Maybe it's going to take about five years and about five grand (probably more). But we will make it to Burning Man, no matter what. Tens of thousands gather every year to build Black Rock City, a "temporary metropolis" where art, music, culture and life is celebrated. The city then evaporates as the festivalgoers leave. Prior to and during the festival, sublimely weird and remarkably wonderful art installations spring up all around the always jaw-dropping temple at the centre. This year's temple, the Temple of Juno, revisited the festival's traditional roots after a few years of futuristic, almost Blade Runner-esque edifices. Burning Man's official ten principles include radical self-reliance, decommodification (commerce is banned), unconditional gift-giving, and leaving no trace - the gorgeous structures and the man himself are burned at the end and all your waste must be taken with you. Plus if they don't think you're going to survive with the kit you've brought, you're not getting in.. it is the unpredictable Nevada desert after all. Listen Look Read... and see you there sometime this decade?
-F.D.
Photography by Christopher Michel, Sketch of the Temple of Juno by David Best.
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