Artist Buries Himself For Three Days Under Busy Australian Road

Mike Perr, an Australian performing artist, buried himself alive in a steel container for three days at Macquarie Street in Hobart’s city centre. The 73-year-old artist entombed himself Thursday night as part of a dark arts festival (Dark Fomo) act entitled Underneath the Bitumen – the Artist, held on the island state of Tasmania.

The container has everything from plenty of water, reading and writing material and a heater button but no food. Oxygen will be regularly pumped into the container, for which a tube has been fitted under the road.

Perr would limit the quantity of liquid he would consume, Jarrod Rawlins, the festival’s curator said, Reuters reported.

A section of Macquarie Street was blocked off as part of the preparation and the container, measuring 4.5m x 1.7m x 2.2m, was placed into a hole.

The original manufacturer of the box pulled out last moment on discovering a man would be buried in it.

Perr’s performance is a tribute to indigenous victims of British colonial violence, organisers of the festival said. Violence escalated as Aboriginal people were driven from their territory after a martial law was declared against them in 1828, killing 900.

“If they have any interest in telling the Aboriginal story then they should have put it out there for Aboriginal people to do it,” Heather Sculthorpe, CEO of Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC), the Guardian reported. “We have a lot of great storytellers and some old fella under a road is not the way to do it.”

The work was supposed to take place in Germany a decade ago but was cancelled due to health and safety issues. It was then approved by Hobart City Council and the bill for the work was footed by the event organizer.

Leigh Carmichael, creative director of the festival said, "It is a story that is not well known, but is ever-present, just beneath the surface of our contemporary culture."

"The fact that Mike Parr's work will happen underground, just out of sight, as everyday life continues above it, is clearly no coincidence,” he added.

"The public will be able to witness the artist's "disappearance" under the road, but following the entombment, the road will be returned to familiar use," read the statement. "The anxiety of the artist's disappearance is the point of the piece," he said.

Ron Christie, mayor of Hobart, voted against the performance due to traffic issues.

"We have enough traffic problems in Hobart now without any more occurring, so that's one of the reasons I voted against it," he said.

"They get what they want but we also get what we want, and that is that we bring money into our economy here — and we're not talking about tens of thousands, we're talking about millions of dollars and each year it's gaining worldwide recognition,” he added, CNN reported.

Dark Fomo, which showcases artwork and performances that often celebrate ancient rituals, was involved in a controversy for placing inverted red crosses across Hobart.