Cave Art

Via Glenn Reynolds, I learned about a secret apartment which was built in a shopping mall.

“Installation art,” the artists called it.

The man built the apartment with the help of seven other artists, and various people have lived in it over the past few years for up to three weeks at a time. The artist’s website about the project offers both an explanation of the “installation,” and a couple of long-winded apologies that sound suspiciously court-ordered—or to help him avoid getting the crap beat out of him the next time he’s pulled over for speeding, and includes this “thank you”…

Then I learned that the same thing was happening at the EPA. Except instead of calling it “installation art,” they’re calling them “Secret Man Caves”:

Secret Man Caves Found in EPA Warehouse

A warehouse maintained by contractors for the Environmental Protection Agency contained secret rooms full of exercise equipment, televisions and couches, according to an internal audit.

EPA’s inspector general found contractors used partitions, screens and piled up boxes to hide the rooms from security cameras in the 70,000 square-foot building located in Landover, Md. The warehouse — used for inventory storage — is owned by the General Services Administration and leased to the EPA for about $750,000 per year.

The EPA has issued a stop work order to Apex Logistics LLC, the responsible contractor, ensuring the company’s workers no longer have access to the site — EPA security officials escorted contractor personnel off the premises on May 17 — and ending all payments on the contract.

Since awarding the contract in May 2007, EPA has paid Apex Logistics about $5.3 million, most of which went to labor costs. Conditions at the facility “raise questions about time charges made by warehouse employees under the contract,” the report said.

“The warehouse contained multiple unauthorized and hidden personal spaces created by and for the workers that included televisions, refrigerators, radios, microwaves, chairs and couches,” the IG report said. “These spaces contained personal items, including photos, pin ups, calendars, clothing, books, magazines and videos.”

As to how you tell the difference between secret man caves and installation art, I’m stumped.