Looking at all this, it's important to remember that until the festival arrives, this area is a perfectly flat, featureless plain.  No vegetation, no buildings.  Just table top flat for miles, and a constant supply of dust clouds.  The city that arises is built in a matter of days.  Every so often a wind storm comes through and decimates parts of it, but that's nothing that can't be solved with more duct tape and PVC.

(Click on the thumbnails for a larger image.)
 
 

Let's start with the Man himself, who stands in the center of a large open area at the center of the camp.  The rest of the camp is arrayed in concentric partial rings around this open area.  Here's the Man in 2001.

  
  And in 2002, when the Man stood on a lighthouse (the theme, the Floating World, had many interpretations, including a naval one).  By day or night, the figure acts as a great reference point as you walk about the camp.  
 

In 2003, the Man stood on top of a temple with little shrines at the base that people were stationed in.  What they did varied.  If you look closely here you'll see the man in the nook on the lower right is in an elaborate tribal headdress.

  
  2004, the Man stands on an observatory.  Performance niches around the outside are available to anyone.

 
 

PVC is the building material of choice for the layperson, in 2004 our camp pushed the limits of plastic-and-glue science and created a dome that held up admirably to the harsh winds.  The angled inner wall is a baffle to keep out the dust that blows about constantly.

  
Looks real enough...  But as I said earlier, nothing grows out here.  This is all constructed.  In other years I also saw a Lorax camp (as in Dr. Seuss), with a forest and a thneed factory across the street.  They had readings of 'The Lorax' at night, etc.

Every year, an artist David Best does an enormous project, a temple that is a tribute to some concept.  It is built out in the open area beyond the Man and is an enormous, intricate, beautiful creation.  It is are burned to the ground Sunday night, the last night of the event.
  The 2004 version extended over a fifth of a mile.  The incredible details included slowly spinning parts.  The last shot is up into the center at night.  
  Inflatable art seemed to be big that year too.  Check out the dance bubble in the 'People' section.  
Heh.  The sign reads: "Today only! Naked zipline!"  I'm all for confronting one's fears, and I'm a bit afraid of heights.  I'd seen this setup earlier in the week and thought "If I'm going to ride that thing, I might as well go all out and do it naked."  And the world called my bluff, so yes, after this shot, I stripped down and did it...
Many camps have domes like this.  They're sturdy, provide shade, and can be anchored with rebar.  This is Necronimicone, where you could fill out a form to sell your soul in exchange for an ice slushy.  This actually sounds like a very good deal after being out in the heat of the desert for a couple of days.
The open area around the Man a wide variety of art installations.  Zany sports (like a life-size tabletop soccer game), labyrinths, lights shows, sculptures.   Here's a smaller one, a buffalo made entirely of springs and metal scraps.  
  This impressive piece weighed 140,000 pounds.  Huge dangling stone blocks.  Most installations are smaller efforts (a great one in 2003, a projection screen pointing up out of the desert, surrounded by lifeguard chairs -- it played a view down into a swimming pool, an excellent illusion of swimmers darting about below your feet).