Tania Candiani

This installation belongs to a series of works by the artist based in the reinterpretation of old technologies. In this case, the Besnier apparatus was recreated and used by the artist in a context where she challenged the laws of gravity.

Besnier’s device achieved flight during the realization of the project “Matters of Gravity” aboard the Ilyushin 76 aircraft, from the Training Center for Cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin in Russia, where -9 artists and a scientist- experienced the conditions of micro gravity to make a series of pieces about the phenomenon of zero gravity and the concept of weightlessness.

Besnier was a locksmith from Sablé, France, who designed a flying machine in 1678. The apparatus was made out of two wooden rods meant to be placed over the shoulders and two sets of eaves attached to the pilot’s feet with strings for pull down and flap alternately. Besnier attempted to fly with his apparatus jumping to the ground from small heights and increasing it progressively.