The Art World Is Making Its Way to Burning Man

Big hungry birds @burningman #burningman2016

A photo posted by Yvonne Force Villareal (@yvonneforce) on Sep 3, 2016 at 12:23pm PDT

Burning Man is a self-consciously art-oriented event. But it has never attracted the art establishment from either the artist’s perspective nor from the point-of-view of the nomadic band of tastemakers and translators. This year’s ‘burn’ hasn’t had the intense publicity of past years but, judging from the posts on Instagram, the art world is beginning to enter the orbit of Black Rock City.

The hyper-sexualized representation of Burning Man on Instagram may not be a true depiction of the experience for tens of thousands of ‘burners.’But it does offer us a window into an art event with broad and intense global exposure through social media.

ROBOCARA @caradelevingne

A photo posted by Derek Blasberg (@derekblasberg) on Sep 3, 2016 at 6:41am PDT

? Returning from my adventures into the other dimension #BurningMan2016 ?

A photo posted by Elena Soboleva (@elenasoboleva) on Sep 4, 2016 at 9:05am PDT

Tut in common!

A photo posted by @alexisrael on Sep 3, 2016 at 7:20pm PDT

Framing up for the shot after a little break in between dust storms. It’s unbelievable how big Black Rock City is and how much there is to see. During the time I was there I only managed to see a fraction of the art as there were structures that were easily a 45 minute bike ride across the playa. Credit: @spoart #burningman #burnergirls #blackrockcity #madmax

A photo posted by Kati Hetrick (@kati_hetrick) on Sep 5, 2016 at 10:24am PDT

@veganalamodeemma #burnergirls #blackrockcity #industwetrust #burnergirlshoutouts

A photo posted by Shout~Ladies of BlackRockCity (@burnergirls) on Sep 5, 2016 at 4:55pm PDT