Lake Drawing Wind – 2011. Duration 333 min.
The work exists in two versions:
• a one screen projection of the balloon visualisation in ‘actual time’. Available as kmz file that runs in Google Earth, or as five separate video files
• a multi-screen installation that runs from kmz or video files.
During a performance we released five helium balloons from a rowing boat to float in the wind. A light weighted GPS logger was attached to each balloon.
The installation exists in two versions: either using one screen: showing the animated balloon visualisation of each balloon tracks in actual time, the second installation version uses four screens: three showing the footage of the actual performance, (slightly of sync) while the fourths screen shows the data visualization in its original format.
Artistic motivation
The work allows the audience to identify with each balloon consecutive. The work was a first exploration of actual time visualisation, based on location data. The work applies a “Groundhog Day” structure, we experience the same event, five times seen from the perspective of one of the balloons (protagonists), who in reality were released in the air and on the lake with a 5 minute inter fall. The meditative emphatic results have inspired the artists for further exploration, for example in the 250 Miles project or The Mailman’s Bag
Director of performance footage: Ben Dickey.
Arts Catalist (London, UK) commissioned the original performance that was executed in 2010 in the context of a PolakVanBekkum solo show at HICA.
LakeDrawingWind, an exerpt from the video.
Left: footage of the actual LakeDrawingWind performance. Right: the animation of the GPS data in Google Earth (excerpt).
