"Dreamspace" Artist Charged with Manslaughter

LONDON—Maurice Agis, the artist who created an inflatable sculpture that killed two people after an exhibition went awry in 2006, was charged with manslaughter yesterday, the Times (London) reports. Agis's Dreamspace, a giant walk-in artwork that visitors likened to a "psychedelic cathedral" had toured Europe for a decade before the artwork broke free of its moorings, reared 70 feet in the air, and flipped over at Riverside Park in Durham. Two women were killed, and 13 people were injured, including a 3-year-old girl who fell 50 feet. Agis was charged with with gross negligence manslaughter after a 19-month investigation by the Health and Safety Executive and Durham police. Brouhaha International Limited, a Liverpool-based promotions company, was charged with breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act, as was Chester-le Street District Council. Tony Galloway, the council's director of development services, was charged with a separate breach of the act. Dreamspace had received £60,000 from the Arts Council for a U.K. tour, and was slated to make its next stop at Victoria Park in East London.