Sunday, December 25, 2005

Explosive Art Part 1


The Technology Underground can be a dangerous place. By nature, high voltage machines, warrior robots, rocket engines, and most of all, home made pyro are more dangerous than a pit bull with aids (and only slightly less so than the guy who infected him.)

A few months ago, I heard that Brooklyn performance artist Chris Hackett built a ANFO (ammonium nitrite - fuel oil) bomb and placed it into a suitcase. The word was that he attached a detonator attached to a cell phone. Apparently, if the phone rang, the suitcase would go off. Various blogs and newspaper reported that he built the device in name of creating a piece of performance art dealing in some way with 9/11.

Could this possibly be true? I don't think so, but I haven't heard much follow up on it. I understand that in 2003 Hackett did seriously injure himself with some other sort of home made pyrotechnic. According to the New York Post,

"On Jan. 24, 2004, Hackett blew up part of his face - suffering burns and a broken jaw - when a propane tank exploded while he was rigging it to fire a confetti cannon."

As Don Herbert, better known on television as Mr. Wizard, would always say, "Don't try this at home!"

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