The Orgy Dome, which has been erected at the desert festival since 2003, was and will presumably return next year as a “sex-positive, consensual space for couples and moresomes to play during their stay at Black Rock City,” according to its website. “All couples and moresomes who are adults are welcome in the Dome – straight, lesbian, gay, bi, polyamorous and monogamous. We welcome the combination of love in all forms,” the description continues. It also makes sure to note that the Dome is air conditioned, which—considering temperatures in the desert climbed as high as 106 degrees in 2022—must be as enticing to Burning Man attendees as everything else happening inside.
The weekend’s widely documented windstorm took out more than the Orgy Dome. Black Cloud, a 50-foot installation designed by a team of Ukrainian artists to memorialize the war and warn of the dangers of future wars, also sustained critical damage. “After 5:30 p.m. [on Aug. 24] a sudden hurricane-force wind swept across the desert,” the Black Cloud team wrote in a press release, per Billboard. “Despite the calculations, the installation withstood only the first fifteen minutes. A powerful gust tore the structure apart from within, and the storm destroyed Black Cloud completely.”
Despite these losses, however, Billboard points out that Burners have endured far worse. There was the aforementioned 106 degree heat, as well as an infamous rain storm in 2023 that turned the camp into a dangerous, muddy mess. People died at both the 2023 and 2024 iterations of the festival, but nevertheless, Burning Man has persisted. They’ll have to find somewhere else to host their orgies (hopefully one that still has AC), but—barring future weather events—Burners will remain in the desert city until they tear it all down on September 1.
