Un serpent dans le ciel

2008

Black and white video, 1’34”; balloon, 1 m3 of helium, brass pendulum, improvised smoke device, wick

Un serpent dans le ciel is a system for drawing a serpent in the sky – a smoke device attached to a helium balloon equipped with a pendulum; calculating the amount of helium required for the balloon to rise at the desired speed; working out the length and weight of the pendulum according to the required amplitude of the snake-like movement; and fabricating a smoke device that would provide the right thickness and density of line.
In the wake of all these decisions comes the activation, that final act that turns the artist into spectator.
The moving drawing seems self-creating, but in fact its autonomy is strictly relative, given that the wind, the temperature and the light level also have their part to play. Once released into the air, the work takes shape in the encounter between the parameters chosen by the artist and nature’s imponderables.