At What Cost Art? Two Muscle Cars Destroyed
Written by: Diego Rosenberg on November 19 2013 11:35 AM

Jonathan Schipper’s name may not be as recognizable as Picasso’s or Peter Max’s, but after reading about his The Slow and Inevitable Death of American Muscle art installation, you’re bound to remember his name – perhaps in a fit of rage.


As part of the opening of the SEI Innovation Studio, a new performance arts venue in the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, PA, Slow and Inevitable is a machine that advances two full-sized muscle cars slowly into one another over a period of 90 days, simulating a head-on collision. For the duration of the exhibit, you will be able to view (and hear?) this process via live streaming.

And who is Jonathan Schipper? He says his work often derives elements from popular media culture but then transforms them. I alter these elements into something that returns media to a live, irreproducible experience. I am interested in making objects that, like a roller coaster, are beautiful and interesting through media but need to be experienced to be truly understood. I strive to create objects that wrap themselves around your gut, take hold of your imagination, and move you towards new locations and thoughts.

Yeah. Uh-huh. Now where did I put my latte?

The destruction of muscle cars isn’t new for Schipper, as he did the same thing several years ago with cars even more desirable than the set that area currently being destroyed:

Here’s more profundity from Schipper, likely articulated while drinking kombucha with pinky extended:

It is almost impossible to watch a modern action film without at least one automobile wreck. Why do we find interest and excitement it new versions of the same event? Why are we not satisfied? Cars are extensions of our body and our ego. We buy or modify cars that reflect our personalities and egos. When we see an automobile destroyed, in a way we are looking at our own inevitable death. This moment is, because of it’s [sic] inherent speed, almost invisible. We have slowed the event via film and video but only from a cameras [sic] perspective. We never get to see the transformation of living breathing car too wreck in its entirety, in detail. This piece offers the viewer the ability to examine in three dimensions the collision of these cars. A moment that might take a fraction of a second in an actual collision will be expanded to take days. Car wrecks are spectacular moments. This piece by changing one of the key variables removes and changes the nature of the event. What was life threatening is now rendered safe. What was supremely spectacular is now almost static. The wreck has been broken down to its Newtonian components. We are left to contemplate our own mortality our own Newtonian components.

If you have a morbid curiosity to see the live stream, just follow this link. But HOT ROD’s lawyers say we’re not responsible for raising your pulse rate – that’s the fault of the “artiste.”