Thread: Human Cannonball To Be Fired Across U.S.-Mexico Border

Here's a new way for getting across the border.

www.10news.com




Human Cannonball To Be Fired Across U.S.-Mexico Border

POSTED: 12:49 pm PDT August 27, 2005
UPDATED: 12:51 pm PDT August 27, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- David Smith Sr. holds a world record for the longest distance traveled by a human fired from a cannon. On Saturday, he plans to add to his list of cannonball coups by shooting across the U.S-Mexico border.

The feat is the brainchild of Venezuelan artist Javier Tellez and is part of a series of public art projects in the two border cities.

Smith will be shot from a popular beach in Tijuana, Mexico, over a rusty, corrugated metal fence into Border Field State Park in San Diego.

David Smith Jr., also an accomplished human cannonball, said his father will be the first person to fly across an international border from a cannon.

Tellez organized the cannonball launch with psychiatric patients at the Baja California Mental Health Center in Mexicali, Mexico as a therapeutic project . The event is part of an art series that begins Saturday and will run through the fall, sponsored by inSite05, a binational arts partnership in the San Diego-Tijuana region.

Tellez said in a statement he was inspired by circus performers to explore "the notion of spatial and mental borders in the context of Tijuana and San Diego.

Tellez, 36, and Smith Sr. worked closely on the backdrop, music, costumes and advertising for the project, "One Flew Over the Void." Tellez plans a documentary film about it.

Although it is against the law for anyone, including U.S. citizens, to enter the country outside an official port of entry, Smith Sr. won't be crossing illegally. U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar made an exception for him, said Border Patrol spokesman Kurstan Rosberg.

Smith Jr., 28, said the family insisted on U.S. government approval.

"I had to have some kind of official OK high enough up to make sure he doesn't land in the U.S. and go to a federal penitentiary," he said.

Smith Sr., of Half Way, Mo., is listed in Guinness World Records for record distance for a human fired from a cannon. He flew 185 feet, 10 inches on May 29, 1998 in West Mifflin, Penn.

The Smith family has five cannonballs: father, son, two daughters and a cousin. Smith Sr. built seven cannons designed to fire humans, and his family operates five of them, traveling around the world to perform at events including parades and concerts, his son said.

"If one of the girls has a baby, they can't be a cannonball during that time," said Smith Jr. He said he has been clocked at 50 mph in little more than one-fifth of a second after takeoff and was scheduled Saturday to shoot out of a cannon in Toronto.

Tellez organized the cannonball launch with psychiatric patients

Ahhh, now I see where he got the idea.

like they say theres one born every min.

Click to Watch Video


http://www.mercurynews.com

Posted on Sat, Aug. 27, 2005



Human cannonball to be fired across U.S.-Mexico border

ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press

SAN DIEGO - David Smith Sr. holds a world record for the longest distance traveled by a human fired from a cannon. On Saturday, he plans to add to his list of cannonball coups by shooting across the U.S-Mexico border.

The feat is the brainchild of Venezuelan artist Javier Tellez and is part of a series of public art projects in the two border cities.

Smith will be shot from a popular beach in Tijuana, Mexico, over a rusty, corrugated metal fence into Border Field State Park in San Diego.

David Smith Jr., also an accomplished human cannonball, said his father will be the first person to fly across an international border from a cannon.

Tellez organized the cannonball launch with psychiatric patients at the Baja California Mental Health Center in Mexicali, Mexico as a therapeutic project . The event is part of an art series that begins Saturday and will run through the fall, sponsored by inSite05, a binational arts partnership in the San Diego-Tijuana region.

Tellez said in a statement he was inspired by circus performers to explore "the notion of spatial and mental borders in the context of Tijuana and San Diego.

Tellez, 36, and Smith Sr. worked closely on the backdrop, music, costumes and advertising for the project, "One Flew Over the Void." Tellez plans a documentary film about it.

Although it is against the law for anyone, including U.S. citizens, to enter the country outside an official port of entry, Smith Sr. won't be crossing illegally. U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar made an exception for him, said Border Patrol spokesman Kurstan Rosberg.

Smith Jr., 28, said the family insisted on U.S. government approval.

"I had to have some kind of official OK high enough up to make sure he doesn't land in the U.S. and go to a federal penitentiary," he said.

Smith Sr., of Half Way, Mo., is listed in Guinness World Records for record distance for a human fired from a cannon. He flew 185 feet, 10 inches on May 29, 1998 in West Mifflin, Penn.

The Smith family has five cannonballs: father, son, two daughters and a cousin. Smith Sr. built seven cannons designed to fire humans, and his family operates five of them, traveling around the world to perform at events including parades and concerts, his son said.

"If one of the girls has a baby, they can't be a cannonball during that time," said Smith Jr. He said he has been clocked at 50 mph in little more than one-fifth of a second after takeoff and was scheduled Saturday to shoot out of a cannon in Toronto.




http://www.nbcsandiego.com/imagegallery ... etail.html


Human Cannonball To Be Fired Over U.S./Mexican Border
Artist Expects 2,000 To Watch Performance

POSTED: 11:23 am PDT August 25, 2005
UPDATED: 12:09 pm PDT August 25, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- An artist is preparing to launch a human cannonball across the U.S./Mexico border from Tijuana in a dramatic display of performance art.


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Javier Téllez told NBC 7/39 that his goal with One Flew Over the Void is to create a powerful political message about open borders.

During the performance on the beach in Tijuana, American Dave Smith will be shot out of a cannon while dozens of psychiatric patients from a Baja Institution perform.

Téllez, a U.S. immigrant, said that his inspiration for the project came from watching people waiting desperately to cross into the United States.

"My work as an artist is to create bridges -- connection between two different sides -- and get rid of the walls," said Téllez.

The other element of Téllez's display involves 35 mental patients from Mexicali, who will be dressed in circus costumes and performing on the beach alongside the human cannonball.

"I always think these people are excluded, you know, from society," said Téllez. "My work as an artist is to include them again."

One Flew Over the Void kicks off a network of contemporary art programs throughout San Diego and Tijuana. Some members of the art community -- including Derrick Cartwright, who is the executive director of the San Diego Museum of Art -- think that sending a man soaring over the border fence is a serious artistic expression, one that will undoubtedly attract attention and create discussion.

"It suggests crossings are taking place all the time with some risk, with some theatricality," said Cartwright. "Whether that's how the public is going to receive it -- we won't know for sure until we actually show up."

The performance has been approved by the U.S. Border patrol.

Téllez, who knows his art is controversial, said he has been working on the project for two years. He is expecting about 2,000 people be on hand for One Flew Over the Void on Saturday afternoon.