Burning Man Arrives in D.C.

Burning Man Arrives in D.C.

When Burning Man festival–goers get to the temporary Nevada city outside Black Rock City, greeters famously say, "Welcome home, again." While I have never attended the annual weeklong event, I imagine that this feeling of homecoming will resonate for all Burning Man fanatics who visit the Renwick Gallery's latest exhibition No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, opening today.

‘Very Strange Bedfellows’: Burning Man Exhibit Opens At Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery

‘Very Strange Bedfellows’: Burning Man Exhibit Opens At Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery

On the second floor of the Renwick Gallery, three psychedelic mushrooms are currently heaving in and out and out like giant legume-shaped lungs. Their tops almost touch the ceiling, and they respire – if that’s what you can call it – whenever visitors step on special pads on the floor.

The Smithsonian’s Burning Man Art Show Is Actually Quite Good

The Smithsonian’s Burning Man Art Show Is Actually Quite Good

In the low-lit, second-floor room of Washington’s Renwick Gallery, a cluster of three ceiling-height plastic mushrooms glows in a shifting kaleidoscope of neon colors. At each mushrooms’ base is a pad that users can press, causing the sculptures to heave, sigh, and expand in and out.

National Geographic Travel Feature of the No Spectators exhibition

National Geographic Travel Feature of the No Spectators exhibition

Video: We are LIVE in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery for a sneak preview of the upcoming exhibition No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man.

This exhibit brings the spirit of Burning Man to D.C. Well, minus the drugs, sex and sand.

This exhibit brings the spirit of Burning Man to D.C. Well, minus the drugs, sex and sand.

Shortly after Nora Atkinson was hired in 2014 as a crafts curator at the Renwick Gallery, she pitched a crazy idea — an exhibition dedicated to the art of Burning Man

The Art of Burning Man is coming to D.C.'s Smithsonian American Art Museum​ this Friday

The Art of Burning Man is coming to D.C.'s Smithsonian American Art Museum​ this Friday

From ornate temples to colorful mushrooms to larger-than-life animal sculptures, the giant art installations of Burning Man are a hallmark of the free-spirited desert festival. From Black Rock Desert, Nevada, many of these memorable artworks can all be seen in one place at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. starting March 30.

Will the Spirit of Burning Man Art Survive in Museums?

Will the Spirit of Burning Man Art Survive in Museums?

A generation of volunteers spawned more artists, turning Burning Man into “an informal but very effective art school,” as Mr. Harvey put it. Pointing to these apprentices and what he called “enlightened patronage,” he sees parallels in the blossoming of art at Burning Man and the Italian Renaissance, its art theme in 2016.