HOT AIR in Timisoara!

The piece has made it to Romania without problems. No customs issues. We thought it might get hung up along the way because of the unusual contents. In the past there would have been greater difficulty moving things in and out of the country. This happened not because the contents were illegal or controversial, but because the old system was suited for corruption. Today, this piece arrived as it would have in any other place of "free" exchange. It was checked in and allowed to pass. The amount of access to goods and services is perhaps one measure of a democratic, uh, trajectory... In any case, I am encouraged.

Below are some pictures from Timisoara's city hall where it is waiting for us to arrive and assemble. (Thank you Lavinia!) It's a little funny to see the box there so far away when it was here only a week ago. Further proof that the world is small these days........ 

The next posts should be of us traveling to get there and then assembling and mounting the piece. We leave in one week. I will update here and on facebook about our activities, so stay tuned..

Goodbye Hot Air

Today we packed and readied the crate that Genn built for the shipping of Hot Air for Romania. This last step has taken a long time to arrive with many lessons and quirky anecdotes along the way. In the end, those stories will be as much, if not more, of the project than the piece itself. I can't quite tell them yet though because I don't want to influence the reception of the work....... Here's how we spent the day:

Inspectors von Beulow

At the U-M inflation test we were lucky to have the guarding services of the the two brave von Beulow brothers. They tested the seams, air pressure, weight, and anchoring of the head with their own bodies. all the while keeping the crowds under control. Thank you von Beulows!

Inspctors von Beulow from HOT AIR 2009 - Anca T on Vimeo.

video from U-M set up

here's the head as mounted on Monday, October 5th. I didn't shoot very much, but this clip shows the amount of rolling and scrunching the head makes when there's a bit of wind.



Heavy Breathing from HOT AIR 2009 - Anca T on Vimeo.

a shot from inside of our house on the second floor

it's official! we can blow our head up

you're still invited, but now on MONDAY!

where: Palmer Field (400 Washtenaw Ave.), University of Michigan 
when: MONDAY OCTOBER 5, 3:30 - 6:00

come out and say hello........

from above

here's a screen cap from multimap which happens to have caught our project while inflated in the backyard of our house! Thanks to Karl D. for alerting us to it. Thanks to multimap for waiting to take the picture until we were fully up.

(Thanks too to all of you who thought this was real... It's big, but not that big... sorry for any confusion.)