photography

See Photos From 16 Years of Burning Man’s Trippy Art Installations

2007
Twinkiehenge, by Dennis Hinkamp (2013). Photo: NK Guy/Courtesy of Taschen

Burning Man may be perched on the precipice of turning into a Club Med for start-up dudes, but attendees still expect the festival to live up to its synapse-scrambling legacy. Beginning in 1998, photographer NK Guy, whose work is collected in the new book Art of Burning Man (Taschen), has braved the Black Rock desert to document the trippy and massive art installations, which are often wryer than the (literally) fiery images so associated with the rumpus. (This year’s edition kicks off August 30.) “Many of the artists there don’t come from the mainstream,” explains Guy. “It’s not stuff you’d see in a traditional gallery.” Or anywhere else.

Cupcake Cars, by Lisa Pongrace, Greg Solberg, and the Acme Muffineering team (2006). Photo: NK Guy/Courtesy of Taschen
Welcome to Fabulous, by the Bathroom Beacons Crew (2012). Photo: NK Guy/Courtesy of Taschen
Land Yacht, aka the Playa Cruiser, by Joe Cooney (2004). Photo: NK Guy/Courtesy of Taschen

*This article appears in the August 10, 2015 issue of New York Magazine.

Photos: 16 Years of Burning Man’s Trippy Art