mahagony & pine, wood pegs
80" h x 80" w x 30' l (variable)
Art Gallery, Drury College
Springfield, MO
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American Playhouse, 1999 mahagony & pine, wood pegs 80" h x 80" w x 30' l (variable) Art Gallery, Drury College Springfield, MO |
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I am constantly stunned when a reporter drops a tidbit like "$3 billion is spent every year on dog biscuits." I know the U.S. is a wealthy country with weirdly skewed priorities. I set out to find how how weird... For instance, Americans spent $9.11 billion on breakfast cereals in 1996 versus, say, the Federal budget allocation for the Environmental Protection Agency of $6.6 billion.
American Playhouse has 24 "rooms," each representing the total dollar expenditures for a year (1996) for a category of recreational activity in the U.S. The most popular activity by far ($505.6 billion; far left) is illegal gambling - bets on college sports and the like - with illegal drugs ($200 billion) coming in a distant second. The first legal expenditure, in third place, is fast food ($98.4 billion; "sit-down" restaurants - not represented here - are a virtual tie at about $100 billion). Art museums account for $1.18 billion per year and, in last place, botanical gardens at $.19 billion (far right). Scale: 1 cubic inch = $1,000,000 Sources: drugs: Washington Week in Review, 3/7/97; gambling: The Economist, 1/25/1997; all else: Statistical Abstract of the U.S. (1999) and the U.S. budget online. |