Research
To begin the project, we researched typical New York objects. We gained inspiration by venturing into the city and observing it, as well as reflecting on stereotypes and our daily routines. Our early ideas included Metro Cards, ‘I love NY’ merchandise, and replicas of the Statue of Liberty.
Once we decided to include Statue of Liberty balloons in our project, we informed ourselves about where they could be purchased. The first step was to call the store we had chosen and ask if the balloons hold the actual shape of the statue of liberty. We then proceeded to ask about availability and pricing.
On another occasion, we visited the store to purchase the balloons, so we inquired about the address and opening hours of the store.
We went on to think about what other ideas are connected to NYC as we had to make sure our project meant nothing, but we also needed to tie our balloons to something, as they would fly away otherwise. We ended up tying out balloon it to a trash can as New York is known for being a city that is far from clear and we thought that we could get a reaction out of people if we connected the balloons to the trash can.
Process
We decided on a visual picture of what our art piece would look like when it was done. That it would have several dimensions reflecting on gravity, something holding the balloons down, the helium pushing upwards, the movement of the piece considering that it is not a heavy object. Given that we were supposed to create our piece with found object, there wasn’t much creating and crafting. Instead we had to go out in the city together to find these objects. We had already called the Balloon Saloon in Tribeca to ask if they had balloons in the shape of the statue of liberty. After we all went down together to buy two of them, we were discussing on how to display the final installation. We wanted to add another item to the final piece and chose to attach the two balloons to a tiny trash can with trash in it. We also had to make other decisions along in the process: would it be in the streets, with the background of a city, where the piece would interact with the wind, people around it, movement around it. Or would it be in front of a white canvas? We chose to display it in the streets.
After playing the balloons and the trash can strategically on a crowded street, we recorded videos of the objects interacting with the environment. The wind blew and move the balloons, causing it to be permanently in movement. The passing of people and cars gave the videos another element of depth and movement. The videos were taken from 4 different corners of the intersection, they were also mixed with close up shots, to have more angels and visual variety. When we were done recording footage, we decided to compile it in one cohesive video. The video was kept intentionally short, for it to remain interesting and appealing. The music added”New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra was placed to also do homage to New York. The videos were shown to gather a total of 13 interviews. The people were asked “What does it remind you of?” to start with a relaxing and interesting question, later they were asked “what do you think the project means”. Since there was a wide assortment of answers regarding meaning, it shows how the project was intentionally ambiguous. The interviews were later edited together, organized by common theme to have an interesting flow.
Artist Statement
It is tricky to define what art is. The understanding and meaning of art changes between individuals, communities, and cultures. There is hardly one clear cut definition for art that is universally accepted. Yet there is a notion that when a work is displayed in a museum or gallery, it is acknowledged as art. For this project, we wanted to test how ingrained the concepts are that everything is art and that all art has a meaning.
For this project, our research included brainstorming typical New York objects and purchasing our materials.
Creating a piece that meant absolutely nothing but something to others was something that was rather challenging in that we had to make sure that the piece did not have any meetings to us. The discussion surrounding the piece was challenging to say the least, the reason being is that we as artists are custom to attaching meaning to our pieces and we would have to move on from ideas we had for pieces as the meaning was too strong. Coming to the conclusion of using balloons for this project seemed the strongest idea in that we needed to make sure that we had no connection to the balloons and the Statue of Liberty is an icon in New York.
Found objects were used in this installation to provoke the audience to reflect upon the symbolism behind the objects and whether this represents a message or meaning. To further include the New York City theme, the installation was presented in the city and not on a white background.
Our project was successful in that we created an ‘artwork’ that was meaningless to us. However, the people we interviewed still interpreted a meaning into the piece. In that sense, we were unsuccessful in designing an artwork that is meaningless to all. Yet, as mentioned above, everyone’s definition of art varies. Much like it is difficult to produce something that everyone views as art, it is tricky to create something that means nothing to everyone. As everyone presented in the video did find meaning in the piece, our exploration testing the ambiguity of art gave us insight into how strong the label “Art” is.
Three Questions (All)
Do you think that the balloon made enough of a “statement” for this project?
Do you think that the garbage can was necessary in the project and the presentation?
What was your first impression of the project?
