Tania Candiani

Flying Boat is part of a project produced during a residency period in the south of France. The pieces developed during this residency have as its starting point an investigation into the history of flight in Europe: rudimentary flying devices, hot air balloons, flying boats, and all kinds of devices designed to make man fly.

The boat with balloons of Francesco Lara de Terzi, conceived by this pioneer of aeronautics in 1670, is based on the assumption of producing a vacuum in a pair of copper spheres attached to the boat, making the container supposedly lighter than air.

Flying Boat belongs to a series of works based in the reinterpretation of old technologies. In this piece, the copper was replaced by spheres with balloons filled with helium.

Flying Boat flew in front of an audience that witnessed the moments when the boat was suspended over the water. The action was recorded by three cameras, one submerged, another upon the pond, and another from the top. In the video, the camera captures the flying boat underwater and from the surface, focusing on the mutual reflection of both: the reflection of the balloon in the water and the reflection of the water in the aircraft.

After the flying day, the work was installed in a gallery next to the video piece, a series of collages and cut-outs made from the material of the archive, and a fabric balloon stuffed with straw.