bolha

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Plastic and air
Total dimension: 13,00 m x 6,00m x 2,50m (experiment in a swimming pool)

Making visible an invisible operation: the idea of this intervention departs from the presupposition that the swimming pool, when empty of water is full of air. This air (the content) was put in a »capsule« and by filling the swimming pool with water, this previous content was, little by little, expelled from that space.

As in the other story(The Last Day), this is also about a kind of relation we sometimes have with something totally unexpected. ... this exhibition was in the "Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage". I was one of the artists offering a workshop at this time there, and the school proposed us to occupy the space of the swimming pool, each artist for 3 weeks. The idea was also to offer the students the possibility of seeing a work being done from the beginning. The first step, the "construction" of the "capsule" was done by me and an assistant using a small sealing machine in a factory. The piece was brought to the school and there, the students could watch me filling it with air and then refilling the swimming pool with water. .... everything worked quite well and there it was, that giant piece, peacefully floating over the water, slightly and permanently "breathing"!

Some days later, I received a phone call to come to the school as soon as I could ... Since it was a very hot day and a bit windy, the air from the piece had warmed up and it started to fly! It had reached about 4 meters from the water level! Fortunately, it was possible for me to "control" it through the tube I had left to add air from time to time. ... but it was completely alive!