What do an immense sleeping Buddha; 50,000 nickels; and a crashing plane have in common? They can all be found it the new exhibit Attempt to Raise Hell at the downtown venue of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Housed in the museum’s Jacobs Building—the old baggage building of the Santa Fe train depot—this exhibition features large scale artworks acquired by the museum during the twenty-five year tenure of its venerable director, Hugh M. Davies, who also curated it.

The Jacobs Building was refurbished to showcase big things that need extra space, and this exhibit shows-off the artworks and the building exceptionally well. The two-story high interior makes it possible to comfortably display large artworks, which in tighter quarters would make them appear overbearing. The exhibition features more than twelve large-scale, rarely seen sculptures and installations from the museum’s permanent collection.

The exhibition borrows its title from a sculpture included in the exhibition by sculptor Dennis Oppenheim. His “Attempt to Raise Hell” (1974–85) consists of a figure wearing a brown felt suit that periodically whacks its metal head against a bell. Because of its infrequency, the brutal clang that it causes startles visitors when first overheard.

A work that looks good in the Jacobs setting is Chris Burden’s 1979 installation made from 50,000 nickels placed on the floor, each with a single matchstick on top. On a wall behind the nickels in vinyl letting reads, “The Reason for the Neutron Bomb”—the artwork’s title. As one views the installation, know that every time this artwork is displayed a small army of workers has to individually hand place each individual nickel into position within an immense grid, and then place and align a single matchstick on top of each one. The work was conceived during the Jimmy Carter administration as the nation debated manufacturing a nuclear weapon that emitted lethal doses of radiation that would dissipate rapidly without damaging infrastructure. At that time, 50,000 Soviet tanks were potentially posed to strike Western Europe. Here each nickel represents one of those Soviet tanks.

Vito Acconci’s “Instant House” (1980) is another artwork based on a Cold War concept. A trapeze-like swing is suspended in the center of four large American flags lying on the floor. In three of the flags rectangles have been cut out. When someone sits on the swing’s seat the four flags become upright to reveal four Soviet flags making up exterior walls of a house complete with a door and windows. Even though we are no longer surrounded by the old Soviet Union anymore, one still needs to stand in line to sit in the swing’s seat because everyone wants to cause the raising of the flag walls.

Another work by Mr. Acconci is “Maquette for ‘Spanish Landing’ San Diego” (1987). It is a model of a proposed park with a requisite boring sailboat and jet theme set for San Diego Bay near the airport. It is essentially a tree lined area filled with cement hulled sailing dinghies set into the ground. There is also a sand box, pond, and pile of stones, which are each in the shape of a jet silhouette. It is the addition of a full size silver passenger jet emerging from the ground with a broken-off wing that makes one think “Danger, Will Robinson!” due to the perpetual jet crashes we keep having in San Diego.

Another airplane is featured in Charles Gaines’s “Airplane Crash Clock” (1997/2007). The artwork is made of many models of architecturally significant buildings in the United States by renowned architects such as Louis Sullivan, I.M. Pei, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, et al. High above models such as New York’s Chrysler Building, AT&T/Sony Tower, and Lever House; and Chicago’s Auditorium Building and John Hancock Tower mounted on a pole is a model airplane. Every 7.5 minutes it begins to slowly descend. Half way down its flight path, recordings of people yelling are played as it continues downward until the small plane disappears under a trapdoor, which flips over to reveal model plane wreckage with tiny fire trucks. In a post 9/11 world the overall sculpture could be perceived as being in poor taste, but architecture mavens will enjoy identifying all the models of the famous buildings.

Also in the exhibition is a rarely seen 1990 work by Ann Hamilton, a 1993 MacArthur Fellow, entitled “linings.” It has four roofless walls that are lined with white felt blankets, which looks like a big walk-in freezer. The inside is completely lined with water stained hand written Whitman poetry in blue ball-point pen ink. The glass covered floor reveals a lining of straw. At the far wall is a black and white video monitor displaying a close-up of a mouth filling and then expelling water. Outside is a four-foot pile of white felt boot liners. It is semantically well thought out, meticulous, and charming.

Lewis de Soto’s 27-foot long inflated nylon Buddha lies casually in a corner. It is inflated every morning and then allowed to slowly deflate throughout the day. Other artworks are included such as Russell Crotty’s huge hanging ball that is entirely covered with a drawing depicting part of the Perseus Nebula and James Drake's super-sized charcoal drawing of an eagle battling a scorpion are also featured in the exhibition. In conjunction with this exhibit, San Diego artist Jim Skalman has also created a large-scale installation of an entire miniature forest in part of the building.

What do all these works have in common? Just their grand scale, but there is something for everyone to wonder about in this exhibition.