Davagator
10-25-2005, 01:31 PM
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) -- A Chinese performance artist appeared in city court Monday for wading naked into the rapids above Niagara Falls as part of a stunt that went wrong.
He Yun Chang, 38, of Beijing was charged with disorderly conduct and exposing himself in public, both violations, after being arrested by Niagara Park Police Saturday afternoon.
He was ordered to return to court Nov. 4.
Police said the man stripped off his clothes and waded to within 40 to 50 yards of the brink of the falls. He tried anchoring himself with a rope to an unknown object, intending to stay in the water for 24 hours, but the knot came loose and so he began making his way back to shore.
A tourist, concerned the man was attempting suicide, called park police, who took him out of the water.
Two University at Buffalo students who were filming the stunt also were charged with disorderly conduct.
Chang, who on Friday sat naked in a Plexiglas box full of wet concrete in front of a Buffalo art gallery as part of another stunt, is in the United States (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/unitedstates/index.html?inline=nyt-geo) for a University at Buffalo exhibit called ''The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art.''
He Yun Chang, 38, of Beijing was charged with disorderly conduct and exposing himself in public, both violations, after being arrested by Niagara Park Police Saturday afternoon.
He was ordered to return to court Nov. 4.
Police said the man stripped off his clothes and waded to within 40 to 50 yards of the brink of the falls. He tried anchoring himself with a rope to an unknown object, intending to stay in the water for 24 hours, but the knot came loose and so he began making his way back to shore.
A tourist, concerned the man was attempting suicide, called park police, who took him out of the water.
Two University at Buffalo students who were filming the stunt also were charged with disorderly conduct.
Chang, who on Friday sat naked in a Plexiglas box full of wet concrete in front of a Buffalo art gallery as part of another stunt, is in the United States (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/unitedstates/index.html?inline=nyt-geo) for a University at Buffalo exhibit called ''The Wall: Reshaping Contemporary Chinese Art.''