be growing this year, but there could be at least one major change upon entry: drug screenings. The Bureau of Land Management on Friday issued the final environmental impact statement for Burning Man, denying the Burning Man organization its sought-after growth to 100,000 people but granting it more time to address a number of environmental and security concerns.The federal agency may, however, hire a private security firm this year to conduct drug screenings. Or, it might wait until 2020, according to BLM spokesman Rudy Evenson. As for the growth of the event, the population cap will remain at 80,000 people for the weeklong event held each year over Labor Day weekend in Northern Nevada's Black Rock Desert. "The BLM and cooperating agencies could not support the event growing. The city of Reno, Nevada Department of Transportation, Nevada Highway Patrol as well as the Bureau of Land Management could not support the growth particularly because there are other events going on during Labor Day," said Evenson...MORE

Burning Man Arguing With US Government Over New Rules 'That Would Spell the End of the Event as We Know It'

The Burning Man Festival may be in danger as it clashes with the federal government over new rules for its permit. Burning Man is a huge gathering that takes place in Nevada's Black Rock Desert every year, bringing together artists, community organizers and survival enthusiasts for celebration and an experiment in communal living. According to a post on its website, the festival is in danger as the Bureau of Land Management is attempting to analyze and change some of its protocols. Burning Man organizers fear that the draft environmental impact statement issued by the BLM "would spell the end of the event as we know it." According to a report by CNN, the statement is meant to "analyze the potential impacts" of Burning Man on the environment and the surrounding landscape before renewing its permit from 2019 to 2028. "The proposed level of government surveillance of and involvement in our everyday operations is unprecedented and unwarranted, and is unsupported by the... analysis," read the post on BurningMan.org. Organizers added that complying with the statement would require "astronomical cost increases" and lead to "beyond-excessive government oversight" at an event where it is no secret that people party hard. They fear that the statement is an attempt to "increase federal government agency operations exponentially in order to take over or 'monitor' our operations." At the very least, the cost of following the BLM's requests would likely increase ticket prices for Burning Man, which would in turn likely decrease sales. Already, tickets can cost up to $550 per person, as well as $100 for a vehicle pass. After that, attendees must load up on supplies and equipment for their stay in an unforgiving environment...MORE

The 747 that went to Burning Man: What really happened

The Big Imagination project began that way too — and grew into a group that raised and spent just short of $1 million to bring a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet (or rather, 3/4 of one) to Burning Man this year. But the final execution of its plan was unprecedented in the event's 32-year history — both in its scale, and the level of controversy it generated. Since this year's weeklong event ended in September, Big Imagination has had to navigate some serious turbulence, largely expressed in Facebook and Reddit groups. Some of it was driven by a misleading local newspaper report, and a game of media telephone led to even more misleading videos claiming that the plane had been "abandoned" on the playa (Burning Man's location, an ancient lake bed in the Black Rock desert). Bad enough that the 747 managed crowd control with what some attendees perceived as a dismissive, elitist attitude. Now it appeared to be in violation of the event's sacrosanct principle of Leave No Trace. A tiny minority casually suggested shooting, burning or dismembering the plane. One graffiti artist tagged it with the word "MOOP", which stands for Matter Out Of Place and is the worst insult in the Burner lexicon. For veteran Burners, here was an irresistible story that spoke to larger, worrying trends: entitled Silicon Valley types bring one of the largest, most Muggle-like objects they could find to a magical location, then toss it aside like trash. The story was only slightly hampered by being entirely untrue...MORE

There's a giant plane sitting in the middle of the Nevada desert 2 weeks after Burning Man — and officials are demanding it be removed

Burning Man, the notoriously surreal annual festival that draws tens of thousands of attendees, operates under the principle of "leaving no trace" - meaning attendees should leave the Black Rock Desert, where it's held, as they found it. One obstacle to this principle is a hollowed-out Boeing 747 aeroplane still parked in the middle of the Nevada desert two weeks after Burning Man, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported Friday. The plane is an art installation, nightclub, and "mutant vehicle" during the festival, but now it's a headache for the US Bureau of Land Management and the owner, Big Imagination Camp, according to the newspaper. For the past two years, the plane has been hauled 500 miles to Burning Man, then back. This year, however, the plan changed slightly - Big Imagination Camp would bring the plane to private property nearby so future transportation to and from the festival would be easier. But rough terrain caused problems for the team towing the plane, and it's now parked in the middle of the desert...MORE

A Burning Man experience costs about $1,500—here's what it's like to go to the 9-day event in the Nevada desert

Every August, tens of thousands of people convene in Nevada's Black Rock Desert for Burning Man, a nine-day gathering that attracts billionaires, celebs and Silicon Valley moguls like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Most "burners" will tell you that you have to go to truly understand the event, which features outdoor artistic installations, music and wild costumes. But to give you a look inside Burning Man, CNBC Make It spoke to people who have experienced it, including husband and wife duo Gui Agustini, 29, and Christina Jolie Breza, 31, who attended for the first time in 2017. Burning Man takes place in a temporary metropolis called Black Rock City. Like any city, it has essential infrastructure, hospitals, bars, clubs and a post office. There's even a temporary airport known as 88NV. But unlike your typical city, it's commerce-free: The only two things sold in Black Rock City are coffee and ice. Just because you're not buying anything at Burning Man doesn't mean it's cheap: Breza and Agustini spent about $1,500 each and that's about as inexpensive as it gets. The main cost is the ticket, which ranges from $425 to more than $1,000. You can also apply for a $190 low-income tickets, which is what Breza did. "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," she says. Another major expense is getting to the Nevada desert, which for some means buying a cross-country plane ticket to Reno or San Francisco. Others rent RVs and hit the road; some take the Burner Express bus, which runs from San Francisco and Reno to Black Rock City; and a select few rent private planes and fly directly into 88NV. 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. That's what Breza and Agustini did and each paid $250 in camp dues, which got them a family meal every night and one shower each over the course of the event...MORE