Norwich lifts no-fly zone for festival art
6 May 2011
'Plane Jam' is part of 'Invisible Breath', a collaboration between artists and scientists to produce creative responses highlighting the impact of air pollution on our health and environment, and is presented as part of the Norwich and Norfolk Festival.
The guerrilla-style art installation is designed to challenge the perception that low-cost air travel is harmless and to highlight its effect on global warming. Model Airbus 380s, around two hundred times smaller than the full-sized aircraft, will 'fly' above the city streets on an imperceptible network of high tensile steel cables stretched between buildings.
The specially constructed mini-planes will trail brightly coloured smoke, to simulate the invisible toxins that are present in aircraft emissions.
The installation was created by internationally acclaimed artists Helen Evans and Heiko Hansen, collectively known as HeHe, and was conceived during a residency at the Environmental Sciences Department at the University of East Anglia, Norwich.
The artists were inspired by discussions with researchers, including atmospheric chemist Professor Peter Brimblecombe, about the phenomena of the clean skies in the UK during the flight restrictions of the Icelandic Eyjafjöll volcano eruption.
Helen Evans explains how the project came about: "These discussions led us to think about the curious visual paradox of air traffic pollution: when planes fly high in the atmosphere, the clean component of their emissions are visible, as the water vapour condenses, but their dirty emissions remain invisible and imperceptible."
'Invisible Breath' is supported by the Wellcome Trust and is led by independent art curator Alice Sharp.
Plane Jam
6-21 May 2011, 11.00-17.00
Roof of Norwich Theatre Royal
See the
Norwich and Norfolk Festival website for more information.
Artists and Scientists Talk
Monday 9 May, 18.30-20.00
Assembly House, Norwich
UEA scientists and artists HeHe will discuss their collaboration.
Admission FREE. Please register online
here.
Image: Plane Jam, May 2011. Credit: HeHe.
