British death metal band Unfathomable Ruination has scheduled a series of shows in central London next week wherein spectators won’t be able to hear them play: They will play inside this perfectly sealed metal box until they pass out because of the lack of oxygen.
As part of the new Sculpture in the City exhibit, the five-man band plans to repeatedly perform within a specially designed, sound- and air-proof box located outside the Gherkin. Portuguese artist João Onofre designed the box and has dubbed it the “Box Sized DIE”, which is rather fitting. And according to the Independent, “The box is soundproofed, determining and restricting the performance’s duration to the length of time in which the oxygen is expended,” a blurb on the installation reads. “Outside the cube, viewers observe its strange vibrations, only viewing the band’s entrance and exit to the performance space.”
How long they will be able to play without oxygen remains to be seen, as does how the band will signal that they’re done — maybe you just wait for the vibrations to stop?