"I call it Flying Deathtrap - when art goes bad."
or Up, up, and away in my ill-conceived balloon.
Posted on 07/24/2006 7:52:48 AM PDT by Sax
LONDON (Reuters) - Two women died and 13 people were injured when they fell from a huge inflatable sculpture after it broke its moorings and flew into the air in a park in northeastern England, police said Monday.
Up to 30 people were inside the walk-in exhibit, which has been shown around the world, when a gust of wind blew it 9 metres above the park in Chester-le-Street Sunday.
"All of a sudden it just started rising like a balloon," witness Mark Spooner told BBC television. "(It was) flinging people all over. Then it just seemed to flip over in the air."
The victims, aged 68 and 38, had been walking through the artwork with children when it took off. A three-year-old girl was seriously injured in the freak accident.
"(The) inflatable exhibition broke its moorings and tipped those using it on to the ground," police said in a statement.
Designed by artist Maurice Agis, the exhibit, called Dreamspace, is 5 metres high and made out of plastic sheeting. Half the size of a soccer pitch, it has walls that change color as visitors wander through its maze of corridors.
It was brought to earth after it drifted into a pole.
"I call it Flying Deathtrap - when art goes bad."
or Up, up, and away in my ill-conceived balloon.
Oh, the humanity.
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