Plane Landing

Overview

Plane Landing is a project conceived by artist Aleksandra Mir and developed in partnership with Compton Verney House Trust in Warwickshire and Cameron Balloons of Bristol, UK.

Mir's vision centres on the creation of a purpose-designed helium balloon in the shape and size of a passenger jet plane. Over 55 metres in length, the balloon will hover spectacularly above people's heads as in a permanent state of landing. The balloon will occupy their whole field of vision engaging both a physical and emotional response to the work.

First launched against the backdrop of Compton Verney's quintessential English landscape, Plane Landing will embark on a global tour of picture postcard destinations from around the world. It is a simple concept; the primitive technologies of balloon travel masquerading as a high tech jet plane, yet it is one that presents a fundamental engineering paradox; how to make a balloon using lighter than air materials in the shape of an object that was originally designed to carry
over 400 tonnes of steel.

It is a challenge faced by leading balloon manufacturers Cameron Balloons of Bristol and as such has taken the project out of the realm of aesthetics and into fields of science, aeronautics,
engineering and design.

The Project

Compton Verney have commissioned artist Aleksandra Mir to produce a custom-designed helium balloon in the shape, colours and size of a real passenger jet plane. Suspended above the ground, as in a permanent state of landing, the plane will be inflated and documented, offset against a backdrop of landscapes from around the world. Plane Landing is an 'event' - the production, its travel to new destinations, the inflation, its 'flight' and the documentation of all these parts constitutes the artwork. Following the inaugural launch at Compton Verney, the plane will be then toured to both contemporary art and non-art related events over a three-year period.

From text by Michael Stanley, Commissioning Curator, Compton Verney House Trust, UK June 2002
"It could be part of spectacular art shows, but also, other completely non-art event as well depending on who will want to host it and where. Any location that has ever appeared on a postcard will do. Cities, towns, villages, desert, snow, fields, rivers and oceans - anywhere. The production and inflation of the plane, the "flying" of it, the travel with it, the documentation of all these parts combined, would be the complete work. It could start at Compton Verney, go elsewhere, and come back three years later, as we like it."

"1 had the idea here in England only two weeks ago when one hazy morning on the train from London to Bristol, I saw several back lit planes at a distance, appearing one by one, seemingly suspended, completely still in the sky but obviously in the process of landing. They made me think about physics, illusions, places, non-places, transitions, travel, tourist cultures, leisure economies, the behavioural patterns of the art world, kite flying, ballooning, park games, escapes, exiles, stat s, stateless-ness I could talk about all of that while simultaneously further the proud tradition of women in aviation."

"1 like the idea of arriving with a box, unfold my gigantic plane, inflate it, fly it for several days, fold it up and leave again. Thank you and good bye. Then everybody takes the experience with them as they fly off in different directions."

"The design is based on my drawing enclosed. It has no extensive details, but bOgy, tail, wings and two engines. Four colours will be used: white top and tail, silver bottom and wings, black go faster stripe, black to make the illusion of depth in the engines and to mark windows. No other markings or signs will apply, just these generic colours and shapes. It is the looming overhead and the landscape as backdrop that I am after."

Excerpt from e-mail correspondance with Aleksandra Mir in 2001