Defying Gravity celebrates the Wright
brothers’ bicentennial
CHRISTY
KIMBALL
News Editor
The North Carolina
Museum of Art is featuring
Defying Gravity:
Contemporary Art and
Flight, an exhibition to
commemorate the centenni
al of the first powered
flight by the Wright
Brothers in 1903. The
museum has spent five
years accumulating 91
works that showcase differ-
ent perspectives of flight
through a variety of media
including sculpture, paint
ing, installations, photogra
phy, video and film. Some
of the pieces on display
such as Ralph Hebnick and
Stuart Schechter's Rabble,
are part of the museum's
peimanent collection.
Rabble was commis
sioned by the art museum
for the
flight
motif. It is
composed
of approx
imately
1400
Mylar
butter
flies.
They are
suspended
from the
ceiling in
the shape
of a mod
em fighter
plane.
There are
small
electrical
currents
passing
into each
butterfly
to facili
tate small
Flying L^on, by Robert and Shana
Photo courtesy of N.C. MuseumofArt
movement,
giving the
effect that a
draft is respon
sible. Another
imique feature
of this piece is
some butter
flies have the
feces of influ
ential figures
in the histoiy
of flight.
Figures
include but are
not limited to;
Osama bin
laden, Charles
Lindbergh,
Amelia
Earhart and
Civille and
Wilbur Wright.
A particular
security guard
will point each
out with his
flashlight if he happens to
be aroimd.
Another piece of particu
lar interest is Michael
Richards's Tar Baby vs. St.
Sebastian. The piece is a
cast of his body in a flight
suit witii small planes fly
ing into him. Richards had
a studio space on the nine-
ty-second floor of the
World Trade Center and
unfortunately was working
on September 11, 2001
when the planes hit. This
piece is eerily prophetic.
A seemingly less con
ventional approach to the
portrayal of flight, are the
works of Panamarenko. He
has four gadgets in the
exhibition. Encarsia-
Formosa is a coin-operated
machine that is supposed to
beat its wings when a coin
is dropped in.
See Art on Page 2
Study shows national health insurance could save
$286 billion on health care paperwork
Physicians for a National
Health Program
Press Release
Authors Say Medicare
Drug Bill will increase
bureaucratic costs,
reward insurers and
theAARP.
A study by researchers
at Harvard Medical School
and Public Citizen to be
published in Wednesday's
International Journal of
Health Services finds that
health care bureaucracy last
year cost the United States
$399.4 billion. The study
estimates that national
health insurance (NHl)
could save at least $286
billion annually on paper
work, enough to cover all
of the uninsured and to pro
vide full prescription drug
coverage for everyone in
the United States.
The study was based on
the most comprehensive
analysis to date of health
administration spending,
including data on the
administrative costs of
health insurers, employers'
health benefit programs,
hospitals, nursing homes.
home care agencies, physi
cians and other practition
ers in the United States and
Canada. The authors found
that bureaucracy accoxmts
for at least 31 percent of
total U.S. health spending
compared to 16.7 percent
in Canada. They also found
that administration has
grown far faster in the
United States than in
Canada.
The potential administra
tive savings of $286 billion
annually under national
health insurance could:
1- Offset the cost of cover
ing the uninsured (estimat
ed at $80 billion)
2- Cover all out-of-pocket
prescription drugs costs for
seniors as well as those
under 65 (estimated at $53
billion in 2003)
3- Fund retraining and job
placement programs for
insurance workers and oth
ers who would lose their
jobs under NHl (estimated
at $20 billion)
4- Make substantial
improvements in coverage
and quality of care for U.S.
consumers who already
have insurance
Looked at another way,
the potential administrative
savings are equivalent to
$6,940 for each of the 41.2
million people uninsured in
2001 (the most recent fig
ure available for the unin-
swed at the time study was
carried out), more than
enough to pay for health
coverage. The study found
wide variation among states
in the potential administra
tive savings available per
uninsured resident.
See Health on Page 3