We live in a world obsessed with selfies. You will spot people taking photos or videos (vlogging) of themselves every few metres if you visit a famous public place or tourist destination. This is why smartphone manufacturers have come up with selfie-oriented mobile phones. While it enables you to capture your own photographs especially when you are travelling alone, it can also give you unnecessary embarrassment even to the extent of damaging things around you like this woman did in Los Angeles. Her attempt to take that perfect selfie picture turned disastrous -- to the extent of costing a fortune.
The incident happened at the 14th Factory in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles a few days ago. In the CCTV footage uploaded on YouTube, a woman is seen leaning back in front of a pillar to take a selfie picture but all hell breaks loose as she accidentally makes contact with one of the pedestals, which falls onto the next, causing a domino effect and the whole row comes falls down like a pack of cards.
And each pedestal had an expensive sculpture atop it. So, the incident left some of the sculptures damaged causing thousands of dollars loss.
"Three sculptures were permanently damaged and others to varying degrees. The approximate cost of damage is $200,000," Gloria Yu, one of the artists involved in the exhibition, told Hyperallergic site.
The 14th Factory is a multiple-media art experience created by Hong Kong-based artist Simon Birch and twenty collaborators and the exhibition is titled Hypercaine. The exhibition will be opened to the public till the end of this month.
So what will happen to the lady that caused the damage? Well, Birch wasn't bothered. In fact, he told the New York paper that they won't warn the visitors to be "careful" despite the recent incident. He said that "Crowns are fragile things. They are symbols of power. Perhaps it's ironic and meaningful that they fell."
Interestingly, YouTube viewers are not amused by the supposed loss the selfie attempt has caused. Instead, they blame the organisers of the exhibition for showcasing valuable things on fragile pedestals.
"id still put some fault on the exhibit..... like how can u put something u value at 20k on such a shitty easily fallable thing least put a do not cross rope or something or bolt the pedestals to the floor," wrote a user by the name Abiy BattleSpell.
"I don't blame the woman. first of all, that stuff doesn't look worth that much and it's not interesting, second, could've put it behind glass or something. this way anyone can touch it and accidents are bound to happen lol.," wrote Ann K.
