Artist Wants to Bury Jet in Mojave

Visitors will pass through underground tunnel in 'Terminal'
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 26, 2012 2:12 PM CST
Artist Wants to Bury Jet in Mojave
A patch of the Mojave Desert is seen in this file photo.   (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Swiss artist Christoph Buchel has applied for a permit for a truly big, truly strange art exhibit: He wants to bury a 727 in the Mojave Desert, allowing guests to visit it through an underground tunnel. The piece will be called "Terminal," and the group Buchel organized for it, Terminal Project LLC, has already shelled out $21,000 for 5.3 acres of undeveloped desert, according to real estate records found by the Bakersfield Californian.

The 153-foot jetliner itself could cost Buchel another $30,000, according to an official from the nearby Mojave Airport. "It's a pretty cool idea to place an airplane in a different context than we're used to seeing it," says a consulting engineer who will be in charge of making sure the buried plane is safe for visitors. "It could be surreal in many ways, and profound in others." The project has already been approved by a local planning board, according to the AP. (More Mojave Desert stories.)

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