Metropolis II By Chris Burden

The American artist Chris Burden has fabricated an installation which he calls Metropolis II. The project features the complexity and Burden’s fascination for the city, and also reflects critically on the city as a mechanism, as an ongoing machine far beyond human scale. In his implicit criticism, Burden links to Fritz Lang’s famous dystopian movie Metropolis. The installation including approximately 1,200 toy cars can currently be seen at the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts. Although the message of this installation is perhaps meant to be critical about the contemporary city, I must honestly admit that I am somehow attracted by the idea of the city represented here. At least things go fast.