Project link: http://www.tadaocern.com/
the black balloon of an installation by the Lithuanian architect turned sculptor and photographer Tadao Cern compelled me to wander back to the heart-shaped red balloon of Banksy (now, what was done could not be undone!). How the different treatments of the same object, in the hands of two different artists, aim to reflect diverse meanings on the world around us. We could reckon once more with this realisation.
The installation Black Balloons has 400 black balloons that stay afloat within a grid-like structure. The concrete-like blackness of the balloons and their evanescent quality add to the visual narrative of the installation. The balloons inflated with two types of gasses: helium – lighter than air, and sulphur hexafluoride - heavier than air, allow the two sets of balloons attached with a metallic string to maintain the balance between each other. Coupled with less-complicated engineering, the 400 balloons aim to meet the meaning of the installation: duality of life. The hypnotic balance of the installation anchors an immersive experience to comprehend the conflicting views underlying human life: lightness and heaviness, attraction and repulsion, corporeality and immateriality.
Despite the manifold meaning of the artwork by Cern, it does not eschew an aura of calmness. This is what Cern expects his audience to experience, “Nothingness or a calm empty void inside would be a perfect achievement and a relief from all the noise around. When everything is so important, everyone has an opinion or a statement - having an empty head may feel like a blessing”. Cern’s artworks articulate the dictum of ‘simplicity is genius’. The artist, well versed with the two mediums of expression - installation and photography - may simplistically produce and execute the work to lend final form and shape to it. Yet, it does not intend to compromise his reflection on the not-so-simple realities set in motion to waver humankind.
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