TROJAN TART
Elizabeth’s art siege of New York had lasted five years, her plan failed and she devised a new ruse: a gigantic hollow friendship cake. She built the beautifully decorated cake in an abandoned riverside landfill in Queens, and filled the cake with an explosive charge of 10 kilotons - the equivalent to ten thousand tons of TNT. This cake could destroy everything within a five-mile radius.
It was going to be beautiful. The upper part of the cake was going to open like a flower in Spring, and the bomb would rise from within the cake. The system was set to explode two minutes upon opening the cake.
Elizabeth convinced New Yorkers that the cake was her farewell present, and despite warnings from the local authorities | the NYFD even investigated the cake | the gift was accepted. New Yorkers hugely celebrated the end of the siege, and when Elizabeth emerged, the city was in a drunken stupor. Via remote control, and based on cell phone technology, Elizabeth started the countdown sequence. There was no way back - two minutes later the bomb was going to explode.
But nothing happened.
Maybe it was the batteries or the optical switch.
Elizabeth’s heart pounded in her chest, as she began to sweat heavily. Elizabeth went through the checklist and felt as if she was
going to die. Earlier that morning she had mailed copies of her farewell video to all major news media.
Elizabeth was arrested the next day while hiding in her studio. The video –which some say had a poetic feel to it- was broadcast by all major news channels. Some television critics, including Roger Ebert, thought the video humanized bombers. All over the nation, violent clashes erupted between Elizabeth-followers and anti-Elizabeth protesters. The president addressed the nation. Two months later, the cake was destroyed and Elizabeth died on the electric chair.
“What happened afterward?”
“Two angels picked her up.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely”
Elizabeth’s studio became a popular pilgrimage site where Trojan Tart flags were sold and visitors could have their picture taken in the
make-shift film-set where she recorded her farewell video. Art Film Cinema bought the rights a year later.
Bronx, NY
Summer 2008