To assemble a cluster of balloons, attach a global positioning system unit, and set it off unmanned into the winds. Does the continuously dissolving balloon, moving away from the concentrated community of language and sign and towards a turbulent restructuring, have a purpose, can the attention follow it, hone in on its source – the conditions of its experience, of experience? And what operation can ensue upon the specifics of its landing?
Tags: affect, becoming, close, clusters, condition, difference, dissolve, energetic, experiment, inductive, movement, trail
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On Saturday, December 6th, I was in the unique position to become the only person, other than the artist, to witness the construction, launch, and distant landing of Zac Montanaro’s cluster of over 70 balloons. As the artist’s assistant, I was allowed to see, firsthand, the transformation from a single balloon into the full realization of Zac’s vision and his research. The design and construction details were faithful to the initial “cluster ballooning” rituals that Zac was referencing. At the same time, his own conceptual elements were revealed throughout the hours that we prepared for launch. In this way, I was able to connect with Zac’s project on many levels – through the slow unfolding of the idea, through the physical, repetitive and laborious construction process, through the event that began when the object was released to begin its autonomous life, and finally through the process of tracking its progress over the following hours. At each of these evolutionary steps, the piece connected in a new and different way with the the theme of “affect” that tied the weekend’s events together. From the hands-on sensorial experience of knot-tying for hours to the indescribable sight of the ghostly mass slowly gliding through the sky, I was exposed to some of the most basic and visceral aspects of “affect” in a way that few others have been able to participate.