FREE FALL: Michaela Gleave-Ten Hour Balloon Work,June 24&25 2011

Free Fall Oxford Art Factory Cube is curated by John A Douglas.Friday and Saturday nights from 8pm, Free entry via the Gallery bar,
Oxford Art Factory, 38 oxford St Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia.
Join the FaceBook Page:http://www.facebook.com/FreeFall.OAFCUBE

For ten hours over two consecutive evenings Michaela Gleave re-staged
Balloon Work, a performance originally streamed live to the Oxford Art
Factory from Berlin in July 2010. Involving the artist, a tennis umpire's chair
and a stash of 1500 balloons, this performance brings into real space an
action that occurred initially only via the camera. Conceived as a means of
mediating space, volume, time and distance, using the media and materials
accessible to a newly immigrant artist, 10 Hour Balloon Work re-enacts this
action in it's original environment, pumping up the volume and doubling the
output. Over ten hours Michaela will gradually fill The Cube at the Oxford Art
Factory, obscuring vision between the two sides of the venue as she slowly
buries herself in her own actions.

Michaela Gleave is a visual artist based in Sydney. Working primarily in
sculpture, performance and installation Michaela's practice centers on the
physicality of sensory perception and the ways in which we understand and
interact with the world around us. Executed as a series of experiments, her
often-temporal installations question our relationship to matter, space and
time, involving natural phenomena and tricks of perception within the context
of the systems and structures that shape contemporary existence.

Michaela holds a MFA in Sculpture, Performance and Installation from
the College of Fine Arts, UNSW, and a BFA (Honours 1st Class) from the
School of Art, Hobart, UTAS. In 2010 Michaela undertook a program of
residencies in Germany, Iceland and Central Australia with the assistance
of a Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship, and is currently a resident
artist at Artspace, Sydney. Michaela's recent exhibitions include: 'A
Perfect Day to Chase Tornadoes (White)' at the Kunstquartier Bethanien,
Berlin, Germany; 'Persistent Optimism' (solo) at Anna Pappas Gallery,
Melbourne; 'Rules of Play' at Bell Street Project Space, Vienna, Austria; 'Wall
Work' as part of the 2010 Next Wave Festival, Melbourne; and 'Primavera 09'
at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. She is represented by Anna
Pappas Gallery, Melbourne.

'7 Stunden Ballonarbiet/7 Hour Balloon Work' was originally performed as

part of 'Choose Your Own Adventure' curated by Amelia Groom on the 10th of
July, 2010, streamed live from her studio in Friedrichshain, Berlin.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• michaela gleave
• annna pappas gallery
• contemporary art
• performance art
• sculpture
• oxford art factory

[blnstr]

It's too bad she ended up just popping them all with a pin. I would have suggested she lay down and wave her legs around to let the balloons fly all over without being seen. I agree with Steveballoons and spainshoot (their comments below) as pin popping seems such a waste as opposed to putting more personal interaction with the balloons would be more involved (besides inflating them all with lung power). Interesting concept performed by a non smoker.

[spainshoot]

Next time she can play and enjoy with them one hour, and them she can pop them with differents ways (pin, her fingernails, heels..). So I think this is a very interesting video and a hard work, so she must to show us that she is enjoy with all those balloons.I want to see the next balloon art work

[1cavitt1]

its fun to bust balloons what else are you going to do with them ? let them shrivle up.

[Jitterbug200714]

The thing about balloons is, it takes a lot longer to blow them up than it does to pop them. I think most people will agree with me on this.

[BigJohnL]

Where else can I find this good looking woman blowing up and popping balloons??

[Steveballoons]

Why did you burst all those lovely balloons? Such a waste :(