Fundraiser Featuring Food Trucks, Music, Art Aims to Save Chain Reaction

The Bergamot Station Arts Center will come alive this month with food trucks, music and art as part of an effort to save Santa Monica's anti-nuclear sculpture, "Chain Reaction."

The event to save "Chain Reaction" is set for 5 to 8 p.m. Aug. 18 at the Beramot Station Arts Center. 

A Facebook page, Save Chain Reaction, had 357 "likes" as of Sunday night. A petition on Change.org had 232 signatures as of Sunday. Fundraising efforts have been ongoing.

The debate about whether to keep the mushroom cloud sculpture in the city's public art collection erupted after a preliminary report released early last year found the piece had corroded and could topple in an earthquake or sever windstorm. City officials have argued they couldn't justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to preserve the work.

In January, the Santa Monica Landmarks Commission recognized the 26-foot tall mushroom cloud named "Chain Reaction" has become recognized as an iconic work of art that makes an "important statement" about activism and progressive politics in Santa Monica.

The sculptor, Paul Conrad, was best known for his Pulitzer-prize winning political cartoons in the Los Angeles Times. Conrad, who died in 2010, served in World War II and won Pulitzers in 1964, 1971 and 1984 for his "fiercely confrontational" political cartoons.

If the statue is ultimately removed from Santa Monica's public art collection, it would be offered first to Conrad’s family.

Learn more about the free event at www.savechainreaction.com.