Surreal photos from Burning Man take you deep inside the madness

Over the past 32 years, Burning Man has evolved from a bonfire among friends in San Francisco to an international phenomenon attended by modern-day hippies and tech moguls alike.

Roughly 70,000 “burners” descended on the playa in Black Rock City, Nevada, last weekend for the annual counterculture gathering. The festival is offering its fare of surreal art installations, 130 musical acts, celebrity sightings, and out-of-this-world fashion. This year’s Burning Man kicked off on August 26.

Some say you have to experience the world of Burning Man to understand its magic. In the meantime, these photos of Burning Man 2017 offer a glimpse of what it’s like to attend.

---

Each year, a city rises on a remote swath of desert in Nevada. Burners call this temporary metropolis “Black Rock City.”

---

The festival forms in the same shape every year: a giant semi-circle.

---

Nearly 70,000 people, known as “burners,” come for the nine-day event.

---

They arrive by private plane, car, or “mutant vehicle” — a souped-up theme car.

---

This anthropomorphic tree is actually a mode of transportation.

http://instagr.am/p/BYYWKkeArnH

---

So is this light-strung vehicle.

---

Founded in 1986, Burning Man celebrates notions of self-expression, civic responsibility, and art. There are 10 core principles that exemplify the festival's culture.

Source:Burning Man

---

These range from "radical inclusion" — the belief that anyone may be a part of Burning Man — to a ban on commercial sponsorships, transactions, and advertising on festival grounds.

---

No money changes hand throughout the event. People can gift items to each other.

---

But the festival isn't free. Tickets in 2017 started at $425 per person.

Source: Burning Man

---

Participants bring everything they need, including food, water, and shelter.

---

The festival is also known for its dust storms. Goggles and bandanas help.

---

Some choose to go by "playa names," instead of their real ones. The woman pictured below calls herself Lulu.

---

Clothing is optional.

---

But costumes are encouraged. Though the fashion on the playa is imaginative, attendees do follow trends, including goggles, sparkly spandex, unicorn horns ...

http://instagr.am/p/BYcTTi_h5SP

---

And lots of color.

---

Steve MacWithey, also known as "Man in the Mirror," made his mirrored suit by hand.

Source: Instagram/@reviewjournal

---

Burners throw wild parties that last from dawn into the night.

---

Elite crowds are common. Some 79% of 2016's participants were white, and their median household income exceeded $94,000 a year, more than double the county’s median.

Source: Archinect

---

When one-percenters invade Burning Man, they bring luxury with them.

---

Ultrarich festivalgoers can charter a private plane or helicopter to the event. A week before it starts, volunteers cobble together the Black Rock City Airport on a dusty road.

---

The company Black Rock Helicopters even decks out vehicle interiors in burner-style.

---

There are a variety of accommodations to choose from, depending on budget.

---

Most festivalgoers stay in tents or camp in their vans.

http://instagr.am/p/BYWhAfwA54l

---

Many more stay in theme camps, where small communities form. Camps emerged as a way for groups of burners to create spaces for interactive experiences. They also offer shelter.

---

Eventually, luxury camping sites known as "plug and play" camps made their way to Burning Man. Guests shell out thousands of dollars a night.

---

Those who want to be more secluded live in Black Rock City's "suburbs," the far-out areas that are less dense.

---

Of course, burners often want to spend as little time indoors as possible.

---

These two, Dustin Smith and Rebecca Wyatt, threw a wedding at Burning Man 2017. They got married in the middle of the desert.

---

The art installations are as wild as ever. This family of bears at 2017's Burning Man was made from pennies.

---

Check out the bears up close.

---

These burners gave a dance performance as the "Playa Players Collective" orchestra played Stravinsky's "Rites of Spring" in front of a huge, glowing art project called the "Tree of Tenere."

---

An artist collective, called Big Imagination Foundation, built a glow-in-the-dark jumbo jet as an art installation.

---

The burner pictured below is filling out a form that details his "emotional baggage" inside the jet:

---

This robot made of toy cars and action figures gave us the heebie-jeebies.

---

One burner traversed the playa in a car wrapped in a cymbal-banging monkey toy.

---

A three-headed woman wrapped in shrouds gave some burners pause.

---

There's tons of performance art. The alien-like people pictured below formed a small parade.

---

This performer spun a flaming staff.

---

While this group of burners dressed as furry animals danced on a pier.

---

Some burners competed blindfolded, oiled wrestling matches.

---

Others, suspended in the air, participated in a friendly fight in Death Guild's Thunderdome.

---

Day-time temperature highs reached the upper 90s.

Source: SF Gate

---

These attendees watched as one art installation was set ablaze.

---

The flames reached great heights. On the last night of the festival, participants burn "the man," a giant, flammable stick figure.

---

The festival is a temporary break from normal life, until everyone packs up on September 3. Black Rock City will then disappear — until next year.