The incident took place at the 14th Factory in Los Angeles, California, two weeks back when a woman knocked over a portion of Hong Kong-based British artist Simon Birch’s "Hypercaine" exhibit while trying to take a selfie.
Captured on nearby security cameras, the footage released Wednesday shows the assailant crouching down in front of the row of pedestals when out of nowhere she loses her balance and sends off a domino effect – a costly $200,000 domino effect.
Yeah, take that in.
This is what the exhibit looked like before the crime occurred:
Sadly, three sculptures were permanently damaged while several others were left with "varying degrees" of bumps and bruises, Gloria Yu, one of the artists featured in the exhibit, told Hyperallergic.
Speaking to Fox News, a spokeswoman for the pop-up art project confirmed the event was not a PR stunt to help generate more visitors.
"It would be pretty irrational for the artists behind these sculptures to intentionally inflict harm on their own work hoping to gain any benefit."
The destroyed work of art was a collaboration between Birch, Yu, Gabriel Chan and Jacob Blitzer. At the moment 14th Factory hasn’t stated whether the damage would be covered by insurance.
Ironically enough, Carolina Miranda of the Los Angeles Times described the exhibit as a "series of wondrous, over-the-top sets for the perfect selfie."
Alas, this isn’t the first incident where a selfie-gone-wrong has killed an artist's creative ideas: back in 2016 a man climbed a 126-year-old statue in Lisbon, Portugal, for a picture, but ended up causing the statue to fall to its untimely death.
But wait, there’s more folks!
In the nation’s capital, the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden suffered a setback after a museum-goer, wanting to get the perfect selfie, ended up smashing the life out of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin artwork.
Now don’t get us wrong, we understand that by taking self portraits for the ‘gram at cool museums can make one look cultured and just downright adventurous, but if these incidents prove anything, it’s that simply taking in the art is the safer and less problematic route.
