what does "That’s the charge against one of the star exhibits,"mean?
That’s the charge against one of the star exhibits, Mine Kafon, an instrument designed to float across fields and detonate buried land mines. Created by Massoud Hassani, an Afghan, as a student project at Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Mine Kafon would seem above reproach: it’s made inexpensively of recycled materials; it’s powered by a renewable energy source, the wind; it promises to save lives; it can be easily repaired when damaged; and with its resemblance to a fluffy dandelion, it’s a visual poem. Sitting in the corner of an exhibition space, it commands serious attention, even without the accompanying video that shows it in action.

Original link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/garden/applied-design-opens-at-moma.html问题补充:I don't get the meaning of "star exhibit"

Question

what does "That’s the charge against one of the star exhibits,"mean?
That’s the charge against one of the star exhibits, Mine Kafon, an instrument designed to float across fields and detonate buried land mines. Created by Massoud Hassani, an Afghan, as a student project at Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Mine Kafon would seem above reproach: it’s made inexpensively of recycled materials; it’s powered by a renewable energy source, the wind; it promises to save lives; it can be easily repaired when damaged; and with its resemblance to a fluffy dandelion, it’s a visual poem. Sitting in the corner of an exhibition space, it commands serious attention, even without the accompanying video that shows it in action.

Original link: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/garden/applied-design-opens-at-moma.html问题补充:I don't get the meaning of "star exhibit"

Answer

In the article, there is a critic who is concerned about products that sound good but have a fatal flaw.  That critic is accusing this product of not being practical in the real world.  He thinks the mine sweeper won't work because it moves wherever the wind pushes it.

So that is his "charge" against this product.  In this case charge means he is accusing the product of not working.

Answer

The paragraph before read:
And what if those seductions lead not to the future but to a dead end of artistic self-indulgence? The kind of object that looks better on paper (or in a museum setting) than in practice?

That's the charge....

What it is saying is that some people are using the above criticism (it looks good, but doesn't function well) about the device (a mine detector) the  "star exhibit" - a major attraction that people want to see.

Answers · 2

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