Tens of thousands of people have gathered in the Nevada desert in the blazing heat for the annual Burning Man festival.
Around 70,000 burners have set up camp in the temporary town, where everyone is an active citizen with something to do to keep the city running.
This year, under the theme of Radical Ritual, several impressive structures and sculptures have been erected in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.
The annual event is held in the Nevada desert, where 70,000 people help built and maintain a temporary city, complete with its own airport
A sign reading ‘Everything you need is inside you’ welcomes the 70,000 burners to the Black Rock desert for the week
A participant dances on the playa as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gathered for the annual Burning Man arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada
A sea of bicycles provides a clean and green mode of transport for people around the festival, who may have arrived at the temporary town’s airport
A reveller strips down to the bare essentials as he enjoys Burning Man, in the desert, where temperatures were forecast to hit 100 degrees today
The city was covered by a dust cloud earlier this week, and the participants and the art cars were dwarfed by the storm
They include a central temple holding the wooden man built to commemorate the Golden Spike, the ceremonial final spike driven to join the rails of the United States’ first transcontinental railroad.
Temperatures in the desert are expected to exceed 100 degrees on Saturday and Sunday.
The highly-anticipated art and music festival runs over nine days until September 4 in Black Rock Desert, which is about 120 miles north of Reno.
Black Rock City has been transformed into a ‘metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression and self-reliance’.
In a matter of days, volunteers for the event built what is likely to be the state’s busiest airport in the middle of an ancient dry lake-bed.
The Black Rock City is described as a ‘metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression and self-reliance’
Burners come from around the world to see the city, which is built up in the months before people arrive, and completely dismantled after they leave
The highly-anticipated art and music festival runs over nine days until September 4 in Black Rock Desert, which is about 120 miles north of Reno
A reveller plays music as the crowds gather for the desert festival. It’s been in this location since 1991 when it was moved from a beach
Under the theme of Radical Ritual, several impressive structures and sculptures have been erected in the Black Rock Desert
They include a central temple holding the wooden man built to commemorate the Golden Spike, the ceremonial final spike driven to join the rails of the United States’ first transcontinental railroad
The theme this year for the festival is designed to honour the ritual humankind has made, that speak of a need to belong to a place
The airport, formally known as 88NV, is built every year and averages as many as 800 takeoffs and landings a day before it’s taken down completely at the end of the event.
According to the event’s website, dozens of art installations were constructed before the end of the weekend, some made from wire, others as patterns on the ground and some as immersive experiences.
The Radical Ritual theme this year is to honour rituals that humankind has made, including the festival.
The event’s website says: ‘Burning Man is permeated with rituals. These rites speak of soulful need; the desire to belong to a place, to belong to a time, to belong to one another, and to belong to something that is greater than ourselves, even in the midst of impermanence.
‘Throughout all ages temples have been built in order to induce these feelings.
A burner with mermaid hair uses a parasol to protect herself from the fierce desert heat as she strips down to minimal clothing
Around 70,000 people are at Burning Man, and according to the website, each of them needs to play a role in the site to ensure the festival runs smoothly
Burners climbs one of the wire sculptures, shaped like a heart, as they party at the annual music and arts festival