Art is, nominally at least, the whole point of Burning Man. Without question, it's the most impressive collection of installation art anywhere on the planet, and in an incredible environment whose starkness adds drama to many of the creative pieces, particularly the large ones.

All the art except for the Man is built by volunteer artists, often with whole teams of other volunteers helping them, and is funded by wealthy patrons or crowdsourced donations. 

The BMORG provides some funding to some of the bigger art projects, but it doesn't come close to covering the cost for most of them. Some of the art out there takes years to build and thousand upon thousands of hours, and then poof, gets burned. The commitment the artists who make a lot of the art have to Burning Man is incredible, and we all owe them.

Much of the art is only there for one year, though some pieces occasionally repeat.  All in all, the art out there is a simply amazing spectacle where nobody cares about pedigree. It's about novelty, interactivity, and often scale.

Two pieces of art in particular deserve mention: The Man and the Temple.

"Truth and Beauty", from 2013.

The Man

2013

The Man is similar in shape every year, but differs enough from year to year to be distinct. Sometimes it stands on the ground, sometimes on a base. For instance, in 2013, the base was a giant spaceship that rotated.

The Man is built by the BMORG itself and is always located directly in the center of half-moon that is formed by Black Rock City.

On the final weekend, on Saturday night, the Man is burned, accompanied by fire dancers and loads of fireworks. It's a spectacle, though it's also just a big fire, depending on your point of view.

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The Temple

The Temple is a structure that is kind of organized by Burning Man, but is built by a volunteer artist and a team of volunteers. It's completely different every year, and when the design for the coming year's Temple is released, it's always newsworthy within the BM community. 

Designs have ranged from a low flowing canyon to a giant pyramid, such as the one to the right in 2013. My personal favorite was the Temple of Transition, in 2011 (below).

The Temple is a pretty intense place where people leave memorials to people who died that year, as well as whatever other messages or things they may wish to leave and have burned.

The Temple is burned on Sunday evening (the night after the Man burns) in a solemn ceremony that is mainly quiet.

2013

The Temple of Transition, 2011.

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