Winter Burn 2026: Winter Gardens

The Playa has put on its winter costume. A soft dusting of snow settles in, and ice crystals wink and glitter like they’re fallen sequins. Into this frosty wonderland, Burners are gifted glass greenhouses—each one a blank immersive life-size terrarium waiting to come alive.

Together they grow into a village of lush, glowing huts, fogged windows and warm light spilling out. Step inside one and you might find yourself in a tropical daydream, leaves brushing your shoulders, steam floating up to the ceiling, the cold wind outside disappears. Step into another and—surprise!—the vents are open, snow drifts in, plants are wearing powdered-sugar hats and water on the floor becomes a shimmery icy pond.

No two huts are alike, because no two Burners are. Every greenhouse is an act of playful self-expression, lovingly built, shared, and tended by the community that surrounds it. And no one just passes through—everyone participates.

Each host offers a small gift to wandering visitors: perhaps a cup of coffee warm enough to thaw fingers, a cookie pressed into your hand, a snow cone that somehow makes sense because it is rainbow colored. Maybe there's a bar serving special drinks with a cozy lounge. These are invitations—to come in, to linger, to chat, to be present for a moment.

Stay a while. Warm up. Marvel. The stages, the Effigy, ice rink, art cars, and paths through the beauty of snow and ice will lure us back outside to explore, dance, and play. This village will melt away, leaving behind only footprints, memories, and a smile you didn’t expect. This is your chance to create a space at Burn2 that's filled with verdant vegetation amidst a frozen desert. Don't miss out, reserve your free plot today!

All around in the air, let it be filled with tunes to make us sway, nod and clap while we explore and when find out way to the stage, we dance and play together!

If you are a new artist at Burn2, don’t worry, we encourage participation and learning, sharing knowledge and guiding each other. Fellow burners with experience will be on hand to help - it's all about Communal Effort!

Here’s what you need to know:

We follow the:
Ten Principles of Burning Man,
AND SL Terms & Conditions,
AND SL Moderate "M" Maturity Rating.

We sincerely appreciate the gift of your talent and time that you bring to the Burn2 community! As with all Burn2 events, performers and artists alike are asked to agree to the following rules for Decommodification as required by the Burning Man organization. Please do not put out:

• Tip jars
• Group joiners
• Club or event advertising
• Commercial or promotional items
• Landmarks or slurls to off-playa locations

When Booking Your Slot

• Time slots on the signup form are in one-hour increments. You can book a set of one 1 or 2 (consecutive) hours to play, one set per day.
• Two stages are available: Main Stage (provided by Burn2) or BOB Stage, an open 32m x 32m x 20m, 350LI max, if you want to bring your own stage build.
• Wear your Burn2 Access "Burn2 Performer" tag when you come to perform at Burn2. This will allow you to rez the props or stage set you need for your performance. You will also be able to take the stream when your set begins.
• *IMPORTANT NOTE: Performers may not use media objects without prior authorisation from the stage manager and/or event coordinator.
• Check in at least 30 minutes before your scheduled time in the Burn2 Access group. If we don't hear from you by 20 minutes before your show time, we will seek a replacement and you may lose your slot.
  We strongly urge a minimum 100 listener stream. Please have it tested and ready at check-in.
• If you would like to be available as a backup or cover performer in case of no-shows, please let us know on the form! If you have a Discord account, make sure we know your Discord ID so we can try to reach you using that if you are not inworld at the time.
• When you check in, you will be acknowledged by a member of the event team. When it comes time for your show, either you or the stage manager can do the stream handoff to the next performer.

Occasionally, a performer may be unable to play at their assigned show time. Things happen - loss of Internet, computer glitches, illness. Watch the Burn2 Access group for calls for cover/backup performers when needed. If you have a Discord account, please provide your Discord ID on the booking form or directly to the Stage Manager.

Performers: Please communicate if you can, with the Stage Manager, TBD or the Event Coordinator, Leondra Larsson, as soon as possible if you find you are not able to perform at your assigned time.

We understand that things happen - loss of Internet, computer glitches, illness. We ask that you please let us know, so we can arrange backup or cover for your slot.

Please communicate if you can, with the Stage Manager, Magi or the Event Coordinator, Lily Von Magic, as soon as possible if you find you are not able to perform at your assigned time.

Note: In this context, when we say "artist" we are referring to both artists and camp builders.

It is a fact of life that in any big community there will be some rules to help things run as safely, smoothly, and as fairly as possible for all in the community.
Artists, please be considerate of the boundaries and LI allocation for the BOB Stage and the fact that we are sharing space on one region.

Maturity Rating

In keeping with the "M" (Moderate) maturity rating of Burn2's regions, adult (sex) animations are not permitted.

Stage Area

• The BOB stage is a blank slate with a border marker that shows the dimensions at 32m x 32m, max height 25m. The max land impact is 350.
• Any floating/hovering structures must be tethered to the ground and kept stationary.
• No terraforming or underground building permitted.

Technical Details

Objects

• Minimize the use of lag inducing physical objects.
• Megaprims and prims larger than the BOB stage footprint are not allowed.
• Make objects phantom wherever you can. One exception would be an object that is meant to be walked on.
• No items or gifts may be set for sale for greater than L$0 (zero lindens).
• Mesh is allowed, but please use it wisely.
• No Temp-on-Rez objects. If unsure about this, talk to Stage Manager TBD or Event Coordinator Leondra Larsson.

Textures

• Please keep texture sizes as low as possible (512x512 or its equivalent) and reuse textures when possible - this makes your build rez quicker and "pop" for visitors.
• If you use PBR materials, please be considerate and also use Blinn Phong textures as "fallback" for those who are not using PBR-enabled viewers.

Scripts

• Also to minimize lag - do not use sensors or collision scripts.
• Do not use any scripts that require interacting with the region server or external servers/databases, such as scanners, visitor logs, etc. Keep script times to .02ms or less, if possible.

Media

• We are not using cut parcels for this event and the entire region is on the same stream, which means media can be heard for long distances and interferes with the audio at other art plots and at the stages, so because of that we don’t allow:
  • Plot radios (or anything setting the audio stream). The sole exception will be the stream controller / radio at the stage for the exclusive use of performers and, between performances, the staff will set a default stream.
  • TVs and prim media
  • Sound camp-type sets

  Sounds

  • If you use sound emitting objects as part of your performance, PLEASE remember to pick it ALL up after your performance is done. Leave No Trace!

  Lighting

  • Think about how your stage set looks at various times of day. Is it visible at midnight? How about midday?

  Boundaries

  • Please keep all parts of your set inside BOB Stage boundary.
  • Objects that slightly overhang the boundary are fine, so long as the overhanging items do not prevent movement under them (make them phantom). They may not encroach on any nearby plot. Objects outside the stage boundaries ("MOOP", or "Matter Out of Place") may be returned to you - but we will make every effort to first contact you and ask you to make adjustments if needed.

Got Questions?

If you do not understand something that is stated in the information on this page, please ask.

We love people to be better informed and feel better about what we do and why.

Contacts

Creative Vision, Can I Have/Do?: If you have questions about the guidelines or your planned performance, talk in SL with:
Stage Manager Magi (magic2life), or
Event Coordinators Lily Von Magic (lilyvonschtupp) or Huntress Catteneo.