Working on the Burning Man Project Communications team for three years, I heard over and over from our community how all we did was “put out a few portapotties.” And it really got under my skin. Black Rock City is, after all, a city… and there’s a littttttle more to it to make an ephemeral city rise each year.

So, we decided to make an infographic telling some of the story of what it takes, start to finish, to build the groundwork for our beloved metropolis from the dust then make it completely disappear, and the teams that make it all happen. A relatively small number of people plan, organize, and take action to set the stage for our temporary home in the desert — complete with Emergency Services, Department of Public Works, Placement for 80,000 humans, a DMV (Department of Mutant Vehicles), Art team, Black Rock Rangers, Government Affairs, Ticketing, the Technology and expertise to support all of them… the list goes on and on.

No, it doesn’t show the endless things theme camps, mutant vehicle owners, artists, and individual participants bring that truly give life to Black Rock City. We would have had to make some infinite scroll, Choose Your Own Adventure, Magic 8 Ball visual in order to accomplish that… And while Burners ARE in the habit of creating the impossible, we had to draw a line somewhere. We did our best to make sure every official team directly connected to BRC is represented and their key moments are celebrated.

Click here to view a large version of the graphic.

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Role: Graphic Designer

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