Events and Parties
Oh, It’s a Giant Robo-Buddha: See the Most Mind-Blowing Art From This Year’s Burning Man
Catch a glimpse of the massive artworks before they go up in smoke.
Catch a glimpse of the massive artworks before they go up in smoke.
Sarah Cascone ShareShare This Article
The 70,000 revelers who have set up camp in the Nevada desert for the 2017 edition of Burning Man did not come empty-handed. Artists and other creatives have constructed hundreds of monumental sculptures and other artworks in Black Rock City for the weeklong festival, which ends on September 4.
This year, Burning Man asked artists to create work inspired by the theme “Radical Ritual.” The resulting 320 registered pieces—some of which are huge light and fire installations—are formidable.
The ambitious projects include a Temple of Gravity by Zachary Coffin, which precariously suspends huge stones from five thin steel arms, and Múcaro, a 30-foot-tall wooden owl by an artist called El Nino.
Other highlights: a massive marionette by Miguel Ángel Martín Bordera, a towering flamingo-shaped observatory that provides an impressive view of the gathering’s sprawling desert encampment, and recurring favorite The Monaco, an RV that has been converted into a massive ship engineered to run on wind power. Steven Brummond, Marisha Farnsworth and Mark Sinclair built this year’s temple.
The artwork of Burning Man has also inspired an exhibition at the Nevada Museum of Art titled “City of Dust: The Evolution of Burning Man,” which explores the festival’s origins and explosive growth from a small countercultural event to a worldwide phenomenon.
The annual gathering, which began in 1986, centers around the ceremonial conflagration of a towering wooden effigy. This year, according to the Burning Man Journal, event organizers have “heard some criticism” due to the fact “that the Man is enclosed in a structure for the first time.”
Whether or not your a fan of the man’s new digs, they won’t stick around for long—it’s all going up in flames when the gathering ends on Monday.
See more photos of the festival below.