Cue up a variation of every joke about the mile high club: One decommissioned airplane is about to be buried 38 feet below the Mojave Desert as a piece of installation art by Swiss artist Christoph Buchel. The 153-foot long Boeing 727 commercial jetliner will rest below a 5.3 acre plot of land near Boron, Calif.
You’ll never have to put your tray tables up in artist Christoph Buchel’s underground plane. Above, a Boeing 727 in its more natural environment. (AP)
Buchel creates fictitious environmental installations that comment on social and political forces. Some of his previous work has included setting up a community center for low-income London residents inside a blue-chip gallery, and creating a maze within a garbage dump in Paris’s famed Palais de Tokyo. Bucher was also involved in a legal dispute with MASS MOCA after the museum attempted to complete and exhibit his installation called “Training Ground for Democracy,” without his cooperation. Courts initially ruled in favor of MOCA, but Bucher won on appeal.
The Bakersfield Californian reported that a county planning commission has recommended conditional approval for the project, on which it has received many questions, but no complaints. The paper also reported that the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles was once attached to the project, but has withdrawn its connection to Bucher’s installation, which will be called “Terminal.” A timeline for the project has not been announced.
Claustrophobics might want to avoid this art installation, which will be available to visitors via an underground tunnel. They will even be able to use the airplane bathroom, which will be connected to a septic system. No word on whether or not there will be peanuts and beverage service.
