Large Inflatable Sculptures Can Kill

[Merlion]

Inflatable sculptures are fun to see, to play with, and even to walk inside. This is true for children as well as adults.

Now we have a case where a very large inflatable sculpture kills when caught in the wind.

Incidentally, this inflatable made of tanslucent PVC sheets, is built up of different connected cells of different colors, and looks fascinating when inside. One inside photo is shown in this Telegraph article. The London artist Agis gave it an apt name, "Dreamspace".

Women killed as artwork floats off (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/24/ninfl24.xml)(Filed: 24/07/2006)

Two women died and a three-year-old girl was seriously injured yesterday when a walk-in inflatable artwork broke its moorings and drifted 30ft into the air.

Up to 30 people were inside the Dreamscape V exhibit when it floated for a distance of 120ft before snagging on a CCTV camera pole which brought it to the ground. ....

The exhibit, a 16ft high construction half the size of a football pitch, is made from thin transluscent PVC sheets.

It is the work of the London-based artist Maurice Agis and has inflatable units connected by tunnels to form a space where visitors can walk.

The exhibit was opened on Saturday as a temporary piece of public art by Agis in conjunction with Chester-le-Street district council's art development team. People paid £5 to go in. ....

More beautiful internal photos, as well as descriptive details, can be found in this website (http://www.dreamspace-agis.com/webesp/quedr.htm) of the artist.

[tobias]

Wow this really should remind sculptors who whish to create large scale puclic or private works that it is necisary to know what you are doing. If this means consulting with an engineer about safty then it should be done. Thank you for posting this most of us get caught up in the creation and viewing of our work not in the safty issues connected with exibition.

[Scout]

That is unbelievable. It must have been some kind of wind! I know the artist must be devastated. Definitly something to think about. Scout

[desertrock]

"At least three industrial-type hot air blowers were pumping air into it when it took off, but I think a gust of wind must have got under it."

Hot air balloon (cube)...

[Merlion]

Being also an engineer, I agree that the most probable immediate cause is, as quoted, wind getting under it. But apparently the artist has years of experience with such very large inflatable sculpture at different sites, and would, like an experienced skydiver, have taken all necessary safety checks and precautions with the moorings and anchors to prevent a lift off.

This Times report (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2283385,00.html) mentions that there has been rumour of sabotage, and the police is having an open mind and not rulling it out.

Police investigating how a massive inflatable sculpture tore free from its moorings, killing two people and injuring more than a dozen others, said today that were keeping an open mind on the incident and had not ruled out the possibility of sabotage. ....

As rumours circulated that one of the mooring ropes had been loosened shortly before the structure left the ground, Chief Superintendent Trevor Watson said today: "It is very early in the investigation and too early to speculate. ....

"Certainly I'm not suggesting that we have specific informaton that it was tampered with, but we're not ruling anything out," he added. ....

[Jasonik]

http://www.flickr.com/groups/dreamspace/pool/show/

[Jasonik]

BBC VIDEO (http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_5200000/newsid_5209000/nb_wm_5209016.stm)

[Landseer]

That is unbelievable. It must have been some kind of wind! I know the artist must be devastated.

I think he'll be a whole lot more devastated when the first of many million dollar personal injury lawsuits start trickling in- that's the other risk when creating something like this to which you grant the public at large access to like this. But maybe the Brits aren't as slap-suit happy as we are, still, out of that large number of people plus 2 dead at least a few will file suit no doubt.

The report said it was blown over by a gust of wind in the storm, yet it said "The police are investigating how it flipped over"- it flipped over from a GUST OF WIND- the video shows it, what's to investigate? it was an accident.

[Merlion]

I think he'll be a whole lot more devastated when the first of many million dollar personal injury lawsuits start trickling in- that's the other risk when creating something like this to which you grant the public at large access to like this. But maybe the Brits aren't as slap-suit happy as we are, still, out of that large number of people plus 2 dead at least a few will file suit no doubt.

I would expect the artist has good insurance coverage for such incidents. Like the operators of circus tents, it would be very foolhardy not to be covered (no pun intended).

The insurance company would also be very interested in the findings of the police investigations.

On the other hand, the artist may give up the idea of continuing to operate this Dreamspace in the present form, at least until memories start to fade.

[Landseer]

I would expect the artist has good insurance coverage for such incidents. Like the operators of circus tents, it would be very foolhardy not to be covered (no pun intended).

The insurance company would also be very interested in the findings of the police investigations.

On the other hand, the artist may give up the idea of continuing to operate this Dreamspace in the present form, at least until memories start to fade.I wonder, somehow I don't think the UK is as slap suit happy as we are here, still, insurance doesn't cover all, it may even have a disclaimer about not covering "acts of GOD" but may only cover slips and falls, injury from sharp edges and that sort of thing. It could also be a case where he could find difficulty finding a site to ever do this again if land owners fear a repeat or injured people file against the land owner /sponsors in this case as typically happens here.

[Merlion]

I wonder, somehow I don't think the UK is as slap suit happy as we are here, still, insurance doesn't cover all, it may even have a disclaimer about not covering "acts of GOD" but may only cover slips and falls, injury from sharp edges and that sort of thing. ...

Sorry this is a bit of digression. About being 'suit happy', do correct me if my limited understanding is wrong. Most other countries, unlike the US, does not allow lawyers to take up a case for a victim without cost unless the suit is won in which case the victim gets a big cut in what he gets. This gives a lot of adventurous opportunities to lawyers

I suppose sabotage is not considered 'acts of God'.

Now back to the thread. Another possibility is that the heat wave in England caused the inflated sculpture to be hotter than expected, resulting in a larger hot-air ballon type of lift force than the moorings can handle.

This conjecture is mentioned in this Guardian (http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1828226,00.html) article.

The giant inflatable artwork that tore away from its moorings may have been turned into a deathtrap as hot air inside the structure caused it to lift off, killing two women, witnesses said.

By the way, this sculpture is as large as half a football pitch.

[tobias]

Why is there always someone around with a video camera? The cops should investigate this individual lol

[Landseer]

Sorry this is a bit of digression. About being 'suit happy', do correct me if my limited understanding is wrong. Most other countries, unlike the US, does not allow lawyers to take up a case for a victim without cost unless the suit is won in which case the victim gets a big cut in what he gets. This gives a lot of adventurous opportunities to lawyers
I don't know what the situation is like in other countries, I don know that here typically if something like a lamp fixture falls off the ceiling the lamp maker, the installer, the landlord (if rental) the wiring company, the hardware maker who made the chain or bolts and anyone else they can think of gets hit with a supoena for a lawsuit no matter how remotely they may be connected. It's the "deep pockets" mentality where the one of those with the biggest bank account is the one who gets hit big. Forget that the lamp maker had absolutely no control over how their lamp was INSTALLED and that the installer- say- the one injured- is an idiot who didn't do it right, someone is to BLAME and someone will pay, so the lamp maker is the one.



I suppose sabotage is not considered 'acts of God'.
That is assuming such a thing even happened in this case, but willful acts are often not covered either since that wouldn't be an accident or poor design. It was pretty clear the heat wave, the warm air and the storm with it's gusts of wind simply dislodged it in one place and once it lost that support it was gone.

Now back to the thread. Another possibility is that the heat wave in England caused the inflated sculpture to be hotter than expected, resulting in a larger hot-air ballon type of lift force than the moorings can handle.
In that case the guy who designed the moorings would be at fault and liable, possibly whomever actually installed those anchors as well, jointly or separately. As an engineer you know about safety factors and loads, and that normally a wide margin of safety is built in to all designs, and that includes redundency- if 3 cables each having aworking load of say 1,000# is barely enough under normal circumstances and 4 cables are deemed sufficient, they may add 6 cables each having 1500# working capacity so the loss of any one or even two would not cause a catastrophy- those 6 would also be stronger cables than the calculated sizes for the 3 or 4
In short, someone messed up somewhere.

[Merlion]

Back to the story of this giant inflatable walk-in sculpture that took off with the wind in UK in July, resulting in deaths and injuries. This is the latest report by the BBC.

Artist held over sculpture deaths (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wear/6195530.stm)

An artist who created an inflatable sculpture that burst free from its moorings killing two people has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

Maurice Agis, 74, was arrested in London by Durham Police officers. ....

The 2,500sq m Dreamspace artwork was thrown 100ft into the air by a freak gust of wind.

Mr Agis was himself pulled into the air when the structure, which consisted of inflated rooms connected by tunnels, was torn from its moorings. ...

"We are still awaiting the results of tests from Health and safety Executive labs, which are not due until next summer." ....

[evaldart]

Serra and Christo, I know, have experiened maimings and deaths as a result of their work. I wonder how it impacted them?

[Merlion]

Could you tell us more, Evaldart, about these Serra and Christo incidents?

About this report of Agis's arrest, the accident was months ago in July. The police seems slow to come to a suspicion of manslaughter on the artist.

Furthermore, the health and safety lab test results are not expected until next Summer.

[evaldart]

Serra's mishap occurred in 89 I believe, he had a monstrous tilted arc duo installed inside the Leo Castelli Gallery on Green Street NYC. I saw the exhibit and was flabbergasted to see the three inch rolled plates sinking a half inch into the harwood floor as if the floor were wax. Anyhow, during the de-installation process one of them was mishandled and fell severing the arm of a rigger and destroying the structural integrity of the the entire four story building (Metro Pictures fixed it up a couple years later and set up shop) Christo's had to do with a death from one his giant umbrellas, uprooted by the wind sending steel pipes into passersby killing one. I am only recalling these events and I've breath a lot of sculture-studio air since then, I'm sure a quick google would tell it right.

[Merlion]

Thanks Evaldart for recalling the incidents of deaths from accidents involving large sculptures of Serra and Christo. I tried Googling for the details, but so far no luck. Perhaps they occured too many years ago.

Locally I have been told of the death due to a public art falling on the architect friend of the artist. But I'm not sure how reliable is the story.

Over here in this Forum, we had discussed the case of an artist killed by his large sculpture in his own studio.

[evaldart]

Ahh the irony. to be crushed all at once by my own work in a magnificent cataclysm of plummeting steel, or to be chiseled at slowly by cowardly fumes and UV rays over the course of many years.

[Merlion]

Evaldart. The sculptor who died from an accident involving his sculpture in his own studio was Luis Jimenez. We heard of his death last June and had a thread discussing this. The thread is here (http://www.sculpture.net/community/showthread.php?t=3025&highlight=studio+accident+died).

[Merlion]

By accident I saw an announcement that this walk-in inflatable sculpture is in town, for only four days. Fortunately I caught it before it moves away, and today I went along to give it a visit.

Actually it is a smal version of the inflatable, clearly not half a football pitch in size.

And the artist is not the same person, but also from the UK. His name is Alan Parkinson. He happens to be there and I managed to have a brief conversation with him. He admitted Maurice Agis originated the idea, and that apart from him, another artist is also doing something similar.

I mentioned the fatal accident of Agis's giant inflatable. He said the hot-air ballon effect, plus the large wind sail force caused it to break the anchors lift-off.

His own design allows trapped wind to be released at two air-well holes at the centre. Also anchors can be tied around the outside as well as the two centre holes. But Agis's design is triangular which means he can only anchor it around the outside, and trapped wind cannot be released.

He has a website (http://www.architects-of-air.com/main.html).

[Merlion]

Women killed as artwork floats off (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/24/ninfl24.xml)(Filed: 24/07/2006)

Two women died and a three-year-old girl was seriously injured yesterday when a walk-in inflatable artwork broke its moorings and drifted 30ft into the air.

Up to 30 people were inside the Dreamscape V exhibit when it floated for a distance of 120ft before snagging on a CCTV camera pole which brought it to the ground. ....

The exhibit, a 16ft high construction half the size of a football pitch, is made from thin transluscent PVC sheets.

It is the work of the London-based artist Maurice Agis and has inflatable units connected by tunnels to form a space where visitors can walk.....

This unfortunate incident happened in July 2006. This is the latest news that the artist is being charged in court.

Artist charged with manslaughter over sculpture deaths (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2008/02/13/nagis113.xml)

13 Feb 2008. Artist Maurice Agis, whose inflatable sculpture Dreamspace flipped over in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, killing two people in July 2006, has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter, Durham Police have said.

Two women died and a three-year-old girl was seriously injured when the walk-in inflatable artwork broke its moorings and shot 30ft into the air. ....

Mr Agis, 74, from east London, was at the scene of the disaster. ...

He was charged following a lengthy police investigation into the tragedy.

Early investigations found the sculpture may have floated up because the sun turned it into a "hot air balloon". Vandals may also have tampered with the ropes.

[Merlion]

Gosh! The pace of this justice process is very very slow ! The accident was way back in July 2006.

Dreamscape artist in court for manslaughter (http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Dreamscape-artist-in-court-for.4531360.jp)

26 September 2008 THE creator of an inflatable artwork which flipped over, killing two people, will appear in court today charged with manslaughter. ...