Designer Arrested for Planting ‘False Bombs’ Inside Shopping Bags
Photo: Tmiyakawadesign.com
The illuminated "I Heart NY" shopping bags.
A publicity stunt by Brooklyn-based designer Takeshi Miyakawa for NY Design Week has resulted in his arrest on May 20th, the New York Times reports.
The 50-year-old is being held for a month-long mental evaluation after allegedly placing illuminated "I Heart NY" shopping bags containing fake bombs around New York City.
Miyakawa was reportedly caught using a ladder at 2 a.m. to attach a bag filled with suspicious wires to a lamppost near Williamsburg's McCarren Park. The arrest came after another package, found attached to a tree on Bedford Avenue, was reported to the police, prompting an evacuation of the area and a bomb squad investigation.
According to friends of the artist, the bags were intended as an artistic statement coinciding with the NY Design Week festival, adding that the "I Heart NY" logo was "going to be lit up."
“He wanted to promote a positive message,” friend Louis Lim tells the Times. “He wasn’t trying to scare anyone."
In the meantime, the Japan-born Miyakawa will no longer be able to participate in NY Design Week, and is filing for emergency relief to secure his release after being charged with reckless endangerment and planting a "false bomb or hazardous substance."
