Burning Man LIVE

Watch on YouTube .  Stanford Professor and social psychologist Brian Lowery talked with Stuart in Black Rock City to reimagine the myth of the self-reliant individual. From the power of connection to the dangers of modern isolation, and the erasure of "third spaces" in the default world, Brian breaks down the social science of flourishing community. They explore how the friction-filled unique...

Dystopia is compelling. What’s the opposite? Hope. Xtina Chu and Corey Johnson talk in Black Rock City about all things interesting with our solar future happening now! They share how in an age of cynicism, optimism is the ultimate punk rock rebellion. What started as a DIY experiment battling fierce winds has evolved into a megawatt array gifting clean-energy to EV art cars and fuel-free theme ca...

Watch on YOUTUBE . Watch this adventure (recorded in Black Rock City) about how art is built, and how it finds its people.  Dr. Diane Hoffoss designs, crafts, and finds funding for interactive art in BRC and out in the wide world.  See the art and the conversation with Andie Grace about unsolved problems, lasers, and joy.  “Inspired positivity and joy, bringing all this happiness ba...

Jamie Wheal, author of Stealing Fire and Recapture the Rapture, and the viral article The Man WILL Burn! , joins Stuart to unpack the cultural anthropology of peak states. They explore how Black Rock City serves as a crucible for thriving in the future.  They deep dive into: Hedonic Engineering: Inducing bliss without cravings, healing without the cringe, and communing without it becoming a c...

Watch it on YouTube. No spoilers. This is the making of the docuseries The Man Will Burn. This is the context for what was filmed, who said what, and what got cut; the cameras and the chaos (and the quinoa). Burning Man Project’s CEO Marian Goodell talks with Jehane Noujaim Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and director. They share the creative challenge of assembling Burning Man’s story from a mo...

5 leaders from the 5 Regional Burns of Australia!  They focus on collaboration more than contraptions, connection more than complexity. Aurora, Tasmania: Lara, aka Squeaky Queen, on the logistics of being an island off an island. Blazing Swan, Western Australia: Shaz on navigating extreme weather with 3,700 friends. Burning Seed, New South Wales: Leanna, aka Mama, on restructuring into a member-ow...

For decades, Charlie has led some of Black Rock City's monumental works of art. He isn’t just the prolific mind behind iconic pieces like Elder Mother, an illuminated storytelling tree; he’s an architect of human connection. He co-created and develops:  Illumination Village - an early and long running home-within-a-home at Black Rock City The Flaming Lotus Girls - the all-volunteer, women-led art...

Watch it on YouTube . What do you get when you mix 3,200 Burners, a lush Canadian forest, and a summer fire ban? Oh, and an event theme that is literally just the word... MOIST. Wander through the woods of Otherworld, one of British Columbia’s rapidly growing Regional Burns. Coordinators of creative chaos Jax and Zephyr share what it takes to conjure Burning Man culture in the Pacific Northwest Ho...

Watch it on YouTube here .  What happens when Burner behavior goes under the microscope? Sociologists, ecologists, and economists have been on this show. Now we’re looking at this culture through a new lens: primatology. Isabel Behncke is an evolutionary biologist and a Burning Man Project Board Member. From tracking bonobos in the jungle to observing humans on playa, she shares her groundbreaking...

This culture started in dust and ephemerality. We build metropolises of art and fire, then we leave no trace. How do we translate that inspiration into a rhythm for everyday life? What happens when a temporary autonomous zone puts down roots? The Borderland is Scandinavia's largest and longest running Burning Man Regional event. It’s "working out loud" culture fosters radical trust, allowing the c...

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/irkEajUVRgI Most people in Black Rock City live together in placed camps (theme camps), the most unique aspect of this unique event. BRC has 1400 camps. Theme Camps = Communal Effort + Intimacy + Self-Expression Theme campers gift a uniquely decommodified ‘third place’ of offerings and ambiance. At this annual symposium, staff and volunteers share how they gi...

Remember that whiteout in deep playa? That prepared you for a NASA mission to space, maybe. Andie Grace talks with Samuel M. Coniglio, aka Ranger Cosmonaut, and Spaceman Sam. He isn't just a ten-year Black Rock Ranger and a veteran of the legendary Neverwas Haul (that three-story Victorian house on wheels)... He’s a writer, inventor, and futurist who worked on the Space Shuttle and the ISS. From h...

George Paap, a pioneer of the Burning Man Regional network, talks with Andie Grace. He founded Burning Flipside in Texas, the first-ever Burning Man sanctioned event beyond the desert. What inspired him? Black Rock City 1997. He found freedom there, and it sparked a lifelong mission. Hear his adventures of building a culture from scratch, and why, as a futurist, he believes Burners are steady & re...

There’s a world of civic hacking where "making cool stuff" meets "making useful stuff." Hear tinkerers, gearheads and other makers share about the inventions that won them Burners Without Borders Civic Ignition Grants. These grants are little sparks that fire up the next level of open-source technology for all of our community, and for all the world. Colin Jemmott and MJ Brovold of YOUtopia, the S...

Insightful. World-Building. Spit-take inducing. Mark Day’s videos serve as a digital gateway for many thousands of Burners, capturing that blurry edge where the default world ends and the playa begins.  From his early days building tripper trappers and doing stand up comedy, to his controversial tinkering with AI art (think Dalmatians made of donuts), Mark has put 10,000 hours into his “24 Hours a...

It's absurd. It perturbs. It’s the most wonderful time of the year! (And boy has it been a year!) Following in the footsteps of show-biz luminaries like Stephen Colbert, Jon Stuart, and the cast of Star Wars, we hosted a (non-denominational) holiday show in front of a live online pseudo-studio audience in 2020. Broadcasting from their snowed-in virtual holiday cabins, Stuart and Andie entertained...

His huge steel sculptures have graced Black Rock City for decades, then found forever homes in cities, festivals, and private collections around the world. Hear veteran structural sculptor Michael Christian go deep and wide about his Burning Man art, from a tree of bones to a 65-foot tall tower. He shares about his installation "Down the Drain," a commentary on human alignment, or misalignment......

RootHub (aka Aloha) weaves the core values and shared struggle of building Black Rock City and his work in Hawai‘i. He draws inspiration from the Hawaiian people’s concept of kuleana (responsibility to the land and community). When he’s not building BRC with DPW, or playing music to amplify people’s stories, he’s diverting food waste from landfills and incinerators into much needed, nutrient-dense...

He brought theme camps and art installations to Black Rock City, and yes, he DJed! Now he brings the spirit of kindness and collaboration (and Do-ocracy) into creating public policy. He co-founded a Burning Man Regional nonprofit. He directed a cultural arts center. He collaborated on cultural policy for racial equity, social justice, and creative sustainability. He ran the Seattle Office of Arts...

“I think therefore I am.” ~Descartes John Jennifer adds:  I care therefore we are… and you cannot think your way to ‘we’ He is a poet, an architect, and a cultural instigator. He helped create The Museum of No Spectators which includes Burning Man art of snark and social justice, but no velvet ropes. He’s a paradox embracer. In a world of binaries, he asserts that between black and white is not a...

She’s a longtime senior leader of the Black Rock Rangers and the principal of the Gerlach K-12 School. Keeper lives year-round in Gerlach, one of the smallest and most remote towns in the US, and the closest community to Black Rock City. In this storytelling episode, she shares her unique perspective on blending the worlds of Burning Man and rural life. She tells the tales of keeping the town’s sc...

Black Rock City has an airport, a hospital, a post office... and yes, an observatory! For a decade, the Black Rock Observatory has served as a portal to the cosmos, bringing deep space to the desert. Father-and-son Zoom and Robin Newhouse are at the helm of the observatory that houses several telescopes for viewing planets, galaxies, and even our sun. They offer a museum of meteorites that are bil...

Recorded in Black Rock City, you can hear the grainy gravitas of their voices... For decades now, Jon Sarriugarte, Kyrsten Mate, their daughter and their team build mobile art.  From a meter maid cart turned space shuttle, to a custom copper retro fire snail on wheels, their creations make up part of BRC's moving landscape. They built a trilobite to ride, a gilded golden zeppelin car, and a noir s...

Hear the stories of the art and artists. Black Rock City hosts 400 artworks from around the world. This episode features 12 of them, and this year’s Temple.  This is a sonic journey of artist's recordings and chats with Burning Man Project's Director of Art, Katie Hazard.  Desert Arts Preview is your chance to step behind the scenes and listen to the process of creating interactive, collaborative,...

REMASTERED FOR 2025: Our most popular episode of all time.  Listen in as longtime Burners talk about the dynamic aspects of thriving in Black Rock City: mental, physical, material, and relational. Andie, kbot, Molly, Stuart, and Vav explore: socks secrets FOMO variants saying yes and saying no giving and accepting help No Friends Monday and much more and other and new! Featuring cameos from longti...