Construction with Balloons (Balloonframe)
This project is about deriving a pure visual pleasure from wind in much the same way skiing or surfing work: by attempting form through gentle, well timed meta-resistance. Form itself is the ever changing result of forces and reactions balanced in dynamic stability: eddy in a stream.
The site-specific art installation comprised 1.5 km length (.75 m wide) of sheer fabric, 2.5 km polyester cable, 16 balloons and a Soviet made anti-aircraft aerostat (appr 46 cb.m.), legacy of the Cold War. It was installed on the Ariana lake in downtown Sofia in May, 1993, on the occasion of SS Cyril and Methodius holiday. The structure was defined by tensile forces activated by helium in opposition to gravity. Its dead weight, the aerostatic force and the wind entered in a balanced relationship unsettled by each air current.
The design height oscillated between 60 and 80 meters. The catenaries of the principal rigging shifted shape, displaying constantly a deep range within the domain of that function. For three days Construction with Balloons defined one of the main festival spaces in the holiday celebration.
