Seven years ago today, the German writer W.G. Sebald was involved in a fatal car accident near his home in Norwich, England. Sebald worked as an academic at The University of East Anglia, but some of his writings found a receptive wider readership. The works which brought him to public attention were four books, written originally in German, which seemed to blend memoir and fiction, photography and prose: Vertigo, The Emigrants, The Rings of Saturn, and Austerlitz. He also wrote poetry, and used some of those poems to collaborate with visual artists. In the main, his sad, erudite work revolves around themes of loss, destruction, landscape, and memory, and it continues to inspire exhibitions, stage plays, reflections, and tributes (not to mention blogs and videos). His voice is missed.
posted by hydatius on Dec 14, 2008 - 8 comments

The destruction of Untitled #133 by Aeneas Wilder took place on Labor Day. He knocked down his latest piece at the San Francisco Exploratorium to cheers from the audience and applause. The giant wooden sphere took 10 days to make out of painstakingly stacked (never fastened) wooden planks. Is it an artistic expression of the impermanence of man? Another chapter in the ongoing discussion about the nature of art? Or just every little kid's ultimate building-blocks-meet-Godzilla fantasy?
posted by Brockstar on Sep 24, 2007 - 16 comments

shock doctrine at work
Fisk documents the dismantling of Iraqi culture - Klein exposes the history behind the destruction.
posted by specialk420 on Sep 17, 2007 - 40 comments

The Cutty Sark burns. Nineteenth century tea clipper, preserved as a museum-ship in Greenwich since the fifties, is currently ablaze.
posted by hydatius on May 20, 2007 - 48 comments

In 1999, MTV aired 25 Lame, a show where retired 25 of their worst and most overplayed videos. Rob Van Winkle (aka Vanilla Ice) showed up to help them retire the video for "Ice Ice Baby." The result - violence, hilarity, and broken mannequins (video, 30-second ad shows before video). Apparently unplanned, nobody knows for sure if this outburst was the product of genuine anger, or if he was just playing around. An unedited version (YouTube, lower quality) leads me to think that it was the former.
posted by Afroblanco on Feb 1, 2007 - 33 comments

Oops! A mud eruption probably triggered by oil exploration has been making thousands of Indonesians' lives miserable since May.
posted by thirteenkiller on Sep 14, 2006 - 20 comments

For those who worry that the concrete pillars around U.S. Federal buildings aren't strong enough to stop a motivated car bomber in an 18 wheeler, this video should comfort you. Similarly, for those of you who are worried that the concrete shielding around our weapons bunkers is not thick enough, this video should put you at ease. And finally, for those of you that worry that dogs & monkeys are putting aside their differences to team up against mankind, this video should lay that myth to rest.
posted by jonson on Aug 10, 2006 - 38 comments

An Exclusive and Brutally Frank Report by JT Nesbitt, a New Orleans resident and the designer of the radically cool Confederate Motorcycles' B91 Wraith (pictured here), in the wake of the destruction of the company's factory during Hurricane Katrina. via
posted by fenriq on Jul 26, 2006 - 21 comments

Can your lawnmower do this? MowZilla, born a garden-variety (so to speak) Craftsman mower, is now a nitrous-oxide injected, vastly overpowered engine of destruction! (Google Video link) [previous tales of lawnmower abuse: Lawnmower Racing, German style or American style]
posted by arto on Jun 8, 2006 - 25 comments

It Only Takes A Second is the name of this 1996 industrial film from Federated Mutual Insurance. Essentially 3 straight minutes of chaotic on the job accidents geared towards terrifying the customers into being more careful (and thus more profitable), it may be my favorite industrial film ever. link goes to embedded QT video
posted by jonson on Feb 21, 2006 - 64 comments

La strage nascosta (italian language) Today Rainews 24 part of RAI Television (Italian possible equivalent of PBS) broadcasted on a satellite channel a short documentary concerning the conquest of Falluja city. The documentary presents many images and allegations suggesting that U.S. army probably used White Phosphorous on the city during the offensive of 8 November 2004 with devastating consequences on civilians and insurgents. The substance is used on battlefield for purposes including production of dense smoke (M156) and also for incendiary purposes.(Warning, disturbing pictures of dead people). Direct link goes to documentary, English audio WMV link here. NSFW, extremely graphic, and very disturbing. Previous reference [1] here on Meta.
posted by elpapacito on Nov 7, 2005 - 55 comments

Bring New Orleans Back. The sparsely populate city is grasping for a means to recovery, as even today the mayor laid off half of the city work force.
posted by The Jesse Helms on Oct 5, 2005 - 29 comments

How Much Abuse Can the new iPod Nano Take?
Ars Technica digs deep and finds out just how much abuse the Nano can take (Hint: alot) before the music stops. And then performs an autopsy on it.
Warning, do not click link if the abuse of electronic items makes you queasy or sad.
posted by fenriq on Sep 16, 2005 - 26 comments

Electric power transmission and distribution explosions and fireworks for your Fourth of July weekend.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim on Jul 2, 2005 - 6 comments

Net Disaster lets you destroy your favorite websites.
posted by nathan_teske on Mar 26, 2005 - 16 comments

How will civilization end? With a bang, a crunch(last link is PDF), a splash? Are we no longer more likely to kill ourselves than being killed by "Mother Nature"? (more inside)
posted by Chunder on Mar 9, 2005 - 29 comments

Mountaintop Removal Mining. Now in High Resolution. Some amazing pictures of this mining process.
posted by grefo on Oct 1, 2004 - 8 comments

Another stadium bites the dust. Make sure to avoid the Veterans stadium, South Philly area Sunday, unless you would like to witness the destruction first hand. Next on the chopping block? (Insert desired stadium demolition). But coming new in 2004, Petco and Veterans replacement Citizens Bank Park.
posted by brent on Mar 19, 2004 - 10 comments

We're all gonna die! But how? Wired breaks down the likelihood of ten (and a half) options.
posted by Ufez Jones on Jun 25, 2003 - 18 comments

Cheer up, things could be worse. War hysteria and Republican triumphalism got you down? Contemplate the array of potential extinction-level events that Nature has seen fit to confront us with, no matter what we monkeys choose to do. What do you think? Are we approaching another evolutionary bottleneck?
posted by adamgreenfield on Nov 10, 2002 - 36 comments

The Taliban's war on art extended beyond merely blowing apart the two monumental Buddhist statues. Here's a nice little piece about a wrecking party at the Kabul Museum of Art lead by the Taliban Ministers of Information and Finance. Their acts of barbarism against women and people who failed to live up to their religious code was unspeakable, but IMHO this willful destruction of art is also worthy of condemnation. This is nothing less than the destruction of a people's culture.
posted by MAYORBOB on Nov 23, 2001 - 17 comments

How are we really any different from them if we can suggest "selective genocide" and "complete destruction and annihilation"?
posted by tranquileye on Sep 12, 2001 - 20 comments

All your cultural treasures are belong to us! At least in China it was the accidental kind of stupidity...
posted by rushmc on Mar 1, 2001 - 6 comments

Artist Demolishes Belongings Inside a defunct department store in the heart of London's shopping district, dozens of yellow bins move slowly along conveyor belts toward the mouth a gigantic blue machine. Workers in jumpsuits systematically catalogue and weigh the contents of each one. This is British artist Michael Landy's newest work: The items in the bins - coats, photographs, paintings, furniture - are all of his belongings. Over the next two weeks, everything he owns - including a red Saab - will be destroyed.
posted by Mars Saxman on Feb 10, 2001 - 37 comments

Gives a whole new poignancy to the term 'hosed'. Hearing about this sort of destruction always makes me feel like time is running out to see the world's wonders before they're gone.
posted by rory on Feb 7, 2001 - 1 comment

Now admit it. You've always wanted to do this.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Jul 25, 2000 - 5 comments

The Mostly Ruthless Destruction of the 1981 Dodge Omni is a hilarious site mentioned on the glassdog boards. A few guys systematically set out to destroy a worthless old car. I especially enjoyed the side-impact test. After tons of punishment, they eventually just beat the crap out of it and haul it off to a junkyard.
posted by mathowie on Jan 21, 2000 - 0 comments