It began on 28 August and will run until 5 September: Burning Man is a festival in Nevada, but also a city that springs up and disappears in a matter of days, where anything is possible. But not without rules.
We are in the Nevada desert, the Black Rock, specifically at Black Rock City, 150 kilometres north-north-east of Reno, where thousands of people gather every year for Burning Man, a festival of possibility and, at the same time, of the ephemeral. It began on 28 August and will last only a few days, this phenomenon of free cultural expression that is, perhaps, not truly free at all.
Officially it was born in 1991, but some claim that the first effigy burned on the beach — from which the festival takes its name — dates back to 1986. This would therefore be Burning Man's thirtieth anniversary, an event that now draws thousands of people attracted by the possibility of expressing themselves freely in the middle of the desert, far from society, yet at the same time within a community that differs from the usual, though governed by a set of precepts.
Perhaps the most original and unusual aspect is its being a small town that is born and dies in a matter of days, along with the related dynamics that emerge for sharing and interacting among participants. Some arrive in the Nevada desert out of curiosity, some to give their artistic forms a stage, others still out of deeply held ethical beliefs. Whatever the reason, what comes to life is a fully fledged community that sustains and manages itself according to certain age-old practices — bartering and exchange, for instance: at Burning Man no money is used, and instead the search for alternative ways of meeting one's needs is encouraged.
But that is just one of the many rules governing this gathering, capable of mobilising more than 60,000 people in recent editions, undeterred by the privations, the 40-degree daytime heat and the bitter cold of the night, the sandstorms, and the discomforts of life in the middle of the desert.
This realm of possibility and freedom is coveted by many, and on the festival's official website an entire page is dedicated to how to participate in Burning Man: you can create installations, other free art forms, volunteer, and more, but what you really need to know is that buying a ticket is required. The ticket, which comes in various formats, costs around 380 dollars.
You must also respect all the community's rules of this city with an expiry date: there is a survival guide, a true handbook in which all the festival's directives are explained in detail. From the most practical matters — what you can bring with you into the desert and what is prohibited — through to more important ethical aspects that are listed as the 10 principles of Burning Man:
While some principles are easy to understand, others perhaps require an explanation. Immediacy, for instance, is in many cases the cornerstone of Burning Man's cultural value: "we seek to overcome the barriers that stand between us and an awareness of our inner selves, the reality of the things around us, participation in society, and contact with a world that transcends human perception. No idea can replace this experience." And from psycho-philosophical aspects to the concept of the gift: "Burning Man is based on giving without receiving anything in return. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value."
The environmental impact of thousands of people in a normally uninhabited desert area of Nevada is a factor that must be considered carefully. Participants arrive with their own camping equipment, electricity generators, food and water for their own survival (the only things on sale in the city are ice and coffee) and inevitably produce waste, altering the state of the place.
Burning Man's organisation is, on paper, highly attentive to all possible environmental concerns and sets out precise guidelines on its own website: leaving no trace, one of the 10 principles, covers water waste, sustainable transport, recycling, composting and much more. All guidance falls under the acronym Moop, Matter out of place — that is, anything that does not come from the earth and was not originally there must be removed and taken away once the festival is over. In practice, however, it is not clear what is actually left behind in the desert.
Every year Burning Man has a different theme; this year's is Leonardo da Vinci. The festival organisers draw clear parallels and connections between the Italian Renaissance — and therefore Florence — and the "momentary" city of Burning Man: humanistic ideals, the rediscovery of science, and the patronage of a newly wealthy class of entrepreneurs fuelled a revolutionary cultural movement that redefined Western civilisation. Five centuries later, the aim is to recreate this powerful social alchemy through a combination of art, culture and creative philanthropy, making Black Rock City the epicentre of a new renaissance. A comparison that is perhaps bold, but interesting.
Anyone wishing to stay informed about this annual event can refer, in addition to the official website, Burningman, to that of some Italian festival participants who share news and meet periodically, Italianburners.