Burning Man: A countercultural experiment goes mainstream

BLACK ROCK CITY, Nev. — If this were anywhere else in the world, the naked man wearing only blue body paint and piercings in unmentionable places would be the freak. So would the grandmother donning a leather dominatrix outfit, the grown man wearing a giant furry chipmunk suit and the gaggle of friends painted to resemble walking zombies.

But this is Burning Man, the annual hippie-dippie experiment in radical self-expression, so perhaps nowhere in last week’s 50,000-plus-person gathering was there more anxiety about fitting in than in the two RVs that pulled up filled with what might seem the most unusual cargo for this particular gathering: nearly a dozen MBA students from Columbia University.

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“I feel a little like an out-of-place tourist and that all the locals will take one look at us and say, ‘What is he doing here?’ ” said Tim Stevens, 28, of Glen Burnie, an MBA student who spent the summer working for one of the world’s largest investment banks after serving as an Army captain in Iraq. “Is it possible that we are the most boring, normal people here?”

As it turns out, no. The most radical and countercultural aspect of this famously radical and countercultural gathering is now this: Burning Man has gone mainstream.

For the first time in its 25-year history, the art festival once known as a free-spirited sex-and-drugs romp in the desert sold out all of its tickets (most costing several hundred dollars) — including to investment bankers, CEOs and government employees with security clearances who are no longer embarrassed to show up at work this week and tell their co-workers where they’ve been.

This year, the event — formed around a giant neon-covered statue of The Man and dedicated to promoting anti-commercialism — has undergone an organizational restructuring that could allow its founders to cash out as multimillionaires.

“It’s no longer considered a freak-fest in the business world. It is kind of a weirdly normal thing in a lot of circles now,” said Matt Cheney, 56, chief executive of an energy investment fund in San Francisco, who has attended for five years and is no longer surprised to run into his employees and fellow top corporate executives. “Burning Man has gone from carrying a stigma to having a cachet in the business community.”

10 principles

But the increasing popularity of Burning Man, which started Aug. 29 and ended Monday, has caused longtime Burners — as attendees are known — to wonder whether the gathering has lost its way. The culture is based on 10 principles, such as radical inclusion, unconditional gift-giving, radical self-expression and decommodification (commercial sponsorships, transactions and advertising are big no-noes). But many new participants don’t follow the principles or even know what they are.

The focus on gifting is one of the central aspects of Burning Man. Wallets are packed away, and it’s hard to walk more than a few feet through the makeshift city without someone thrusting free goods or services at you.

Interested in a free seminar? You can learn how to build an energy-efficient hexayurt at Mist’R Cools Pod, discover bondage rites of passage at the Suspend Animation Camp or hone your nonviolent communication skills with the HeeBeeGeeBee Healers. And if you’re hungry? Well, let’s just say there are more than enough vegan burritos to go around.