Burning Man 2014 – Caravansary

A common question I get is: What is Burning Man? It’s a very difficult question to answer because everyone has a different answer of what Burning Man is for him or her (even if he/she has never been to Burning Man). So rather than trying to describe Burning Man in general, I’m going to answer a couple of common questions I get every time. Disclaimer: this is my view of Burning Man.

Why do I go to Burning Man?

If you search or read news articles about Burning Man, you will find that it is a festival in the Nevada desert where young people are doing drugs and are naked. Ok I’m over simplifying it but raunchy pictures and drug use seems to sell paper much more than taking about the incredible art pieces that are built and burned.
For me, Burning Man is a week long incredible art show in a very unique, harsh, remote environment. The concept of most art at Burning Man is that it’s only going to exist for one week and then they burn it. You would think that, because of the burning, only small pieces of art would be made. You would be wrong, artist can spend years building the piece, only to have it burn a week after completion. It’s ephemeral art, if you are not there you can not experience it. For me that’s the main reason for going, I want to see, to experience, to be touched by such amazing structures.
Art pieces are not simply buildings or structures but some are vehicles. In Burning Man language those are art cars and they are equally impressive. The difference is those are not burned, they come years after years.

Is it complicated to get to Burning Man?

Yes, to get to and to survive at Burning Man requires planning, logistics and a lot of time. Sure there are easy ways into Burning Man if you are rich but trying to go to Burning Man in a self-reliance way, i.e. just you, and bringing everything you need, packing everything out (including your used water) is a challenge. If you don’t regularly camp in remote areas (i.e no cell service, no bathroom, no or minimal water) you should not try Burning Man first.
But the reward of all that planning, packing, hauling is well rewarded once you get there.
Burning Man is a candy store for photographer, heck it’s more than a candy store it’s a candy store times 1000. You can not stop taking pictures, and this is the trick that experienced burners tell you: Put your camera down and enjoy this burn.
At first it’s tough but you learn. Another point, the sand and the desert will be hard on you and any equipment you bring to Burning Man, I will refer you to this post for more info.

My favorite time is by far sunrise, I have not missed one sunrise while at Burning Man. I simply love that time of day in the desert. The night time is pretty fun too, but you can have only one favorite time.

I have put more images in this post than any others because I want to show you why I’m going.

How big is it ? Or how many people are going to Burning Man?

The event is sold out and has 68000 people buying tickets. In addition I estimate there is another 10000 more people from the different agencies (FBI, DEA, Police, ambulance, EMT, sheriff, etc..) and from the Burning Man organization itself.
The top image I shot from a plane gives you a sense of how big the city is. The man is at the center of the open space (slightly on the left).

Why is it called Burning Man?

You can read the entire story online but the short answer is there is always the same structure of a man (part of the Burning Man logo) that is burned on Saturday night. It can be the largest structure built but not necessarily.

Can I go?

Of course, it’s open to anyone. There is a lot of guides online for first timers, go do your homework.

Is Burning Man expensive ?

It’s complicated to answer but the general trade off is time vs. money. If you don’t want to spend much you can but you will have to do a lot of things yourself. That means get camping gear ready, bike ready, sew your costumes, etc… Still a cheap Burning Man budget would be at least $1000/pers.
On the other hand, if you want to spend a bit more, you can join a camp and they will often provide you with the basic things, like food, water and sometimes even shade structure for your tent.
If you want to experience Burning Man in luxury, look for turn-key camp (it’s expensive and not well accepted) but worth it if you are a creature of confort.

Now let’s see some of the art pieces that were on display this year…

Art Pieces

Cruz the Wave by a group of burners from Santa Cruz. It was a massive, beautiful carved piece. I love the integration of the surfboard directly in it.

This is PipeDream and it was build by our camp, it was a great climbing structure:

This is Paha’oha’o, an amazing working volcano with a slide. You should know that I have a weakness for volcanoes:

This installation was called “Alien Cats” by Kathy D’Onofrio from Truckee, California.­

This is the Super pool:

This is the Silk Road Art Project by Julia Trimarco (Seattle, WA). Silk has a long and varied history – traded as currency for centuries, worth more than its weight in gold. The arches here evoke the architecture of the lands traversed by the historic silk routes, from Nara, Japan, to Rome, Italy. Each arch design will echo the previous and predict the next, so the overall effect is of a multi-cultural evolution

A classic at Burning Man: INSANITY:

This is a long exposure image where art cars (in this case a gigantic shark) move (the fin is red):

This is not really an art piece but it’s the passport control booth at Black Rock city airport:

I don’t know the name of this art piece but it was right in front of our camp (4:30 and Esplanade):

Embrace

Embrace is a 7-story tall wooden cathedral-like sculpture of two human figures in an embrace. It is a spiritual center dedicated to the moment and our relationships with our loved ones. It was built by The Pier Group from Reno, NV / Portland, OR / Vancouver B.C. Since I came earlier at Burning Man this year, I was able to witness the build of this amazing art structure:

Of course, this is Burning Man, so here is what happened to Embrace on Friday morning:

BTW, the pier group is still looking to finance Embrace on Kickstarter, help a great set of artists, donate !!

Even small pieces of art like this one gets to be burned too:

The temple

The Temple of Grace, built by David Best, is intended to be a spiritual and sacred space for memorials, reflection, celebration, and to commemorate life transitions. It is the latest in a long line of temples going back to 2000, which started the tradition of the temple built as a spiritual center for this art festival. It is a special work of art given to the community, and is a spiritual refuge where thousands gather, each to engage with it in his or her own way. The community comes to write their memorials and place tokens of their transitions, and it is burned at the end of the festival in tradition of releasing them by the immolation of the temple.
It was this year the most detailed, intricate design I have ever seen.

The Man

This year it was the biggest man ever built (105ft tall, 35meters). It’s hard to experience the size of this structure on the pictures. Around the man, there was a souk (to go with this year’s theme of caravansary). The man was late being built due to several storms that hit during the construction phase. All work has to stop until the lake bed dry.