Burning Man 2011: Rites of Passage

Burning Man 2011: Over 50,000 Revellers At The Temple of Transition.

Burning Man 2011 Rites of Passage: New Art on the Playa

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Burning Man 2011, the week-long festival of free spirits, starts on August 29 and ends on September 5.

This annual event is held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada (on an ancient lakebed, known as the playa). On Saturday evening a large wooden effigy is burnt and this is the ritual from which the name of the festival came.

This year tickets sold out before the event (on July 24) for the first time in the festival history and 50,000 of attendees are expected.

Lots of artists will perform at the sound camps of the Burning Man.

Bass Camp, artists performing live: Sunrise, Lucent Dossier Experience, Eoto, Zebbler Encanti Experience,  The Mutator

Black Rock Syndicate (on Saturday banging music for banging people): Miss Genesis, Erik Lobe, Jeremy Espinosa, Plaza De Funk,

Dancetronauts: Dj Dan, Lowriderz, Neurodriver, Dutch Star, Drew Drop, Brian Peek, J.B. Vries, Dex Stakke

Disco Knights: Immy B, Bo, Chris Smith, M3, Anthony Mansfield

Fractal Nation Village: Desert Dwellers, Kalya Scintella, Kaminanda, Hopscotch, Auditory Canvas

Disorient: Doctor D, The Bass, Coyotee, Saadhu, Loomer

Distrikt: Erik Lobe, Music Savages, Worthy, M.A.N.D.Y., Lee Coombs

Mountain Mayhem: Cosmic Accident, Stephan Jacobs, ChrisB, Gladkill, Tom Cosm, Gold Rush, Robotic Pirate Monkey

Music Savages: Charlie Haskins, Justin Rickles, Skitch, Psyrus, Music Savages (before the Burn)

Opulent Temple: M.A.N.D.Y., D. Ramirez, Infected Mushroom (live), Hallucinogen (live), Shpongle (sunrise set), Donald Glaude

Osiris: Jelo, Vitamin Devo, Mira, Travis T, Peo de Pitte, Motorhome, Love and Light

Nexus: M.A.N.D.Y., Magda, Jamie Jones, Seth Troxler, Damian Lazarus, Treavor Moontribe

Robot Heart: D. Ramirez, Damian Lazarus, Deniz Kurtel, Lee Burridge, Erica Rhone, Destructo, Magda, Soul Clap

Burning Man began as a bonfire ritual on the summer solstice.

Now the project is focused on community, artwork (mutant vehicle), absurdity, decommodification and revelry.

Bicycles and tricycles are very popular, especially mountain bikes.

Burning Man has ten principles: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace (ecologically), participation, immediacy.

The impact of this event has been so profound that a culture has formed around it. Burning Man has over two thousand volunteers who work before, during and after the festival.