American Hummer Turns Eco-friendly

If you’ve ever wondered what might happen to cars when gasoline runs out, take a look at this. An artist in the United States has pulled apart a Hummer car and turned it into a horse-driven cart.

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New York-based artist Jeremy Dean defines the term horsepower in his latest work, involving the dismantling of a Hummer H2 and transformation to a horse drawn carriage.

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[Jeremy Dean, Artist]:
"We did for way too long and that resulted of course in the financial meltdown and corporations too big to fail, an obesity problem. Everything across the board got bigger and bigger and bigger. For me the culmination of that was the hummer. It represents to me consumerism at its peak."

The artist spent about US$20,000 and took a year to reconstruct this Hummer. The result is a green vehicle that pulls out all the stops. The car features chrome rims, five televisions and a booming audio system that all runs on battery.

The "Back to the Futurama" video plays on the television screens in and outside the cart. Set to a video from hip hop artist Ludacris, Dean uses small scale models and time-lapse photography to create a different effect.

Dean says this the ultimate multimedia project.

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Reconstructing the car only took a few weeks. A garage in Florida supplied him with the space and tools he needed. After deconstructing the Hummer H2, he reused almost all the car parts, giving the hood new life as a base for the carriage-driver's seats and readjusting the upfront and interior seating.

"Back to the Futurama" has only been out in public once, as it has been difficult to attain the proper permit for street use. But the work was featured in a recent New York art exhibition and Dean has support from Creative Thriftshop, a Brooklyn-based art organization.

The project has found a permanent home in a Kentucky museum, but this isn't the last statement Dean will make. He already has plans to reconstruct a Cadillac Escalade in chrome.