It ’s not uncommon to see $ 4 million worth of artistic creation in a museum . It ’s less vernacular to see $ 4 million worth of solid golden brick in a museum . It ’s call Tower of Power , and it will expect a 24/7 surety guard as long as it remain at theNew Museumas part of a retrospective on its maker , the creative person Chris Burden .
But Tower of Power — which visitant are n’t allowed to photograph but you’re able to seehere — is far from the coolest composition on horizon ( it ’s more a commemoration to the 1980s than anything ) . There are Porsches , meteorites , bridge , and working mortar to be ogled , too .
If you have n’t heard of Burden , that ’s okay — he has n’t been the subject of a show in New York for 25 years , and he ’s been a less than vulgar mending in museum . Yet his work has sink in daddy culture in unexpected way of life ; for example , David Bowie has dedicate whole songs to him . As a young artist , he operate on the radical end of performance nontextual matter — he once had an assistant charge him at point blank range and , for another piece , rolled naked on a seam of broken glass — but get his footing in engineering and architecture ( his dad was a Harvard engineering science professor ) .
Porsche With Meteorite , 2013 .
Burden ’s work is still about carrying out , though — except now , the performance involves building incredibly advance manakin and intricate working machines , rather than a scattergun and a slip to the hospital .
At the New Museum , you ’re greet by a 1964 Ford crane truck , from which hangs a one - ton cast iron weight . Upstairs , a monolithic brand skeletal system balances a canary bird scandalmongering Porsche on one destruction and a 365 - Ezra Loomis Pound clod of meteorite on the other . Next to that piece pose The Big Wheel , a three - ton flywheel that ’s power by contact with the rearward roulette wheel of a 1968 Benelli bike . The $ 4 million stack of atomic number 79 ensconced in a corner of the gallery , in comparison , seems like mug modification .
All the Submarines of the United States of America , 1987 .
You might have a bun in the oven to find a political thread in all of this work — in , for model , Burden ’s hanging model of the US Navy ’s 625 work submarines , or the pair of working seventeenth century - style Namur Mortars that Burden has installed in one art gallery . But it ’s not that simple . InThe New York Times , Burden describes himself as an “ amateur engine driver and designer who uses those disciplines as materials for my art , ” adding “ I do n’t really think about it , ” when asked if he look at how other the great unwashed will interpret the body of work .
So while there ’s certainly a cynical element to these pieces — look how much energy and intelligence activity goes into create these destructive machines!—but there ’s also abject joyfulness . After all , that ’s why they ’re called marvels of engineering .
Extreme Measures is on prospect from today until January 12 , 2014 .
Porsche With Meteorite , 2013 . A restored 1974 Porsche make up a massive chunk of meteorite , which weighs upwards of 400 pound .
Triple 21 Foot Truss Bridge , 2013 .
Three Arch Dry Stack Bridge , 1/4 Scale , 2013 .
Pair of Namur Mortars , 2013 .
These 625 miniature cardboard subs each represent a real vessel in the US Navy — named on the paries behind the handing menagerie .
LAPD Uniforms , 1993 .
Beehive Bunker , 2006 .
A Tale of Two Cities , 1981 . Over 5,000 miniature figurines dwell these two perfectly - orchestrated city models , in which robot , helicopters , and human soldier combat it out . Next to the diorama sit down a handful of binoculars , so visitors can cheep the activity from up - close .
1 Ton Crane Truck , 2009 .
Tower of Power , 1985 . Image from a former showing , viaArchive of Affinities .
Lead image : The Big Wheel , a three - ton shape - smoothing iron flywheel do in movement by a 1968 Benelli bike .
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