London’s fishy fireball and festering fatberg

Abstract

Fishy fireball Curators of two London museums are thinking twice about showing off rotten exhibits after one exploded and another started sweating and hatching flies. The Hayward Gallery’s decision to exhibit “Majestic Splendor,” an art installation by Korean artist Lee Bul featuring rotting fish in sealed, clear plastic bags, backfired dramatically a month ago when the installation exploded into a fishy fireball. The gallery sustained some fire damage, and a security guard required treatment for smoke inhalation. “Majestic Splendor” comprises dozens of bags containing sequin-adorned rotting fish, which Bul says represents her perception of the ephemeral nature of beauty for highly ornamented women. The challenge with putting such an exhibit together is that a stench of rotting fish can emanate from the bags. Bul’s solution to avoid causing a stink was to load the bags with potassium permanganate, a workhorse in the world of odor reduction, which reacts with stinky