MAILBOX BOMBER'S DEFENSE:
"Performance Art is Protected
by 1st Amendment"
Reno, NV | Luke Helder, charged with planting a nationwide string of mail box pipe-bombs, has entered a plea of not guilty, alleging he was only exercising his right of free speech protected by the Constitution.
The 21-year-old college student explains he was attempting to draw a gigantic smiley face icon across the United States as a "connect-the-dots" form of performance art.
Referring to works by fellow artists Cristo and Chris Burdon, Holder said he got the idea from an art appreciation course he took at the University of Wisconsin last semester.
Cristo is the controversial environmental artist whose most recent project is to completely drape New York's Central Park in an enormous polyester leisure suit.
The works of Austrian artist Chris Burden have included standing in a barrel of gasoline and inviting spectators to throw matches at him, and an interactive sculpture called "Red Box" that employed whirling razor blades to slash the hands of anyone who reached inside.
Helder has requested legal aid from the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as supporting affidavits from the director of The Brooklyn Museum of Art.
