Burning Man LIVE
by Burning Man Project
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.
Episodes
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The 10 Principles and the Self - Brian Lowrey
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…
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Solar Punks - Badasses of Climate Hope
Watch it on YouTube. 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...
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Math Mysteries: The Art of Dr Diane Hoffoss
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...
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Jamie Wheal and the Burning Man Mystery School
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:...
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Behind the Scenes: The Man Will Burn: Marian Goodell & Jehane Noujaim
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…
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Substance Over Splash - Australia's Regional Burns
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...
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Long Live Community Art Spaces - Charlie Gadeken
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...
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OTHERWORLD - Vancouver Island's Regional Ripple Effect
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…
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Serious Play - Isabel Behncke
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...
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The Borderland: Trust Creates Worlds
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...
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Camp Symposium Highlights: Let's Build it Together
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...
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Burners in Space! Meet Spaceman Sam
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…
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From Flipside to the Future - George Paap
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...
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Open Source Innovation
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...
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Mark Day - 10,000 Hours at Burning Man
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...
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Holiday Special - SantaCon at Home - 5th Anniversary
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...
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Zen and the Art of Art Making
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.…
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Composting in Paradise - RootHub
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...
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Art is the How - From BRC to Public Policy
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...
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Architecture as Poetry
“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...
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Ranger Keeper - Frontier Principal
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...
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Black Rock Observatory - From the Playa to the Planets
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...
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20 Years of Mutant Vehicles - Jon Sarriugarte & Zolie
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...
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Desert Arts Preview - Hear the Stories
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…
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Pro Tips for Black Rock City 2025
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...
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Alexander Rose - Thought Experiments in Time
Zander was the executive director of The Long Now Foundation, dedicated to long term thinking. He also helped build their library, a book club for the end of the world, with all the titles we would want to rebuild civilization, if needed. He is one of the brains behind the 10,000-Year Clock,...
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AI in Art in Black Rock City
AI is a context changer, a shaker upper, and a force multiplier to what our human minds can do. Andie says that AI is a major philosophical shift in humanity, and when this kind of thing happens, the first people she goes to are artists and academics. Andie and Stuart talked with a few artists…
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Kevin Kelly - Optimists Create the Future
Kevin Kelly is a leading thinker of the digital age. The founding editor of Wired Magazine, he helped produce the Whole Earth Catalog, and an early internet pillar called the WELL. He is a journalist, an artist, and a longtime member of the Burning Man community. He is a radical optimist. The...
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Playa Music - From Bebop to Dubstep
Black Rock City's soundscape is a wild ride from Afro-punk to Zydeco. This episode explores the why and how of two styles: the thumping electronic dance music that makes BRC a DJ's Mecca the anything-goes improv of jazz, a dusty mirror to the Burner spirit Stuart, a self-proclaimed EDM newbie…
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Leo Villareal - Light Up the Dark
Leo is a pioneering light artist, bringing teams and tech together to activate buildings, bridges, and bastions. He started Burning in 1994, founded Disorient camp, and is part of Black Rock City every year. Here he shares his journey from crafting a single beacon at his tent to leading…
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Thunderdome's Leadership Lessons
Thunderdome has been part of Black Rock City for 25 years. Marisa Winter has led it for most of that time. One need not experience it to benefit from the wisdom of a high-profile, high-intensity theme camp. Marisa and Stuart talk through the leadership structure and community practices that…
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Theme Campers Unite
Most people in Black Rock City live together in placed camps, aka theme camps, the most unique aspect of this unique event. BRC has 1200 camps. At the intersection of Communal Effort, Self-Expression, and Immediacy, theme camps gift a uniquely decommodified ‘third place’ of offerings and…
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The Gift of Food and Solar Power
Solar power is simple now, thanks in part to Burners who gift the power of the sun. The Burners in this episode also gift steamed rolls with savory fillings, called bao — so much delicious bao. The theme camp “Bao Chicka Wow Wow” has been a part of Black Rock City for a decade. Its campmates…
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BRC Art Preview with Katie Hazard
Explore the magic monuments of Black Rock City 2025. Katie Hazard, Director of Art, leads the selection, placement, and installation of artwork, and she leads Burning Man's art grant selection committees. The ARTery is in the center of Black Rock City, slightly offset like the human heart. It’s…
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De-bureaucratizing Your Burn
Legend whispers of a time when Burning Man was a lawless Eden, a fiery playground of unbridled do-ocracy; no rules, just pure creative chaos. But as Black Rock City has grown into a thriving metropolis, so has the need for structure. We've gone from jokey forms for an ‘artistic license’ to…
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Rising Sparks - Bridging Burner Generations
Mutant vehicles! Theme camps! Art experiences! It all emanates from the community… overlapping circles of people who are everywhere between being newcomers and seasoned, local and global, young and old. Andie Grace talks with next-gen Burners Taylor Andrews, Kat Ebert, Mani Senthil, and Whitney...
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Temple of the Deep - Miguel Arraiz García
Hundreds of people create the temple in Black Rock City. It’s a community intent on creating a work of art that is a space for people to grieve and revive. For the first few years of Black Rock City we didn't have a temple. Now, people can't imagine living without it. Each year, participants…
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Will Heegaard and Footprint Project - From BRC to NGO
Disasters happen. Communities come together to recover and rebuild. Governments and NGOs help however they know how. Will Heegaard sees every disaster as a chance to build back greener. His non-profit provides power and water from nature. · power from the sun – instead of gas generators · water...
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A People's History of Burning Man - Volume 3
Back again by popular demand: more tales 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. Hear stories of early technology on the playa, in Silicon Valley, and on the internet. · Andie Grace, aka...
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Chip Conley - Unexpected Gifts
He is a celebrated author, entrepreneur, leadership maven, and a founding Board Member of Burning Man Project. He’s a serial contributor to the culture and the cause. In this episode, Chip and Stuart explore how to use the 10 Principles to make conversations interesting and how a description of...
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Burning without Going to Burning Man
Burners often speak about the work it takes to prepare their art, art car, or camp for Black Rock City, but for many, it doesn’t end there. A project sparked in the desert or at Regional Events can take on a life of its own, continuing year-round in surprising ways. What happens when a camp or...
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Tom Price - From the Playa to the Planet
Tom Price co-founded Burners Without Borders, Black Rock Solar, and a company that gifts clean-burning kitchens to people in Kenya. Tom talks about the weather, specifically hurricanes, and how Burners Without Borders started and grows despite extreme circumstances because Burners are extreme!...
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Burning Curiosity - The Study of Burning Man
Academics from everywhere experiment, collaborate, and even interpret our stories of "This one time at Burning Man." In this episode, Stuart talks with people from Burning Nerds, an annual gathering of academics in Black Rock City. They keep it light, though; not too many unnecessarily fancy…
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Burning Man is Everywhere
Everywhere? Regional events actively align with Burning Man's 10 Principles. 85 official events happen in 30 countries, with collectively more participants and more art grants than the original Nevada event. After 25 years, the combined regional presence is huge, diverse, and evolving, and it all...
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Volunteer Voices
Thousands of people volunteer each year in Black Rock City, for days, weeks, or months. Add to that the volunteers at the many Regional events around the world and it’s more than can be counted on fingers and toes. Why do we volunteer? Is it because we feel we received a gift and we want to pay…
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David Silverman: So That's How That Started
Burning Man doesn't make itself. The people who share their time and treasure, they create this weird wonder. Each of these people have stories about how Burning Man influenced their lives and how their lives influenced Burning Man. The Flaming Tuba Guy is one of these people. His name is David...
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In Paiute Country: The Numa of Pyramid Lake
Allow us to introduce you to the people who called the Black Rock Desert “home” way before we did. This is your backstage pass to the original Burners of the Great Basin: The Pyramid Lake Paiute. Strap in for a road trip that's part history lesson, part cultural exchange, and essential listening...
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The Future of Burning Man
Marian Goodell, CEO of Burning Man Project, talks with a lively audience as part of Robot Heart’s Residency in Oakland, California. She is joined by Candace Locklear (aka Evil Pippi), Erin Douglas of the Black Burner Project, and Robot Heart’s Justin Schaffer and Satya Kamdar. It’s casual. It’s...
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I Was Just Leaving... No Trace
Take a trip through the puzzle of porta-potties at a free-range event, highway happenings, and the new news about prep. This is deeper than “What is MOOP?” This is the ART of Leaving No Trace. It’s part of the Burning Man ethos, and it’s why Black Rock City is the world's largest Leave No Trace...
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Art That Inflames
Burning Man culture brings people together across all kinds of divides, yet we’re seeing an uptick of intolerance toward art and experiences in our community. The default world is often divided by ideology, religion, and politics. Could that division seep into this culture that aspires to welcome...
About this show
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.
Hosted by
Burning Man Project