Visitor Fell Into A Hole Thought It Was A Painting

Will you stepped on stray newspaper you come across on the street? I wouldn’t. I am cautious because, I am wary of what’s underneath, like who knows if there is a hole lurking under? Well, that’s just me. Not everyone is as paranoid as me and that “not everyone” includes an unidentified 60-year-old museum visitor to British artist Anish Kapoor’s exhibition at Serralves Museum in Porto, Portugal, who clearly has no qualm about stepping into the unknown. At least, it will be “into” when what he was stepping turned out to be a hole and not solid ground.

This old man did not step on a newspaper, though. Uncle John Doe had stepped on a what-he-thought was a very black painting on the floor. Unfortunately, that black circular patch ain’t no painting. It was an opening to an eight-foot drop conceived by Kapoor. What happen next was what you can expect when anyone unknowingly stepped into a hole. In this case, it was a 8-foot fall into the pitch black pit, injuries and probably state of shock. With this art installation called Descent Into Limbo, Kapoor had the entire hole painted with the world’s blackest black developed by Surrey NanoSystems Limited called VantaBlack, a substance which he has the worldwide exclusive rights to it.

NOW READ  Meat Leaf: Yup, That’s A Leaf With Meat Cells

As you can see in the above image, one cannot really tell that it is actually a hole. It so freaking black that it appears to be a two-dimensional black circle on the floor. With this so-called art installation, it is basically an accident waiting to happen. I mean, seriously, with a patch this black, surely someone is going to fall into sooner or later. Well, it happened alright. Fortunately, the old man escape unscathed with the exception of some minor injuries.

He was hospitalized and subsequently discharged after treatment. While he may not have suffered something serious physically, we can’t say psychologically there is nothing major going on. Imagine the shock he must had felt when he realized that’s no solid ground. It is a wonder that the museum even allow this to be there without more obvious safety measures in place (like, you know, barricades???). Oh, well. What do I know about art, right?

Image: YouTube.

Source: Boing Boing.