Burning Man co-founder says festival has become a “commercialised escape hatch”
He condemned the loss of its “anarchist soul”, saying that the festival has become a place for middle class creatives
John Law, one of Burning Man’s three co-founders, has slammed the festival for losing its original anarchist spirit in a new op-ed for The San Francisco Standard.
In the essay, titled I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul, Law argues that Burning Man has become a "commercialised escape hatch for the wealthy".
Law helped to establish the festival, originally held in San Francisco, in 1986, before it eventually moved to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in 1990. He says that he hasn’t returned since 1996.
"For years after I left, I avoided talking about Burning Man – I’d moved on to other things," he says. "But people keep asking, so here’s what I’ll say: What it became makes me a little sad."
Read this next: Watch the first trailer for HBO's Burning Man documentary series
He argues that the festival has become "unrecognisable" from what it once was, writing: "[Burning Man] is a phantasmagoric, immersive spectacle built for the consumption of Western elites and the middle class creatives who service them."
"It is a carnival. A fabulous Disneyland for the well-heeled, all the while presenting itself as a serious artistic enterprise grounded in philosophical principles."
Law went on to note that attendees at Burning Man can buy into "luxury" camps, have stylists, private chefs, and even charter planes to the desert, and is now attended by the likes of Google staff and billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.
Read this next: Satellite photograph shows Burning Man from space
"Anyone with enough money can leave their real life behind entirely," he says. "What better corporate-sanctioned therapy could be imagined?"
Law also slammed the current ticket pricing for Burning Man, as well as the "enormous expense" for travel and items needed for the event, calling out the contradictory nature of the cashless festival where decommodification is one of its many principles.
Burning Man is currently taking place at Black Rock Desert after opening for 2026 on August 30. Earlier this week, STI advice was published by the festival after several attendees claimed to have picked up infections at a sex-positive “Orgy Dome” on site.
Read John Law's full piece for The San Francisco Standard here.
Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor
