Black Rock City is the temporary city of Burning Man. Each camp has its own trick: somewhere they serve original cocktails, somewhere they teach tricks on a longboard, somewhere they give lectures on macroeconomics, somewhere they do acroyoga, and somewhere they hold a master class

a large number of people have come up, but real “burners” consider such people to be tourists and come to the very beginning of the festival, the last Monday of August - this year this first day fell on the 27th.

September 3-4 are already the days of collecting and cleaning the desert: it should remain as pristine as before the arrival of the "Burners". Everyone is leaving to wash off the lime-like white dust of Black Rock, and in a few days it will probably be hard to believe that until recently you indulged in radical self-expression among the sands (namely, “creating a society of radical self-expression” is one of the most frequently encountered formulations concept of action).

This festival counts its history - although many actively oppose such a designation Burning Man– has been going on since 1986, when 20 people burned an 8-foot figure on Baker Beach in San Francisco. As a sign at the makeshift Burning Man Museum in the black rock desert town that pops up for a week out of nowhere reads: “We don’t know why they burned a wooden statue: not in honor of the summer solstice ( most of the sources are sure of this option - approx. ed.), either on a tragic personal occasion, or on a joyful general occasion, well, or it was an act of collective artistic expression.

Alexander Boldachev

Danil Golovkin

Something else is known for certain - the authors of the first Burning Man with faces resembling an inverted triangle were Larry Harvey and Jerry James. As legend has it, Larry (now director Black Rock City LLC and president of the nonprofit Black Rock City Arts Foundation) called Jerry with this offer, he was surprised, but agreed to the offer. The following year, on the same Baker Beach, they, already in the company of almost eighty people, again decided to burn the wooden man, already 20 feet tall. From the second burning, there is even a photo taken by Stuart Harvey. He, the very next year, gave the wooden figure a name - Burning Man(as the museum plaque for this year says: “although, of course, there were many other options for the name for the wooden figure of a person that is burned”). In August 1990, when 800 people had already gathered on the California beach, the police only allowed the statue to be erected, but not burned. 90 enthusiasts decided later this summer, on Labor Day, to go to the Black Rock Desert to finish the job they started to ashes - and so the festival found its current location. Year after year, it acquired its other attributes: in 1990, the first musician played drums there, the next year, when there were already 600 participants, the Black Rock Ranger Volunteer Institute was established, and a year later the first themed camp appeared, over time artists with the craziest art projects are also pulling up (now those who want to present art projects can apply to collect donations on the official website Burning Man). At least, that's what the plaques at the museum in Black Rock City say, but in this city-state, real and fictional can intertwine in the most bizarre way.

Black Rock City, 1996

What is known for certain is that the number of participants in the action is constantly growing. Because of this, the size of Black Rock City increased, and its infrastructure became more complicated.

“After 1995, and that was my third Burn,” recalls the newspaper’s publisher BRC Weekly“I was thinking about stopping coming, there were too many people, more than 3,000.” In 2013, the number of festival guests exceeded 60,000.

Veterans of the movement complain that the festival is no longer the same. But other veterans say that the "Burners" began to grumble that "the good old days were over" back in 1997, when the utopian city of Black Rock City, appearing out of nowhere and disappearing into nowhere, banned driving cars (now it is only art machines have the right) and carry firearms. The "good old days" continued to end annually. In 1998, the streets created by trailers and headscarves have numbers and names, and the festival is declared thematic for the first time. The following year, the Burning Man moves into its present position, becoming the center of the clock-organized city (aka playa, from the Spanish for "beach," also used in the American West to refer to the beds of dry lakes, which is the Black Rock Desert) with names according to 15-minute sectors diverging from the figure and letter names (along the ring), at the same time the participants lose one more ritual - lifting the figure by joint efforts.

Danil Golovkin

About which "burners" are real and which are not, and what annoys whom in modern Black Rock City, in my now favorite publication and the only reading material for the last week - already mentioned BRC Weekly(the newspaper, by the way, has only eight pages of A4 format, but the competing publication is a newspaper handed out at the entrance Black Rock Beacon- much more boring) even a sharply ironic controversy of contributors unfolds about this.

« Burning Man is a festival that you visit for transformation and seeking refuge from earthly life. The goal of this week-long utopian journey is to leave the playa with dignity, leaving no traces of your stay and change your attitude to reality. Simply put, it's a gluten-free, activated charcoal, and often chemical-enhanced cocktail to cleanse the soul.

In the sands of the Black Rock desert, nations, subcultures, psychedelic lovers gather... the most humanistic aspect of all this is the mixing of different economic classes: technical geniuses like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, eccentric celebrities like P. Diddy with his famous pink umbrella are right here with the guys who think that healing crystals and olive oil can cure fibromyalgia.”

Danil Golovkin

Zuckerberg and Musk, according to the author's classification, are the one-percenters with their "super-packaged RVs ( residential vans - approx. ed.), water Fiji and Egyptian cotton linen. "They act like superstar DJs who had to take a commercial flight instead of a private jet, but they're sure it's just a temporary deprivation." The newspaper also goes over the veterans of the festival, who "will certainly tell you that it all ended in 1996." Other irritants to paper contributor Austin Gebbia (and in his annoyance he is often just and incredibly ironic) are lens-seeking Annie Leibovitz ("sparkle ponies"), techno-snobs who have been to Bergheim once but call it home, the stardust vagabonds (“organic, raw, non-GMO vegan souls brought to the desert by the universe itself”) and European tourists who bring “17 buses, a boat, a taxi and Noah’s Ark” to the playa.

As in a real democratic newspaper, another contributor under the funny nickname - Shutterslut - opposes the previous speaker on the next page: Zuckerberg was greedy last year and at his camp they gave everyone only half a cheese sandwich, not a whole one, really ruined your burn?!”

Publisher Adrian Roberts summarizes in his column: "As with most things in the world, the key here is to keep the balance."

Danil Golovkin

And the last quote from BRC Weekly, from the section "Overheard on the Playa": "I said that you will see something that you have never seen before, but I did not at all say that you would like it." In general, what is Burning Man, what will you see here, why this bunch of very different people come to the playa and why they like it - a question from the category "Who is to blame?" and "What to do?". It is difficult to answer it both before and after the “burn”. One of this year's art projects was even dedicated to who this Burning Man: three artists sat in a black cube for almost days and listened to everyone's answer to this question, and then they had to summarize and give out a universal answer. I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is something along the lines of "it's all a group hallucination."

The unreal begins even before entering the desert. First, whether you're a vegan drifter or Zuckerberg, you need to get your ticket and stuff on the burner's survival list. Of course, an army of assistants can do this for Mark, but without these things it makes no sense to meddle in the desert. I, and this was my first “burn”, was sure that I was going to some rave festival-total art installation in the desert, where the main thing is to take a lot of incredible costumes, until I read this list. So that you understand exactly how much I did not understand where I was going at all: I bought boots Rick Owens to walk on the playa (rare shoes can survive the burn, and I, unfortunately, am still much poorer than Zuckerberg and cannot afford to throw out such shoes in a few days).

Among the things that are really necessary from the list: a ski mask (by the way, if you decide, take it with a yellow filter - ideal for sand), sunscreen with maximum protection, a mug with an ID printed or glued, thermal underwear, a down jacket, wet wipes, an impressive amount drugs, a bright flashlight, a respirator, sealed protection for the phone and other equipment, a sleeping bag, a bicycle and many other items of varying degrees of surprise. The camp provided us with part of the equipment, but the rest of the list was purchased by everyone on their own. In the sporting goods store where I bought most of it, the salesman stared at me in amazement: “Where are you going with such strange equipment?” - "To the desert." “And what will you do there?” - "Don't know". He thought I was out of my mind, and with good reason, but I really had a bad idea. I knew that a venture investor and co-founder of the company invited me to his camp SDVinterests Dmitry Volkov. Two years ago, he already did an art camp here with Oleg Kulik, now with Andrey Bartenev. And that we will not just observe everything, but will become direct participants: Bartenev made costumes for everyone and a certain performance prepared by Andrei together with Dmitry with our participation is expected. No more details. And a frightening list of things to survive. And no less frightening information that during the day in the desert the heat is over +40, and at night the temperature drops to plus five (and it feels even lower), and that the fine sand of Black Rock penetrates everywhere and everywhere.

Dmitry Volkov and Andrey Bartenev

Danil Golovkin

To finally finish myself off, I read stories and interviews about the event from past burns. What struck me was that none of the people seemed to have the enthusiasm to return to the desert again and many of the stories sounded like testimonies of survivors (maybe my fear did the selection of texts for me).

But fear and boots Rick Owens stayed at home, and I flew into the desert. Or rather, first to Los Angeles, and then to the casino city of Reno, from which most of the "burners" begin their journey to Black Rock City. Many of them, who are completely unbearable to start expressing themselves, can be identified already at the baggage belt, and then met more than once in the hotel and on the streets. In Reno, everyone finally cleans up well, picks up rented RVs, stocks up on groceries and essentials, and just hangs around a rather pretty, especially in the non-casino part, provincial town 40 minutes drive from the famous Lake Tahoe and surrounded by many ski resorts. Here is one of the factories Tesla office will open soon Google, so Reno is a prosperous place. About 300 thousand people live here, and, by the way, none of the people we met asked if you were on Burning Man did not respond positively.

We are with two members of our camp, while most of the group, who arrived in Reno earlier, buys food and glues the windows of the RV from sand, we decide to have a good meal before leaving for the unknown and buy what we forgot. The question of food is decided by an authentic Vietnamese cafe golden flower(We will run into it first thing, as we return from the desert). We buy more medicines, protein bars, snacks, flasks (by the way, an incredibly useful item, and it would be better to transfer the ID or stick it directly on it, because as it turns out, this item is needed from the list of necessary things for you to pour alcohol in bars). We also buy warm pop clothes in Antiques & Treasures- a vintage store that makes probably half of its revenue before Burning Man, and aesthetic jewelry in Hudson Vintage where at a reasonable price you can buy at least Tiffany 1940s though Lanvin 1990s

Danil Golovkin

The next day we leave with a group "second race" by a caravan of several RVs. Most of them are here for the first time, so it’s impossible to scare or encourage yourself with the details of what’s to come. Surprisingly, Andrey Bartenev is going to the festival for the first time. Although, as it will become obvious later, he should be an honorary citizen of Black Rock City. As other people break out of the gray house and express themselves radically in the desert, this magnificent eccentric artist escapes our boring world and goes home to a bright and amazing universe. Burning Man.

Of the unusual items that travel with us on the RV is a giant inflatable figure of a green alien (we brought it at the request of Bartenev with the editor-in-chief GQ Igor Garanin and photographer Danil Golovkin, with whom they flew together from Moscow) and a harp. Or rather, two. One classical and one electric harp with a backpack-style speaker. The well-known harpist and composer Alexander Boldachev is carrying them. And all this and much more - for the performance of our art camp - Aliens? Yes!” at 9:15 Fire. We will arrange a procession of aliens to the accompaniment of a harp, we ourselves will also play some mysterious instruments. “There will be such sticks, they will have to be waved and make a sound,” Bartenev instructs. “Sasha, the harpist, will teach everyone how to wave properly.”

From Reno to Black Rock - 150 km, drive without traffic jams 2.5-3 hours, but at the entrance to Burning Man traffic jams are formed simply gigantic. We stood at the entrance for five hours. During this time, we study our RV. I'm interested in the economics of traveling with my fellow campers. Rent an 8-seater RV, in which no more than five people can live comfortably, for a week Burning Man it will cost 3-4 times more than usual (from $2,000 according to official data, but more than $10,000 according to experience), but this is only part of the expenses: camp rental for an amount of $150 to tens of thousands per person (Yes, according to Bloomberg$16,500 was priced at a private camp with air conditioning and wi-fi in 2014) if you don’t want to sleep in a hammock on the pier or on the foam in Central Camp for free, a car pass ($80), a ticket (from a couple of hundred to $1200 depending on whether you participate in the lottery or buy a ticket without it, and whether you have benefits), and other expenses for provisions.

Danil Golovkin

True, commodity-money relations will end at the entrance to the playa: then you will need money only to buy coffee and ice in Central Camp Cafe or pay for the services of filling and pumping water and the operation of the vacuum trucks in your RV (the latter are the kings of the desert).

In a traffic jam, we also master the main skill: we learn to save this very water, because its reserves in tanks are limited, and, in general, the first rule of the desert is not to spill a single drop of water in vain (pouring water, especially dirty water on the sand, is generally the most serious crime) . An equally serious crime is to litter, everything that is yours must be carried with you, disposed of in your own camp and taken out of the desert at the end.

By eight o'clock we were in the camp, the territory and everything around looks surreal, but not dangerous. The desert quickly explains why respirators and masks are needed: a storm is rising and the men of the camp are about to hold a kitchen tent. From the side it looks amusing, like in a cartoon "Wind" Robert Loebel.

In the evening we go for a walk and look at art objects. They are located in an uninhabited part of the playa, and the most incredible art cars drive along it, which you can jump on and ride. There are very beautiful installations like "The Tree" with luminous petals, but in general, the first impression is Disneyland for adults. Obviously, you need to find the right places and participate in everything. In general, participation is one of the main principles of the Burner, here one cannot be a passive spectator, one must certainly bring something. Someone gives lectures or reads Tarot, someone treats you to pizza or cocktails, arranges performances or concerts. What you will not find in the gigantic territory of Black Rock City. Burning Man for each his own. If you ask someone who has been, then someone will say that there is a lot of art here, someone will talk about shamans, someone about sex drugs, rock and roll. In fact, 60-70 thousand people come here and create a dystopian world for a week, in which there is everything: art, raves, orgies, as well as morning yoga, tea ceremonies, barbecues and origami master classes. Everyone chooses his own. You can see in advance what you are interested in using the booklet or mobile application issued at the entrance iburn. Or you can just trust the moment - and this is the most interesting thing. Mark only the beginning of the route, and then walk or ride a bike across a vast territory, following the advice of random oncoming people or simply moving towards the lights.

For some, everything that happens reminds "Mad Max", but for a Russian person all this is undoubted - "Kin-Dza-Dza". Both aesthetically and because conditional matches cost much more than money.

Danil Golovkin

On the morning of the second day, we help Andrey Bartenev hang up the costumes and choose props for ourselves. I am quickly drawn in. “You choose my favorite things,” Andrey says. He was preparing for a trip to the festival for three months, he closed his gallery for a month "Here on Taganka" and made a temporary Burning Man Station. He brought 40 suitcases of costumes to the playa - both for the procession and for our self-expression outside of it.

Our camp at first resembles a pioneer camp. Communities and coalitions are being formed, only the choice of costumes unites and captivates everyone. I take a gold short dress with bulls and a cap with a gold cockscomb. It seems to me that I look extremely extravagant (by the last day I will be surprised by this inconspicuous casual outfit). In this form, I go on a bicycle to watch art objects on the playa during the day, until the very heat - and personally I like them much more in the sunlight.

We return to the camp, Bartenev still continues to sort something out. People periodically come into the tent and ask if this is a distribution of costumes (and giving away or changing things is another tradition of the “Burners”). He explains that this is the props of the camp, but gives everyone little things so that they do not get upset. I get involved in the process and take a lot of plastic beads from Bartenev to give to those I meet. It's accepted here.

Meanwhile, Bartenev moves on to decorating the camp. Many are willing to help him. One of the decor elements of the tent-dining room is green flags, someone cuts the colored threads found and hangs the flags on them. As it turns out later, these were harp strings worth about €800. It's good that there are spares - the performance will still be.

At night, we go for a walk again, approaching the issue of outfit more responsibly: I’m wearing something complex on top of another eccentric one, a bunch of accessories, a headband with an alien’s head and false eyelashes in the form of feathers. In general, false eyelashes and the most incredible luminous accessories for the night should be added to the list of essentials (the latter, by the way, really make life much safer when you walk or ride a bicycle through the dark desert from one art object to another or ply between raves: without lights, you may not be noticed and simply knocked down).

Danil Golovki

I would like to add a fur coat to the costume, which Bartenev brought several dozen, but we are both unlucky and lucky with the weather - it is very warm at night. As old-timers tell us, for the first time since 2006. Two men over 50 at the festival for the 17th time and in their memory this is only the second case of such heat.

There are generally a lot of "burners" in age, and not all of them are veterans, some began to radically express themselves already at a respectable age. The youngest "Burners" look about six years old. While I think about the children here, we are crossing the desert at night on a giant sheep. We pass a climbing wall with a bar at the top. A man dressed as a pink plush bunny with an unpublishable inscription on the back is climbing the wall. For some reason I think that he is a clerk, and what a thrill it must be when you sit in the office 358 days a year, turn into a bunny at seven, which climbs to the bar along the sheer wall.

Dmitry Volkov advises watching playa not at night, but at dawn - and the light is the most beautiful, and the most persistent ravers return from parties in different states of altered consciousness across the desert. Looking ahead, I will say that we will go to the playa at dawn in a couple of days with a girl from our camp. Moreover, we will take yoga mats, put on alien costumes and go to the installation in the form of a giant pink flamingo. And there will be nothing too strange or exalted in this. Here you won’t shock or attract attention with this, you can only cause a smile, approval, they will tell you how beautiful it is. And this “beautiful” may be about the asana, not the costume. They can hug. Hugs are generally one of the main currencies here, and the main value Burning Man- People. Those who, even for a week, can build a world that lives on completely different principles. A world where they do not litter and truly conserve water. A world in which neither the telephone, nor the Internet, nor just communication works (in the coffee line, the guy in dreadlocks shouted: “What are you staring at your phones for? Trump, unfortunately, is still president and you don’t need to know anything more from the news” ). Here the money is worth very little. Of course, if you live in the comfort of an RV, you've already spent money, but that's not the point. A very illustrative example is a cafe with paid coffee. A couple of years ago, guys came to this cafe in the morning and in the evening and put a box with $ 500, exchanged $ 5 bills - "for your drinks." And so every day.

Danil Golovkin

This story is told to me by a volunteer from Michigan (and historically from Leningrad), who has been flying here by plane for many years and offers anyone who wants to ride it on the playa. And he is not the only one here - many pilots offer free tours.

Michigan volunteer donates patches and recaps the coffee situation: services ruin Burning Man.

Another random stranger, a photographer from Chicago who has been coming here since 2009, thinks otherwise:

“People say that everything deteriorates because they come for the first time and believe in an ideal world, admire it. Then they come back and see that the world is not perfect, and they begin to say that everything is deteriorating. But those who come for the first time are still delighted. Burning Man changes and stays the same. It grows and becomes more diverse. In the first year, I made a list of everything I want to see, and then I just threw it away - here you have to go with the flow ("let everything go by itself").

us it go with the flow sometimes to the carousel, then to the “beaver eating show” (as a girl from our camp mistakenly translated the erotic performance found in the book, not understanding American slang), then to the temple of the dead. The latter is an impression of amazing strength. Among the noise of parties and performances, the hum of art machines driving around the desert, you find yourself in the absolute silence of this temple. memento mori.

On the third day, we arrange the first procession of aliens. Bartenev seems to be a little nervous. Volkov is calm and waving the flag. We learn to play strange things that have to be swung quite hard to make an otherworldly sound. We go to the statue "Burning Man", which this year is installed inside a wooden temple (the theme of the year is Radical Rituals), column. It is closed by those carrying a giant inflatable head of an alien, and Volkov himself with a flag on a pole is at the head. Watching everything that happened through the mesh of the alien mask to the sounds of a strange contraption and a beautiful harp was one of the most powerful impressions. We have a strong competition Area 51.

Then I ask Volkov how he is doing here. He says that for him everything is not like for a simple "burner" - a lot of preparation. On the playa, he is sure, a unique situation is being created: it covers you physically and psychologically, both because of radical self-expression and because of the really difficult conditions of the desert.

“When I return from here, work begins abruptly and there is no exit period,” Volkov continues, “but photos remain, then memories pop up.”

With Bartenev before preparing for Burning Man As it turns out, they did not personally know each other, although they had many common acquaintances. “I also wanted to purchase Bartenev’s works for my collection, and now they will have their own very personal story,” Dmitry continues. “Bartenev generally suits the place very well: he is a master of performance.”

The next day we arrange a second procession - it seems to us that we worked better than yesterday. And at some point I'm already generally more of a green man than a creative director RBC Style or an expert in cut diamonds.

But you have to get out of the image and turn in the costume: the little green men will then go to Shanghai, where an exhibition will be arranged.

Other costumes are given to us. According to the Burner tradition, Bartenev distributes some things to those who look into the camp - so that some "Burners" now have real imaginations of art.

10 Burner Principles

One evening, when everyone is already much more aliens than those who were before, Dmitry offers to introduce himself. “I am a venture capitalist and a philosopher,” he says, standing in a cap with a colander on his head. “Lawyer,” continues the performance of a man in a fur coat with mechanical plush hares. “The head of an investment fund,” says another in a gray felt porcupine jacket. And now it all seems much more surreal than what it was before, when everyone was just little green men. Or when we were chasing the RV evacuator in an attempt to lure it into our camp on bikes wearing elaborately painted suits and tinfoil hats, or... The list is endless.

It's only when you leave that you realize how cool it was. This is better than Vipassana and generally the perfect digital detox. Yes, I started to monitor my trash more and stopped constantly grabbing the phone in my eternal work hysteria. And all this is trifles compared to the main conclusions and changes, which I will leave as something intimate to myself - and this is only the result of the first hours outside the playa.

In general, the moment of entering reality from the desert is very interesting: the appearance of a phone signal, the first store at a gas station where you have to pay with money, but out of habit you want to give the cashier Bartenev's beads and hug him.

I receive three SMS, while 3G has not yet turned on and everything else has not fallen: the bank about replenishing the account, my mother with a text about the fact that my friend cannot get through to me and is very nervous, and mailing from LeForm— here she comes back, my real life.

Black Rock City, or Black Rock City, is a temporary city in the middle of the desert in the US state of Nevada. It exists only one week a year and hosts the world-famous Burning Man festival. Festival goers come from different states and countries to build a city of 70,000 people here!

// levik.livejournal.com

Today I offer you a very short tour of the main attractions of this temporary city.

All that week, I was posting about the Burning Man festival, which takes place every year in the Nevada desert in the United States. In order not to be distracted by writing these posts, I prepared their text and photos in advance. So there will be a hodgepodge from different previous years (I was on every BM in 2006-2014).

By the way, I almost forgot! Tuesday is "Tutu Tuesday", or "Tutu in Tutu" on the plaza. I don’t know where this tradition came from, but the participants picked it up together, and now it’s customary to dress up in tutus on Tuesdays.

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And this tradition extends not only to girls. For example, Tonya and I:

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Okay, let's not get too carried away. I promised you a tour!

Black Rock City (the city of the Black Rock) is usually abbreviated as "BRC". This is a real city, designed for 70,000 people. It is created for a week of the festival, although much more time is included in its creation - the first "builders" come here in a month. At the peak of population (somewhere on Friday), it is one of the ten largest cities in Nevada.

Let's take a look at the map of Black Rock City:

// levik.livejournal.com

It can be seen that it is located in the form of an incomplete circle. Its streets are concentric circles of avenues, and radial rays of streets. The streets are named after the hours of the dial, from 2:00 to 10:00. The avenues are named each year according to the theme of the festival, but these names are always in alphabetical order. If you are too lazy to remember, you can simply call them A, B, C, etc. The main avenue that runs along the inner edge of the city is called the Esplanade. So the addresses in the city sound something like this: "3:15 and C", "7:45 and B", "8:30 and Esplanade". (By the way, in all these places our camp was in the past.)

From above, it all looks extremely impressive (here is 2009, since then BRC has become 40% larger):

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The place is extremely flat, without any hills (or dunes), but surrounded on all sides by mountains in the distance. Remember - a multi-meter wooden statue of a man, Meng, stands in the very center of a large circle. Until Saturday evening, he is our main landmark.

Well, let's go look at it all from below!

In fact, the best avenue to show yourself and look at others is the Esplanade. You can meet anyone there!

// levik.livejournal.com

But we will not go to the Esplanade, but we will start from the simple streets of the city. They look like this:

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Quite wide, if desired, two cars can pass, but not at speed, of course. In general, you can only drive here at a speed of 5 miles per hour, and only with specially licensed cars. On the sides are camps. Some have luxurious beautiful tents, others have simple tents. Cars are also parked right here.

When you walk along the BRC, there are always some delays on your way. Most often these are bars or trampolines. We'll talk about bars later, but with trampolines, everything is clear. How can you not stop to jump?

// levik.livejournal.com

Yes, a lot of things can delay a person going on important business. For example table football.

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Or trampolines. Did I mention trampolines?

// levik.livejournal.com

Due to the fact that there is so much to distract, Black Rock City has the concept of "playa time" - festival time. That is, we agree on 12:00, but in fact it can mean at 12:30, and at 14:00, and in general the day after tomorrow.

Here they come. This is the Central Camp, Center Camp. It is located on the Esplanade and six o'clock (a small circle inside a large city is visible on the map). The camp is a huge round tent. Rumor has it that this is the largest stretched building in the world, I don’t know how true this is.

// levik.livejournal.com

There are a lot of bikes parked around Center Camp - it's important to remember where you leave yours so you can find it later. And the bright flags installed on the roof are visible far from the playa. This is the second reliable landmark after Maine, its advantage is that it does not burn out at the end of the week.

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Inside, under the shadow of the ceiling, it is spacious and not hot (since the structure is blown by the wind from all sides). Here you can sit to take a break from the hot day. Moreover, there is the only cafe at the entire festival where you can buy coffee, tea, lemonade and other drinks. There is no alcohol here, and asking them just for water is also not very decent.

// levik.livejournal.com

In the very center of the building there is a stage on which some kind of performances are constantly held. Acrobats, jugglers, capoeira - they can be met here around the clock!

// levik.livejournal.com

On the side there is another stage for performances by musicians and other performances. In 2009, the troupe of the world famous clown Slava Polunin showed their famous show here in the version of "Slava's Dust Show".

October 16th, 2016, 10:02 am

Today I offer you a very short tour of the main attractions of this temporary city.

All that week I was posting, which takes place every year in the desert of Nevada in the USA. In order not to be distracted by writing these posts, I prepared their text and photos in advance. So there will be a hodgepodge from different previous years (I was on every BM in 2006-2014).

And this tradition extends not only to girls. For example, Tonya and I:

Okay, let's not get too carried away. I promised you a tour!

Let's take a look at the map of Black Rock City:

From above, it all looks extremely impressive (here is 2009, since then BRC has become 40% larger):

Well, let's go look at it all from below!

In fact, the best avenue to show yourself and look at others is the Esplanade. You can meet anyone there!

But we will not go to the Esplanade, but we will start from the simple streets of the city. They look like this:

Yes, a lot of things can delay a person going on important business. For example table football.

Or trampolines. Did I mention trampolines?

In the very center of the building there is a stage on which some kind of performances are constantly held. Acrobats, jugglers, capoeira - they can be met here around the clock!

Also, there are a lot of different works of art on display. Every year, of course, something new.

And in general, it is in the Central Camp that you can meet the most sophisticatedly dressed characters. People who have worked hard on their costumes will definitely stop by Center Camp to show off the results of their work.

A lot of people come here just to take a nap in the shade.

In front of the main entrance to Center Camp, some beautiful gate or arch is erected every year.

At night, they are always illuminated to show the way to the participants.

There are years when they are very brightly illuminated! (Here 2012.)

By the way, I don't know if you noticed, but Center Camp was completely copied in the seventh episode of Star Wars. It appears there as a settlement on the desert planet Jakku. Anyone who has ever been to Burning Man immediately recognizes him. He even has the same gate at the entrance (and purely decorative).

Look: outside the spitting image of the Central Camp.

And inside too! Let's leave it on the conscience of the company Lucas and Disney. I do not mind.

If you ever visit BM, it's important to remember that Center Camp is a place where you can always meet friends, or friendly strangers. Performances and cafes are open around the clock, so if you suddenly get bored on Burning Man, feel free to head here for 6:00 and the Esplanade.

Let's head from Center Camp along the six o'clock boulevard straight to the figure of Maine. The boulevard crosses the inner playa (inner playa), there are four such boulevards: along three hours, six, nine and twelve. The latter leads from the statue of Meng to the temple, because there is no city there. We'll get to the temple.

The Maine statue itself looks a little different each year. They change the size, and the pedestal, although the common features remain, especially his characteristic head. In 2014, there was no pedestal at all, and Meng himself was taller than usual (the title photo in this post). Be that as it may, its crown is usually at a height of about 30 meters.

There's always something interesting going on in Maine's plinth. For example, in the photo above, in 2013, there was a multi-story flying saucer with various installations inside. And in 2009, near Maine, there was such a strange structure made of seemingly randomly piled boards.

The Maine pedestal is worth visiting until Friday, then it is closed to prepare for burning on Saturday. Yes, every year all these beautiful pedestals burn down along with Maine itself. I wrote separately about how they burn Maine.

To very simple. The door to nowhere - maybe a little battered, but still good.

As I have already said, it is very difficult to see all of them, and it is simply impossible to show everything that I have seen in 9 previous trips, so I will put photos of only a few.

We continue to move from Maine towards 12:00 (there is a direct boulevard there), and finally we come to the Temple. Center-Camp-Maine-Temple, that's the main axis of Black Rock City. They are located along one straight line, and are the most important objects of the Burning Man festival.

And if Maine gave this event a name, then the Temple ends the festival every year. It is his burning on Sunday that serves as the closing ceremony of the BM.

The fact that such beautiful buildings are burned every year seems sometimes blasphemous, but this is the whole idea - nothing lasts forever, and next year you can build a new one, just as beautiful, but completely different.

If Maine is more or less the same from year to year, then the temples are very different. It is from the Temple that it is easiest to understand which year is captured in the photograph of Burning Man.

The temple is a place of peace and reflection. Here, as in Center Camp, there are always people, but it is not customary to raise your voice here. When people talk, it's in whispers. Visitors come here to think about their lives, meditate, or remember deceased relatives and friends.

There is no religion in this Temple, but there is spirituality. Everyone comes here for their own reasons. Some pray to God, others do not believe in him. People write wishes and names of the dead on the walls, glue their photos. For example, in 2013, Yandex employees brought here a photo of the head of the company, Ilya Segalovich, who died that summer.

Behind the Temple begins an open playa (outer playa). Installations are also stumbled here, but they are more rare. On the other hand, those who still reach them are rewarded with a sense of achievement.

From the end of the festival area to the central camp is about three kilometers. About how visitors move over such distances, I wrote separately.

And at the other end of the playa, right outside the outer BRC ring (around 5:00) is Black Rock Airport. Of course, a city of 70,000 people should have its own airport!

Moreover, many wealthy visitors to the festival fly here on their own small planes.

And parachutists take off from here. Burning Man is considered among them one of the more circular places where you can make a jump. Beginners are not allowed to jump here, because of the strong winds, rich experience is needed. In clear weather, you can always see a few skydivers in the sky above the festival.

The coolest thing here is the night jumps. They are allowed extremely rarely, and only the most experienced. Such skydivers sometimes light flares on their way down, and in doing so, they look like slowly falling stars.

If you have a skydiver friend who is a member of this elite club, you may be lucky enough to get the chance to take off with the skydivers.

Of course, no one will allow you to jump out of an airplane, but this is a great way to look at the entire desert from above and Black Rock City from above!

The amazing thing is that as soon as all the paratroopers jumped out, the plane drops altitude so sharply that sometimes it seems that something is wrong with it! Turns out they do it to save time. I was afraid a couple of times that I did tandem jumps myself, I thought - "Well, fuck him! I'll stay on the plane!" In the end, of course, he jumped. But then I found out that if I had chickened out and not jumped out, then the road down would have been almost even worse!

While we are walking and flying here, evening is approaching. The city's most photogenic residents, the Lamp-lighters, appear in the city. In fact, these are ordinary volunteers who have undergone a special briefing and received uniform white coats with a firing edge.

Some walk through the city with long poles on their shoulders, and carry lighted oil lamps. Others hook these lamps and hang them on poles that stand along the boulevards through the inner playa and along the Esplanade. These lights will burn throughout the night, illuminating the road, although they will most likely dissolve into the total amount of light that will illuminate the playa in the dark.

Lamp workers are a favorite subject for photographers.

And every year I promise myself that I will go and volunteer a shift in their ranks, but every time my hands do not reach it. Playa time and trampolines are a terrible distraction.

At sunset, the entire playa, and especially the mountains around it, acquire a golden hue.

There are generally very beautiful sunsets here, due to the slight cloudiness, but the high content of dust in the air, everything is hidden in a beautiful fiery haze.

When the sun has already gone behind the mountains, it continues to illuminate the sky and clouds with golden rays for some time. That's very beautiful!

And it's time for me to go back to

Black Rock City, Nevada is an ephemeral town that exists for only one week each year, during Burning Man , a radical gathering experience. At its maximum occupancy, the town has about 60,000 citizens and a post office, an emergency services crew, a volunteer police department, roads, houses, bars, clubs, restaurants, and hundreds of art installations and participatory "theme camps". After a week, the city is completely disassembled – much of it burned – leaving the stark, white desert exactly as bare as it had been when the event started.

understand [edit]

Central monument of Black Rock City: The Man

Burning Man is an annual event started in San Francisco in 1986 and moved to the harsh and unforgiving Black Rock Desert of Nevada in 1990, where it continues today. The event happens each year in late August and early September, during the week before Labor Day weekend and over the weekend itself. Around 70,000 artists, partiers and eccentrics converge on the desert location – otherwise empty throughout the year – to create a temporary city on the desert lake bed ( "The Playa"). The event culminates on Saturday night when the event's eponymous mascot – an 80-foot-tall anthropomorphic statue known affectionately as The Man– is set on fire in a huge bacchanalian party.

The Burning Man community, although widespread and anarchic, has some guiding principles (codified and exemplified in catch phrases) that make the event manageable and possible. First and foremost is the concept of "self-sufficiency". With a few exceptions (see Buy below), there is "No Vending" of any kind in Black Rock City. Attendees are expected to bring along all their own food, water, shelter and any other supplies they need to live in the desert during the week. Most attendees are helpful and generous, but travelers should do as much research as possible before leaving for the desert in order to be ready.

An extension of this principle is the Leave No Trace policy; all attendees are expected to clean up any and all trash they create, including burned material, cigarette butts, sawdust or peanut shells. In previous years leftover detritus at the site of the event has caused an alarm for the federal officials who provide the permits for it, and a strict policy of absolutely zero tolerance for leftover trash is needed to keep the event alive.

Burning Man is organized by a small group of volunteers and paid employees of the Burning Man organization, who deal with the local, state and federal officials in charge of the desert region, and who provide most of the infrastructure services such as emergency medical care and media relations. according to the principle of No Spectators, however, all Burning Man attendees are expected to participate in some way: by making art, by doing performances, by doing volunteer work, or just by being freaks. The idea is that spectators feel no ownership – or the consequent responsibility – for the event, while participants will consider the event their own, and will act as responsibly as if they were throwing the party themselves. In fact, they are! There's some us vs. them" feeling between participants and the "Org", but by and large the No Spectators concept ensures smooth operation and wide participation. A "burner" is common title or descriptor for a participant of this event and this community.

Lastly, the community encourages radical self-expression. There's an "anything goes" atmosphere, pretty much only limited by legal and safety concerns as well as respect for other participants. Nudity is widespread – although many participants will decorate their bodies with paint or ornaments. As a component of the "anything goes" atmosphere of personal freedom and personal choice, drug use is common, though generally discreet. Furthermore, out of respect for other participants and their individual choices, it would be very unusual for anyone attending the event to ever feel any pressure towards drug use whatsoever. Alcohol, however, is plentiful, and free bars exist throughout the city. Fundamental elements of the event are individual choice and personal freedom. Numerous art projects on the Playa have an element of danger; and the use of fire in art is quite common, as well as explosives or other dangerous substances. Many participants speak later of the life-changing nature of the Burning Man experience: that the experience of self-expression changes the way they look at the world.

The City itself is laid out in a circle – centering on the Man – about one and a half miles in diameter. The center of the circle is empty desert, punctuated by large art installations. participants live on a series of 8-10 circular streets that ring the outer edge of the circle; about 20 radial streets cross these at various points. The inner 2-3 streets are reserved for registered theme camps: groups who build large structures and installations with a particularly "interactive" point. Theme camps are open to the public for investigation and use; a typical theme camp has 20-50 members, but some grow to hundreds of campers. Some groups of theme camps agglomerate into villages, which usually share an overarching meta-theme.

The street name change each year, based on the theme of that year"s event. Combined with the fact that the city is torn down and rebuilt each year, so that different services and theme camps are located at wildly different places in the city, this makes for a lot of disorientation and difficulty in finding friends and cohorts. Participants argue that this can make traveling around the City more adventurous; it definitely leads to serendipitous discoveries. The night of the annual burning of the Man, participants take away all existing street signs as souvenirs - much like matchbooks - making navigation even more confusing.

Some things are constant, though, in an unofficial way. The radial streets are usually labeled according to clock time (e.g., "10:00" or "4:30"), and spaced about every half-hour. A large circular village known as Center Camp is (almost always) located at 6:00 on the circle; most of the Burning Man organizations services are located here. Other villages are usually placed near 9:00 and 3:00. The innermost circular street – which looks out directly to the central desert area – is called The Esplanade; most of the bigger theme camps line this street. And, of course, The Man is always dead in the center of the City, a convenient landmark.

The Black Rock Desert is an extreme harsh environment. Temperatures are regularly over 100°F, with no natural shade, and almost zero percent humidity. Hundreds of Burning Man participants are treated for dehydration every year; all attendees should drink about 1 gallon of water per day, some of which should contain added electrolytes. More important survival information is available in the Burning Man Survival Guide , a copy of which is given to each participant.

Get in [edit]

Black Rock City is in the remote Black Rock Desert about 2-3 hours north of Reno , Nevada. Most travelers arrive by car, bus, truck, RV, or other motor conveyance. From Reno, take Interstate 80 east to exit 43 (Wadworth), then highway 447 north about 100 miles to Gerlach. Head east (right) at the fork in the road north of Gerlach, and exit onto the Black Rock Desert after about 11 miles (signs should be posted). The event requires all participants to hold tickets. Tickets are NOT available at the gate, they must be purchased in advance prior to arrival. Tickets run about $240-$420. Less expensive tickets are also made available through their Low Income program. For more information on acquiring tickets, look at the Burning Man website.

Attendees from locations too far away from driving usually fly to Reno or San Francisco and either rent cars or other vehicles there, or hook up with locals for rides. Rideshare boards are available on the Burning Man Web site. There are special air shuttles offered this year through Advantage Flight Solutions from Reno and the Bay Area directly to the Black Rock desert for a reasonable price.

The Green Tortoise Bus Company runs a few bus tours from San Francisco to Black Rock City during the event; food, shelter, and transportation are all provided in the tour package.

The Burner Express is a bus service offered by Burning Man to transport Burners from San Francisco and Reno to Black Rock City and back. Riding the Burner Express offers faster arrival, speedier entrance, reserved camping, and expedited departures. You can purchase one way (to or from BRC) or round trip tickets with add-ons for extra cargo and bikes. There are several departures a day from the Reno Airport and up to two a day from the Civic Center in San Francisco beginning the Saturday before the event and continuing throughout the week.

Black Rock City creates its own airport (88NV) for small private planes, run by volunteers. The field is a (very hard-packed) dry lake; most flying clubs do not allow non-emergency landings by rental planes on dirt fields. mountainous desert regions extremely dangerous for inexperienced and experienced pilots alike, and it's not recommended to fly into this airport unless you are experienced with desert flying.

Get around [edit]

Once participants have arrived in Black Rock City, they are expected to leave their cars or other motor vehicles parked and travel around the city under their own power. Cars should only be used in an emergency, or when leaving or entering the city. Law enforcement officials and the Black Rock Rangers will stop vehicles which may result in your vehicle being ejected and stored outside the gate for the remainder of the event.

Bicycles are de rigueur for most BRC citizens; the alkali dust of the Playa causes severe damage to bikes, so bring a cheap one that you don't care much about. A good lock is also important; many bikes every year are "accidentally" borrowed and later abandoned, or stolen outright. In 2014 Bicycles for Humanity started a project called Loop Cycles that offers bikes for use at Black Rock City and after the event are donated to communities in Africa.

Walking is also a great way to get around; although slower, it's easier to stop and the many sights if you don't have a big clunky bike to park, lock, unload, etc.

Radially altered motor vehicles called art cars are an exception to the no-cars rule in BRC. These cars - or buses, or trucks, or what have you - must be permanently and creatively altered to qualify for the exemption. They must also be licensed by the Black Rock City DMV (Department of Mutant Vehicles), and if running at night must be extremely well-lit in order to prevent human-vehicle accidents.

Many art cars have high passenger capacity and will pick up participants on the Playa for a ride, but don't expect or demand a ride from anyone. Use caution when boarding or disembarking from any moving vehicle on-playa. While all vehicles within the event "s perimeter are required to drive slowly, this does not mean the vehicle is safe to leap from. In 2003, a participant died after falling from an art car.

See [edit]

The art installations and theme camps present at Burning Man change, sometimes radically, each year. Those listed below may or may not be present, or may be significantly altered. You can check the Who, when, where guide – available at the Gate of Black Rock City or at the "Playa Info" tent in Center Camp – for locations of theme camps and other installations. (Note, though, that theme camps" descriptions are self-reported, and usually greatly exaggerate the interest-factor of the camp.)

The Man, mathematical center of Black Rock City. First created in 1986 by Burning Man founder Larry Harvey, this is central art piece and symbol of the Burning Man event: a 50-foot-tall anthropomorphic wooden statue with a triangle-shaped head, mounted on a pedestal or stand that changes with each year "s theme. The Man is lit by neon at night, and due to its location can be seen from most of Black Rock City. Usually you can climb up onto the pedestal and get a good view of the rest of the City from there , but ask the Black Rock Rangers at the Man before climbing up.
The Temple, somewhat past the Man on the main road from Center Camp. Since 2001, artist David Best has created monumental structures on the Playa in the form of 3- or 4-story temples. Although the design, name, and nominal purpose changes each year, the Temple is usually dedicated to lost friends and relatives. The Temple is a beautiful and meditative place to spend a few minutes during the day or night.

Other art can be seen in the central Playa area surrounding the Man. Typically there are 40-50 art installations of various complexity and interactivity on the central Playa. Usually, a wandering path on bicycle or on foot can turn up any number of hidden treasures; ask other participants for this year "s "must see" piece.

Do [edit]

Burning Man has a "No Spectators" philosophy so, theoretically, everyone should be "Doing" something most of the time. Many camps revolve around some participatory activity. There is an official calendar of events , but not everything on it happens, and many things not on it do. Some of the favorites include:

Yoga Several camps offer yoga sessions, both "serious" and silly.
Morning run
body painting
fire dancing
Belly Dancing
Seminars on anything from world affairs to love potions
Arts and Crafts
meditation There are daily meditation sessions at sunrise and sunset
weddings Legal, temporary, faux, and every other possible combination. Get married to your true love by a legal minister or marry yourself to a sock.
Massage- ranging from legitimate bodywork to Reiki to Rake-ie to "You look tense, let me rub your shoulders in my tent"
thunderdome Watch some of the greatest warriors of our time battle for their lives
Roller Disco Enjoy some funk-a-fide jams as you skate the rink (skates provided for all burners)
volunteer Light lanterns with Lamplighter procession starting at center camp every evening before dusk or go for a hike with Earth Guardians. Find information about volunteering at the V-Spot in center camp.

buy [edit]

Burning man has a no-vending rule, which means there"s really not all that much to buy in Black Rock City. Citizens of Black Rock City are expected to adhere to a spirit of self-reliance and come to the event having prepared with shelter as well as enough food and water for the entire duration of their stay.Despite the spirit of self-reliance, most participants bring extra resources to provide to fellow burners, which includes gifting. ) bring their skills and talents to put together camps and art pieces as gifts to the event. genrally discouraged to gift things that do not have personal meaning and that will ultimately end up in the land fill. Gifting works best when it is thoughtful and does not have to be a physical thing.

There are four places you can spend money. One is at the Center Camp Cafe(see below) for coffee and other snacks. The others three are ice dispensaries like Camp Arctica(in Center Camp and at the 9 o "clock and 3 o" clock plazas), where Burning Man volunteers sell bags of ice at $3 a pop for participants to use. (The short lifespan of ice in the desert, even in the best of coolers, makes this an unfortunate necessity.)

Outside of these four locations, there is no officially sanctioned commercial activity due to the principle of decommodification. This means that participants should not place monetary value on what they give or exchange on the playa, as this inherently commodifies them. As a result, all sales (for profit, at cost, and at a loss) and barter is frowned upon. Although some people inevitably break these rules by trying to sell or trade items (including illegal substances), they are often taken to be tourists (those who didn't bother to prepare or adhere to the rules of the event) or law enforcement officers trying to trick participants into illicit acts. Participants will often be pleasantly surprised by the gifts they receive on the playa, but should not expect specific items to be provided to them by other burners upon request.

Despite this ban on commercial activities, visitors will find numerous cafes, bars, shops, workshops, lessons, musical performances, and art exhibits which are free. Night life in the city is particularly lively. Volunteering and supporting these "places of business" is a great opportunity to gift back to Black Rock City. Be advised that opening hours may be limited (often found in the WWW guide given at entry to the event).

Eat [edit]

In keeping with the non-commercial, self-sufficient nature of Burning Man, there are (with one exception) no food stores or restaurants within the borders of Black Rock City. Participants are expected to bring in all the food they need for the week, as well as any cooking equipment needed to prepare it.

That said, many theme camps give away food on a daily basis or have special events with free food. Scan the theme camp listings and the Who What Where event guide for details. Talking to neighbors can also garner invitations to more informal meals.

Center Camp Cafe, Center Camp ( large circular canvas tent in the middle of Center Camp circle). open 24 hours. Run by the Burning Man organization and staffed with volunteers, this large dusty cafe is one of the very few places in Black Rock City where money changes hands. Only specialty coffee drinks and tea drinks are available (no food). There are also musical performances at all times of day or night, as well as yoga classes and the like. You can meet veterans and newcomers alike in the Cafe. $3-$5 ( per item).

Dust City Diner

What to see and visit in the USA, what not to miss: "Black Desert" Black Rock in Nevada

The "Black Desert" in the US state of Nevada is an amazing corner of our planet, heated by an endless number of volcanic formations, geothermal springs and pools - evidence that the earth is still alive and glowing with heat in these places.

In the photo below you can see the Trego Hot Springs churning in the south of the Black Rock Desert.

The length of the black desert is 110 km with a width of 32 km.

The Black Rock Desert is part of the dried-up prehistoric lake Laontan, which existed 18-7 thousand years BC during the last ice age.

Now the black desert has turned into a salt marsh - an endorheic lake in northwestern Nevada.

The sand of the Black Rock Desert is colored black due to its volcanic origin.

Fly Geothermal Geyser

Can a miracle be both man-made and natural? Seeing hot geysers called Fly soar into the clouds, you will understand that sometimes human intervention helps the universe to reveal its beauty. The small geothermal geyser Fly in Nevada is a natural-man-made miracle that confirms the proverb and saying with its existence: "There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped" and "Small, but daring."

Meet the famous geyser called Fly. Minerals, algae and cyanobacteria give it this incredible color.

The flow of hot water of the Fly geyser does not stop for a second. The geyser constantly throws out three jets. Currently, its height is almost one and a half meters. And if you take into account the surrounding terraces and natural elevation, you get about 3.6 meters.

Once upon a time, on the site of this geyser was the Fly Ranch. In 1916, a rancher was drilling a well in hopes of turning the desert into fertile wet grasslands when he stumbled upon a geothermal pocket of water. Not having reached the desired goal, the well was covered. Only after several decades (in 1964) did boiling water from underground begin to break through the well to the surface. At the same time, a beautiful small fountain was formed, eventually creating this multi-colored beauty.

The underground water of this rugged land is full of various minerals and algae. The walls began to form at the geyser, it grew and grew stronger. Minerals painted this miracle in bright colors. But no one knew about it, it was surrounded by swamps and lost among the rest of the landscape.

Everything changed when a talented photographer wandered into these parts. He picked up a good angle and photographed the geyser as if Fly was a big mountain. The photo made a splash and, having spread through the media, attracted crowds of tourists to the geyser.

The owners of the land on which the geyser is located did not like such an invasion of the curious, and they surrounded the territory with fences and gates. The ranchers have been offered several times to sell their properties to open access to everyone, but so far they refuse. Therefore, to visit this attraction, you must first ask for permission to visit these lands from the owners.

This place is famous for its paleological features, as well as the fact that in the 19th century migration routes to California passed here. In addition, the speed of ground and rocket technology is often measured in this place.

The dry surface of the lake bottom in the southern part served as a testing ground for setting a land speed record. The speed record - 1,228 km / h - at a one-mile (1.6 km) distance was set by Andy Treen from Great Britain on the Trust SSC car in the Black Rock Desert in October 1997. The car was powered by two Rolls-Royce jet engines. This is the first car to exceed the speed of sound.

Burning Man Festival (Burning Man, Burning Man) in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada

Since the 1990s, the desert in Black Rock City, NV (pictured above) has hosted the annual Burning Man festival, which draws tens of thousands of people to the wilderness.

Burning Man is an eight-day annual event that begins on the last Monday in August at 10:00 AM. The climax occurs on Saturday after sunset, when a huge wooden statue of a man is burned.