Jacob Hanshaw is one of the many Bay Area residents creating an art piece for the gathering. He describes it as an Art Nouveau circus wagon that can be used for alternative confessions.
"You can choose to be the confessor or the forgiver," said Hanshaw. "I certainly hope that some people are able to get some catharsis out of it, either sharing or having that experience of, you know, being the forgiver for someone else."
Art that lets you release what you are carrying inside is the very soul of Burning Man.
Burning Man was born in 1986 when Larry Harvey gathered with friends at San Francisco's Baker Beach to burn a figure of a man made of wood, which was said to represent his ex's new partner.
"If you've ever sat around a campfire with your friends, there's something really magical about the element of fire that kind of mesmerizing," said Katie Hazard, the art director for the Burning Man Project, which is based in San Francisco.
The burning of the man figure is still the centerpiece of Black Rock City, the name of the nine-day festival in Nevada every year.
Before that culminating moment, people gather to build a city in a dry lakebed north of Reno. The area doesn't have any electricity, running water or roads.
Attendees, known as burners, build a city from scratch every year.
"The desert is a vast, blank expanse. It's like a blackboard that you start drawing on," said Marian Goodell, who went to her first Burning Man in the mid-90s and is now the CEO of the Burning Man Project.
She said the festival helped her find an escape from her daily routine.
"Going to Burning Man creates new challenges for you in a very beautiful environment, and it creates an opportunity to work with other people and not really think about who you are in the work world, but how you show up as a creative person," explained Goodell.
Hanshaw understands the attraction. His full-time job is as a Google engineer, but for Burning Man he's moonlighting as an artist.
"As we get older, play is something that's easy to lose, but it's so important," said Hanshaw. "I never would have thought of myself as an artist and this opportunity has made it possible."
About 400 sculptures are usually installed at Black Rock City every year, some as tall as 80 feet.
"People think that we're commissioning the art, but really it's just community that's behind it," explained Hazard.
Burning Man Project hands out $1.5 million in art grants every year.
It funds about 75 artworks for Black Rock City annually, including the temple.
While setting fire to the Burning Man installation on Saturday is the peak experience of the week, there is a second temple burning on Sunday night. It serves another purpose.
"The temple is a place during the event where people bring stories; they hang memorabilia from their friends, their family, loved ones. It's more solemn. People are usually reflecting on the thoughts they brought to the temple," said Goodell.
But Black Rock City has faced its challenges through the years, like sandstorms and torrential rain that left a muddy mess.
Some burners have criticized wealthy individuals like Mark Zuckerberg for arriving in a helicopter, others for hiring private chefs or crews to set up camp, and others for setting up gated spaces.
One of the ten principles burners adhere to is radical inclusion, which means everyone is welcome.
"Everybody is welcome at Burning Man and it's a shame that people sort of dial in on one type of person that comes to Burning Man because we need everybody and everybody has a chance to enjoy the culture and be acculturated. And the way the community happens is with a little bit of input from everybody," said Goodell.
Silicon Valley has always been attracted to Burning Man. The founders of Google attended in the mid-90s.
Elon Musk claims his 2004 visit inspired him to back SolarCity, a residential solar power installer. Musk later exclaimed, "Burning Man is Silicon Valley."
"As a burner, it was sort of like, this is the cool underground art world, and oh my God, the techies have found us. But Burning Man wouldn't be what it is right now without all the innovation. And I think you'll find a number of tech leaders tell you that Burning Man gave them a place to be inspired," added Goodell.
Artist Leo Villareal was inspired by the bright late-night art at Burning Man when he created the light installation on the Bay Bridge.
"Some of the Burning Man installations end up in public places for everyone to see, like this massive structure of a woman that's from 2015 and now stands in front of the Ferry Building."
San Francisco is home to many Burning Man art installations, including Naga in Golden Gate Park, Corpus at Pier 13, Desert Shark at Pier 45 and R-Evolution, a 45-foot-high wire sculpture of a naked woman at Embarcadero Plaza.
The installations are part of Big Art Loop, an initiative to place large public art throughout San Francisco.
"Our hearts came out of San Francisco," said Goodell. "The Bohemian cafe culture of the 50s are part of Burning Man, the beatniks, the hippies. Everything that is Burning Man came from this beautiful city that sets it up itself as a storyteller. Burning man could not have been created anywhere else on the planet except in San Francisco."
That spirit is spreading. There are more than 100 Burning Man regional events across the world.