Maureen Maples, 49, has been a regular at the annual Burning Man event in the Nevada desert for the past 20 years. Attending Burning Man has impacted her life in many positive ways, she shared with Salon, even calling some of those experiences “transformative.” But after Maples was severely injured by an art installation on the playa this year, she and other attendees are raising concerns about the safety of the temporary installations and the lack of safety oversight at the large-scale event that hosts 70,000 to 80,000 people each year.
On August 30, during one of the final evenings at this year’s Burning Man, Maples and her campmates stopped at a playful, oversized tetherball art installation, designed to evoke a sense of childhood wonder among adults by inviting them to play on it. Someone asked if Maples wanted to join. She declined — as she had experienced an injury at Burning Man before — but suggested that her partner, Landon McAllister, who was attending Burning Man for the first time, participate. Her friend, Dominique Bouley, jumped on the tire swing, which was also part of the art installation.
That was the last thing Maples remembered before she woke up on the ground.
“There were a bunch of people standing over me and kind of yelling at me, telling me not to move,” she said. “Lando, my partner, was there, and he was reassuring and comforting and calm, but I was disoriented.”
At first, Maples noticed that her knee was in a lot of pain. Her first instinct was to move, but people kept insisting that she stay still.
According to a video posted to Instagram, the area of the tetherball art installation, formally named “When We Were Young,” included multiple structures, akin to a whimsical playground in the desert. Most notably, there was a four-foot tetherball attached to a 30-foot steel pole, along with a smaller-sized tetherball game. Next to it was a tire swing with a frame made out of steel.
“I was screaming. It was really broken.”
Large-scale, interactive art installations — from massive sculptures to mutant vehicles — famously adorn the playa at Burning Man. Art is a fundamental part of the nine-day event meant to serve as a way for people to connect, express themselves, and oftentimes, participate. But it can also be dangerous.
In 2024, a woman fractured her spine and rib after falling from a tall art structure. In 2014, a 29-year-old woman was killed after being hit by an art car. This year, a Tesla Cybertruck “art car” hit another attendee. While the victim survived, he had to be airlifted out of the festival.
In addition to art-related incidents, injuries have been reported on the playa. As Salon previously reported, a Burning Man Ranger named Kelli Hoversten was permanently blinded by a laser, disabling her for life in 2014. At this year’s Burning Man, attendee Vadim Kruglov died by apparent homicide.
According to Maples, a member of Rampart, which is a freestanding, Nevada-licensed emergency room at the event, placed her on a stretcher and took her to the medical tent. An X-ray administered by the medical staff showed that her collarbone was broken. As this was going on, she could see her friend, Bouley (who did not want to be interviewed, but permitted Maples to share details of her story with Salon), getting staples in her head.
Maples told Salon she was given a sling, ibuprofen and sent on her way. She returned to her tent and tried to get some sleep. The next morning, she woke up in excruciating pain. “I was screaming,” Maples said. “It was really broken.”
Reflecting on what happened, Maples described the art installation as looking “janky.” Maples’s partner McAllister told Salon that he agreed. He said he noticed it looked “crooked” and like it was “leaning.” For a moment, he questioned its structural integrity. “But then I was like, nah, I’m at Burning Man, they build stuff weird out here,” he said. “If it was straight, that would be wrong.”
McAllister said he didn’t see the accident directly. He was walking ahead and suddenly heard screams behind him. When he turned around, he saw Maples and Bouley on the ground. According to McAllister, people rushed to help them both, but it’s a bit of a blur of what he remembers. It was traumatic, he said, as his first thought was that maybe his partner wouldn’t wake up.
“I think people pulled the I-beam off, and then people were right next to her, and then I was right next to her, saying, ‘Hey, I love you, wake up,’” he said. Within 30 minutes, she opened her eyes. “I noticed Dominique was about 10 feet away, and she was holding her head.”
According to the Burning Man website, the installation is described as a “school-yard tetherball executed at three times the normal size.” It is made of a “heavy equipment tire bolted to 35′ utility pole with 4′ wide custom-made giant tetherball,” which the artist says, is “just waiting to be thrown around.” Notably, the art installation was an Honoraria Art piece, meaning it had been awarded a $4,000 grant by Burning Man Project. Out of 500 applicants, 76 from 11 countries were selected, including this one. In the art installation’s description, participants are “invited” to “play a classic game from their past.” There is no mention of the tire swing in its public description, but videos on social media show the creators of the installation welding together 3,000 pounds of steel to construct the installation, including the tire swing frame.
In a statement to Salon, a spokesperson from Burning Man Project said that “safety and engineering of an art installation is the artist’s responsibility.”
“Burning Man Project provides an Artist Guide to Structural Considerations,” the spokesperson said. “When a proposal for an art installation is submitted to the Black Rock City Honoraria Program, we assess the feasibility of proposed artworks, especially those that are large or complex.” The spokesperson added that when Black Rock City opens, Burning Man’s Art Department inspects those specific artworks as they are built.
“During the event, we continue monitoring to confirm that pieces remain well-lit and safe, and to identify any new risks that might emerge from participant interaction or changing conditions,” the spokesperson said. “If a safety concern arises, the Black Rock City Safety team is notified, and we collaborate with the artist to mitigate or, if necessary, restrict access to the piece.”
Salon reached out multiple times to the artist who created “When We Were Young,” Christopher Struble, but did not receive a response. However, on Instagram, prior to the event, Struble said that he didn’t know how to build the art installation. He even joked about it possibly “smacking” someone in the face.
Maples says her working theory on what happened is that one of the I-beams from the tire swing frame hit her in the knee, and then knocked her on the shoulder, which is when she was knocked out.
“A steel beam falling from that height could really hurt or kill someone.”
“Dom did have a concussion,” Maples said. “She bled a lot, and she, I don’t know how many staples she got, but she may be worse off, because head wounds and concussions can just have such a lasting impact.”
Unlike other large festivals, like the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where art installations are commissioned by professional agencies like Public Art Company, at Burning Man, anyone who wants to “bring art” is permitted. When it comes to safety guidelines, the focus is mostly on securing the art to withstand intense weather conditions on the playa. There are special requirements for artworks that include fire, as well.
The sheer weight of the steel used to assemble “When We Were Young” could have raise concerns about its safety, according to engineering experts. For example, “heavy metal swings” are not recommended in playgrounds, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, because their “heavy rigid metal framework presents a risk of impact injury.”
James Hanna, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, has not seen the installation, but commented on its materials. “There’s nothing wrong with steel, but it’s heavy and certainly a steel beam falling from that height could really hurt or kill someone.”
For Maples, she says she believes her injury could have been “so much worse.”
“We really could both be dead,” she said. “I want to emphasize… that it could have killed two people.”
In the medical tent, McAllister said he was angry and asked who he could sue. But medical staff told him to look at the back of the Burning Man ticket where a liability waiver is displayed. It states that by participating in the event, a person “assumes all risk of injury or death arising from the operation of and/or participation,” in activities such as art installations, theme camps, and vehicles. It also says that by participating in the event, a person “hereby waive, release, discharge, and agree not to sue BMP and other participants, sponsors, and if applicable, owners and lessors of equipment, art installations, and premises used to conduct the Burning Man Event or related activities.”
Before leaving the festival to head back home to Olympia, Washington, Maples tried to obtain a copy of her X-ray, but was unable. When she returned home, she went to Kaiser, where she has medical insurance. Her medical reports, reviewed by Salon, report a severe bone break on her left mid-clavicle. She required urgent surgery, followed by two weeks of rest and a physical therapy plan. She has incurred $1,500 in medical expenses so far.
”There is a certain amount of risk that’s inherent, and you read the back of your ticket, and [there] are all the things that their legal team does to ensure that they don’t have any liability,” Maples said. “But there should be some emphasis on safety.”
McAllister said he understands that they signed up for an unpredictable experience. Conditions in the desert are harsh, and it can be dangerous, McAllister added. “But if you’re going to build something, build it sturdy,” he said. There needs to be some “simple checks and balances with construction.”
