NEVADA, USA — Every year, thousands of people descend on Black Rock Desert in Nevada for Burning Man.
Diane Hoffoss from ArtBuilds, a San Diego-based art collective, has attended the festival six times and says no one, including her camp, had rain on their bingo card this year.
“It was it was like the great unknown,” said Hoffoss, ArtBuilds' Chief Technology Officer.
Heavy rain that turned into thick mud stranded more than 70,000 festival goers on Sunday. Ahead of the heavy rain, on Saturday organizers told ‘attendees, also known as ’burners,’’ to shelter in place and conserve food, water, and supplies.
“It was a challenge for a lot of reasons,” Hoffoss said. “And, that's not the usual challenge you face at Burning Man. Usually, it's really dry, dusty, windy. This was a different challenge,”
Hoffoss and the Art Builds team began their journey to the desert last week but the wet weather already made its way to Black Rock Desert. ArtBuilds planned to begin construction on their art installation called ‘’Unfolding Humanity”. But rainy weather delayed their plans.
The installation was ultimately set up in time for the festival once conditions dried up. But heavier rain was on the way, and Hoffoss says it was unexpected.
“We really didn't know how long was going to last. And also I think most of the weather predictions were wrong. I thought it was gonna be just a little bit of rain, it turns out it was a lot of rain,” Hoffoss said.
Thousands of people sat in their camps, taking the brunt of the storm as it pounded the desert on Saturday evening going into Sunday.
“You sort of just ride it out,” Hoffoss said. She says because of the lack of internet and cell service, and the sticky, muddy terrain, all she could do was hang out with her camp.
“We hung out in camp and made the most of it. I think everybody did that," Hoffoss said.
Once the storm subsided, the mud began to create an issue for any person or vehicle attempting to leave the festival. Hoffoss says the Burning Man Festival did the best it could given the challenges caused by the storm.
On Sunday, Hoffoss eventually hopped onto the back of a truck with other festivalgoers attempting to make their way out of the desert.
“Everybody was working together, everybody was finding a way for us to get where we needed to go. It’s just a good feeling to see this sort of community-mindedness all the way through,” she said.
Hoffoss left the festival early, but the Art Builds team and their art installation are still making their way back to San Diego. On Tuesday, thousands of RVs stood in a line waiting to exit the festival.
Despite the heavy rain, Hoffoss says their art piece, which contains thousands of dollars in technology, didn’t sustain as much damage as they expected.
“Challenging situations are how communities are built and so there's a lovely community built both with my ArtBuilds group and also with the entire Burning Man. Everybody,” Hoffoss said. ”We all come prepared for any desert apocalypse, and then it happens and we help each other through it.”
ArtBuilds plans to further assess their art piece for damage, but Hoffoss says their team created a real community despite an extremely challenging situation.
“It was just lovely to see how everybody brought joy to the situation and everybody brought care and silliness and support for one another,” she said.
ArtBuilds is looking for a long-term or permanent home for “Unfolding Humanity”. Art Builds collaborates and creates art at the University of San Diego. To learn more about the group or to see their portfolio, click here.
PHOTOS: Rain turns into thick mud at Burning Man festival
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