Many around the world are presently on a summer break, amidst several consecutive years of social and cultural breakdowns globally. Today the discipline of 'breaking' makes its debut at the Paris Olympics, with b-boys and b-girls from around the world battling for medals and cache.

We riff on the concept of breakage both seriously and whimsically. We consider Caroline Ghosn's Temple for the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, built to burn and break down at the end of an intense seven days. In this week's issue, we also reflect on the late Sir Kenneth Grange's break from tradition across his industrial design practice.

More somberly, we turn to two urgent fissures: a water crisis affecting one-fourth of humans globally, as revealed through an ongoing exhibition in Hamburg; and at the Venice Biennale, an artist collective's take on displacement and destruction due to war, particularly concerning Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Lastly, honouring the spirit and history of 'breaking', we return to the uplifting possibilities of interconnecting art and sport that 'breaking' offers and wonder how it might, at least metaphorically, mend a broken landscape.