Week of Sept. 10, 2026

From the editor’s desk

I skipped Burning Man this year, but I enjoyed the steady streams of posts about the artwork. The piece that most dazzled me from afar was the 1:10 scale model of the Eiffel Tower, broken in two, with each half jutting up diagonally from the desert floor.

The piece, called “Eiffela Broken Dream,” was made by Philippe Maindron, a French artist with an extremely well-prepared social-media team. The reels tracking his progress, a long story broken into episodes, are delightful.

In light of recent headlines—The World: Spain’s far-right polls closer to power than ever; The Nation: The German Far Right’s Shocking Victory in Saxony-Anhalt Is a Warning for Germany—this version of the Eiffel Tower, Europe’s most visible symbol, landed in my mind as an urgent warning to take note that much of the continent is as polarized as the U.S., and leaning hard toward toward being anti-humanitarian. 

That’s not exactly how the artist speaks about his own piece, however. In the Episode 1 reel, he said that his goal was this: 

… to tell a story, perhaps improbable, but a beautiful story, where, in a world that is ultimately complicated, a world battered by climate crises, and wars … the Eiffel Tower decides to travel, and crashes in Nevada. Everyone can interpret it as they wish, but for me, it’s also the beginning of a new story—of a better world, a new world.

As much as the piece struck me as a hugely successful—one-line political critique sharpened to its finest point—the optimism that Maindron conveyed also showed its face, proudly. “Eiffela Broken Dream” was, after all, a star attraction at one of the biggest parties in the world.

Between one tower leg—upeneded and pointing skyward—and its tip, there was a tightrope. Wow! Was it an homage to the legendary French tightrope walker Philippe Petit, who famously strung a wire between the World Trade Center towers in 1974? 

(While some aerialists and tightrope walkers were authorized to scale the tower, friends told me that when they attempted to climb it, they got a brusque scolding—in English and French.)

And at night, the tower spewed fire and shone search lights upward and disco lights down onto people as they milled and danced below. 

This piece beautifully articulated two sides of a coin—the current wave of global anxiety that exemplifies 2026, and a sincere dose of hope, all in the same breath. Extra points for designing and constructing a playa piece whose impact can be felt vicariously from 200 miles away on a three-inch-wide screen.  

To Mr. Maindron, I say, “Nailed it.”

If you (or your closest billionaire friend) would like this symbol of a better, new world in your own yard or town square, the French auction house Rouillac is scheduled to put it up for auction on Monday, Sept. 14.

In other news, the RN&R’s Best of Northern Nevada issue—our first newsprint issue in 9 ½ months—is at the printer, and we’re expecting thousands of copies to reach town this coming week. Get ready to celebrate all of the Best Of winners and runners-up, and you’ll find our usual news, opinion and arts coverage in there, too. Look for it at your favorite watering holes, eateries, shops and other businesses.

The results will also be announced at RenoNR.com at 8 a.m. on Monday as well. Enjoy!

Take care,

—Kris Vagner, managing editor