In a cavernous warehouse not far from the Truckee River, behind rollup doors and under a billboard-sized RC Willey canvas, artists lounge on couches, munch pizza, drink beer, do tai chi and wonder how to get $15,000 to build and burn a depiction of Reno at Burning Man.
They don’t have it all figured out.
“I need a sculpture of a woman walking away,” one says.
“Maybe a bench with bird poop on it, and people will walk up and say, ’Ewwww,’” another announces.
“I did a rebar head with sheet metal once,” a guy with a tie declares. “Maybe someone will be the chainsaw artist that no one knows, and we will burn that at the end? … Since we are digressing, I thought we could digress some more.”
It’s chaotic, but order does rise and lead to physical form. That form sits in the middle of the ramble, a scale model of a three-sided two-story building depicting Reno’s love history: A chapel, a church and a brothel.
The Reno Center Of Regional Effigies is one of 12 CORE projects that represent various parts of the world from Israel to Lithuania to South Africa at Burning Man.
“Reno has a longer history besides gaming than the majority of the world thinks,” project leader Lynda Traves says. “I wouldn’t say it is going to change their perspective, but it will reflect on what Reno is and have fun with it, period.”
It’s called “The Good, The Bad and The Naughty.” Having fun with it begins with an open mind.
There’s no specific designation for which side represents the chapel, the court or the brothel.
“Each side is open for interpretation,” says Traves. “So, what side is ’the good?’ That is up to you.”
The chapel will hold real and fake weddings. Traves and her husband, Mark, plan to renew their vows there.
“We should have some toy shotguns out there!” one artist exclaims. “Even if they are just squirt guns.”
Around the corner is the court. It isn’t just for divorces. “I really hope that somebody has a huge dispute that the judge finds them in contempt and throws them in the brothel,” Traves says. “You know, fights over water rights or bacon vs. vegan.”
While inviting controversy is an artist’s specialty, resolving controversy is not.
“We are more than happy to have any Black Rock Rangers come and assist with any of the disputes because they are actually trained to handle disputes,” Traves says.
Then, there is the taboo side, the brothel. It is red and features a shadow box where silhouetted dancers writhe to beats in front of a two-story stripper pole.
“Let’s talk about the pole,” Traves says with a smirk. “We actually want people to leave a trace.” That’s contrary to the Burning Man ethos of “leave no trace.” But she is talking about a trace of bodily fluid, which is probably OK.
Hand sanitizer will be provided. For those who can grip and climb to the top of the trace-laden pole, there will be a surprise, a surprise that won’t go down in flames on this page.
In the end, Reno CORE invites the public to also bring marriage certificates, divorce decrees and brothel receipts—if there is such a thing—to be burned. As the effigy of quickies goes up in smoke, it will burn forever in memory and wipe clean Reno’s past on the playa.