Burning Man LIVE

By Burning Man Project

Society & Culture Arts Education Philosophy Visual Arts

What's Burning Man LIVE about?

Meet those who make Burning Man happen, beyond the desert and out in the world. Artists, activists, and innovators. Builders and Burners, freaks and fools. Burning Man floats on a sea of stories, and the Burning Man LIVE podcast is a plucky little boat with a microphone.

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Burning Man LIVE episodes:

05.29.2024
¡El Pulpo Magnífico!
“While there are many beloved mutant vehicles out there, El Pulpo, in both of its incarnations, is the most ‘beloved.’” ~Chef Juke, Communications lead for the Department of Mutant Vehicles El Pulpo Magnífico is a 28-foot tall giant octopus, a demented...
05.15.2024
A People’s History of Burning Man - Volume 2
Back by popular demand, more stories from Burning Man’s oral history project, an ambitious endeavor to track down and talk with people who helped shape the culture as we now know it. Stuart and Andie remember to remember the most memorable...
05.01.2024
Burning in Europe: Stories of Home
Burners from around Europe gather to teach and learn and to conjure ideas for the future. Burning Man’s 7th European Leadership Summit just happened, and we recorded some conversations for you. Passionate people from the corners of Europe share with Stuart...
04.17.2024
Fire in the Hole - Vets in BRC
There are a whole lot of military veterans in Burning Man’s history and Black Rock City’s neighborhoods. Combat veterans Dr Raymond Christian (Army) and Samuel Williams (Marines) share stories with Stuart Mangrum (Air Force) about transitioning into civilian life, bringing...
04.03.2024
The Evolution of Robot Heart
Robot Heart started with a simple sound system on an old double-decker bus at Black Rock City. Over the years, it has evolved into a bespoke sound system, light arrays, iconic art, and an all-star lineup of musical talent performing...
03.20.2024
When Moshe Met Burning Man
Moshe Kasher has lived many lives as a subculture vulture - a hearing child of deaf parents, an addict at 15, in recovery at 16, a raver, a culturally Jewish standup comedian, an old-school Burner, and a longtime Gate volunteer....
03.06.2024
Tahoe Mack and the Monumental Mammoth
This is one of those full-circle stories that makes our dusty hearts glow a little brighter. It’s the tale of big art that emerged from a fossil-filled trash heap, came to life in Black Rock City, then returned to its...
02.21.2024
The Mystery of Clit-Henge
The Tip of the Iceberg is a 30-foot tall clitoris of stone, steel, and cement, fabricated to be monumental like Stonehenge, thus the nickname Clit-Henge. It aroused a lot of conversation at Black Rock City 2023. It’s the phallic symbol’s...
02.07.2024
Urban Planning for a Desert Dreamscape
Black Rock City is a temporary metropolis of 80,000 people who inhabit 1,600 theme camps and support camps. That means nine out of 10 participants' plans are coordinated by the Placement team — a handful of dedicated staff who...
01.24.2024
FrostBurn: Share the Warmth
What are the coldest, most teeth-chattering, brrrr-iest of all the sanctioned Burning Man events around the world? FrostBurn is one of them, and its participants make it happen in the dead of winter on purpose, annually since 2008. Subzero temperatures, rain,...
01.10.2024
A People's History of Burning Man
Stories. This collection is from Burning Man’s oral history project, an ambitious endeavor to track down and record interviews with people who helped shape the culture as we now know it. Stuart and Andie “Actiongrl” Grace share some of the...
12.23.2023
Preaching to the Playa Choir
Many people are surprised to learn that Black Rock City is home to not just two full orchestras, also a Playa Choir complete with a secular Sunday sermon. Since 2012 Madi has been organizing and arranging the choir's harmonies and...
12.23.2023
Orchestral Maneuvers on the Playa
Some people are surprised to learn that Black Rock City is home to not just one but two full-fledged symphony orchestras. While the Black Rock Philharmonic kicks out the classical jams, the Playa Pops brings the big-ensemble sound to popular...
12.13.2023
L’Osti Québec! The 11th Principle of Poutine
Have you stumbled upon Midnight Poutine in Black Rock City? Maybe you listened to Québecois rock as you waited for some of that crispy, cheesy goodness? As with many camps on playa, Midnight Poutine is the cultural tip of the...
11.29.2023
Dana Albany: Dreaming in Metal and Glass
Dana Albany has come a long way since her first art project in the Black Rock Desert, a scrap-wood camel that got her started making things out of found materials, from discarded metal and broken glass to sun-bleached cattle bones...
11.16.2023
George Reed: Invisible MOOP and the Net-Zero
We committed to be carbon-negative by 2030. How will we do it? We have “Burning” right in our name. When it comes to solar, biofuels, and energy banks, we have many irons in the fire, or rather, we are planting...
08.22.2023
Mysteries of Desert Wildlife with Dr Lisa Beers
The desert seems lifeless, yet it’s home to a whole lifecycle of bugs and animals from bunnies to foxes, from lions to horses to – most dangerous of all – COWS! Hear about the hidden lives of all that’s alive...
07.09.2023
Brody Scotland: Art From the Inside Out
How would you overcome shyness at BRC? How would you break people’s brains at SantaCon? How would you acculturate museum docents to Burner culture? Brody Scotland tells how she did it, and how she went from hating Black Rock City to working year...
06.15.2023
The Streets of Black Rock City
Stuart and Burning Man’s Community Services head honcho Terry “Retro” Schoop riff on the streets of our fair city and the naming thereof, from the controversial to the miraculous to the misunderstood. Black Rock City has elaborate art themes, each...
06.02.2023
Steven Blumenfeld: The Tech of Art and the Art of Tech
Yes, Burning Man has a Chief Technology Officer, and his name is Steven Blumenfeld. In this episode Stuart chats with “Bloom” about art, innovation, immediacy, and the power of the unexpected, with trippy side trips into AR, VR, and AI...
05.17.2023
John Turner Trippingly Yours
Psychedelics advocate and amateur Burning Man scholar John Turner’s two passions come together in one interdimensional rabbit-hole of a website: Trippingly.net. In compiling the ultimate fan site of Burning Man history, John has captured a lot of great playa stories,...
04.20.2023
Roxane Jessi: Once Upon a Time in the Dust
She traveled to six continents for Burning Man Regional Events, to get to the heart of an ever-evolving global culture that creates community in a disconnected world. She wrote a book about it, and we published it! It chronicles her odyssey...
04.06.2023
Let's Go Build a City: Camp Symposium 2023
Most people in BRC live together in placed camps, aka theme camps, the most unique aspects of a most unique event. There are almost 1300 camps in BRC. The annual Camp Symposium brought together dozens of staff and volunteers to...
03.23.2023
Katie Hazard: Art is How We Got Here
Katie Hazard leads Art Management for Burning Man and the committee that grants more than a million dollars to artists each year to create art that’s first stop (and sometimes only stop) is Black Rock City. She shares about some of...
03.01.2023
Monique Schiess and AfrikaBurn
As a founder and co-producer of one of the largest and oldest Burning Man events, Monique Shiess has a lot going on. AfrikaBurn does too. Started in 2007, it averages 10,000 participants annually in recent years. Monique shares its origins...
02.08.2023
Athena Demos and the Principled Metaverse
Athena is a wanderer, an adventurer, a muse. She is Regional Contact emerita from Los Angeles, founder of their nonprofit The LA League of Arts, and a founder of BRCvr — a crown jewel in the tiara of our multiversal...
01.19.2023
Terry Pratt and Profiles in Dust
How are films shot in Black Rock City? Why? And really, HOW? "Profiles in Dust" is the most prolific video troupe that dares to document the dynamic Burning Man events. Since 2011 they have produced 50 mini-documentaries, profiling the inspirational...
11.30.2022
Buck Down and the Cult That Joins You
What happened at BRC? What didn’t happen? Why did it seem that we couldn’t get back to interdependence? After the traumas of the pandemic and political vilification, we somehow didn’t trust each other at BRC. Or if we did, we...
10.26.2022
Kids Take the Mic - Youth Voices of Black Rock City
The kids ask the questions. These longtime Burners have participated in BRC most of their young lives. 6-year-old Teapot offers sage advice on the radio. Teen brothers Atticus and Colby interview deep-rooted DPW adults: Coyote is the city superintendent of BRC,...
10.05.2022
The Science of Generosity
More and more studies are happening at transformative events around the world. This summer a research paper was published about how transformative effects of these gatherings are lasting. This 5-year experiment compared findings from a half-dozen mass gatherings. The results...
09.23.2022
The Gift of Things Going Wrong
Black Rock City. We miss it already. If you miss it too, or you missed it altogether, here are some sounds and sentiments of being there. BRC is filled with amateurs, people doing it as a labor of love. When...
08.25.2022
Candace Locklear on Culture Jamming and Welcoming
When Candace found Burning Man in 1996, she jumped right in to help the media tell the whole story of Black Rock City, not just the sensationalism. She also jumped right into culture jamming, twisting iconic characters, from Cacophony Society’s...
08.03.2022
Pro Tips for Black Rock City
Listen in as longtime Burners talk about the 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 ·...
07.20.2022
Kay Morrison and the Overall Wonderment Quotient
Who can share about the beginnings of Burning Man Project’s Board of Directors, the Meta-Regional Committee, and a blacksmithing collective? Kay Morrison can. Who can tell of getting banned from a country, cooking at Fly Ranch, and hosting a croquet...
07.06.2022
Desert Arts Preview: Artists of Waking Dreams
It’s really real. Makers are making. Planners are planning. Crews all over the world are creating installations for Black Rock City. Katie Hazard, Head of Burning Man Arts, speaks with ten of the 400 artists whose work will rise on...
06.22.2022
Remember How to Burning Man: Steven Raspa
For 25 years now $teven Ra$pa has directed discussions for Black Rock City and Regional communities. Hear him and kbot explore why this Burning Man thing is so important for humanity and the world. BRC is a city of imagination, a...
06.08.2022
Sweaty Dynamite: The Dave X Story
Dave X. Man of fire, bacon, and “the ponytail of approachability.” An enigmatic shaman of fireworks, flame effects, and deep thoughts, his stripper name is Sweaty Dynamite. His spiritual calling is to bring joyful, fiery experiences to the masses. Could...
05.25.2022
Return to Black Rock City
In May, staff and core collaborators gathered. A dozen directors disclosed what’s new and true in the big community experiment that is Black Rock City. · How Center Camp changed · Turning down turnkey camping · The bumper crop of inclusive...
05.11.2022
Tom Price and The Benefactor’s Dilemma
Stuart talks with 'Burners Without Borders' co-founder Tom Price, then shares an interview from the deep well of 'Culturally Attuned,' a podcast by the US Institute of Peace in collaboration with Burning Man Project. Tom talks about community resilience and...
04.27.2022
The Magic When Art Happens
Tyson Yunkaporta is an artist and scholar of the Apalech Clan in Australia. Caveat Magister is a Burning Man philosopher. They explore ceremony, circumstance, and how art is not about the object. They talk through the power of play, mining...
04.13.2022
Thinking Big in a Small Town
Laugh and learn in a collage of conversation with 'Chef' - Matthew 'Chef' Kwatinetz, Senior Director of Nevada Operations and Board Member of Burning Man Project. He shares with Stuart about the ongoing work to convert our Nevada properties into...
03.16.2022
Stuart Mangrum’s Serious Philosophy of Shenanigans
Director of Burning Man Project’s Philosophical Center, longtime co-conspirator of founder Larry Harvey, Cacophonist, playa newspaper publisher, billboard liberator, art theme writer, and suspicious character (according to paranoid people), his most realistic alias is Stuart Mangrum. He holds our legacy,...
03.02.2022
Charlie Dolman The Dust is in the Details
If Black Rock City were a ship, Charlie would be its skipper. The SS BRC is taking shape in the dry docks of our collective effort. This summer it will slide into the dusty seas of Nevada. Charlie leads a...
02.16.2022
Burning Man is Not a Place
People all around the world create annual events that align in principle. Some have over 10,000 participants like events in Israel and South Africa. Some have under 20 participants, like “Melting Man” in Fargo, North Dakota. They are collaborative art...
02.02.2022
Dr Graham St John, Playa Pataphysicist
The vibe is real at Burning Man events, and it’s being studied by social scientists around the world. The vibe is real, but that doesn’t mean we must deny our Dada roots. We can yield a toilet plunger like a...
01.19.2022
Shouting Fire Radio: The Shout Heard ‘Round the World
Out of Black Rock City’s radio station (BMIR) came the internet radio station Shouting Fire, which provides real world radio for Regional events, streaming to listeners everywhere. It’s now the Global Burner Radio Network connecting Texas to South Africa, Michigan...
12.08.2021
Beloved Community in Our Midst
Lifelong social justice educators Shirley Strong and Simone Torrey share about Beloved Community, an inclusive interrelated space based on love, responsibility, compassion, shared power, and a deep respect that transforms. They also talk with Stuart about a new community engagement...
11.24.2021
Chef Juke's Wild Art Car R.I.D.E.
Let’s take a trip from Burning Man in 1994 to Sotheby’s Auction House in 2021; from the Department of Mutant Vehicles to the Radical Inclusion, Diversity & Equity stewardship; from Oregon to Nebraska to Las Vegas; from a sense of...
11.10.2021
Danger Ranger
Founder. Catalyst. Mythic character. Michael Mikel (aka Danger Ranger) shares stories of pranks and potential in the wild west (rural and urban) - this time with twists that tie together his other tales. Stuart talks with him about what happened,...
10.13.2021
Stories Around The Burn Barrel
Miss swapping stories around a fire? Start a show and name it The Burn Barrel. Stuart Mangrum talks with Doxie from Detroit, Kay Morrison and Peter Durand about creating their story show to keep us all connected until our next...

What's Burning Man LIVE about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Burning Man LIVE episodes:

¡El Pulpo Magnífico!

A People’s History of Burning Man - Volume 2

Burning in Europe: Stories of Home

Fire in the Hole - Vets in BRC

The Evolution of Robot Heart

When Moshe Met Burning Man

Tahoe Mack and the Monumental Mammoth

The Mystery of Clit-Henge

Urban Planning for a Desert Dreamscape

FrostBurn: Share the Warmth

A People's History of Burning Man

Preaching to the Playa Choir

Orchestral Maneuvers on the Playa

L’Osti Québec! The 11th Principle of Poutine

Dana Albany: Dreaming in Metal and Glass

George Reed: Invisible MOOP and the Net-Zero

Mysteries of Desert Wildlife with Dr Lisa Beers

Brody Scotland: Art From the Inside Out

The Streets of Black Rock City

Steven Blumenfeld: The Tech of Art and the Art of Tech

John Turner Trippingly Yours

Roxane Jessi: Once Upon a Time in the Dust

Let's Go Build a City: Camp Symposium 2023

Katie Hazard: Art is How We Got Here

Monique Schiess and AfrikaBurn

Athena Demos and the Principled Metaverse

Terry Pratt and Profiles in Dust

Buck Down and the Cult That Joins You

Kids Take the Mic - Youth Voices of Black Rock City

The Science of Generosity

The Gift of Things Going Wrong

Candace Locklear on Culture Jamming and Welcoming

Pro Tips for Black Rock City

Kay Morrison and the Overall Wonderment Quotient

Desert Arts Preview: Artists of Waking Dreams

Remember How to Burning Man: Steven Raspa

Sweaty Dynamite: The Dave X Story

Return to Black Rock City

Tom Price and The Benefactor’s Dilemma

The Magic When Art Happens

Thinking Big in a Small Town

Stuart Mangrum’s Serious Philosophy of Shenanigans

Charlie Dolman The Dust is in the Details

Burning Man is Not a Place

Dr Graham St John, Playa Pataphysicist

Shouting Fire Radio: The Shout Heard ‘Round the World

Beloved Community in Our Midst

Chef Juke's Wild Art Car R.I.D.E.

Danger Ranger

Stories Around The Burn Barrel