Artist arrested for "planting bombs"

[pixy0stix]

news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/ny-artist-arrested-planting-bombs-brooklyn-180941117.html



An artist who installed illuminated plastic shopping bags emblazoned with the "I ♥ NY" logo on lampposts in Brooklyn was arrested over the weekend, charged with "planting false bombs" and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation.

Takeshi Miyakawa, the 50-year-old Tokyo-born artist, was arrested at 2 a.m. in Brooklyn while he was hanging one of the bags from a tree, according to his website. The NYPD bomb squad was alerted after a passerby noticed one of Miyakawa's installations on Friday morning and called to report "a suspicious package attached to a tree."

Police cleared the area for two hours, according to the Daily News. They later observed Miyakawa on top of a ladder with "an assembly consisting of a plastic box containing wires which was connected by a wire to a plastic bag containing a battery suspended from a metal rod."

The installation project was intended to be part of NY Design Week 2012.

On Sunday, a judge ordered Miyakawa held for a mental evaluation, "extending his detainment for an additional 30 days," his lawyer said.

A Facebook group called "Free Takeshi Miyakawa" launched within hours of the judge's ruling. It was more than 1,200 members.

"Takeshi loves New York, he loves this city," Louis Lim, Miyakawa's friend, told Gothamist.com. "All his installations are nonevasive. He doesn't drill into things ... We had no idea that his designs were being misinterpreted at this level. And if anything he does offends or bothers anyone, Takeshi always apologizes profusely. He's very traditional that way."

According to Gothamist, the person who purportedly reported Miyakawa to police did not intend to: "I called 311 asking how to get that thing off my tree, if it was my responsibility or the city's ... the 311 woman put me through to 911 then the cops came. I left for work."

[pixy0stix]

Holding him for a mental evaluation for 30 days seems really excessive.

[charminglife]

Is this installation actually part of Design Week (is there a permit process, etc)? Becuase this seems like a TOTAL overreaction.

It does remind me of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force promotion gone wrong in Boston a few years ago: articles.cnn.com/2007-01-31/us/boston.bombscare_1_bomb-scares-charlestown-district-court-peter-berdovsky?_s=PM:US

[Melissa W.]

Something similar happen in CT today.
www.wfsb.com/story/18571927/art-project-causes-bomb-scare-in-hartford-cemetery

A bomb squad was sent to a Hartford cemetery Monday morning after receiving reports of a suspicious item inside cemetery grounds.

EXPLORE THIS
SLIDESHOW: Artwork causes bomb threat in Hartford





As a result, Sand Elementary was placed on lock-in.

The discovery was made at the Old North Cemetery on Main Street around 10:30 a.m., and the school was placed on lock-in while emergency crews respond to the area.

Emergency officials said a construction crew that was working in the cemetery found a can of some sort, and it had wires sticking out of it.

Officials said Main Street was closed from Mahl Avenue to Mather Street while emergency crews investigated the discovery.

After an investigation, it was determined that the item wasn't hazardous and the lock-in at the school was lifted.

Eyewitness News did some digging and found out that 15 students are part of a teen advisory class at the Amistad Center for Art and Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum and took artwork that was created by a Chicago-based artist and placed the pieces at various locations around Hartford.

That artwork, officials said, is what caused the scare at the cemetery.

To get more information about the Amistad Center for Art and Culture, click here.