This summer, internationally renowned artist Chris Burden will exhibit a new sculpture at Rockefeller Center in New York — WHAT MY DAD GAVE ME, a dramatic, 65-foot-tall skyscraper made entirely of toy construction parts. Standing more than six stories tall at the Fifth Avenue entrance to the Channel Gardens, WHAT MY DAD GAVE ME will pay homage to the historic skyscrapers that populate New York and give the city its iconic architectural presence. WHAT MY DAD GAVE ME will be on view, free and open to the public, from June through July 2008. The exhibition is presented by the Public Art Fund and hosted by Tishman Speyer, co-owners of Rockefeller Center.

WHAT MY DAD GAVE ME will be by far the most complex artwork that Chris Burden has ever made, comprised of approximately one million stainless steel parts that are replicas of Erector set pieces, the popular 20th-century children's building toy. Over the past decade, the artist has been using these specially stamped stainless steel metal parts based precisely upon those of the original Erector set to create complex and elegant sculptures of bridges. Intricately engineered to support and bear enormous weight, Burden's colossal toy constructions showcase the versatility, simplicity, and strength of their unassuming parts, combining technical sophistication with a child-like enthusiasm: building for building's sake.

In 1912, an inventor named A.C. Gilbert created the first Erector set, inspired by the steel framework of skyscrapers that he saw under construction in New York City, then at the height of a building boom. The Erector Mysto Type I—the first set Gilbert made—was a collection of small metal girders, which could be assembled with miniature nuts and bolts. Burden's fascination with this original—and now rare—building kit led him to create his own replica parts, fashioned in stainless steel and electro-plated to produce a polished nickel finish in order to make them weather—and rust—resistant.

Despite being constructed with toys, WHAT MY DAD GAVE ME will take on the dimensions of a full-scale building. Burden anticipates that its construction will require approximately one million parts total, and that the sculpture will weigh over seven tons when complete. Models and collectibles have long been important in Burden's work, reflecting his fascination with humankind's industrial ingenuity and creativity, investigating relationships between power and technology, nature and society, and enlightenment and destruction.

I didn't realize that Erector sets were that old. We had one. No, not we, my brothers had one. (And I was the only one in the family who liked making stuff.) Now my bitterness is bubbling to the surface again, happens ever time I write the word brothers.
- L.M. 7-09-2008 11:01 pm [add a comment]

ac gilbert. reputedly included radioactive material in their chemistry sets. maker of erector sets and american flyer trains. the best american made model train set because of the perfection in scale and detail. boo lionel.


- bill 7-09-2008 11:22 pm [add a comment]

I had an erector set but didn’t get much out of it; too much work, not enough specificity. Years later (like 13) I used it to make a housing for my “no-waste pipe” in which a jar was suspended upside down with a screen inserted in the cap; you lit it from underneath and the smoke collected in the jar instead of escaping into the air. This was before we figured out the one-hitter strategy. Might be a lesson for the military/industrial complex here…


- alex 7-10-2008 12:13 am [add a comment]

the radioactive info suddenly makes me feel better.
- L.M. 7-10-2008 12:56 am [add a comment]