New York City’s Museum of Modern Art has an impressive mix of objects in its architecture and design collection—including a prototype of a wind-powered destroyer of land mines! Yep, you read that right. Last year, the institution acquired Mine Kafon, designed by Massoud Hassani, a native of Afghanistan. The mobile sphere, which miraculously sniffs out and sets off hidden land mines, will be on view this spring at MoMA, according to ArtInfo. In the meantime, why not support the production of this amazing, life-saving device? Hassani is currently raising money via Kickstarter, and with only nine days to go, he’s less than $20,000 away from his $161,000 goal. Click through to learn more!

Mine Kafon | Callum Cooper from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Inspired by homemade toys used to race around windy deserts, Hassani created a device that is light enough to be blown around yet heavy enough to trigger buried mines. The contraption, made of biodegradable plastic and bamboo, is equipped with a GPS chip that allows users to track its movement and activity on a website. Hassani says during detonation, the device may lose one or two legs; each device should be able to destroy up to four land mines.

The prototype has garnered its fair share of attention, having been exhibited at Milan Design Week and Dutch Design Week. It was also the subject of a short film directed by Callum Cooper. The documentary is currently a finalist for the $200,000 FOCUS FORWARD Filmmaker Competition; a winner will be announced this month at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

To donate to Mine Kafon’s Kickstarter campaign—and to help save lives!—click here.

Images courtesy of Mine Kafon Blogspot

by Ashley Wells

posted in civic duty disaster Money Shot Uncategorized

tagged afghanistan, documentary, filmmaker, Focus Foward, kickstarter, land mines, landmines, saving lives

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