Welcome!

This page provides information for AerialKnotics’ team members.  We also have a page with equipment recommendations: https://AerialKnotics.com/Gear/

Mission Statement

“Our passion is gifting diverse and sex-positive ways to help participants express their inner kink and creativity in a welcoming, safe, consent-driven space.”

…a kick-ass BDSM rope camp like no other.

 

2025 Schedule

• June: Playa Events publishing deadline
• Aug 21 Thurs: Team members with Setup Access Pass begin to arrive
• Aug 22-23 Fri-Sat: AerialKnotics camp build
• Aug 24 Sun: Main Gate opens
• Aug 30 Sat: The Man Burns
• Aug 31 Sun: The Temple Burns
• Sept 1 Mon: AerialKnoitics camp disassembles, begins to depart Monday evening

 

Burning Man Resources

• Burner Express Bus
• Burning Man Journal
• Burning Man Podcast
• Burner Profile
• ePlaya
• First-Timers Guide
• Getting In: The Gate
• Getting Out: Exodus
• Green Corridor Camps
• iBurn for Android and iPhone
• Personal Survival Guide
• Placement Process & Timeline
• Playa Events
• Theme Camp Directory

 

Videos

• Above The Dust 2022 (90 seconds)
• BurningMan.org YouTube Channel
• Shibari Sanctuary 2017 (4-1/2 minutes)
• Studio Drift drones 2022 (4-1/2 minutes)
• Waking Dreams: 2022 (3 minutes)
• Dami Lee – How this Event Became a City (16 minutes)

AerialKnotics 2025

We are applying for the same footprint we had in 2024: 10,000 square feet (930 square meters) with 100 feet (30 meters) of street frontage in Black Rock City.  We are making minor updates to our 2025 layout to provide additional space for team member tents, and doubling the size of our solar panels.

 

Shade Structure

An important design consideration: AerialKnotics’ public Interactivity Area (front of house) is open-kimono, not walled off from street view.  Every theme camp we are aware of with a large dungeon (and there are not many) shields their play area from view as Burning Man does not have a minimum age.  Instead of creating an architectural barrier we have a simple rule: no penetration or fluids in our public space (front of house).  We prefer to be literally open and attract those who are curious about rope & BDSM skills, and the best way to do that is enhance instead of suppress our visibility.  Also we don’t want to give up the amazing view from our large dining table – watching art cars drive by and burners roaming around.  

The center rectangles in the illustration are shade structures for our Public Interactivity area, and private sections including residential area with team members’ tents, kitchen & dining area, and our infrastructure support vehicles (power & water systems, bathroom & shower).  

• Public Interactivity (front of house)
  • 72′ x 27′ (22m x 8.25m) shade structure with color-selectable illumination
  • Two backlit AerialKnotics signs, and a backlit daily schedule board for interactive events
  • Four aerial rigs, two pair of Saint Andrews Crosses, four spanking benches, four 65″ displays, sound system, and pretty lights.
  • Folding tables for classroom materials and a few chairs.
  • Decorative back wall with dungeon-wall artwork.
• Residential (back of house)
  • 54′ x 45′ (16.5m x 13.7m) shade structure
  • 10′ x 15′ (3m x 5m) area for each tent space
  • 110v power available in several areas
• Kitchen & Dining (back of house)
  • 18′ x 27′ (5.5m x 8.25m) shade structure
  • Filtered drinking water
  • Fully equipped kitchen detailed in a section below
  • Large dining table and a couple dozen dining chairs

Our front of house shade structures contain color-selectable interior lighting and spot lights.  An A/V system supports classrooms and other interactivity with 65″ LCD displays and wireless sound system.  These systems are also useful for evening stage performances and dungeon parties.

A pair of internally illuminated 12′ tall aerial rigs (Shibari towers) near the street provide visual impact.  For 2025, we are replacing 2024’s bamboo Shibari towers with metal aerial rigs that are fully illuminated inside 3″ clear plastic tubes.    

Guest bicycles are welcome to park under and around the outdoor Shibari Towers  but we cannot allow bikes to crowd into the street.  When we have larger crowds (usually the basic rope class) we will need a team member to help guide guest parking off the street.  

 

Camping equipment

Our double-layer shade structure is designed to reduce heat and wind hitting team member tents – a set of white-ceiling overhead canopies covered with dark 90% shade cloth over an air gap.  This is why we don’t recommend expensive heavy Kodiak tents – not necessary under a well designed shade structure.  

We accommodate team members traveling long distances and are glad to help make this all possible without having to round-trip ship large heavy items.  AerialKnotics’ rent-to-own program described on our /Gear page is for team members and nobody else.

We are limited on space and probably cannot accommodate additional RVs.  Our priority is maintaining generous space for classrooms & performances, visual impact of the camp, fully shaded space for team members’ tents, and facilities available to all team members.  If you’re driving to Burning Man, we will probably need to move your car to an off-area parking lot on the edge of Black Rock City (no additional fees are involved).  You’re welcome to store gear in our box truck at the camp (plenty of shelving inside, out of the dust).

 

Kitchen equipment & Utensils

• Stainless kitchen sink with pressurized filtered water, and two stainless steel food prep tables.
• 36″ fridge/freezer, and an additional 24″ column freezer.  These will be mostly full of food on arrival.
• Electric 12-cup coffee maker with two insulated carafes, 3-burner propane cooktop, other appliances, storage racks for kitchen gear. 
• Residential-size pots & pans, cooking utensils and other meal prep essentials.  If you need our specific inventory please contact zoot.
• Two 6-gallon RTIC insulated water coolers.  We fill one with fresh water, one with an electrolyte-water mix, and add a block of ice every other day.
• Trash/recycling/compost bins.  We take recycling seriously and are bringing composting bags for transfer to a composting camp.
• We bring and provide a full set of plates, bowls, cups, coffee mugs, knives, forks, spoons, chopsticks for team members to use in our camp.  Durable Corelle dinnerware, acrylic drinking glasses, ceramic coffee mugs, stainless steel flatware.  
• We recommend bringing your own portable drinking container for use on playa and in bar camps (some laminate a copy of their ID to their cup for over-21 bars).  

 

Food & Water

Water for our camp is sourced from an annually tested municipal source in the mountains (Cedarville California).  We provide daily breakfast for all team members (oatmeal plus some extras), fire up the coffee maker every morning and we will bring coffee.  We provide evening meals most days.  We are planning to bring snacks and other supplies for the entire duration but you should also bring your own, and you may want to budget and bring food for your own meals in addition to those we provide.  For additional details please contact zoot.  If you have a food allergy, please let zoot know.  

 

Other consumables

• We budget and bring trash bags, ziplock bags, paper towels, toilet paper for the bathroom, etc.
• AerialKnotics hauls away about 2 tons of sewage and 3 tons of wastewater for disposal off-playa.
• We dispose specific materials at on-playa burner camps that collect composting, clean aluminum and glass.
• We haul the camp’s trash, and sewage for disposal in Cedarville California, and recycle remaining items in Seattle.

 

Expectations

We don’t have a bunch of rules – we are very selective with who our team is.  Everyone will pull their own weight and we are passionate about sharing skills with participants who want to learn.  But we also hope and expect everyone will carve off personal time to explore and experience Burning Man outside this camp.  The place is incredible.  

Consent is expected throughout Black Rock City, but we require a higher standard at AerialKnotics.  Without exception, consent must be clearly communicated and confirmed before any activity at AerialKnotics.

Not everyone will be able to help with setup and teardown but we need this help and greatly appreciate it. 

 

Future

We will continue to refine and improve AerialKnotics without increasing our real estate footprint or maximum team size. AerialKnotics’ activities are only possible with our team members – everything we do is designed to provide this team with an excellent platform so we can gift these experiences to participants who choose to visit AerialKnotics.  

We will never allow generators to be operated in this camp.  We are planning additional refinements to further reduce our on-playa carbon footprint, and are looking forward to actively participating in the Green Corridor Program.  

We plan to freely share details of AerialKnotics’ infrastructure with the Burner community and anyone else who is interested.  Our founding team would be thrilled to see multiple copies and clones of the AerialKnotics infrastructure system scattered all over Black Rock City in the future.  

 

History

AerialKnotics launched in 2024 with origins that trace back several years in Black Rock City.  Our leads Kendra, Saha, and zoot previously participated in Campocalypse which was subsequently renamed !Knot! A Bondage Camp!.  
zoot, Saha and Kendra built and refined many things in previous years and decided to create a new camp using our infrastructure and experiences.