Carnegie Mellon University
April 19, 2013

Press Release: Carnegie Mellon Art Student Drops Minivan To Illustrate America's Passive Relationship With Violence

Contacts: Lauren Goshinski / School of Art / 412-268-1533 / laurengo@andrew.cmu.edu
Pam Wigley / Media Relations / 412-889-6238 / pwigley@andrew.cmu.edu
 
Minivan DropPITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University School of Art senior Emily Wobb, a sculptural performance artist, has orchestrated her final art project with the help of a construction crane and a full-sized replica of a minivan. The two will come together for a dramatic 150-foot drop that Wobb says is her interpretation of people's passive relationship with spectacle and violence.

Wobb, who created the upholstered minivan and commissioned a crane operator, will supervise the drop at 2 p.m., Thursday, April 25, at 545 Coraopolis Road, Coraopolis, Pa. The event is free and open to the public, and people are encouraged to videotape the drop and share it via social media. (Use #MiniVanDrop on Twitter.)

"Two questions are in my mind when I'm composing a sculptural performance that will break down or destroy itself," Wobb said. "How are Americans distracting themselves from their fear of dying? And what kind of purpose does an American place on his or her own life?

"Of the various ways that I observe how Americans distract themselves, it is unconventional leisure that often involves vehicles as toys that fascinates me the most. A minivan is a suburban icon of comfort and safety. By destroying this icon in a way that creates a spectacle, and then turning it into an object to be viewed, I am trying to start a conversation about the American fascination with fatal accidents and death, situations from which we are often comfortably detached."

Remnants of the staged crash will be re-assembled and displayed in a mock living room setting along with work by 39 other senior art students at the 2013 Senior Art Exhibition titled "I'm Feeling Lucky." The exhibit opening is from 6 to 8 p.m., Friday, May 3, at CMU's Miller Gallery.

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Senior Emily Wobb, who created the upholstered minivan and commissioned a crane operator, will supervise the drop at 2 p.m., Thursday, April 25, at 541 Pennsylvania Route 51 in Robinson Township.