Art, Chris Burden once said, is “a free spot in society, where you can do anything.” Early on, Burden’s work was performance, excruciatingly physical actions that came to a halt in 1974, when he spent forty-five hours straight lying under a sheet of plate glass. After that, the L.A. artist, now sixty-seven, turned to sculpture, often inspired by the mainstays of playrooms: toy soldiers, Erector sets, blocks. Beginning this week, the New Museum devotes its building to the artist’s career, including its façade, where “Ghost Ship,” a crewless, self-navigating yacht that sailed the North Sea in 2005, is now dangling.
