99 RedBalloons: Be Careful Who Sees You When You Dream.
Jenny Marketou, 2005
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Jenny Marketou,"99 Red Balloons: Be Careful Who Sees You When You Dream", 2005. |
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The installation is site specific for the 20th Century gallery ,commissioned for the exhibition Balance and Power :Performance and Surveillance in Video Art curated by Michael Rush for Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, Champaign, Illinois, 2005.
The airborne installation features live video, four video screens, wireless media , 18 red helium weather balloons and eighteen red MOGU bean bags.
The aim of the artist is to shield the deep darkness of surveillance with aesthetic playfulness .The red helium balloons installation is inspired by the German pop singer Nena from the early 80's. In her song the "99 Red Balloons" a catastrophic war erupts when army generals send planes to intercept a mass of unidentified objects(balloons). For Marketou the installation also refers to pre aviation "reconnaissance balloons" such those used in the American Civil War.
Marketou placed hidden small wireless surveillance video cameras especially designed for the project in the red helium balloons which float in the gallery. The installation lures the visitors in enforceable encounters as they offer themselves as the watched subjects. Movements of visitors through the balloons is recorded as ephemera, traces, forms and patterns are broadcasted live in the four video screens set up on the floor of the gallery.
Many Thanks to
Installation Team:
Rose Marshack, Eric Lemme, Mandy Cook
Volunteers:
Laura Collins, Erin Donovan, Karin Hodjin Jones, Greg Hinchman, Jordana Moore
Inkind support:
MOGU, New York City and Eyebeam Production Studios, New York City.
>> Click to view Flying Spy Potatoes: Mission 21 st Street, NYC 2005