What do you do in the evening in the desert?

Go see the Social Pool

Social Pool is an installation by Austrian artist Alfredo Barsuglia: a small pool in the desert open to anyone willing to seek it out : just ask for permission, a key and, most importantly, the coordinates to the organization that manages it. The desert is the place where human relationships represent survival, and so Barsuglia celebrates and enhances human relationships with a pool to share.

Go to the Burning Man

If you see a unicorn in the desert, the cases are twofold: either you are having an hallucination, or you are lucky enough to have happened upon the Nevada desert during one of the eight days of the Burning Man Festival, an art and music festival. The watchword is: excess (and we are told that this also affects the price of admission, $550 base ticket grants access to creative participants). The event is designed as a “participatory experience, built around active involvement, sharing, and personal contribution”. The name of the festival comes from a Saturday night ritual, when a giant wooden effigy is set ablaze.