Ken Rehor writes, "You're going to the middle of a completely barren desert during the hottest part of the year, with no running water, electricity, bathrooms or shade, to build a city from scratch where 70,000 people will live for a week, then tear it down and leave absolutely no trace? Are you crazy?"

When Larry Harvey burned a wooden effigy on a beach in San Francisco in 1986, he never imagined it would inspire a movement that would change the world.

Over the ensuing 35 years, Burning Man has evolved from a raucous party to become the world's largest art gallery; an experiment for societal change; a canvas to test new ideas for city planning; and a laboratory for sustainability technologies (solar power, water conservation, waste & recycling handing, etc.).

Black Rock City, Nevada, the temporary location for the annual event, is built by and for its citizens. There is no "they" -- everyone must participate to create the city, art, entertainment, manage the environment, and then take it ALL away. Ten guiding principles have distilled from life at BRC, including seemingly conflicting goals of Radical Self-Reliance and Communal Effort. A prime tenet is the lack of commerce --  Decommodification and Gifting are crucial.

Through my photographs I'll give a glimpse of what life is like in this temporary metropolis in the literal middle of nowhere, how it's changed my perspectives and goals, and how we're changing the world.

After you register for the event, look for Order Confirmation email from Eventbrite. Scroll to the bottom of the message for a link to the video conference, and other instructions. From the Order Confirmation email you can also save the event to your online calendar and later join the video conference from the link automatically provided in the calendar entry.