ABSTRACT
Since its inception in the late 1980s, the festival known as Burning Man has drawn an international group of participants to its staging site in the Black Rock Desert of northwestern Nevada. Today it is one of the largest art festivals on the planet, currently drawing over 68,000 revelers to participate in its ideal of “radical self-expression.” The goal of Burning Man is to present a blank slate on which to create an ideal vision of the synthesis of art, music, and performance, and to take what is learned back to the global community. This credo has led to the production of numerous art projects that have subsequently gone on to have a second life beyond Burning Man. Through various initiatives such as the Black Rock Arts Project and other endeavors, many major works of public sculpture created for the festival have subsequently been installed in public locations around the country. This chapter investigates some of the major art projects that were conceived under the event’s theme of “radical self-expression” and how they have transmitted Burning Man’s ideals of community and participation to a broader global audience.
