Chris Burden: Ode to Santos Dumont

Beginning on May 18, 2015, and running for four weeks, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents Chris Burden: Ode to Santos Dumont, the first museum presentation of Burden’s recently completed monumental performance sculpture. Plans to exhibit the sculpture began last month after LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director Michael Govan saw a test run with Burden’s machinist-collaborator, John Biggs, in a rented hangar at Camarillo Airport. Sadly, although Burden completed his plans for the exhibition at LACMA, he passed away on May 10, 2015, before the installation opens to the public.

Image credits: 

Rendering of Chris Burden's Ode to Santos Dumont, 2015, © Chris Burden

Chris Burden, Ode to Santos Dumont, 2015, 7075 aircraft aluminum reproduction Erector parts, carbon fiber drive shaft, fiber glass propeller, nylon cable, hand tooled 1/4 scale replica of 1903 gasoline motor, polyurethane balloon, 1200 cubic feet of helium, dimensions: 16 foot height, 60 foot circumference, gondola: 24 inches x 21 feet, 6 inches, balloon: 8 x 40 feet, © Chris Burden, photo by J. Searles

Chris Burden, Ode to Santos Dumont, 2015, © Chris Burden

Chris Burden: Ode to Santos Dumont at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), May 18 - June 21, 2015, © Chris Burden, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA