Get ready for some weird stuff here! You may wanna check out the official website of the Burning Man Project before you continue reading here to get a clue what this is all about.

It all started a couple of years ago when some people gathered on a beach in San Francisco and burned a wooden figure. They thought that was pretty neat and therefore they gathered again in following year. But then, much more people showed up, and the beach got too small. A new place was needed, and that is the Black Rock Desert, about 100 miles northeast of Reno/Nevada. Every year early September an art community will be founded in this desert and after one week it will disappear again. During this time, thousands come there and bring their exibits, also called "installations". This year the population was almost 15,000! Everybody is an artist in some way, spectators are not allowed.

Now what kinds of installations will you find? I have a small collection here of those that I found most impressive. Although, I must admit that of course I haven't seen everything in this camp because one week is just too short.

First, we have the man, which is located in the center of it all. There is a wide open area in the shape of a semi circle around the man which is called the playa, which is reserved for installations only. Then, around the playa is the village where people have their camps and where smaller exibits are located too. The man is made of wood and can be seen from anywhere in town, especially in the night, because it is well equipped with neon lights. During the course of the week people load the man with lots of fire crackers. The last night of that festival is "burning night". Most of the exibits will be burnt down. And it gets really wild on that night, much wilder than the days and nights before.

This is one of several statues that were burried in the desert sand on the playa. In the night they were lit by candles that made the look like ghosts.

Now how do you throuw Barbie or a Teddy over 100 meters? Very simple, place them in the funnel, pull the rope and let go...

"A very large array" is the name of this really interesting installation. Loudspeakers that would play any kinds of noises were placed on rods. You can sit down in any corner of the array where you like the sound most and start meditating. It is amazing how easy it is to generate some really nice sound effects and they don't get boring.

This gate is equipped with lots of brushes (from hard to soft) and gives you quite a nice massage. Many camps were dedicated to massage, sometimes combined with sunscreen because the sun would burn you in the daytime.

No comment on this guy...

How about some ice-skating? Unfortunately, we are in the desert here and the temperatures wouldn't really allow that. Doesn't matter, then we go mud-skating, that works just as great... Make sure you don't trip!

The dimensions of the camp are pretty big and it takes you more than 20 minutes to walk from end to the other. (That is, if you don't stop at any of the hundreds of camps you'll pass on the way...) How do we get around faster? Most folks use their bycicles for that purpose. But yea, we need some music too!

If you don't like to go by bike, you can have the luxury of a driving living room, or a driving bar.

And still others don't drive, they fly...

When the sun somes out it gets pretty hot. One way to stay cool is to reflect the sunlight by putting on a silver coat.

Another way to stay cool is to throw yourself into a mudpit. The mud acts as a shield for the "ultraviolent" sun and the water cools you down as it evaporates in no time.

And still another way is to wear a hat...

Besides the sun, the wind can also become pretty violent. It is just a matter of minutes for a storm to come. Then the camp disappears under a dust cover.

When you see the following pictures you will understand the nature of Burning Man. You will also undrstand why I've chosen a black background for this page.

One of the first exibits that were burning was an oversized "can" or Budweiser Light that was set on fire. It was burning really well, thanks to the gasoline.

After delaying this event a couple of times, eventually they started the burning of the mosk at 3:00 o'clock in the morning. Some people already thought that this announcement would still be a joke, but then it turned out to be real. While a bunch of naked folks was chasing around the building in what appeared to me as some tribal dance, others started the fire in the center...

... which then spread out to the sides and it was most impressive when the towers cought fire too. Everytime one of the towers fell, the masses were screeming.

Now the man looks different than on the first picture where his arms are low. When the hands raise, it can be seen from anywhere in the camp and everybody starts their pilgrimage to the man, which will be set on fire pretty soon.

It was actually pretty scary when the man started burning and the fire crackers were set off into every possible direction.

This actually is one of my favorite pictures. This is a mosk that got built from thousands of little plastic pieces such as dolls, telephones and other plastic trash. At night the lamps behind the walls turn it into an incredibly beautiful building. This most is also used as a stage, you can see it on the left side. Fortunately, this is one of the few exibits that won't burn during the course of the festival.

Although the organizers and rangers don't endorse the use of drugs, they are always there. Whereever you go, the smell of pot will always be around. Apparently, people get really out of conntrol, especially at burning night. So it happend that one of our group members did not show up in time on the day we were leaving and I stayed behind to wait for him. Eventually I made a very shocking discovery at the medical camp where they told me that he had be found beat up with head fractures and hurt eyes and was brought to a hospital in Reno by air. This is another reason why Burning Man was one of the most shocking (in a good and bad way) experiences in my life.