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# The Propeller Group’s ‘A Universe of Collisions,’ the Final Show at Grand Arts, Opens August 7
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-propeller-groups-a-universe-of-collisions-the-final-show-at-grand-arts-opens-august-7/
- Published: 2015-07-27T17:01:25.000Z
- Updated: 2025-12-09T17:19:30.000Z
- Author: Sponsors
- Tags: Announcement, Exhibition Announcement, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:08 (2014, 2015, part 2)

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/07/sponsored-post-hyperallergic.jpg)](http://engine.nectarads.com/r?e=eyJhdiI6ODg1NTQsImF0IjoyMCwiYnQiOjAsImNtIjoyNzgwNzgsImNoIjoxOTMwLCJjciI6OTU3NDIyLCJkbSI6NCwiZmMiOjEwMDc1OTAsImZsIjo2OTAxOTgsImlwIjoiNTQuOTEuNDIuMTg1IiwibnciOjIwNywicGMiOjAsInByIjoxNjY2LCJydCI6MSwic3QiOjAsImJmIjp0cnVlLCJwbiI6ImF6a3ByZXZpZXciLCJ1ciI6Imh0dHA6Ly93d3cuZ3JhbmRhcnRzLmNvbS8iLCJyZSI6MX0&s=grYIJNejMMut9Qq5rHPXu-rjzkU&ref=hyperallergic.com)

The Propeller Group faced impossibly long odds from the outset of *A Universe of Collisions.* Inspired by a rare artifact from the American Civil War — opposing bullets, conjoined mid-air — the Vietnam-based collective encountered immense tactical challenges in trying to replicate it.

At the same time, the group was navigating an unfamiliar network of weapons enthusiasts; an elaborate permissions process involving the US Department of State; and a ticking clock on the tenure of Grand Arts, the project space that commissioned and produced *A Universe of Collisions*, which was preparing to close its doors for good.

At Chesapeake Testing, a ballistics research lab in northeast Maryland, The Propeller Group eventually succeeded in re-creating conditions for the unlikely collision. The artists re-imagined the artifact’s narrative, too, using a Soviet-designed AK-47 and an American-made M-16 to place it within the Cold War instead.

The poetics, meanwhile, remained the same: Enemy soldiers with lethal motives, collaborating by accident to make a single, extraordinary object.

After three years of development, the work saw its international debut in May 2015, chosen by artistic director Okwui Enwezor for *All the World’s Futures*, the central exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Gregory Volk, the curator and critic for *Art In America*, described the installation as “frightening and spectacular.”

*A Universe of Collisions* now marks the final exhibition of Grand Arts. The show opens on August 7 and remains on view through September 4, 2015.

For more information, visit [grandarts.com](https://grandarts.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com).