The rise of Burning Man

Burning Man, a countercultural phenomenon that occurs each year in the middle of the desert, is guided by 10 core principles, including radical inclusion, decommodification, immediacy, participation and leaving no trace. Tens of thousands of “burners” live together for about a week, participating in activities, contributing art, and at the end watching a giant wooden figure, or “The Man” burn to the ground. “The Burning Man is Disneyland in reverse . . . Woodstock turned inside out,” co-founder Larry Harvey told the San Francisco Chronicle in 1996. “It is anything you want it to be.”

It all began in 1986 on Baker Beach near San Francisco, when Harvey and Jerry James set fire to an eight-foot-tall wooden model of a man with approximately 20 bystanders. The growing festival moved from the beach to the desert in 1990. Now, nearly 70,000 people gather for Burning Man each year, inhabitants of a city that pops up and disappears in a matter of weeks.

Images captured by DigitalGlobe, a satellite imagery company, highlight the build-up and teardown of Black Rock City, Nevada, over several weeks in 2017, leaving the desert just as it was, with no trace of the huge confab.

But while they’re there amid the sands, both “virgin” and long-time burners spend the week each year in late August constructing giant art sculptures and biking around the playa and participating in camps that offer a variety of experiences. The annual Black Rock Census collects extensive demographic and experience information from burners each year.

What census data tells us about who participates

Each year, volunteers help collect and analyze survey results from the festival-goers to produce the Black Rock City Census. Data is collected in two phases: one is a survey that is passed out at random to attendees entering Black Rock City, and two is an online survey that goes out after the festival to all attendees. In 2017, more than 9,000 burners completed the online survey.

The census has been conducted consistently since 2005, and in 2012 the team introduced a new system to ensure that results could be comparable from year to year. In 2017, as with previous years, the majority of burners were white/caucasian, and since 2013 there has been a slight increase in the number of Hispanics/Latinos and Asians attending Burning Man. Only 1 percent of burners were black. The reason racial diversity is low at Burning Man has been a topic of much discussion in recent years.

Nearly 80 percent of attendees were from the United States (most notably from California) in 2017, and nearly 50 percent of burners were ages 25 to 34.

In recent years there has been increased discussion over extravagant spending in preparation for Burning Man by tech elite and celebrities, as well events held by prominent entrepreneurs that attempt to mirror the aesthetic of Burning Man. In 2017, over 75 percent of burners spent more than $1,000 dollars to attend (excluding ticket cost), and more than 50 percent of attendees had a household income below $100,000.

Additionally, each year a number of celebrities also attended Burning Man. Kathy Baird, who this year will be participating in her eighth Burning Man, said their presence doesn’t diminish the overall spirit and experience on the playa. “My hope is that regardless of who you are and where you come from, that you could come to an experience like Burning Man … and walk away and be a better human being as a result of your time there,” she said. “Whether you’re Paris Hilton or whether you’re Joe-Schmo from Indiana — I think the idea that the culture of Burning Man transcends your status in society is true,” Baird said.

Meet the burners

We asked three burners what brings them back year after year. (Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.)

From a beach in San Francisco to over 100 regional groups worldwide

For those who want the Burning Man experience all year, there’s the Burning Man Regional Network, built from clusters of folks around the world who want to stay connected to their culture and principles.

Along with its global expansion, the original gathering itself may also be getting bigger. Burning Man is currently seeking a new 10-year permit from the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the land where it takes place. The environmental impact statement associated with the proposal will examine a population size of 80,000 to 100,000 to assess the impacts to the playa and surrounding areas over the next 10 years. There are no immediate plans to increase the number of participants, but the impacts are being carefully evaluated.

The art of Burning Man has also reached further than the Black Rock Desert. And this year in Washington, art and historical documents from Burning Man are being showcased in the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery. The exhibit is called “No Spectators,” a common saying on the playa that means active participation by all those in Black Rock City. No one is an audience member of the experience, but instead a part of the experience.