It took Benjamin Klapper over a month to build his sculpture made up of 63,000 beer coasters. It was the German artist's attempt to break a Guinness World Record.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Klapper began building the structure at the Rhein-Center shopping mall in Cologne, Germany. While spectators admired the 49-year-old's creation, one girl brought the tower tumbling down in seconds. Those who witnessed the collapse gasped in disbelief.
Of course, the video of the incident has now gone viral. We have the details below.
It Took Klapper Over 120 Hours To Build the Beer Coaster Tower
Klapper has been building beer coaster structures for over three decades. It began as a hobby when he was a child. They eventually became larger and larger over the years.
This latest project by the artist, who also runs a media company, was titled "Inside." It was meant to challenge fellow German Sven Goebel's current record. In 2004, he built a 9-and-a-half-foot tower from a whopping 70,000 beer coasters.
"In total, I spent about 120 hours constructing the sculpture," said Klapper, as reported by Fox News.
The artist said that he loves building his unique structures in public.
"Viewers aren't only presented with a finished work of art, they can witness the creation process as well," he said.
However, Not Everything Is as It Seems
As the video has made the rounds online, many viewers have had varied reactions. Some believe it is AI-generated, while others have been empathetic toward seeing Klapper's hard work come down.
While the clip was not generated by artificial intelligence, the collapse was not as it initially appeared.
Klapper shared that his creation had already partially collapsed before it could be completed. This prevented him from qualifying for the Guinness World Record.
So he asked visitors if they wanted to interact with the structure. The girl took it down on her first attempt, pulling out a coaster lying in a horizontal position.
"Each person took a turn removing a beer mat from the structure until it fell," Klapper said. "The winner was the daughter of one of my helpers."
Well, that's a relief. Now someone has to get that nice, young girl out from under those coasters.
