In 1997, Eric Griswold heard about a gathering in the Nevada desert called Burning Man. Even though at the time he didn’t know anyone who had gone, he knew he had to go.

"My friend Marilyn was the only friend who was crazy enough to go with me to the middle of nowhere, having no idea what to expect," says Griswold. "But we found it to be such a vital community of arts and technology and culture that we knew we had to come back."

Griswold has returned every year and now serves as one of two Wisconsin contacts for Burning Man. There are about 200 regional contacts around the world.

"Our job is to bring hints of Wisconsin art and culture to Burning Man and bring Burning Man culture back here," he says.

Griswold and other local "burners" present a documentary, "Spark: A Burning Man Story," at the Southtown Theater, 3330 S. 30th St., on Thursday, Oct. 16.  A question and answer session follows the movie.

Tickets must be purchased here by Thursday, Oct. 9.

"This is one of the best, if not the best, documentary I've seen on Burning Man," says Griswold.

The documentary is streamable on Netflix, but Griswold says viewing it on the big screen is essential to understanding Burning Man.

"You can almost comprehend the large scale of Burning Man when you see it on a screen. The large scale of things is one of the most amazing aspects of going to Burning Man," he says.

Every year, Burning Man – which is often described as a temporary, experimental city – takes place the Sunday before Labor Day until the Tuesday after the holiday. During this time, thousands of people gather to create a 400-square-mile community in the Black Rock Desert (about 100 miles from Reno, Nev.) called Black Rock City.

In 2014, Burning Man attracted 70,000 individuals from 30 countries. According to Griswold, about 25-30 people from Milwaukee regularly attend the event.

"Burning Man is a combination between a survivalist expedition and a gigantic art festival. It’s dedicated to community, art, self expression and self-reliance," says Griswold.

Burning Man attendees receive a printed booklet filled with Burning Man performances and experiences that happen around the clock but there are scads of other spectacles that are not published. On the Saturday night before Labor Day, a 40-foot "man" is burned in the center of the city.

"You can completely be anybody you want to be at Burning Man," says Griswold. "Anyone is welcome. You can go around in a strange costume or regular clothing or absolutely nothing."

Every year at Burning Man, Griswold and friends create Snowflake Village – one of the oldest Burning Man communities – which accommodates about 250 people from Wisconsin, the upper Midwest, Canada and beyond.

Snowflake Village includes a movie theater, "a place that sends you on a vacation around the world in five minutes," "a place that covers you in sunscreen," a speed dating emporium (condoms included), a New Orleans-themed bar, a brass marching band and a large shade structure.

Tickets to Burning Man are limited and cost $380. They must be purchased online in advance. 

Burning Man is run by a non-profit, California-based organization along with hundreds of volunteers, but money is needed for port-a-potties, structures, standby firefighters and more. However, Burning Man itself exists entirely on a "gift economy" meaning nothing inside Black Rock City is for sale.

"It’s like potluck dinner expanded to the size of a city," says Griswold. "You bring gifts and in exchange, you receive gifts. You can’t buy or sell the idea of Burning Man. You have to go there and experience it directly yourself."

Burning Man culture is, indeed, difficult to wrap one’s mind around without experiencing it first hand. It is based on 10 principles: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, leaving no traces, participation and immediacy.

Writer and Burning Man participant Molly Steenson describes the phenomenon in her essay, "What Is Burning Man?"

"Since nobody at Burning Man is a spectator, you're here to build your own new world. You've built an egg for shelter, a suit made of light sticks, a car that looks like a shark's fin. You've covered yourself in silver, you're wearing a straw hat and a string of pearls or maybe a skirt for the first time," writes Steenson.

Griswold, who is an engineer at the Medical College of Wisconsin, owns and resides in a Riverwest building called The Burning Snow Center for the Experimental Arts, 2578 N. Weil St., which serves as a hub for Burning Man information as well as a gathering space and classroom for people interested in Burning Man culture.

The space is also a gallery of art that has been to Burning Man, including a talking corn woman – a cob of corn and woman hybrid sculpture – who "discusses" genetic engineering and a talking voting booth that asks questions like "paper or plastic?" or "do you like black shoes or brown?" It is able to compile responses and then provide statistics as a commentary on spurious correlation – a mathematical relationship between two variables that are wrongly inferred to be related to each other.

The Burning Snow Center hosts demonstrations on fire spinning, electronic talking sculpture / electric car making, art and more. Every Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m., Griswold runs meetings to discuss art projects, Burning Man regional events and, of course, about the annual Burning Man event.

Over the years, Griswold says Burning Man has changed in size and structure. In short, more people mean more rules to ensure safety.

The weather is one of the biggest challenges at Burning Man. Temperatures often break 100 degrees during the day and can plummet below freezing at night. Winds are often 20-30 miles per hour under normal conditions, and can range from 40 to 70 miles per hour during a storm.

"Weather varies from minute to minute. You never know what’s going to happen," says Griswold. "My advice to first timers is to bring plenty of food, water – more than a gallon a day – and to be open to everything."

Although one woman died this past year after she was accidentally run over by an art truck, there have been very few deaths since its inception.

"I feel safer there than any city I could name," says Griswold.

Drugs are a part of the Burning Man experience for many festival-goers, but many others are moderate or abstain from using them. Getting lost in the dessert after ingesting hallucinogens is a terrifying possibility as is dehydration after consuming alcohol in extremely high temperatures.

At the end of Burning Man, the land is inspected by the staff and any groups who leave a mess are not allowed to return. It takes about a month for the staff to clean up the space, but when they do, there is no trace that Black Rock City ever existed.

"Every year, I see more unbelievable things," says Griswold. "It’s inspiring and offers such an incredible sense of community. I meet people who are amazing at Burning Man, but also do incredible things in their regular life."