Burning Man: Encyclopedia II - Burning Man - History

Burning Man - History

The annual event now known as Burning Man began on the summer solstice in 1986 when Larry Harvey, Jerry James, and a few friends met on Baker Beach in San Francisco and burned an eight foot tall wooden man as well as a smaller wooden dog. The inspiration for burning these effigy figures has been shrouded in mystery by Harvey, who described it as "a spontaneous act of radical self-expression." However, sculptor Mary Grauberger, a friend of Harvey's girlfriend Janet Lohr, had held spontaneous art-party gatherings on Baker Beach on or about the summer solstice for several years prior to 1986, and the burning of sculpture was a central theme. In addition to the burning of sculpture, a key ingredient to the pre-Burning Man gatherings was the fact that Baker Beach is a cove area frequented by nudists. Another notable US-based effigy-burning is Zozobra, which occurs every fall during Santa Fe, New Mexico's "fiestas"; an approximately 50 foot tall "Old Man Gloom" has been burned every year at Zozobra since 1924.

Harvey attended some of the pre-Burning Man gatherings on Baker Beach, and when Grauberger stopped holding her parties, Harvey picked up the torch and ran with it, so to speak. Harvey asked Jerry James to build the first eight foot wooden effigy, which was much smaller and less artsy than the neon figure featured in the current ritual. In 1987, the effigy had grown to almost fifteen feet tall, and in 1988 it grew to around forty feet.

The name "Burning Man" came to Harvey when he was watching a video of the 1986 ritual. A member of the crowd watching the event shouted out "Wicker Man!", suggesting that the burning of the wooden effigy was somehow related to the ancient Celtic ritual of the Wicker Man, signifying rebirth. Harvey was the son of a Freemason, and (for Harvey) the use of wood in building the man had symbolic significance and was a critical part of the ritual; also, according to him, he did not see the movie The Wicker Man until many years later, so it played no part in his inspiration. Accordingly, rather than allow the name "Wicker Man" to become the name of the ritual, he started using the name "Burning Man."

John Law, as well as other members of the Cacophony Society, have been heavily involved in Burning Man since 1989. The event grew quickly, moving from Baker Beach in San Francisco to the Black Rock Desert of Nevada in 1990 after the burn scheduled for the summer solstice was shut down by police. After striking a deal to raise the Man but not to burn it on the beach, event organizers disassembled the effigy and returned it to a vacant lot where it had been stored. Shortly thereafter, the Man disappeared when the lot was unexpectedly paved over and converted into a parking lot. The effigy was then reconstructed by John Law, a member of the Cacophony Society who spearheaded the effort to move Burning Man to the Black Rock Desert, where the Cacophony Society had been hosting TAZ's (Temporary Autonomous Zones) for years.

As the event has grown, one of the challenges faced by the organizers has been balancing the freedom of participants with the requirements of various land management and law enforcement groups. Over the years, numerous restrictions have been put in place, such as bans on fireworks, firearms, dogs, and driving non-art cars. A notable restriction to attendees is the trash fence that bounds the pentagon of land used by the event on the southern edge of the Black Rock playa. Land beyond this fence is not available to burners. Some artists and early attendees believe the underlying freedoms and concepts of the Burning Man event have been reduced or eliminated by these restrictions, leading to criticism of the current event as being too structured and controlled. Additionally, some believe the event's rapid growth and arid location (where the natural healing effect of the winter rains is not as effective) has caused environmental degradation of the Black Rock Desert. The Burning Man organization strongly denies that the event has ever caused any damage, and has gone so far as to post misinformation about opponents (such as the Stop Burning Man folks) on the AfterBurn portion of the burningman.com website. The films Dust Devils (2001 & 2002) and BurnBabyBurn (2000 & 2001) give a fair representation of the event, though neither claim to be comprehensive guides.

Burning Man - Timeline

Statistics showing the growth of the Burning Man festival, according to a timeline on BurningMan.com:

The event has changed considerably as it grew from a small handful of people on a beach in San Francisco to over 35,500 people attending the festival in 2005. The scale of the event has increased enormously, and the Black Rock City LLC has in turn become more structured. In 1997 a group of people began a much smaller festival both as an alternative to and as a parody of Burning Man. The so-called Burning Shithead Festival takes place in Joshua Tree National Park every year at the same time as Burning Man. An Anti-BurningMan also formed with an emphasis on fewer restrictions, occurring just before Burning Man such that the less-ironic could still attend both. It is unclear what has become of it.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki