Toy car traffic jam: Chris Burden’s Metropolis II

Maybe the key to it all isn’t to take the problems of mechanized life more seriously, but to see us as the toys we make of ourselves. Urban sprawl, climate change, soul-crushing commutes: they’re all the result of us taking ourselves too seriously. That’s what I’m thinking as I watch the 1200 customized matchbox cars in artist Chris Burden’s Metropolis II, designed for the LA County Museum, go whizzing and whipping about their off-ramps, slotting into straightaways, and then gathering on their tractorized climb to start all over again. But that’s not all I’m thinking. I’m also thinking, 100,000 toy cars an hour makes for an amazing sight.

[New York Times via Gizmodo]