Burning Man 2012 has come to a close, and one of the constants at this incredible festival is The Temple. Every year, a new one is built, and it rests in the same place in the fleeting, desert, Black Rock City. I was fortunate enough to attend for the past two years, and the temple that was constructed this year was a sight to behold. Reminiscent of a pagoda, the structure wasn’t impressive in size, but the eye-warping detail and craftsmanship were truly astounding. The temple was designed by renowned sculptor David Best, and was created with over 300,000 CNC’d wooden panels. The intricacy made people’s jaws drop, myself included. When lit at night, the temple resembled a glowing, luminous piece of honeycomb. It’s the sort of place that pictures will never do justice, but the following images are gathered from Flickr by various, excellent photographers. Click on the photos to see just a bit of the amazing detail.
While known for loud and boisterous celebration, people at Burning Man embrace a reverence and respect while inside the temple. It’s known as a quiet place of reflection and meditation. People scrawl messages on scraps of paper and the temple’s walls that speak to those they have lost, feelings of guilt and sadness, reflections on life, love, the universe.
And at the end of the week, of course, the whole glorious temple is burned to the ground.
Burning Man 2012, Aerial, overview from ZM Interactive on Vimeo.
