A co-founder of Burning Man has accused the festival of losing its “anarchist soul” and becoming a playground for the wealthy elite. John Law, one of the early organizers of Burning Man who helped move the event to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in 1990, said the event is now “barely recognizable” from what he and his fellow founders created. In an essay for the San Francisco Standard published on Saturday, Law said he has avoided talking about the festival for some time because it now makes him “a little sad.” “Today’s event is a massive, kaleidoscopic extravaganza for the senses — a phantasmagoric, immersive spectacle built for the consumption of Western elites and the middle-class creatives who service them,” he wrote.
A fabulous Disneyland for the well-heeled, all the while presenting itself as a serious artistic enterprise grounded in philosophical principles.” Law pointed out that some attendees now stay in luxury camps with private chefs and fly in on business jets. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. The festival's growth has been dramatic.
Law said attendance increased from roughly 70 people in 1990 to 25,000 in 1999. In 2019, that number had increased to nearly 80,000. Ticket prices have also become a point of contention.
Tickets for this year’s event range from $550 to $3,000, with only a “very limited” number available at the lowest price. Despite his qualms, Law clarified that Burning Man “remains one hell of a party,” “but it isn’t what we made.” The Independent has contacted the Burning Man Project for comment. The low regard in which today’s Burners are held was made clear in 2023, when rolling storms and torrential rain transformed the Black Rock Desert into a dangerous quagmire.
Any initial concern for those in attendance quickly dissolved into schadenfreude, with online commentators dubbing it “Fyre Fest 2.0” and mocking its wealthy participants. Burning Man’s evolution is charted in the recently released HBO docuseries The Man Will Burn.
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