From violating his own body in highly controversial performance works during the 1970s to a series of breathtaking installations over recent years, American artist Chris Burden has been driven by the desire to explain and reconstruct experiences and ideas we normally take for granted. He is interested in the political, institutional, and technological, and in all these areas he is concerned to demystify symbols of authority and explain hidden processes.At the end of the 20th century ordinary people have little or no understanding of how the world we live in functions, how the food we eat is grown, or how the objects we use are manufactured. This volume documents Chris Burden's project showing at the Tate Gallery in February 1999, where he will set up a factory-like assembly line which will manufacture model airplanes from tissue paper, plastic, and balsa wood parts. He lays bare the principles of mass production in a way that is entertaining, ingenious, and provocative. The book reproduces many of Burden's original working drawings and documents the functioning assembly line.
