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RIP: An obituary for shock art

Fake bomb didn't bring down the ROM, but it did mark the passing of an artistic era. Fact is, there's little left that can rouse us from our comfortable numbness.

Dec 08, 2007 04:30 AM

Christopher Hume
Urban Issues columnist

Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson's bomb wasn't real, but it might as well have been.

“ he called it a "sculpture" inside the main entrance of the Royal Ontario Museum last week, he confirmed something that everyone outside the art world has known for awhile, namely that art has lost its power to shock."

"Today, art isn't taken seriously, except as an investment, a hedge against inflation or an alternative to the stock market."