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Destroyed Apple products as art (photos)

Provocative photo exhibit shows giant pics of mutilated Apple gadgets as a statement on consumers' attachment to their toys.

Leslie Katz
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
Leslie Katz
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1 of 11 Michael Tompert and Paul Fairchild

Targeting

Michael Tompert, a San Francisco-area digital imaging and CGI artist, bought a series of brand-new Apple gadgets with the express intent of destroying them and photographing the results as a statement on "our relationship with fetish, fashion, freedom, and bondage."

One of the giant prints, "Targeting," shows a 2009 iPhone 3G that's been shot with a Heckler & Koch handgun.

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2 of 11 Michael Tompert and Paul Fairchild

Breathe

This 2008 MacBook Air, pictured in "Breathe," was also shot with a Heckler & Koch handgun. It's one of the prints on display at the WhiteSpace Gallery in Palo Alto, Calif., not far from Apple's headquarters in Cupertino.
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3 of 11 Michael Tompert and Paul Fairchild

Closeup on "Breathe"

A closeup of the damage on the MacBook Air. Tompert's friend, Paul Fairchild, photographed the damaged gadgets and made the pictures into giant high-resolution digital prints.
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4 of 11 Michael Tompert and Paul Fairchild

Liquid Crystals

A MacBook got the sledgehammer and torch treatment. The result: "Liquid Crystals," which measures 38x48 inches.
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5 of 11 Michael Tompert and Paul Fairchild

12LVE

This is what an iPhone 4 looks like after getting smashed with an 8-pound sledgehammer. Though some might assume that Tompert's an Apple hater, he used to be part of the company's graphic design team and calls himself an Apple fan from the early days. 12LVE, he says, is meant as a statement on consumer culture.
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6 of 11 Michael Tompert and Paul Fairchild

You're So 2008&L8

Ouch. The 2008 iPhone 3G pictured in "You're So 2000&L8" has definitely been through it.

Tompert got the idea for the project after seeing his two sons fight over a game on an iPod Touch he gave them for Christmas. Tired of their squabbling and wanting to make the point that the gadget was just that--a gadget--he grabbed the device and threw it to the ground. The screen broke, liquid oozed out, and the mangled device looked surprisingly cool.

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7 of 11 Michael Tompert and Paul Fairchild

Book Burning

The iPad pictured in "Book Burning" had a date with a sledgehammer and a soldering torch. Each gadget "had to be a brand-new product," Tompert said. "It's not about destroying old products. It's about our relationship with the new."
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8 of 11 Michael Tompert and Paul Fairchild

Honor Killing

The aftermath of a bullet through the back of a white iPhone.
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9 of 11 Michael Tompert and Paul Fairchild

Caltrain Fatalities: Left Track/Right Track

"Caltrain Fatalities: Left Track/Right Track." When a train ran over a bunch of 8GB iPod Nanos, it left behind a vibrant rainbow of destruction.
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10 of 11 Michael Tompert and Paul Fairchild

"Caltrain Fatalities" detail

A detail from "Caltrain Fatalities: Left Track/Right Track" shows a shock of color.
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11 of 11 Michael Tompert and Paul Fairchild

Exhibit in Palo Alto

After having been exhibited briefly in San Francisco, 12LVE is currently on display at the WhiteSpace Gallery in Palo Alto, Calif., in Silicon Valley.

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