No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man

Exhibition Website

Mar 30 2018 - Jan 21 2019

Renwick Gallery

Washington, DC

Each year in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, a city of more than 70,000 people rises out of the dust for a single week. During that time, multi­story art installations and buildings are erected and many are burned to the ground. Dedicated to principles of radical self ­expression, de-commodification, communal participation and a reverence for the handmade, the thriving temporary metropolis known as Burning Man is a uniquely American hotbed of artistic ingenuity and one of the most influential events in contemporary art and culture.

No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man is the first major national exhibition to focus on the large-scale, participatory work from this annual event. The exhibition will take over the entire Renwick Gallery building, bringing alive the maker culture of Burning Man through artworks, immersive room-sized installations, jewelry, costumes and ephemera that will transport visitors to the gathering’s famed desert city and highlight the ingenuity and creative spirit of this cultural movement. 

Photographs and archival documents drawn from the Burning Man Archives at the Nevada Museum of Art will trace Burning Man’s growth and its bohemian, counterculture roots.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

  • Various Media
  • American
  • Contemporary
  • David Best
  • Candy Chang
  • Marco Cochrane
  • Michael Garlington
  • Natalia Bertotti
  • and others

Exhibition Venues & Dates