The heart of the Nevada desert is alive with color and unusual art installations as the Burning Man festival continues.
It began on Sunday and is due to run until Monday next week with a spectacular burning ritual.
A section of the Black Rock Desert has been transformed into a mini city, and an estimated 70,000 people have traveled from around the world to take part.
Among the artworks on display are a central temple holding the wooden man built to commemorate the Golden Spike, the ceremonial final spike driven to join the rails of America’s first transcontinental railroad.
Also on display, a massive 40-foot pink flamingo with a ladder for guests to head inside and escape the heat.
Temperatures are expected to shoot up over the weekend, when forecasters predict the mercury to hit 101F on Saturday.
Participant Kila Carr-Ince makes her way through the city 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 fire installation at the heart of the Nevada desert, where tens of thousands are taking part in the festival which marks the end of summer
People from all over the world travel to the Burning Man arts and music festival in Nevada, where a group is pictured gathered around an art installation
A giant bear and two cubs are among the installations at the festival in the heart of the desert in Nevada, where an estimated 70,000 people have traveled to take part
The Temple of Awareness is one of the key features at the Burning Man festival, where participants join in the effort to co-create Black Rock City, a temporary metropolis
People ride a mutant vehicle as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gathered for the annual Burning Man arts and music festival
Participants dressed as furry animals perform on the art installation The Pier at the Burning Man festival, which this year is themed Radical Ritual
A vehicle based on the image of an elephant walks through the Nevada desert as tens of thousands of people from all over the world join in the fun
The festival is a chance for people to show off weird-and-wonderful art installations in the heart of the desert, described by organizers as ‘an attempt to reinvent ritual in our post post-modern world’
Hundreds of participants watch a performance yesterday at the Burning Man festival, where artists from around the world create a city in the Black Rock Desert
The Black Rock desert has become a mini city filled with artists and revellers for the annual festival, which encourages participants to ‘break down the distinction that divides belief from make-believe’
A fire-breathing dragon is one of the eye-catching vehicles being used as part of the Burning Man festival in the heart of the Nevada desert
A man is pictured next to an art installation, named Ursa Mater, at the festival, which attracts more than 70,000 people from all over the world
A couple, Solene and Daniel, are pictured embracing at the Burning Man festival in Nevada, which this year is themed around challenging belief
A man rides on a large art installation at the festival in the Nevada desert, which attracts thousands from across the world
Organisers say Burning Man is permeated with rituals, and it will end with a large model of a man being burned
A group guides an art piece across the playa area of the festival – a mini city in the middle of the desert – yesterday at the Burning Man event
Day four of the annual Burning Man Festival arrived, marking the halfway point of the eclectic arts celebration
Glimpses of the event have been making their rounds through the social mediasphere and this year, under the theme of Radical Ritual, several impressive structures and sculptures have been erected in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada
Among the figures on display is a massive 40-foot pink flamingo with a ladder for guests to head inside add escape the heat
On Thursday, daytime highs are forecast to reach the mid- to upper-90s in Gerlach, Nevada, the closest town to the event site
Temperatures will shoot up over the weekend as the high on Saturday is forecast at 101F (Pictured, left and right, Natalia Kapchuk poses at the Burning Man Festival)
Although temperatures are known to rise at the festival’s site, numbers peaking above 100F are rare
A number of celebrities have made appearances at the festival including hotel heiress Paris Hilton, Muse songwriter Matt Bellamy and model Elle Evans.
Pictures of the festival on Tuesday show the ‘community’ inundated with thick choking clouds of sand, with some well prepared participants using gas-masks to fight through the earthly gust while others seem to embrace the natural phenomenon.
Day three of the event has seen tens of thousands facing massive traffic jams to get to a remote stretch of Nevada desert for the annual Burning Man festival.
A number of celebrities have made appearances at the festival including hotel heiress Paris Hilton (right)
Joining Hilton at Burning was musician Matt Bellamy (left) and model Elle Evans (right), who have been dating for two years
Dust storms in the Black Rock Desert have forced participants to don face masks and wear large glasses
The highly-anticipated art and music festival runs over nine days from Sunday 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’ where about 70,000 people have descended upon.
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 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.
Burning Man participants cling to the top of a 20 foot high art project pyramid tower called ‘The Tower of !Babel’ in the midst of a driving desert dust storm
Burning Man participants perform a shibari rope scene during a driving desert dust storm inside the heart of the ‘Identity Awareness – Family’ art project
Burning Man participants dance to the music in the midst of a driving desert dust storm on the 2nd day of the annual Burning Man
Burning Man participants who go by the ‘Playa Names’ Coy (left) and Vance (right) in the midst of a driving desert dust storm on the 2nd day of the annual Burning Man arts and music festival
Two Burning Man revelers who had just been caught in a driving desert dust and rain storm laugh at how dusty they have become
Burning Man participant Kai Rey of Sebastopol, California, make sand angels alone amidst the ‘Field of Fairies’ art project to the sound of music from distant art cars in the midst of a desert dust storm
Burning Man participants dance to the music of an art car in the midst of a desert dust storm on the second day of the annual Burning Man
Burning Man participants dance on and around ‘The Penetrator’ art car near the effigy of “The Man” (L) as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world participate in the 2nd day of the annual Burning Man arts and music festival
Participants march in costumes as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gathered for the annual Burning Man arts and music festival
Participant David Huffman is covered by dust as he enjoys the annual Burning Man festival
The highly-anticipated art and music festival runs over nine days from Sunday until September 4
A reveler wears a mask as he dances during the annual Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada
Burning Man is an annual gathering that takes place at Black Rock City, a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert
Participants read the memorials in The Temple as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gathered for the annual Burning Man arts and music festival
A couple is married at the festival where around 70,000 are expected to attend
Pippa Sutherland (left) and AJ Bertenshaw (right) dance during the annual Burning Man arts and music festival
Participants perform aerial silks at the annual Burning Man Festival on Monday
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.
Stunning photographs show the larger-than-life art installations that are the focal points of this year’s festival theme of Radical Ritual.
The Radical Ritual theme this year is to honor 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.’
Burning Man participant ‘Mama Jax’ (left) smiles from the back of ‘The Penetrator’ art car on the 2nd day of the annual Burning Man arts and music festival
Burning Man participants bicycle past the ‘Thunderbirds’ art project by James Tyler in the midst of a desert dust storm as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world participate in the second day of the annual Burning Man festival
Burning Man participant Denise Winkler of Dresden, Germany attaches a remembrance tag to ‘The Shrine of Lost Moments’ created by Berlin, Germany burners to honor the victims of Germany’s Christmas Market attack
Winkler offers a remembrance tag to be written on and added to ‘The Shrine of Lost Moments’
Burning Man participant Rita Poutivskaia of San Francisco ties a remembrance of her late grandmother to ‘The Shrine of Lost Moments’
Lauren Rock (right) recites her vows as she marries fiancé Bob Peterson (left) in front of the ‘Mucaro’ owl art project
Rock (right) throws her bouquet after marrrying Peterson (left) in front of the ‘Mucaro’ owl art project
Burning Man participants look at the effigy of “The Man,” which will be burned at the culmination of Burning Man 2017
The Burning Man art car ‘Snailoon’ drives through a desert dust storm on the 2nd day of the annual Burning Man arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada
Burning Man participants brave a desert dust storm on the second day of the annual festival
Jen Van Schmus plays kickball on the Playa as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gathered for the annual Burning Man arts and music festival
Pili Montilla wears an ornate necklace and headdress and gazes at the sun at the Burning Man Festival on Monday
The annual Burning Man Festival kicked off on Sunday in Nevada where thousands of attendees plan to participate in the iconic event that features larger-than-life art installations, like the one pictured above
The highly-anticipated art and music festival runs over nine days from Sunday until September 4. Above two people ride in a golf cart that has been transformed into resemble a giant stuffed animal
Stunning photographs show the larger-than-life art installations that are the focal points of this year’s festival theme of Radical Ritual. The art installation above of the family of bears was created from thousands of pennies
Black Rock City has been transformed into a ‘metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression and self-reliance’ where about 70,000 people have descended upon. Pictured above is a multi-passenger car transformed into art
The popular event takes place in Black Rock City, which is about 120 miles north of Reno. Pictured above is one of the many cars transformed into art
According to the event’s website, dozens of art installations were constructed before the end of the weekend. Above one of the art installations is displayed for the event
The vehicle on the left has to be one of the most detailed art cars created, with hand done wood work on the outside
Pictured above are the art cars lining up to register with the Burning Man Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
Ready to move: Vehicles are vigorously inspected and, depending on their functionality, will be issued a daytime or nighttime permit from the Burning Man DMV
Every year, several ‘temples’ are built according to a theme and on the last day, they are burned down in a ritualistic ceremony.
The festival, which began in 1986 as a bonfire, has erected a temple commemorating the Golden Spike and participants are invited to visit the shrine and make offerings that embody what Burning Man’s culture means to them.
The premise of the Burning Man festival is that almost everything is created entirely by its citizens, who are active participants in the experience.
Since money is practically outlawed on the site, ‘Burners’ are urged to barter for commodities and in the past fans have taken to social media to swap items such as crystals for festival tickets.
The remote week-long rave is often described as ‘where Mad Max meets Woodstock’.
Thirty years after its first incarnation, the event is populous with tens of thousands of people attending the dried up lake where the event is held which becomes Black Rock City.
However, the festival risked relocation this year due to a pool of standing water, prompting officials in June to warn there was a possibility that the event could be moved from its location two hours north of Reno in Gerlach.
The desert basin is transformed into mud every year by the run-off of melting snow, but this past season’s high precipitation formed the lake, causing fears that the playa would be muddy and impossible to drive across.