Burning Man is transforming Nevada’s Black Rock Desert into a temporary metropolis once again.
Thousands of participants began entering the gates at midnight on August 30, hauling the food, water, shelter, and supplies needed to survive a week in the remote playa about 80 miles north of Reno.
Roughly 70,000 people are expected to attend the art festival, described as an annual experiment in radical self-expression, communal effort, and civic responsibility. Burning Man has also long attracted prominent Silicon Valley figures, with Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman among its past attendees.
Early arrivals spent the Sunday raising shade structures, building camps, and installing artwork as hammers, power tools, and dance music echoed across the dust. This year’s creations include a metal octopus and a shattered Eiffel Tower, along with the Man, a human-shaped effigy, and the Temple of the Moon, a 170-foot-wide sanctuary for reflection and remembrance. Both structures are made to be burned in separate ceremonies near the end of the event.
Temperatures are forecast to hover around 80 degrees during the first half of the week, though gusty winds could whip up the playa’s notoriously punishing dust.
Here are this year’s satellite images showing the progress of Black Rock City.
Laying the groundwork
Before Burning Man opens, survey crews mark Black Rock City’s clock-face plan on the empty playa. Radial avenues extend from the Man, while curved streets form the surrounding semicircular camping area.
Work on Black Rock City begins roughly a month before the event, when crews mark the city’s center and begin surveying the street grid. Over the following weeks, they build roads, gates, service compounds, Center Camp, and ceremonial structures before artists and the general public arrive.
The entry queue
Burners arriving by car formed long lines across the Black Rock Desert over the weekend, funneling through temporary lanes toward the event’s entrance gates.
The sprawling queue is a familiar part of arrival at Black Rock City, where organizers inspect tickets and vehicle passes before admitting participants. From above, the rows of cars resemble a temporary highway etched into the playa, leading toward the semicircular desert city beyond.
The Black Rock City Municipal Airport
The Black Rock City Municipal Airport, which springs up for just 13 days a year, appears to be in full swing based on satellite images.
Instead of asphalt, the airport is built from scratch each year on the dusty playa. Staffed almost entirely by volunteers, the temporary airport serves general aviation and private planes, as well as Burner Express Air, which is a designated event charter flight that carries some attendees between the temporary airport and Reno, the San Francisco Bay Area, or Southern California during the event.
Center Camp
Center Camp sits near the 6 o’clock edge of Black Rock City. Its acre-wide canopy provides shade and hosts performances, art, drinks, and gatherings.
Mostly staffed by volunteers who handle scheduling, daily operations, and bartending in the ring of interactive camps that surrounds the plaza, the area is one of Black Rock City’s main civic spaces and natural meeting points.
The Cryptomeria pavillion
At Black Rock City’s geographic center, the Man is taking shape above the Cryptomeria, a tree-inspired pavilion with rootlike approaches and spiral stairways that climb nearly 60 feet. This year’s pavilion was named and designed by designer and inventor Alexander Rose, a longtime burner.
Around it, temporary installations are expected to gradually spread across the open playa, creating an outdoor gallery.
The Temple of the Moon
Art installations are taking shape across the playa.
The Temple of the Moon installation made especially for the 2026 Burning Man, as pictured, is a 170-foot-wide sanctuary inspired by the Queen of the Night cactus and lunar cycles. Its petal-like forms surround a chamber reaching 52 feet.
The installation was created by artist James Gwertzman alongside the Moonlight Collective and Temple Build Crew as a quiet space for grief and remembrance.
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