Some days it’s just better to stay in bed.
A visitor to an art exhibit in Los Angeles trying to take a photo fell into the exhibit instead, knocking it over and causing an estimated $200,000 worth of damage.
Ironic twist: The headline on the Los Angeles Times story about the exhibit shouted, “Oh, the selfies you’ll make at L.A.’s 14th Factory, where the art is so social.”
The accident happened about two weeks ago but surveillance camera video just popped up on YouTube this week.
The art installation was created by British-born, Hong Kong-based artist Simon Birch and popped up in April in an old warehouse on the city’s Eastside, the Times reported.
The show features works by him and 20 other artists displayed in 14 rooms.
One exhibit, called “Hypercaine,” is a series of crowns fashioned from different mediums perched on top of tall white pedestals.
The video shows the young woman crouch down in front of a row of the pedestals, possibly to take a selfie or pose for her companion who had a camera. She fell over, knocking the first pedestal into another, into another, setting off a domino effect involving 10 pedestals.
“The crowns that had been perched on pedestals fell to the ground,” noted CNET. “There’s modern symbolism there somewhere, surely.”
A spokeswoman for the exhibit told CNET three sculptures were permanently damaged, others suffered various damage. She estimated the total damages to be about $200,000.
She wouldn’t tell CNET whether insurance covered the damage.
Some people commenting on the video online wondered whether the incident was a hoax because the video was uploaded to YouTube by someone claiming to be a friend of Birch, the artist. The show closes July 30.
Others wondered wondered why the pedestals weren’t more securely attached to the floor.
“It’s an art show made for the Instagram age; Carolina Miranda of the LA Times described the 14th Factory as a ‘series of wondrous, over-the-top sets for the perfect selfie (that) makes Instagram the perfect platform through which to experience all the high-budget spectacle,’ ” notes Hyperallergic arts blog.
“Resources, however, were clearly not spent on properly securing the displays.”
The blog linked to its past coverage of other incidents where people taking selfies in museums have destroyed art — and there have been several — and reminded its readers, “DON’T TOUCH THE ART!”