WASTELAND - MOJAVE DESERT, USA
2019. In the middle of the Mojave Desert, 1.5 hours from Los Angeles, an ephemeral city has just emerged from the sand. Rusty sheet metal constructions adjoin large beige canvas tents covered with military camo netting. Strange vehicles clad with picks and weapons of all kinds slowly roll in the aisles. A crowd of people worthy of a science fiction film steps aside to let them pass. Welcome to Wasteland! The biggest post-apocalyptic festival in the world which lasts 5 days and brings together 4300 people for its 10th edition. Mad Max fans from all over the world meet there every year at the end of September.
Here, the immersive experience in an end-of-the-world universe is total. The permanent festival site is, ironically, between the Nevada nuclear test site - where from 1951 a total of 928 nuclear warheads were tested during the cold war - and Hollywood. It is vast and there is no shortage of entertainments. Many participants come together in tribe to build their own camp and offer crazy activities, such as remote-controlled robot fights or a sex toy race, down a metal slope, which you can bet on. Some places have become institutions like the Citadel where the amazing cars of Immortan Joe and his Warboys line up. Or the Deez scene, built on a wreck of a stranded boat, where the post-apocalyptic swimsuit competition takes place. The least we can say is that creativity is limitless in Wasteland.
