A week-long popup city in the middle of a hostile unforgiving desert, packed with art, music and bright lights in the blacked out night? All acting out the core principles of radical expression and radical gifting? Anything that is possible in life can and will happen here. Good or bad.
Among the 70,000 temporary citizens of Black Rock Desert, every individual has their own unique experience and story. I have a few stories that epitomize what Burning Man is all about. Of course the following story happened during the marquee event for which the festival is named - the burning of The (Hu)Man! This happens on day 6 of 7. Day 7 is the antithetical burning of The Temple, which happens in complete silence.
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| Myself, Kieran and Andy |
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| Arriving early for the burning of The Man |
Kieran, Andy and I were on some undisclosed magic substance, which was just amplifying the mounting intensity around us. As the sun set the lights of the art cars came alive, forming a living kaleidoscope of coloured lights and spitting fire that put Vegas to shame. The art cars were also blaring so much loud music that all we could hear was an endless chorus of bass.
It was all a bit overwhelming, but also extremely beautiful and powerful to witness the presence and energy of so many dressed up people intentionally converged in this one spot on earth just to celebrate a statue being set on fire.
After what seemed like forever, and was starting to feel like torture, the show started. It began with multiple fire conclaves lined up side-by-side around The Man and inside the perimeter formed by the crowd, all performing their fire show at one time, which lasted about half an hour.
Once that finished, a fireworks show started that rivalled the length and grandeur of that of any country's national holiday. Near the end of the fireworks, suddenly - boom! An explosion rocked The Man's core and set it ablaze. The crowd goes wild! Thousands of people cheering, the art cars spitting more fire than ever, the kaleidoscope of lights reached a new level of absurdity.
The density of energy and excitement in this space condenses to an atomic level - there's no time and place like here and now.
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| Fire Conclave with The Man in the background - photo credit shown in bottom of image |
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| The burning of The Man - photo credit Rachel Anctil-Poirier |
Kieran, Andy and I link arms as we play galactic Frogger, crossing dark space with fully lit bicycles and art cars shooting past us. The chaos of it all feels strangely like crossing a street in a big city in India. We finally find our bikes and ride off, not knowing what we're riding off to but just needing to get out of there fast.
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| A medium sized art car looking pretty tame during the day - photo credit Kieran Alfonso-Moore |
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| Navigating the desert during the day is easy, with endless art to explore, such as that massive inflated elephant thingy |
We try looking for some dance parties... but something seems off to us. Nothing is really vibing with us. Still overwhelmed and now confused, we ride off into the deep playa to find a quiet spot to observe the wild scene unfolding in the middle of this otherwise dark empty desert.
The energy present around me during the burning of The Man was the most intense experience of my life. The big bang that followed dispersed it, but clusters of this energy now dotted around the playa were like intense embers. These embers took on a raw, animalistic feel; a masculine, hedonistic and sexually charged heat. That's not what we wanted - we wanted to dance and feel love and connection with fellow humans.
We took refuge in the temple, which was slated to burn the next day. It was filled with trinkets and mementos that people left behind to be burned along with the temple itself. It was a very grounding space.
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| The temple, filled with mementos left by people, burned in silence on the last day |
We encountered a person playing a set of four singing bowls, and a group of 10 or so people seated and gathered around him. We sat down and grounded ourselves further to his gentle tones. He suddenly stopped playing and declared that he only plays these singing bowls once a year. The singing bowls belonged to a dear friend who passed away, and the performance was dedicated to her. I was extremely touched by this and connected with the performer, hugging and expressing my gratitude to him for blessing us with his grounding energy.
We felt ready to merge back in with the energy of the playa. During our wanderings we suddenly encountered a friend for the third time! Meeting Jordann from Belgium is a whole story in itself - the first day we met was epic. The second time was an awesome coincidence. And the third was pure synchronicity - we were meant to become best friends.
Soon after Kieran and Andy retired for the night, and Jordann and I went to the quiet and chill center camp where we engaged in deep conversation the rest of the night.
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| Kieran and I met Jordann out on the playa, in front of this beautiful art installation |
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| Kieran, Jordann and I laughed every minute together, but we cried and embraced during the last, as we bid farewell |
Burning Man to me is a showcase of the beauty that humans can create when they come together with intention. It is about inspiration and human connection, both of which lead to long lasting happiness. It is also a 7 day slog in which not everything goes your way, whether it's sand in your crotch, lost items or hedonism gone too far resulting in hurt feelings. But if you approach it with an open heart your highs will far outweigh your lows.
The burning of The Man encapsulated it all in one night! And I'm happy to say that I took away from it lifelong memories, friendships, and a burning inspiration to create this magic in my own world.
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| Folly - the name of my favourite art installation, a life sized pirate hideout! Made entirely out of reclaimed wood |
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| Each room in the Folly is uniquely and beautifully decorated |
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| One of the best dance parties ever, seen from the top of the art car |
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| One of the many art installations on the playa |
