Call it the forerunner of the demolition derby. One hundred and ten years ago, tens of thousands of people gathered to witness the collision between two late-model steam-powered locomotives in Crush, an east Texas town specially established for the event. While it was conceived by one William George Crush as a promotional stunt for his employer, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company, people interpreted it as a clash between any number of dualities: progress and destruction, past and future, technology and money, even North and South. It’s those kinds of opposing forces, as well as the “Crash at Crush” itself (a heartland legend), that serve as inspiration for the latest installation by Minnesota artist Chris Larson, whose last local exhibit involved a space rocket smashed into a structure described as Ted Kaczynski’s cabin. 612-870-3200; www.artsmia.org
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