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Burners take their art cars—or, rather, Mutant Vehicles—seriously, with a wide assortment of fantastic creations taking to the desert for the popular festival, returned after a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus.
After a two-year Covid-induced hiatus, 80,000 people returned to the Black Rock Desert in Northern Nevada to enjoy Burning Man’s annual eclectic mixture of art and music on the dusty dry lake bed—the same place where the current Land Speed Record was set in 1997.
The weather was hotter than usual and the dust storms and whiteouts were more frequent than normal. Nonetheless, burners, as they are called, enjoyed the sights and sounds during the week that was Burning Man 2022.
Mutant Vehicles—based on regular vehicles, they’re not supposed to provide any clues as to what is underneath their elaborate artwork—are popular with festival goers. It’s not just the thousands of LED lights, but also anyone is welcome to hop aboard for rides around the city, which covers an area the width of Manhattan from Chelsea to the Brooklyn Bridge.
With almost 800 Mutant Vehicles and art cars registered, it’s impossible to see them all, let alone find their owners who often sleep during the day and drive on the playful playa all night.
Here’s a look at just a few that appeared this year. There were some brand new Mutant Vehicles and regulars, who are encouraged to alter the appearance of their vehicles each year to maintain freshness.
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Before any Mutant Vehicles or art cars can roam the streets and playa at Black Rock City they have to be inspected for safety and originality by the Department of Mutant Vehicles.
Wayne Williams did not have to spend a mint to create this small six-seater Mutant Vehicle built on a golf cart.
We think there’s a Honda underneath this art car.
Ray Griswold took a VW-based off-road chassis and electrified it.
Bar hopping on a golf cart.
In a former life these two giant VWs were airport fire trucks!
Yup there’s a Lexus LS400 lurking below all this.
Xuza is craftily built on an old ‘98 Chevy R30 flatbed by Mike Cee in Las Vegas.
A solar-powered trike built from scratch.
Brian Willison’s Sepia Lux Cuttlefish is covered in LED’s with an opening mouth.
Las Vegas-based artist Henry Chang continually ups the ante with his beautiful stainless steel tubing creations.
Paul Chaklos drove his chopped GMC Denali to Burning Man...
...then raised the driving position and added inflated bodywork before hitting the playa.
Yup, it’s a Dodge truck masquerading as a covered wagon.1
Glittering tank built on a Chevrolet Trailblazer.
Believe it or not. this was once a Range Rover.
These art cars look like they came straight from duty on a Mad Max film.
Rumor has it this beautiful giant dragon with flapping wings cost $1 million to create.
Phoenix is a new Mutant Vehicle built on a Bluebird bus by Marie Poliak and crew in Las Vegas.
A night view of the Mutant Vehicle, Phoenix.
We never did discover what powered this triple axle remote-controlled behemoth aptly named Titanic Ends.
An older GMC Pickup resides under this elaborate Mutant Vehicle.
Rumor has it there’s a Tesla “chassis” under this structure.
Underneath this fire-breathing dragon you’ll find a Chevy Astro minivan.
You’d never guess this was once a Nissan Pulsar.
Joel Briggs’ one-eyed monster, residing on a 1984 Mercedes-Benz 300SD, prowls slowly through one of the many dust storms this year.
Another old bus devoured by a dragon.
You got to hand it to these creative builders who drive this backward facing “car” in reverse.
Don’t bat an eyelid, but you don’t need much more than a Geo Metro to create a low-budget MV.
Even a cartoon car body is a Mutant Vehicle since there’s no clue as to what really lies underneath..