Burning Man - Losing Your Innocence in the Nevada Desert

Every year in the Black Rock City desert in the state of Nevada, an event takes place that in scale and format bears no comparison to any festival or open-air held on planet Earth. This is the festival of “radical self-expression” Burning Man - the wildest and most incredible form of releasing creative potential that people have thought up to date.

First and foremost, this was made possible thanks to the deep roots of American psychedelic culture, which engendered in the sixties generation a craving for informal experiments; its representatives recognised Burning Man as the most suitable platform for creative experiments. Music, performances, art installations, the most incredible inventions and sculptures, fire shows, spiritualist seances and the triumph of the human spirit - all this is Burning Man.

It all began in the mid-80s in San Francisco, when the local artist Larry Harvey and his friends came up with a ritual: on the day of the summer solstice they gathered on Baker Beach and burned a large wooden sculpture. The annual event, with the ensuing bacchanalia, grew so much that it was banned by the authorities and moved to the desert of the state of Nevada, where the Californian marginals began to build sculptures and burn them. As a result, the event acquired a logical finale - the burning of a 12-metre wooden man, and then a new name too - Burning Man.

Today Burning Man is more than 40 thousand representatives of the creative underground from all over the world, who gather at the end of August on the bed of a dried-up lake in order to erect a city with its own rules, and to show this world a model of the ideal society, where it is possible to live without money and power, based on the principles of creative self-expression and altruism.

Participation in the festival is truly based only on the participants' personal enthusiasm - there are no sponsors or patrons at Burning Man, commercial activity is forbidden. Over the course of the year they create giant art objects, build themed camps, prepare performances and themselves bring all of this on huge trucks into the desert.

The main body of participants is, of course, Americans, mostly residents of San Francisco and Los Angeles, though all states are represented, even the smallest ones. These are artists, painters, sculptors, inventors, the creative bohemia and simply party-goers. Burning Man is also actively attended by representatives of Silicon Valley; in particular, the corporation “Google” travels there practically in full every year, headed by its founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

At BM there is a fairly large community of Russian immigrants, united into several Russian camps from San Francisco, New York, Seattle and Boston. The most notable is the camp of the movement veteran Sasha-the-Boy and his comrades, who have been actively participating for several years now, and last year built an astonishing Reel-mobile in the form of a huge reel-to-reel tape player.

But at the same time, after talking with some of our former compatriots at BM, one is sometimes left with the depressing impression that not all of them feel the difference between camping at the Grushinsky festival and Burning Man, so make friends with Americans - you won't be lost!

During the festival, on its territory the circulation of money is completely forbidden, as is travel by car, except for mutant-machines and bicycles. After the festival ends, nothing should remain on its territory that would recall it. The main principle of the festival is that there are no spectators here, here everyone must be a participant. Therefore, at a minimum, you need to think up a couple of freaky costumes for yourself. At a maximum - build an installation or an art-machine.

Every day at BM so many events take place that even with all the desire to see and take part in all of them it is practically unreal. The first outing onto the Playa leaves an indelible impression - the cracked white earth, the bright blue sky, the low clouds and the imagination-staggering mountains all around. Add to this the enormous art objects, the mutant-machines in the form of spiders, cakes, cats, slippers and the freaks in heart-rending outfits - this landscape will be remembered for the rest of your life. During the day you can drive far out into the desert to the installations, drop into the themed camps - in each of them something is happening - somewhere you can play fluoro-golf, somewhere watch a topical film, somewhere meditate, somewhere they'll treat you to sushi and pour you vodka. There's even a camp for princesses, where two mind-blowingly handsome Brazilians will offer you a shower, a manicure, a massage, and whatever else you wish.

Live concerts by musicians and lectures by great representatives of the subculture, such as, for example, the chemist, professor of the University of Berkeley - Alexander Shulgin, take place daily in Central Camp.

At night they light the lanterns, the mutant-machines come out, the fire performers begin to spin their flames. To get from one dance floor to another you can flag down a passing art-car and race off to the next party lolling in the belly of a Cheshire Cat or dancing on a cake with candles.

The culmination of the festival is considered to be Saturday night, when the Burn itself happens - they set fire to the Burning Man and most of the installations. A night of madness and fire engulfs everything around - fake oil derricks explode, a burning piano is hurled by catapult across the whole desert, more than 500 fire performers spin their flames simultaneously, people literally go out of their minds.

On the final Sunday night the picture is much calmer - they burn the Temple of Forgiveness. All week the participants write messages to the dead on the walls and bring photographs, belongings, favourite books. The Temple is burned in complete silence, to the a cappella

singing of a woman, no fireworks or flames, the atmosphere is very spiritual.

The musical arrangement at Burning Man may at first glance seem rather ambiguous. Here you can hear everything, from Grateful Dead to Carl Cox or Goa Gil. Music sounds from everywhere - it thunders from the passing mutant-machines, drifts from the camps and even squeaks out of cyclists' speakers. If you suddenly get the urge to sleep at night - the feeling will be as if you had fallen asleep in the middle of a dance floor, so earplugs are a must-have!

But the music does not stop for a single minute. The sleepless burners move from party to party, from dance floor to dance floor, often falling asleep closer to sunset in the most unexpected places. At night it is mainly techno and trance, though you're unlikely to hear the familiar minimal or tech-house there. Anyone can build a dance floor - but the most crowded and loud parties take place in the camps located along the edges - there huge stages and dance floors are specially built.

A visa to the USA - 131 USD
On the official website of the US embassy an interview with the consul general is posted, “A US visa - what could be simpler?”. These days it really has become fairly simple to get an American visa - book a hotel, an air ticket, bring a certificate from work and a bank statement - and a visa for a year, or even for 2 (for an additional 100 USD), is in your pocket.

An air ticket - 700-1400 USD
A flight from Moscow direct to Los Angeles (8 hours by car to BM) or with a connection to San Francisco (5 hours by car) or straight to Reno (2.5 hours by car).

Car rental - for a week 300-800 USD

A Burning Man ticket - 300-360 USD
Bought in advance on the official website by credit card, or at the entrance, but a bit more expensive for cash. Cheaper (from 220 USD) you can try to find on www.criagslist.org, mostly from residents of the SF Bay area or Los Angeles who can't go.

On the official website you can download the Survival Guide - there all the rules of participation are described in detail. At the entrance you will be met by a group of freaky organisers, who'll hand out a programme of events, check the tickets and whether you have any extra passengers in the trunk. By tradition, newcomers may be rolled in the roadside dust and, with a strike of a gong and the cry “You are not a virgin any more!”, sent off into the unknown.

Where to live
At Burning Man there are neither hotels nor hostels, everyone lives mainly in tents or in trailers. A trailer is more convenient in that you can cook food in it and dust doesn't get in. Also a trailer is more convenient for foreigners in that it solves the problems with a tent, shower and refrigerator, which are hard to bring with you. True, the cost of around 1500 USD for a week seems reasonable only if you take a trailer for a group of 4 people or more.

Climate
The climatic conditions of Black Rock City are far from those of a resort; by day the temperature can reach 45 C, in the evening drop sharply to 5 C, so both shorts and a fur coat should be present in your wardrobe. The typical burner walks around by day in a hat, a skirt (regardless of gender) and high boots. At night a colourful fake fur coat and neon lighting are put on over all of this.

A bicycle on the enormous territory of BM is a necessary thing. You can buy it, rent it or use the yellow bike system - where you take any unoccupied bicycle (there are only about 500 of them), but at the same time, if you leave it - any other person can take it. It's also a good idea to decorate your bicycle - firstly to identify it more easily, and, well, generally, for the overall look.

What to bring with you
At the festival you can only buy ice and coffee in Central Camp, nothing else is sold, so it is necessary to stock up on a week's supply of food and water at the rate of 8 litres per person per day (that's really how much goes into drinking and washing) and a cooler bag.

The necessary set: motorcycle dust goggles, earplugs, sunscreen, warm clothes, closed shoes, a water flask or “camelback”, a torch, a bicycle, airtight bags for clothes and belongings (zip-lockers), and for smokers a portable ashtray, since no one throws anything on the ground.
A toilet at Burning Man there is, but with a shower it can be trickier. If you've settled not in an organised camp but on your own, you'll have to chase after the water truck to freshen up.

There is no mobile phone service at Burning Man. As an option, sometimes there is wi-fi in the central camp and an unofficial free telephone in the area of 3rd street and the Esplanade.

Useful sites

www.burningman.com→ - the official site.
www.craigslist.org→ - you can buy a used bicycle, a Burning Man ticket, rent an apartment for a week and a lot more.
www.tribe.net→ - the largest community of BM participants on the net. Good for finding a spot in a camp or a trailer, finding a travel companion and any organisational questions.
www.couchsurfing.org→ - registered “couch surfers” from all over the world find friends and stay with each other for free. The site hails from San Francisco, so there are more than enough burners there.
www.campertravelusa.com→ - trailer rental.
www.momondo.com→ - a convenient site for comparing prices and booking air tickets, hotels and car rentals.