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On Wednesday, August 26, a buddy of mine by the name of Brooks Hassig arrived in the "playa," the stretch of Nevada desert that's been host to the Burning Man festival for over 20 years.
2015-09-09
His goals: to build a camp, officiate a few weddings, and summon lightning bolts.
Luckily, Brooks brought a camera with him.
This is what he saw.
It was Brooks's second time at Burning Man. "I like to get caught in the windstorms and have anything go wrong and fix it all," he tells Tech Insider.
Brooks Hassig
A 27-year-old graphic designer who lives in the Bay Area, he came to the Playa as a techno-futurist version of the Norse god Thor.
Brooks Hassig
Fittingly enough, he found a lightning bolt. "I maintain that I summoned that art with my Thor hammer," he says.
Brooks Hassig
Brooks was a member of the "Church of the 5th Element," which came complete with flag.
Brooks Hassig
He designed the camp's logo — here's a closer look.
Brooks Hassig
The thing about Burning Man is that you have to bring everything with you to the playa. Which means, Brooks explained, shipping containers.
Brooks Hassig
In just four days ...
Brooks Hassig
Brooks and his 54 closest friends ...
Brooks Hassig
... put together camp ...
Brooks Hassig
... complete with art ...
Brooks Hassig
... a functioning kitchen ...
Brooks Hassig
... and a steel firepit, which weighed a full ton. Which was needed, since they'd be burning 10 tons of firewood over the week.
Brooks Hassig
Cranes were employed.
"It got so hot that you could light a cigarette by touching the bottom," Brooks says.
Brooks Hassig
Sandstorms are a part of desert life, like this one that hit at 6:00 am with 50 mile-an-hour gusts.
Brooks Hassig
Everything — everything — gets covered in sand. Thus the goggles.
Brooks Hassig
There are no cars on the Playa, so you get around by bike. Here was Brooks' noble steed, ready to store his Thor hammer.
Brooks Hassig
"Probably my favorite part of Burning Man is seeing the lengths that people go to create excellent artwork," Brooks says. "This was a big art fish, might be an angler fish. You can see two people in there in the lower-left tooth, could probably fit 15 to 20 people in there."
Brooks Hassig
There was also a fire serpent sculpture ...
... perfect for framing group photos.
Brooks Hassig
OK, there are SOME automobiles: Art cars. "They're Mutant vehicles," Brooks says. "It’s a skull of maybe a reindeer or a caribou or a bison? That’s my buddy Matthias. This pulled up playing A Tribe Called Red, native american dubstep. You have to listen."
Brooks Hassig
There's also the drinks, like this watermelon cocktail that Brooks's friend Thomas enjoyed. "I learned all my best dance moves from him," Brooks says, and you can tell why. Look at those patterns.
Brooks Hassig
Brooks also officiated not just one — but two — weddings. The first was the lovely Lenny and Michelle, who got married while riding bikes.
Brooks Hassig
Here's them kissing in front of one of Michelle's favorite art cars.
Brooks Hassig
Brooks also presided over Matthias and Kate, who got married in the middle of a white sandstorm. "Welcome home," he told them as they became man and wife.
Brooks Hassig
Black Rock City also featured a huge carnival area. The most popular attraction: fire skeeball. "Man, was there fire," he says. "It was a blast." Literally.
Brooks Hassig
"Any description that I give you would be too limiting," Brooks says. "It's one thing to say that it’s a giant party in the desert, another to say that it’s a celebration of art."
Brooks Hassig
"The thing that you only discover once you get there is that Burning Man is about freedom and expression on levels you didn’t know that you could be free," he says.
Brooks Hassig
"You come prepared to share and create for others," he says.
Brooks Hassig
"Burning Man resists definition," he says.
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Drake Baer was Business Insider's editor-at-large, working across the newsroom to help produce ambitious journalism. For two and a half years before that, Baer served as deputy editor, overseeing a team of 20+ reporters and editors who cover the future of work, real estate, and small business. The fast-paced team was behind some of Insider's major packages in the last few years, including a state-by-state look into unemployment during the first year of the pandemic and in-depth profiles of "niche famous" characters such as real estate media tycoon Brandon Turner and HR icon Johnny C Taylor. They shed new light on big names, like Joe Biden, America's imperfect leader. He also cultivated thesis-oriented ideas journalism, whether it be on why "'diversity' and 'inclusion' are the emptiest words in corporate America" or why it's actually a horrible time to buy a house. (No, really, it is.) Before editing, his byline as a reporter was on the masthead for Fast Company and New York Magazine, covering the many intersections of social science, business, and economics. Baer has interviewed some our time's leading minds, including philanthropist Bill Gates, FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver, NBA champion and investor Steph Curry, "growth mindset" psychologist Carol Dweck, the rapper Q-Tip, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, and the man who gave a name to "disruptive innovation," the late Clay Christensen.Baer has published two books, the most recent being Perception: How Our Bodies Shape Our Minds, with Dennis Proffitt. In 2014, New York Times bestselling author and Wharton professor Adam Grant highlighted his first book, Everything Connects, as one of the 12 business books to read that year. He has been featured as a speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival, presented at TedX Princeton, and moderated many panels.
