What We Create

Illumi-naughty - The fusion of illuminated technology and sinful partying. Our camp is dedicated to providing the local 9:00 sector with high quality LED art installations as well as some friendly parties. Our primary art installation is known as the Eye of Providence - a ball of LEDs suspended on a 40-foot tower, visible all the way from deep playa. In 2023 we added the Wall of Light, an array of thousands of LEDs behind a diffusion panel. For more information on all of the art and artists see our projects page.

Interactivity and Events

Our camp welcomes all! There are a number of interactive camp events, designed to share our knowledge and positive energy. The more welcoming we can make the camp - the more cool people we meet.

  • Interactive Art: Many of the art pieces have interactive elements. Both the ball and wall, for example, can be triggered via remote controls, giving passers-by the ability to change colors, patterns, and flow.

  • The Virgin Bike Ride (Monday @ 10:00 AM): Run by veteran burners in the camp, this event gathers virgin burners from across the playa to talk about the ten principles, explain basic geography of the event, and tour the major art installations. This is a great way for new folks and vets to quickly orient themselves and organize their experience.

  • LEDs Are Awesome Meetup (Wednesday @ 7:00 PM): A meetup of artists and LED projects on-playa, inclusive of standalone pieces and art cars. It serves as a great chance to learn, share knowledge, and show off creations.

  • The New Year’s Party (Thursday @ 9:00 PM): If you have a giant ball, you gotta drop it. This is a New Years themed party, complete with countdown and ball drop, with DJs, amplified music, and open bar. Sparkly clothing and bad resolutions encouraged.

The Campers

Who are We?

Our camp is comprised of talented folks from all professions - hardware engineers, software engineers, artists, contractors, architects, nurses, executives, even an olympic gymnast (hi Sammie). We’re almost all Californians, with the largest group in Los Angeles and two smaller groups in San Francisco and Sacremento. If you’re wondering if this is the right camp for you, consider the following:

  • We value friendship: Our campers are typically good friends on and off playa. If you only know one person in the camp to start - no worries! We are an inclusive bunch and want to bring people into the camp that we would hang out with any time.

  • Once a member, always a member: If you have camped with Illuminaughty successfully in the past, you are automatically welcomed back. We have many members that have skipped five years and come back to camp with us, long after their original mentor has moved on.

  • We party and goof around: Fun is the whole point. There is work required to make the camp function and give to the community, but we try to front-load the effort and distribute tasks to keep everyone’s on-playa experience focused on fun, adventure, and experiencing the burn to the fullest. There will be loud music, excessive dancing, laughter, and revelry at most hours. Bring your positive energy and some ear plugs for best results.

  • We’re Tech-y: There are several talented artists and engineers in the camp that come together to build our featured art installations. This fusion of tech and art is where most of us have our creative interests, so if that interests you there is a wide network of people to work with and learn from. If that doesn’t interest you - no worries! Not all of our projects involve LEDs and software, and not everyone works on a project before the burn.

  • We are not Turn-Key: There are other camps on-playa that will arrange everything for you, from essentials like food, water, and shade to clothing, logistics, and lodging. We are not that camp. The camp dues supply basics to ensure everyone is healthy, but all campers are expected to contribute to building / tearing down the camp, cleaning up, and running camp events. See the Responsibilities section for details.

Organization / Leadership

The camp is typically 40-60 members on-playa. Organizing logistics for that many people takes work, and that work is done entirely on a volunteer basis. We like to keep a lose structure with few titles, but there are some key roles assigned to make sure volunteers have the right point of contact and things run smoothly. Please reach out to the right people if you want to contribute!

El Jefe - Scott

LED Master - Chuck

Setup, Website - Chris

New Members - Ryan

Power & Sound - Hunter

Treasurer - Francesca

Kitchen - Jennifer

Virgin Bike Ride - Andrew

Life in the Camp

Location:

Burning man org determines final placement each year, but we are typically located in the 9:00 sector, between E and H. This neighborhood is lively, and we like it that way. In this location you should expect parties at most hours - from the daytime dance parties at Distrikt down the street to night time bar nights at Duck Pond, we like to be in the action. We’ve also been next to Duck Pond for a decade - we love our neighbors!

Camp Layout

The camp layout evolves each year depending on the number of members, number of RVs, and size of art installations. The overall goals of the layout are to create a visually appealing and inviting frontage (part that faces the public), provide all the camp amenities, and make for easy ingress / egress into and out of camp. Overall, we want good vibes in camp. Talk to Chris McPherson if you have ideas about how to improve or want to showcase an art piece at camp!

For the nerds out there, the CAD is done in Trimble SketchUp (formerly Google SketchUp).

To Get Stuff to Camp:

  1. Container: Standard shipping container used to store camp stuff that does not need to come back to Los Angeles between burns. The container is stored nearby in Gerlach and placed in our campsite by burning man org prior to our arrival. Personal items are not stored in the container.

  2. Box Truck: A large box truck used to transport items from Los Angeles to the camp. Members in the LA area can use the box truck to transport non-perishable goods including clothing, personal items, and bicycles that do not fit in their own transportation. Aside from bicycles, all items must be held in these stackable Home Depot boxes, with your name labeled on top. This makes packing, stacking, and unpacking much easier.

  3. Vehicle Parking (Car or RV): Everything else comes with you! In general you should know what personal items will come in your vehicle vs. in the box truck, and it is encouraged to pack as much with you as is practical, so we can spend less money on a smaller truck.

To Keep you Charged up to Party:

  1. Shade: Shade structures exist to cover ground tents and our public hang-out space. If you are a tent camper, the camp will provide a 10’ x 10’ square of shade and lag bolts to anchor your tent into the playa. No need to bring your own tent stakes (those don’t work anyways) or rebar. The public shaded area is like our “living room” - it is where we’ll be hanging out together if we’re not sleeping or venturing out. This area has rugs, furniture, and “walls” + roofing to keep the dust out

  2. Water: A 200-gallon container of water comes to the playa with us in the box truck, and is used to supply potable drinking water for all camp members for the full duration of the event. This means camp members do not need to personally bring a week’s worth of water (~10 gallons each). However, we recommend that each camp member bring 2-3 gallons. You may wish to keep a couple gallons in your tent/RV, and sometimes water delivery is slow on Gate Day.

  3. Power: A large generator and power distribution network exists to power all the things we need to party. This includes 120V outlets for camper’s tents, camper’s RVs, and public items like the refrigerator and sound system. We still recommend bringing a couple portable batteries for small items like your phone – power hiccups for a few hours are rare but can occur.

  4. Kitchen: We provide a full kitchen with a cast iron range, microwave, hot water kettle, counter area, kitchen knives, paper plates, disposable forks+spoons, paper towels, trash can, etc.

    • The kitchen has a fridge that keeps our camp perishable items safe (eggs, cheese, bacon, condiments) – this fridge is not for personal use! Please properly close the fridge after using it, and bring a cooler or personal fridge for any personal items.

    • We do not provide cooked meals for the entire camp or have a set meal time. Camp members come and go in the kitchen to cook+eat when they want. That being said, often camp members will cook up a lot of food and hand out what they don’t eat. If you do this, please walk around camp and ask if others want your extras!

    • The camp provides staple foods, but we encourage you to bring personal foods if you have dietary needs or just want to eat better. This food will keep you alive, but is not gourmet:

      • Eggs, bacon, cheese, condiments (stored in the camp fridge)

      • Chips, bread, tortillas, nuts, snacks, instant noodles

    • The camp also provides drinks. This is relatively comprehensive unless you want something specific:

      • Alcohol (spirts, seltzers, beers, and premix cocktails for parties)

      • Sparkling water, soda

      • Ice is kept in marked coolers in the kitchen area and bar area. Ice is for everyone to take as they need, and camp members volunteer to re-fill the ice each day.

  5. Cool Room: The cool room is a large inflatable structure with an evaporative cooling system to keep the interior temp around 65 degrees. The playa can reach temperatures above 110 F in the hottest years - feel free to hang out in here if you need to cool down or get some sleep at mid-day. Please do not bang in the cool room.

  6. Internet: There is no cell service on playa. Most years the camp has Starlink satellite internet from one or more camp members to enable on-playa communications. We discourage using internet for non-essential things (eg. Instagram) and do not guarantee it’s availability (no working on-playa!), but when available it can be used to contact loved ones or coordinate in the event of an emergency.

To Share our Creativity:

  1. Eye of Providence: See project page

  2. Wall of Light: See project page

  3. Stage + Sound System: See project page

Responsibilities

Set Up and Tear Down

  • All camp members that are on-playa are expected to help build the camp. About 15-20 camp members typically volunteer to enter the event early (prior to Sunday), with the earliest members on-site the Thursday prior, including the setup captain to run the show. If you can come early, thank you!!! If you cannot, no worries and we’ll take your help as soon as you arrive. No prior construction experience is required - it simply takes hands and energy, and we can teach you anything you need to know during set up. Building the camp comes with a sense of pride and contribution to the event, and it is very cool to watch Black Rock City emerge from nothing to everything. Don’t skip out!

  • Make sure you have a pair of work gloves (example) and closed-toe pair of shoes for building and tearing down. Skin does not heal on the playa – don’t fuck up your hands or toes in the beginning of the burn!

  • All members must help tear down camp on Saturday morning, the day of the Man burn. This typically takes the full day Saturday, and then all camp members go to the man burn together. Feels great to witness the man burn with all the work done!

  • All camp members with vehicles are expected to carry a few trash bags with them at the conclusion of the event. The more you can carry the better. You can immediately dispose of trash (responsibly!) at dedicated trash sites 20-30 minutes from Gate (they will be clearly labeled, and it costs about ~$5 per bag to dispose).

Day to Day 

  • In general - if you see something wrong, fix it! Just like at home, all it takes is a little daily cleanup to keep our home functional. Trash full? Take it out. Make a mess? Clean it up. Don’t know how to fix something? Ask. I ain’t your mom, just follow the “no A-holes” policy.

  • Ice melts fast in the desert. The camp provides cash and a little wagon to purchase ice from the Artica camp in the 9:00 plaza. Camp members volunteer to carry the ice back to camp and re-stock our coolers, so everyone has cool drinks.

  • We dispose of grey-water (any liquid that is not pure water) into large plastic barrels. To limit the weight we carry out at the end of the burn we dump the barrels mid-week. If you see the RV black-water disposal crews come by our camp, please ask them to also service our grey-water barrel. This costs ~$100 cash and the camp will reimburse you (or ask a camp lead for the cash).

Parties

Parties are fun! When we are hosting an event, we are giving a gift to the community. Camp members can sign up ahead of time for specific roles to make sure the event runs smoothly.

  • Bartenders: No previous experience required, and typically we pre-mix the drinks for parties. This is simply checking IDs (yes that’s required!) and then dealing out drinks. You will have some interesting conversations - I guarantee it.

  • Cat Herder: We give you a megaphone for this one. The goal is to get as many people to come to the party as possible, while keeping their bodies and bicycles out of the public street. This can feel like herding cats, but the more the merrier.

Responsibilities by Day

  • Day 0 - Thursday - Volunteers setup early

  • Day 1 - Friday - Volunteers setup early

  • Day 2 - Saturday - Volunteers setup early

  • Day 3 - Sunday - Gate Day! People arrive and all help setup

  • Day 4 - Monday - Finish setup, Virgin bike ride 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM, optional

  • Day 5 - Tuesday - Be cool and explore

  • Day 6 - Wednesday - Be cool and explore. LEDs are awesome meetup 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM, optional

  • Day 7 - Thursday - Be cool and explore. Camp party 9:00 PM - 1:00 AM, mandatory

  • Day 8 - Friday - Be cool and explore

  • Day 9 - Saturday - Everyone tears down camp to just the kitchen + tent shade. Man burn in PM

  • Day 10 - Sunday - Everyone tears down remainder of camp. MOOP sweep.

  • Day 11 - Monday (Labor Day) - Everyone out of camp. Last ones out do final MOOP sweep

Dues

While the labor is free and all volunteer, funding our art, camp amenities, and events takes a little bit of dough. Our overall goal is to keep member dues low and attainable for all - please reach out if you have questions or concerns so we can work with you. For 2025,

  • Standard Dues: $350, everyone pays this regardless of number of days on-playa

  • RV Dues: $500 per-RV, on top of standard dues

  • AC Dues: $300 per-AC, on top of standard dues

  • Box Truck Transport: $10 per box in the truck, $10 per bicycle in the truck, contact Ryan Hansberry if you have odd-shaped items

This is my First Time!

In the immortal words of Hulk Hogan - Hellllll yeah brrrrother. You’re gonna love it - in addition to reading above please follow the steps in our First Timer’s Guide to learn more about the event outside of camp, what to pack, and how to interface to your camp mentor.