A temporary metropolis for tens of thousands built annually in Nevada’s remote Black Rock Desert, the Burning Man festival is famous for its extreme architecture and creative art cars, the latter now including a transformed Boeing 747.

Fitting this year’s theme of Da Vinci’s Workshop (art and technological innovation), the huge gutted hull has been in the works for seven years thanks to Big Imagination Foundation and their supporters.

The carved-out jumbo jet invites people to hop on board for speakers, parties and other events. It is being towed around the dusty playa by a surprisingly small service vehicle, a bit like one might see on the tarmac at an airport.

A team of over 100 artists, engineers and other creatives helped strip and reconstruct the original plane, reinforcing its removed structure with custom interior supports and adding a series of staircases.

Anyone who has attended the festival will know that one of the most fascinating experiences is the serendipity of boarding a big art vehicle and seeing where it leads, either spatially or experientially (or both). This may be the best such adventure yet, featuring interactive art, music and other live performances and inspirational talks.

Creating a one-of-a-kind opportunity for urban designers and aspiring planners, Black Rock City is soliciting fresh layouts from anyone who wishes to contribute. Winners selected by the BRC Ministry of Urban Planning will be featured in an upcoming publication but will also influence the future shape of this surreal metropolis.

As the home of the Burning Man Festival, BRC is unique not only due to its intermittent existence, rising from the desert for just one week every year, but also because of its density and size, with 75,000+ annual residents making their home in less than 2 square miles.

The fact that the place is rebuilt anew with each iteration means lessons learned one year can be applied the next, while the absolutely flat desert landscape makes for effectively endless possible layouts. Likewise, the architecture that populates the place is highly varied and ever-evolving, reflecting the radical changes in temperature from day to night and the ever-present threat of rain and dust storms.

While critics and ‘citizens’ alike have strong feelings and differing views about other aspects of the gathering, once attendees have arrived they effectively become residents of a grand urban experiment. Reliant on streets and other public infrastructure, everyone fills into the grid, from individual campsites (often on the fringes) to large theme camps (arrayed primarily around a central circular Esplanade) and core communal functions (generally near the entrance).

These designs, past through present, reflect the need for clear navigation within the city as well as the desire to foster density and (through that) community interactions, all while maintaining critical services at key places or appropriate intervals.

While leeway is given for creative variation, submitters to the contest are similarly encouraged to reinforce density and interactivity, through fractal patterns or other applicable configurations and shapes. Far-fetched, implausible or even physically impossible entries will still be considered, however, even if they cannot be incorporated in a near-future plan.

The shape of the city has changed significantly over time, but certain elements like the centrality of The Man have remained largely the same. Tall relative to its surroundings and aligned with axes of the city, it serves to help orient people (particularly at night) while also providing a central locus around which activity revolves. While it was initially arrayed closely around it, the city pushed back from The Man over the years, creating a broken circle with views to and beyond this center figure.

As the city grew in size, its location also shifted, pushing it deeper into the wide-open desert. However, since 1999, major changes have been fewer and farther between – a fact that may change with the right submission to this competition.

More on the origins of the competition: “We founded the Black Rock City Ministry of Urban Planning with the goal of enabling people to share and discuss ideas for the spatial and geometric possibilities for Black Rock City and regional events, and to give architects and urban designers a platform to participate more directly in this process. Design competitions such as this are a familiar format in these trades, and as such, are an efficient way to get lots of ideas on the table for consideration.”

Types of and evaluation criteria for submissions: “(1) Individual design elements : boulevards, roundabouts, street lights, all of the things that are part of a cityscape that can be incorporated into larger scale plans. Have an idea for a park, or a winding boulevard? Submit this as a design element. (2) Conforming city plans : these are large scale city plans that make adaptations to the existing time + named street coordinate system without altering the fundamental character of the plan. The objective with this type of plan is to make aesthetic or practical improvements to what’s already in place, for example by adding pedestrian boulevards (think Las Ramblas in Barcelona). (3) Non-conforming city plans : here we explore BRC, or a regional event city, as an imagined or science fictional space, and invite people to submit radically new configurations for the city.” (Images via Burning Man, Duncan Rawlinson and Jonathan LaLiberty).

Over the past decade, over 1,000 artists and 60,000 visitors have taken part in this incredible seasonal arts event, coming together to create an annual temporary community-on-ice in one of the nation’s coldest states.

Known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” but also as a center for the arts, Minnesota seems the perfect place for the Art Shanty Projects – a temporary autonomous zone where two disparate concepts to come together: the tradition of ice shacks built for fishing and the idea of public, interactive, community-built art on those same iced surfaces.

Comparisons have been made to Burning Man, but those sell short the unique local nature of this undertaking. One thing they do share, however, is a harsh (if opposite) environmental context that makes serious demands on buildings and shapes their form and function. The resulting structures are a mixture of wooden stick-framed shacks, metal geodesic domes, triangular tipis and other proven engineering approaches mixed with creative touches and unusual applications.

In years past, first on Medicine Lake and later White Bear Lake, the spaces these shape have featured a little bit of everything, from interactive games and dance floors to indoor and outdoor theatrical and musical performances. Sometimes a wild art car or two can be spotted patrolling the streets of the the shanty village as well and strange sculptures have been known to crop up in between buildings as well. While some things are scheduled, visitors learn to expect the unexpected.

This winter, the Art Shanty Projects is taking a break from the On-Ice Program to celebrate 10 years of success and complete a pivotal transition into an official non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. However, the organization is hosting a fundraising retrospective featuring some of the best shanties of years past as well as a custom-brewed beer specifically created for the event, taking place on February 28th at the Fulton Brewery in Minneapolis (more details can be found on ArtShantyProjects.org). Anyone wishing to donate to next year’s program can also do so online at Give.MN. This year, ASP is also a finalist for an Art Place America grant and is competing for a Black Rock Arts Foundation grant.

More about ASP: “Art Shanty Projects is an artist driven temporary community exploring the ways in which relatively unregulated public spaces can be used as new and challenging artistic environments to expand notions of what art can be. Our organization values artists, art in all communities, and the importance of interaction between the two. Through an array of artists receiving fair wages for their work, we broaden perceptions of art while maintaining respect for the environment and communities in which we work.” Note: the writer of this article serves as on the Board of Directors for the Art Shanty Projects, an unpaid position.

For all its art and controversy, the desert is perhaps the most unique defining characteristic of Black Rock City, home of the Burning Man Festival in rural Nevada. Potentially even more challenging than harsh heat and dust storms: Emphermisle, a temporary autonomous zone on the water, coming to California again this year in the middle of July.

From its creators: “We construct a floating city on the Sacramento River Delta and live on it for five days. Ephemerisle has elements of Burning Man in the early 1990s: a new adventure into an alien environment, with discoveries, adventures, and mishaps along the way.” Unlike the current form of Black Rock City, though: “There are no tickets, no central organizers, and no rangers to keep you safe.”

Its creation, though, is about more than just at temporary experience: “Seasteading seeks to move human communities out into the vast expanse of our planet covered in water. Ephemerisle gives an introduction into the physical challenges of being water and learning ways to deal with them. It also provides for small scale experimentation in differing forms of governance.”

Atossa Abrahamian describes the experience of arriving this year at the event, with its patchwork neighborhoods,  impromptu parties and unpredictable ad hoc public transit system: “It looked, at first, like a shapeless pile of floating junk, but as the boat drew closer, a sense of order emerged. The island was made up of two rows of houseboats, anchored about a hundred feet apart, with a smaller cluster of boats and yachts set off to the west. The boats had been bound together with planks, barrels, cleats, and ropes, assembled ad-hoc by someone with at least a rudimentary understanding of knots and anchors. Residents decorated their decks with banners and flags and tied kayaks and inflatable toys off the sides”

Nothing brings people together like a gigantic party, especially if it’s got a bizarre theme like roadkill, bugs, testicles or tomato throwing. People convene in massive numbers for some pretty crazy things, from rolling cheese down a hill in England to covering themselves in mud from head to toe in Louisiana. These 15 parties are some of the craziest in the world with millions coming together to indulge in strange culinary delights, engage in exhibitionism and forget about real life for a while.

Roadkill Cookoff

(images via: Road Kill Cookoff)

There’s a whole lot of perfectly good, entirely free meat out there, and you don’t even need hunting skills to acquire it – just peel it up off the road. The annual Roadkill Cookoff takes place in Pocahontas County, West Virginia every September and features dishes with enticing names like Rigormortis Bear Stew and Thumper Meets Bumper. They also crown a lucky Roadkill Queen every year.

Rio Carnival

(images via: theage.au)

It may just be the biggest and most outlandish party on earth. During the four days before Lent, real life comes to a screeching halt in Brazil to focus on the three pillars of Carnival: samba, women and beer. Female dancers push the public nudity envelope in barely-there costumes festooned in sequins and feathers, leading a massive parade of the 14 schools of samba, with each school wearing a different type of costume. Other events include street processions and masquerade balls.

Louisiana Mudfest

(images via: LouisianaMudfest.com)

The Louisiana Mudfest may or may not be the South’s biggest party, but it’s definitely the dirtiest. Off-road vehicle enthusiasts love nothing more than to go ‘mud riding’, and this festival draws thousands of 4×4 owners and their families to play in over 300 acres of mud.

La Tomatina Tomato-Throwing Party

(images via: WebEcoist)

From WebEcoist: “Once a year, tens of thousands of tourists gather in a town in Spain to hurl over one hundred tons of overripe tomatoes … all in just one hour. When the festival is called to a halt fire hoses are used to clean the streets as well as the participants. For this brief but amazing food fight the size of the town quadruples, drawing visitors from all over the world to participate in the largest spaghetti sauce bath of all time.”

Testicle Festivals

(images via: 2camels, Gadling.com)

People who live in Montana tend to have a “waste not, want not” philosophy. So, why would they throw testicles away and give up all of that delicious, boneless protein? At least 15,000 people share that outlook, heading to the Rock Creek Lodge outside of Clinton every year to “have a ball at the Testicle Festival”. Bull testicles, also known as Rocky Mountain Oysters, are peeled, marinated in beer, breaded and deep-fried.

A few states away in Illinois, there’s a somewhat smaller, but no less strange annual homage to genitals: the Turkey Testicle Festival. 1200 pounds of deep-fried turkey balls sell out completely every year. One brave culinary explorer claims “they look like little popcorn shrimp, and they taste like chicken.”

Burning Man Festival

(images via: Declan McCullagh)

Burning Man, which takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy, is held every year at the end of August in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, drawing some 50,000 people to the remote area for “community, artwork, absurdity, decommodification and revelry”.   To attend Burning Man is to temporarily step into an alternate world where clothing is optional, weird is normal, there’s always something new to try and wildly artistic creations are everywhere you look.

Holi Festival

(images via: Newshopper)

For hundreds of years, Hindus in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and other countries have welcomed the arrival of spring with a “festival of colors” celebrating the escape of a Hindu figure named Prahlada from death by fire due to his devotion to the god Vishnu. On the main day of the festival, called “Holi”, participants throw colored powders and liquids at each other, which were traditionally made from medicinal herbs that fight viral fever and cold.

Flash Mob Pillow Fights

(images via: Piccadilly Wilson)

On March 22nd, 2008, the largest pillow fight in the history of the world took place in 25 cities across the world including Boston, Copenhagen, Dubai, London, Shanghai and Sydney. Worldwide Pillow Fight Day was the first “international flash mob”, organized through social media, email, texting and word of mouth. 5,000 people participated in New York City alone, pounding each other with pillows and releasing millions of feathers into the air.

A Valentine’s Day flash mob pillow fight in San Francisco created such a mess, officials plan to crack down on participants in the future.

The Love Parade

(images via: Berlin-life.com, Wayfaring.info)

It started as a political demonstration for peace through love and music, organized by the Berlin Underground in 1989 four months before the Berlin Wall was demolished. Over the years, The Love Parade has grown into one of the world’s biggest outdoor dance parties, drawing millions of people from around the world and spurring similar events in other cities. The focus of the events is electronic dance music including trance, house and techno.

Hadaka Matsuri

(images via: WeirdAsianNews)

It’s cold in Japan in the middle of winter – but that doesn’t stop thousands of men from donning loincloths, soaking each other with water and fighting each other for the chance to catch one of the ‘shingi’, wooden sticks dropped among the crowds that are said to bring one year of good luck. The men are kept warm on the frigid January night by each other’s bodies and lots of sake.

Bugfest

(image via: Raleigh2)

Insects aren’t creepy – they’re just misunderstood. At least, that’s what Bugfest organizers hope to convey as they entertain crowds of people every September in Raleigh, North Carolina with bug-related displays, exhibits, activities and “delectable dishes”. Samples of buggy dishes are free, so fill up on scorpion taquitos and deep-fried grasshoppers.

Cheese Rolling Festival

(images via: BBC News)

Every year near Gloucester in the Coltswold region of England, thousands of people convene to roll a round of Double Gloucester cheese down a hill and chase after it. Though the goal is to catch the cheese, that rarely happens considering it can reach speeds of 70mph; instead, the first person to cross the finish line wins. Nobody knows exactly how the tradition started, but people are certainly willing to injure themselves for it, coming down the hill with broken bones and concussions.

Kanamara (Big Metal Phallus) Festival

(images via: NowPublic)

Since the dawn of human existence, there have been fertility rites centering around phallic objects. Modern Japan carries on the tradition with ‘Kanamara’, the Festival of the Steel Phallus. Revelers sit astride gigantic wooden penis models and hug them for good luck, carve phallic symbols out of daikon radishes and walk around sucking on phallus-shaped lollipops. The festival is centered around a local penis-venerating shrine where prostitutes once prayed for protection against STDs.

Spamarama

(images via: Photolulu)

People really love potted meat products. In America, annual odes to Spam occur in both Hawaii and Texas, and both include coming up with as many variations of Spam-themed dishes as possible. Hawaii residents consume five million pounds of Spam every year – that’s six pounds for every man, woman and child. Waikiki’s Spam Jam drew 20,000 people last year to consume Spam and buy Spam-related merchandise.

In Austin, Texas, Spamarama expands on that idea with ‘Spamalympics’, a Spam cook-off and a Spamburger eating contest.

Eye Gazing Parties

(images via EyeGazingParties.com)

What can you learn by staring at someone in silence for three minutes? According to Michael Ellsburg, who came up with the idea of  ‘eye gazing parties’, you can gain an unspoken connection with a stranger without the distraction of superficial conversation. At eye gazing parties, an even number of singles meet up in bars and restaurants and switch off staring at one another. Once the staring part of the party is over, people can talk to each other and exchange contact information.