A woman attempting to take a selfie caused $200,000 in damage to art at an exhibit after she stumbled into a pedestal.
The art was being displayed on open pedestals at a Los Angeles art exhibit when the woman squatted down to take a selfie of an art piece behind her. She lost her balance and fell backward into the pedestal, which created a domino effect and knocked down the entire row of pedestals, each with an art piece on it.
Three sculptures were destroyed in the accident, along with varying levels of damage to several others, according to Fortune. The exhibit consisted of a series of crowns or crown-like objects and had been described by a Los Angeles Times art critic as the perfect setting for selfies.
The nonprofit exhibit featured work from Asian artists Simon Birch, Gabriel Chan, Jacob Blitzer, and Gloria Yu. Some of the featured artists had exhibiting careers of 20 years, Fox News reported.
The damaged sculptures reportedly took the artists 20 to 30 hours each to make.
A spokeswoman countered speculation that this might have been a stunt to get publicity.
“There has been speculation whether this really happened or is a PR stunt,” she said, Fox News reported. “The truth is, the event did happen and it was caught on our security camera.”
“It would be pretty irrational for the artists behind these sculptures to intentionally inflict harm on their own work hoping to gain any benefit,” she added.
The exhibit will stay open until the end of July, and selfies are still allowed, Fortune reported.
Twitter users wondered why the pedestals were not secured and why the art was not more protected.
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