I BELIEVE IN YOU
I BELIEVE IN YOU - Helium filled Mylar Foil Balloons
Helium is the second lightest element and is the second most abundant element in the observable universe. Most helium in the universe is helium-4 and is believed to have been formed during the Big Bang. On Earth it is thus relatively rare. In 1903, large reserves of helium were found in natural gas fields in parts of the United States, which is by far the largest supplier of the gas today.
Helium is used in a number of industries including cryogenics, as a pressurising and purge gas and in processes such as growing crystals to make silicon wafers. A well-known but minor use is as a lifting gas in balloons and airships.
I BELIEVE IN YOU is a sculptural work created from helium filled Mylar foil balloons. The piece takes the architectural layout of the gallery space as its defining parameters and structure. It is a work that questions the relationship between the viewer and the institution/location it is presented. Over the period of the exhibition the sculpture is left to deflate naturally, giving it a limited lifespan.
In 2014 I was invited by Dun Laoghaire County Council to produce a temporary artwork for their new library, the Lexicon. I Believe In You (Lexicon) is the outcome of that invitation.
There is an empty bank at Karl Marx Straße, it still stands as the relic of the financial vision of the past centuries. Now the employers have left the building, the vaults are open and the cash machines are dismantled. This institution of faith in cash, trust in money and illusion of prosperity for the many, not for the few, has moved out. Within this empty shell, one cannot help asking, what else is substantial nowadays, what else is echt?
In a world interspersed with spectacle, illusions, hollow visions and unfulfilled dreams, it does not get only harder to authenticate a thing, but also echt changes its meaning dynamically. Using the bank as a collective laboratory of visions and statements regarding the meaning of realness today in our society, the exhibition brings together 32 works from 25 artists and groups around the sub themes of matter, body and authenticity.
* BANK, BLANK is organised as the main exhibition of within the frame of 20th anniversary of 48 Hours Neukolln Festival.
I BELIEVE IN YOU (Billboard) - Indiana, USA
In 2014 I was also invited to participate in a Billboard Project by Your Art Here an Indiana-based non-profit public art organisation created to provide local communities with an opportunity to engage in visual, public dialogue through the use of billboards and other public spaces.
For this project I re-appropriated the text in the form of paper letter cutouts to mimic a ‘Ransom Note’ similar to ones seen in numerous film noir movies.