Coast to Coast Burden

Chris Burden's "What My Dad Gave Me" officially opened Wednesday in Rockefeller Center. It is a 65 ft skyscraper made of 16,000 lbs of Erector Set components commissioned by the Public Art Fund. On how this piece relates to the rest of his oeuvre, Burden said, "These are structures that are performing themselves in their forms." Performance has always been a factor for Burden, especially in his earlier works (like his infamous "Shoot").
There's also a great NY Times article by Randy Kennedy.




"What My Dad Gave Me" is an elaboration on its precursor, "Small Skyscraper", which I saw at LACE in 2003. The dimensions of "Small Skyscraper" exploit a loophole in LA County building code that waives a permit for structures under 35 feet tall and 400 square feet in area. It has four rooms, and had to be displayed on its side in the gallery. The LACE exhibit literature called it, "a sculpture disguised as a house disguised as a skyscraper."