WIRED Staff
Culture

Slideshow: Bright Lights, Burning City

This year's Burning Man festival was alive with light all day and all night, as luminescent art and wild displays of fire lit the desert skies. Daniel Terdiman reports from Black Rock City, Nevada.
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The Panda Shrine ferries participants along the roads of Black Rock City.

See related story: Bright Lights, Burning City

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The hot accessory at Burning Man this year is blinkies. Some participants have more than a few.
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One thing that makes a great Burning Man art piece is interactivity. Here, participants climb on Michael Christian's Celestial Body.
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Mutant vehicles come in all shapes and sizes. Charles Russell's Cinnabar Charm is a VW bus with a modification or two.
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David Best's Temple of Stars, far and away the largest art project at Burning Man 2004, seen from the front, as participants climb up and into it.
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Fireworks shoot out of The Man, signaling the beginning of the burn. On Saturday night, The Man burned at Burning Man.
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Burning Man participants could no longer touch The Man, as in most previous years. However, this year, The Man stood atop a giant geodesic dome, known as The Observatory, which contained many interactive, multimedia art pieces.
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The Temple of Stars is a quarter-mile long and 100 feet high. Here, participants traverse its walkway.
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Some Burning Man art cannot be explained; It must be seen to be believed.
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One of the most visible fire art projects at Burning Man 2004 is the Flaming Lotus Girls' Seven Sisters. This is one of the seven pieces in the installation.
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Pepper Mouse's mobile living room is a welcome sight to any weary participant looking for a ride around Burning Man's vast open playa.
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Often, Burning Man is a place for political expression. Here, an artist comments on restrictions placed on protesters at this year's political conventions.
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The early morning sunlight reveals The Man in the background. One of the Flaming Lotus Girls' Seven Sisters is in the foreground.
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Lush, one of Burning Man 2004's biggest so-called "large-scale sound art projects," is a regular spot for participants to dance all night.
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A rainbow strobe effect turns a simple piece of spinning white rope into a rainbow attraction.
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Many Burning Man participants are delighted by their finds on the open playa, even if they don't necessarily understand a project's meaning.
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A huge wall of flame burns underneath The Observatory, the geodesic dome on which The Man was installed this year.
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On Saturday, the Burning Man pyro team prepares The Man for his immolation that night.
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Participants gather around several of the Flaming Lotus Girls' Seven Sisters.
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Wandering through the open playa often rewards participants with friendly places to sit, rest and talk.
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Clouds make for an unforgettable sunset in Black Rock City, Nevada, the site of Burning Man 2004.