pixelbomb

Chris Hackett is building a bomb. But he’s not building it to cause destruction and mayhem, he’s building it as a statement about fear. Nicholas Gilewicz writes,

Fear has become a new prism in the United States … we’ve been shot through and broken down into the spectrum of our reactions. Where we come out reveals a lot about us: some people work to restrict personal freedoms in the name of broader security, others take to the streets to reassert those freedoms.

At its core, the issue is our fear of violence and how we deal with it.

The New York Observer reports that,

[Chris Hackett] said the strength of the bomb would be equivalent to “about four pounds of TNT. It doesn’t sound like much,” he allowed, “but it’s enough to kill everyone in the gallery.”

…

He’s in his early 30s and has lots of big dreadlocks and many freckles. He’s a co-founder of the Madagascar Institute, a collective of radically minded artists in Brooklyn. This latest project, a functional suitcase bomb, will be included in a large art exhibition that will open under the auspices of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council a few days before Sept. 11.

The bomb will either be displayed at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art or at the South Street Seaport Museum, and is being designed to be triggered from anywhere in the world by way of a cell phone. Of course, Chris will be the only individual with the number, and we know that he won’t detonate it…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005 at 8:06 am and is tagged with art, NY, strange. You can discuss this entry, share pictures, and more in the pixelbomb forums. Responses are currently closed, but you can click here to generate a trackback url for your own site.