Burning Man festival bankrupt?

Forced to cancel its last two editions, the Nevada festival, with its debatable evolution, is playing its survival with an auction.

© Duncan Rawlinson

Will the large wooden effigy, the one that gives its name to the event, be set ablaze again next year for the famous Burning Man closing ceremony? Nothing is less sure. The arts festival dedicated to counter-culture, which brings together nearly 80,000 campers in the Black Rock desert (Nevada) each year at the end of summer, has been forced to cancel its 2020 and 2021 editions due to the pandemic. With nearly 90% of deadweight losses in 2020 and a year 2021 without income, the festival's accounts are at their worst.

To find the path to financial stability and ensure the existence of a new edition next summer, Burning Man has partnered with Sotheby's for the organization of a charity auction. One hundred eighty contributing artists, including Burning Man regulars and newcomers to the "community", donated all or part of their profits from the sale of their works. Sotheby's, for its part, has agreed to waive certain ongoing charges. "We don't have enough funds to last until December ," explains Marian Goodell, festival director. This operation is vital and for us, it must allow us to keep our employees. "The sale, held online from 30 September to 8 October, posted a total of over $ 1 million (€ 865,000) in profits for the festival, with some bids exceeding $ 100 000 (86 500 €).

In the salons of Sotheby's, the eclectic collection of objects brought together for the occasion denoted something. "We have NFTs, experiential sculptures, "mutant vehicles", jewelry, photographs, paintings, installations by artists from all continents, explains Harrison Tenzer, director of digital strategy at Sotheby's. This is the most diverse sale I have ever seen. "The works collected were intended rooted in the culture of the festival. They are similar to those that can be found on site, and true to the commitment of "radical inclusiveness" of "self-sufficiency" and "sharing. "

Money, Instagram, and air conditioning

Burning Man started as a small impromptu gathering of artists and friends on Baker Beach in San Francisco (California). To celebrate the summer solstice, in 1986 they decided to set a wooden effigy on fire. Since then, it has become an internationally recognized festival, which each year transforms a corner of the Nevada desert into a real city, "Black Rock City", a giant ephemeral campsite. To stay there one week, festival-goers pay between 400 and 1,400 dollars (345 and 1,200 €) for their entrance ticket and more for their equipment, brave sandstorms, and infernal heat. They contribute with a "project" that can take several months of preparation: a costume, a work of art, a bar, or even a "camp" formation.

Burning Man is very proud of its egalitarian ideals, its culture of giving (on-site, the participants provide everything), and its social and ecological activism. However, over the years, his village has also gradually populated luxury camps for the ultra-rich and Instagram stars, most often funded by brands that use the event to communicate on social networks. In 2019, Marian Goodell had made the decision to close one of these camps, Humano The Tribe, which was negotiating its most expensive accommodation at 100,000 dollars for two bedrooms and "quality air conditioning". The director then said she was "shocked" by the "Commodification and increasing exploitation of the culture of Black Rock City by some of the participants".

According to a large-scale study between 2013 and 2016, the typical "Burner" would now be a white man, living in the United States, wealthy, and graduated. More than a quarter of them would earn more than $ 100,000 a year. "They swear by solar energy but come right in the middle of the desert with semi-trailers stuffed with generators to power the neon lights and the sound of the DJs", confides a regular, regretting evolution of the festival contrary to the spirited original. This is a subject on which Marian Goodell has already committed to work for the next edition. If it takes place.

© Bartholomew Glama, Correspondent for Le Journal des Arts

Video about the history of the festival