Artists Helped Burning Man Catch Fire—and Now Their Work Is Heading to the Smithsonian

Nothing compares to personally witnessing the week-or-so-long spectacle that is Burning Man, held in Nevada’s remote Black Rock Desert. For those who can’t make it, however, the Nevada Museum of Art is offering the next best thing: “City of Dust: The Evolution of Burning Man,” an exhibition dedicated to the history of the famed gathering.

“No museum has ever begun to unravel the story of Burning Man,” exhibition curator Ann M. Wolfe, who attended the last three editions of Burning Man ahead of the show, told artnet News. The museum is a natural venue for the exhibition, as it just two hours from the Black Rock Desert. It also acquired a 6,000-object Burning Man archive four years ago.

Following its run in Nevada, a version of the exhibition will appear at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, next year as “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man,” with a new Best temple commissioned for the museum rotunda. read more