Metropolis II

Chris Burden’s Metropolis II opens this week at LACMA. According to Burden, “The noise, the continuous flow of the trains, and the speeding toy cars, produces in the viewer the stress of living in a dynamic, active and bustling 21st Century city.” And also, I would add, the thrill and the wonder…

Here are a few stats on the piece:

• The cars are attached by a small magnet to the conveyor belt that brings them to the crest.
• The only motorization of the cars is the conveyor belt to the top.
• Once the cars cross over the crest and head downward, their entire movement is by gravity.
• They travel at a scale speed of 240 mph, plus or minus.
• The tracks they take are Teflon coated to reduce friction.
• The tracks are beveled at 7 degrees to give added torque for speed when
  they come through corners and curves.
• The trains are out of the box electric train sets that run on electricity.

(Unframed)

See also: Big Wrench.