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Tate Modern's mysterious crack closes
Elizabeth Hopkirk, Evening Standard11.04.08
The crack at Tate Modern is being filled in. After six months and 15 injuries, the art installation running the length of the Turbine Hall will soon be gone.
Shibboleth, created by Colombian artist Doris Salcedo to symbolise fractures in society, attracted two million visitors before it closed on Sunday.
Children delighted in jumping over the 167ft crack, which started as a hairline fissure and in places became three feet deep and several inches wide.
Within hours of its opening in October, two women had tripped over despite warning signs. More casualties followed but safety barriers were ruled out. Four accidents were reported to the Health and Safety Executive.
The Tate today remained as tight-lipped about the removal process as it was about how the crack was created, when a spokeswoman said Salcedo had "opened up the floor" and inserted a concrete cast of a Colombian rockface.
