Via Gawker, It’s Art So Long As You Don’t Detonate It via NY Observer, The Transom

Continuing with our insistence that FEAR IS BACK, today’s Transom has a downright disturbing item about Brooklyn artist Chris Hackett […], who is constructing a fully-functional suitcase bomb. The piece is courtesy of the Madagascar Institute, a radical art organization which is organizing an exhibition to be shown at either Cooper Union or South Street Seaport the week of September 11. Here’s to the power of perfect timing:

[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.”

I cry BS or “conceptual hoax” as the Observer writer puts it. But at the same time I’m morbidly fascinated. Plus, it seems the artist has a bit of a violent streak. According to the Observer article:

Mr. Hackett was the victim of one of his own art works early last year. The graphic description in a New York Post story on Jan. 25, 2004, was that Mr. Hackett “blew up part of his face” while rigging a propane tank to fire a confetti cannon. Mr. Hackett’s jaw was broken in the explosion.

So, who knows? If it’s a real bomb, Mr. Hackett will find himself in prison. He’s currently out on bail from weapons charges stemming from the explosion in 2004. If the cops read the NY Observer I have a feeling he may not be able to finish his bomb.

For what it’s worth, I find Gregory Green’s nuclear devices and package bombs more interesting. permanent link to this post