Building a tower out of Lincoln Logs is one thing. Building a real-life, 10m high funeral pyre out of actual firewood is a little bit more complicated. With a bit of finesse and a lot of patience, artist Tadashi Kawamata managed to pull off the latter. No smoking in the vicinity, please.
Built as a temporary installation for the Swiss Kunstmuseum Thurgau, the tower — named Scheiterturm or Funeral Tower — is made of over 2000 carefully stacked pieces of firewood. Each stick was laid by hand, and it took a crew of indentured servants students to lay it all down precisely. It’s a feat of engineering.
Kawamat’s tower isn’t permanent though; it’s life is set to end after three years. Unfortunately it won’t be burned like the pyre it is, but the bits and pieces that are left will actually be sold as firewood. But until then is anyone up for a game of Jenga?