Jamie Coreth (British, 1989 –)

Dad Sculpting Me, 2016

Oil on linen, 1050 mm x 1200 mm

BP Young Artist Award 2016

BP Young Artist Award 2016 winner Jamie Coreth was born in 1989 in London. He studied Archaeology and Anthropology at Keble College in Oxford, and after receiving his BA degree, he went on to study drawing and painting at the Florence Academy of Art and the London Atelier of Representational Art.

Coreth’s interest in people manifests itself in both fields of his past studies: first an anthropology graduate, now a portrait painter. However, Jamie is not the only artist in the family: his father, Mark Coreth is a well-known sculptor, credited with works such as the magnificent bronze skeletons used in the Ice Bear Project, an attempt to raise awareness of global warming through art.

The work of his father has influenced Jamie’s art greatly – this is one of the reasons why they have decided to embark on this father-son project. According to Jamie, it is not common for a sculptor to raise a painter, therefore he thought that working together and portraying one another the same time would prove an interesting experiment. Jamie painted the portrait of his father from life over the course of a month, in the sculptor’s studio.

The painting shows Mark Coreth working on Jamie’s bust, which situation created a great opportunity for Jamie to paint a portrait and a self-portrait in one picture. He depicts his father as the archetypical “working artist”, absorbed in the process of creation. The bust of Jamie, as appears on the painting, has been filtered twice: it reflects how Mark sees his son, but also how Jamie sees himself.

Jamie’s painting has been praised by the judges of the BP Portrait Awards for its “timeless quality” and its “treatment of a father and son relationship through art”. It is indeed a generational painting, the result of a unique cooperation between sculptor and painter, father and son. Hajós Flóra

Sources: http://www.jamiecoreth.com/about/
http://www.jamiecoreth.com/2016/6/22/dad-sculpting-me
http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/bp2016/exhibition/prize-winners-entries/young-artist-award

Yevgeny Khaldei (Russian, 1917-1997)

Raising the Soviet flag over the Reichstag, 1945

Altered black and white photograph

This photograph by Yevgeny Khaldei shows the raising of the Soviet flag over the building of the Reichstag by two Soviet soldiers in the Battle of Berlin at the end of World War II. It was taken using a Leica III 35 mm viewfinder camera and was commissioned by the Soviet state news agency.

            It was seen as a picture of great significance, and it became very popular and well known after appearing in the magazine Ogoniok. It has later been criticized because it was altered. For the Red Army, looting was prohibited, but one of the soldiers had two wristwatches, which was not acceptable, and had to be removed from the picture. Also, additional smoke was added for dramatic effect and in the final version a different flag was used, which was photographed in a studio in Moscow and later added to a picture.

            Although it is a manipulated photograph, at its time it had a very powerful impact on its audience, and as a propaganda picture served its purpose perfectly. It has been compared to, and was inspired by, Joe Rosenthal’s Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, which is also a "staged" photograph. Szabó Csenge

Lehel Kovács (1974-)

Storm, 2013

Oil on canvas, 90x120 cm

Lehel Kovács was born in 1974 in Sepsiszentgyörgy, Transylvania. He went to high school in Sümeg and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest and has been living here since then. Apart from being a painter, he teaches Art at ELTE Trefort Ágoston Gyakorlóiskola. He mostly paints landscapes with plein air technique, which means that he travels a lot, mainly in Europe. He frequently attends the artists’ colony in Élesd in the summer. He has exhibitions in Budapest once or twice a year and has had some exhibitions abroad with other artists.

This painting, Storm, is a quite typical one from the period when he painted stormy landscapes with usually one piece of artificial object. Here it is a billboard which can remind us of long voyages made by car. He is investigating the question of whether we are used to these human-made objects up to the point that we do not even notice them in a landscape. The billboard has the same colours as the sky behind it which makes the object a part of the scenery. Várhelyi Hanga

My Chemical Romance live at the Hammersmith Apollo
Abitha Palett, London, 2010
Published in the Eyeplug Magazine

The audience of the HMV Hammersmith Apollo in London celebrated the big return of My Chemical Romance, after their extended three-year-long hiatus, on October 23, 2010. The band brought their then latest album, Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys to the UK; where Abitha Palett, London-based aspiring journalist/photographer/model/blogger/radio person was also present, wrote a review and took presumably several, photos.

She managed to capture a truly captivating photo of the alternative/rock band (note, the picture does not include all of the members), which was founded in 2001 by Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Frank Iero, and Ray Toro in New Jersey and gave the world tracks, such as Welcome to the Black Parade, Famous Last Words, I’m Not Okay (I Promise), and The Kids From Yesterday, just to name a few.

My Chemical Romance played 21 songs (plus intro, encore) at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo, which venue, has since been renamed Eventim Apollo and operates as such these days. Based on the research I carried out (taking into account the lights, the situation of the musicians, their postures, movements, and clothes), it can be said that out of the songs it was the third one, called Dead! (and its final minute, the countdown) that provided to opportunity for Palett to take this photograph and share it as her review’s cover.

The photo focuses on Gerard Way (singer) and the contrast between the all dark setting, his black clothes and his bright red hair is fascinating. Especially when looking at it from a distance, barely anything but the vivid redness in the middle of the picture strikes the audience. Furthermore, the lights break their way through the darkness, shining, behind Gerard Way, at Mikey Way (bass) and Frank Iero (guitar), giving the two some space and attention. The lighting also gives an angelic or glorious, or even divine impression.

Besides, the postures of the musicians are quite interesting, for all three of them are positioned differently: Gerard Way is slightly knee-bent, holding the mike, having the other hand in the air, and being in the middle of singing/shouting; whereas Mikey Way is playing the bass, standing tall, his head is leaned a bit back and hair playing with the air; while Frank Iero is playing the guitar, crouching as pedaling with one knee-bent leg, and having one arm in mid-air. Yet, they are making a unit. Grajzel Fanni

Sources:

http://www.eyeplug.net/magazine/author/abitha-pallett/

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/my-chemical-romance/2010/hmv-hammersmith-apollo-london-england-4bd5072a.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3ZWSwWK6PA

https://www.facebook.com/MyChemicalRomance

Stanley Kubrick & Geoffrey Unsworth

The Alignment of the Sun and the Moon over the Monolith

1986

The Alignment of the Sun and the Moon over the Monolith is a screenshot from the movie titled 2001: Space Odyssey from 1986. The movie was based on the novel called The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke. It was awarded with 14 prizes; one Academy Award for Best Effects; and two BAFTAs, one for Best Cinematography, and another for Best Art Direction. The separation of this one shot raises an interesting question, whether it is the art of the director, or belongs to the cinematographer. Only those who were present at the shooting could state the truth, so we should consider it as a joint product of these two men. The movie was shot with Panavision cameras and lenses. The formats of the printed film were 16 mm, 35 mm, and 70 mm. Since there is no public record of which film was used for particular scenes, we cannot be sure about the original size of this screenshot’s film either. However, it is known that the movie’s premier version was 70 mm. The main star of the shot, the Monolith that was called Tyco Magnetic Anomaly 0, was sculpted from black basalt that was imported from Scandinavia, and its portions were 1:4:9. It seems more like an artifact of an engineer, rather than a sculptor, just like the meticulously constructed shot of it. Császár Viktória

Pablo Picasso
La Salchichona (Woman in a Mantilla), 1917
Museu Picasso, Barcelona

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish artist, even though he later moved to France and lived there for most of his life. He was born in 1881 and died in France in 1973. The works of Picasso are often put into periods, like the Blue Period, the Rose Period, the African-influenced Period, Analytic Cubism and Synthetic Cubism. He painted Woman in a Mantilla in 1917, which was in his Synthetic Cubism period. It is a 116x89 cm painting made with oil and charcoal on canvas. Currently it can be found in Museu Picasso in Barcelona. One of the most characteristic features of this painting is the contrast between the finished and unfinished parts of it. I chose this work because normally I’m not a big fan of Picasso’s works, but Woman in a Mantilla is really different from his paintings and it really caught my attention when I first saw it.

Kóbor Zsófia

Marc Riboud (1923 - 2016)

The Ultimate Confrontation: The Flower Child and the Bayonet, 1967

The spectacular photograph, The Ultimate Confrontation: The Flower Child and the Bayonet, was taken by French photographer Marc Riboud in 1967 in during an anti-Vietnam protest. The photographer noticed a lonely 17 year old girl, Jan Rose Kasmir standing in front of the soldiers holding a flower and trying to talk to the soldiers, and Riboud captured the rather theatrical moment and created something which became an icon and a symbol for flower power.  Riboud, who is most famous for his photographs taken in the Far East, was a member of Magnum photos, an international photographic cooperative, which was founded by Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Seymour and Robert Capa. Plajner Kitti

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)

Art Critic

Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, April 16, 1955.

Oil on canvas, 39½" x 36¼"

Permanent Collection of Norman Rockwell Museum

American artist Norman Rockwell’s painting, The Art Critic, is a marvelous representation of his thoughts about modernism, as well as a witty criticism of modern art. Rockwell, who was born in New York in 1894, was definitely non-modern at heart. Although criticized by contemporaries for not following the trends of the era, Rockwell’s creations are the reflections of classical art with their meticulously prepared and realistic visuals. He did not agree with the idea that a painting is only a well-organized pattern of lines and colors on a flat surface and believed that critics usually failed to dig deep enough into the picture.

The Art Critic shows through a fantasy scene in which the pictures come to life and observe a young artist and art critic, that artworks have meanings, characters and can tell stories. The man in the painting, portrayed by Rockwell’s son Jarvis, is thoroughly examining a portrait of a lady, who obviously finds this moment intriguing and flattering, while the men in the top right corner express various emotions. Rockwell wanted to emphasize that a painting is not necessarily flat by any means. Not only do the movement and lively characters of the portraits support this idea, but small hidden details of the artwork as well. The most significant is that Jarvis’ palate has a very large dollop of white paint that stands out from the flat surface of the canvas a good half inch at least, symbolically mocking the ideology of modernism, which states that a work of art should be considered nothing more, but a work of art.

Norman Rockwell created a painting that jokingly criticizes modern art, yet it is a wonderfully detailed, meaningful piece of art. Together with its classical values and small surprises, he managed to produce another great “Rockwell” reflecting on society and the real world true to his saying:

“Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed.”

Heim Andrea

Szinyei Merse Pál:

The Lady in Violet, 1874

Oil on canvas, 103 x 77 cm

Currently in the Hungarian National Gallery (Magyar Nemzeti Galéria), Budapest

The  Lady in Violet is a portrait of the wife of the artist. The portrait was painted in the artist´s studio as a less famous work of art after his masterpiece  Picnic in May. The figure of the wife with the natural background is non-harmonized.

Szinyei Merse Pál was born in 1845, in a Hungarian noble family. He attended private schools and in 1874 he applied to the Academy of Fine Arts, in Munich. It is interesting to note, that Szinyei  was even taught by Alexander von Wagner.  In 1870, he left Munich and moved to Genoa, where he was permitted to stay for 2 years. A little later he got married and his first son, Félix was born.  Due to some financial and family problems Szinyei gave up on painting for 10 years  and even divorced in 1887. In 1894, Szinyei´s friends organized an exhibition where the Emperor Franz Joseph purchased one of his paintings.  In 1905, he became the President of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts.

Szinyei Merse Pál met the ´Lady in Violet´  around 1873, in Munich. Her name was Probstner Zsófia. Her  purple dress  was made by herself. A previous attempt at the painting was a portrait of Zsófia in a yellow dress. It is interesting to note that she was pregnant when the painting was produced. The portrait was painted in the author´s studio and he painted the landscape from memory.  Zsófia divorced the painter in 1887, and died at the age of 101. Sókyová Blanka

References:

(2014), Szeretlek Magyarország, Retrieved from: http://www.szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu/hires-kepek-keseru-titkai-lilaruhas-no/

J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851)
Fishermen At Sea (1796)
Oil on canvas
purchased by Tate Britain in 1972

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) was an English painter; in fact, one of the greatest figures in the history of landscape painting. He became a student at the Royal Academy Schools in 1789 and first exhibited a watercolour at the Academy in 1790, when he was only 15 years old. Initially, he painted only in watercolour, but in 1796, he first exhibited an oil at the Academy, which was Fishermen at Sea. He soon began to paint more original pictures in which he depicted the violence of nature in a powerful Romantic fashion; The Shipwreck was one of his first works in this style. Unlike some of his contemporaries who painted places they knew best, Turner was inspired to a great extent by what he saw on his travels. He lived in London all his life; yet, the city rarely appears in his paintings His preferred subjects include the sea (extremely frequent), mountains and lakes of Switzerland, Venice, and ancient history. From the 1830’s, his paintings became increasingly personal and free: played with colour and light so much that by the 1840’s some of his compositions were almost abstract. At Turner’s death, the Court of Chancery gave many of his works to the National Gallery. Some of his most famous works are still there, but most of them are in Tate Britain.

Fishermen at Sea depicts a moonlit scene which was greatly influenced by painters like Horace Vernet, who fuelled the 18th century vogue for nocturnal subjects. In the background, the silhouette of the famous group of rocks called “the Needles”, which is just off the Isle of Wight, can be seen. Józsika Nikolett

Robert C. Wiles

The Most Beautiful Suicide

Published in the 12 May 1947 issue of Life Magazine

On the first of May, 1947, the 23-year-old Evelyn McHale took the train to New York after visiting her fiancé. She went to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building and jumped. She landed on a limousine parked near the building. The photography student Robert C. Wiles was just across the street when he heard the loud crash and he took this photo of the girl just a few minutes later.

Although this is Wiles’s only published photograph, often titled as The Most Beautiful Suicide, this photo became the picture of the week in the 12 May 1947 issue of Life Magazine, as well as one of the most famous pictures of suicide.

After 70 years, this photograph still haunts people, still makes us wonder about the mysterious life of Evelyn. The elegant, peaceful pose and the shattered glass and crumpled metal bring us a macabre, but fascinating, and somehow beautiful combination and it makes the photo captivating, memorable, and timeless. Darvas Flóra

Coventry Cathedral

Coventry, West Midlands, England

Coventry Cathedral is the most visited tourist attraction of Coventry, with its long history reaching back to the beginning of the previous millennium. Situated in the heart of the English town, the cathedral adds to the anachronistic feeling of the almost medieval-looking town center. Most parts of the church that we can see nowadays were constructed around the 14th and 15th century. Although from 1539, with the dissolution of the monasteries, it started to lose its former glory, the church was elevated to cathedral status in 1918 and was one of the biggest parish churches in England. However, these days we can only wander around the ruins of the magnificent cathedral. The atmosphere of the location is truly magical and it feels as if the visitors arrived in a different world by entering the gates. However, this architectural piece of art is the result of horrible events. Most parts of the cathedral were destroyed in the Coventry Blitz, the bombing of the town by the German Luftwaffe, in 1940. Only a few parts survived the attack including the spire—the third tallest in England after Salisbury and Norwich—the tower, the outer wall, and the bronze effigy and tomb of its first bishop, Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs. The remnants of the former parish church Saint Michael ares hallowed ground, which serves now as a symbol of reconciliation, renewal, and hope. These days it is an open space freely accessible to all visitors and often a venue for local events, like concerts and was even featured in the movie Nativity. Andie

Joseph Strauss (1870-1938)

Golden Gate Bridge, 1937

San Francisco, USA

Golden Gate Bridge was designed by Joseph Strauss. The art deco styled, orange colored bridge connects the city of San Francisco to its neighbors. The suspension bridge is quite grandiose: it has a length of 2,737 meters, height of 227 meters and elevation of 67 meters. It was opened for the public in 1937 after around 4 years of construction.  After completion, it remained the longest suspension bridge until 1981, and was also for decades the tallest building in San Francisco. At the end of the bridge, there is now a museum to provide visitors with information on the construction of the bridge and architecture as well. Kitti

Royal Palace of Gödöllő

Mayerhoffer András

Built in the 1730s, but renovated many times since then

The Royal Palace of Gödöllő was built in the 1730s by Mayerhoffer András, but unfortunately not many details are known about the architect, other than the fact that this palace was his most significant work. It is one of the biggest baroque castles in Hungary. The palace has a double U shape and 10 wings, of which one used to be a stable and another one used to be a Catholic church. The Grassalkovich family owned it up until the last male member in the family died; after that, it became a royal residence in 1867, and Francis Joseph and Queen Elizabeth spent a lot of time there as they got the palace and Gödöllő as a coronation gift. I chose this work because this building is in my hometown and I wanted to draw some attention to it as I have always admired how beautiful it is. Zsofia

Jenkins

Henri Matisse

Rosary Chapel, Vence

The Rosary Chapel or Chapelle du Rosaire was designed by Henri Matisse and is considered to be the greatest project of his life. In his later years he lived in Nice, France and had a personal nurse, Monique Bourgeois. When she entered the Dominican convent in a nearby town, Vence, she asked Matisse if he could help with the chapel that was going to be built there. He agreed and moved to the town where he spent 4 years completing this ensemble artwork. He dedicated the chapel, which was finished in 1951, to his love for art and for the young girl.

The chapel itself is relatively small and is located on a hillside. Inside the walls are all white. What gives the interior its special colour are the stained glass windows which show patterns of Matisse’s late works. There are 3 great murals on the different walls, St. Dominic, The Virgin and the Child and the Stations of the cross. All of them are painted in black paint and are very minimalist.

Matisse also designed sets of vestments for the priests; these are just as colourful as his paintings and can be found in the little museum located next to the chapel. Hanga

Mont Saint-Michel Abbey

Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy, France

Legend has it that the Archangel Michael appeared to the French bishop Aubert of Avranches in 708 and asked him to build an oratory on the tidal island of Mont Saint-Michel (then called Mont Tombe). The bishop didn’t obey, so the archangel visited him again, and as a punishment, he pushed his finger through Aubert’s skull. The oratory was soon built.

Many more buildings were added in the next centuries. At the turn of the century, a pre-romanesque church was built by Benedictine monks, and a few decades later, the Italian architect, William de Volpiano designed the Romanesque church of the abbey. In the thirteenth century, fire damaged the abbey, so the French King, Phillippe-Auguste ordered the construction of new Gothic-style buildings. Later, major fortifications were added, which was very helpful during the Hundred Years’ War, when the English tried to capture the island. The English failed, and Mont Saint-Michel became a symbol of French national identity. The abbey was operating as a prison from 1791 to 1874. It became a Monument Historique in 1874, and it was one of the first landmarks on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1979.

Today, 50 people, including monks and nuns, live on the island, and over 3 million tourists and pilgrims visit the site each year. Mont Saint-Michel is one of the most beautiful and unique places in France. Even though it became a huge tourist attraction, it is worth visiting. D Flora

MÜPA

Budapest, Hungary

The absolutely wonderful building of MÜPA Budapest (Palace of Arts) was built in 2005, within 28 months, and has become one of the best known cultural brands and modern institutions of Hungary.  The reason to establish Müpa was to provide high quality cultural entertainment for a wide audience.

Therefore, the basic task has been to give space to and make comprehensible the new ways and styles, while respecting the traditions of the domestic and European arts, support the creation of new works of art, care for the international relations, help Hungarian performers become known internationally, and encourage the next generations to become consumers of culture.

The building itself is regarded as a unique building even on the Central-European scale: it won the specialized category of the “FIABCI Prix d’Excellence 2006” reward (which is considered the Oscars of architecture) and also the audience vote of FIABCI in 2007.

With regards to the construction, the developer was Trigránit Zrt. and the general implementer the Arcadom Építőipari Zrt., while the design was created by Zoboki, and Demeter és Társaik Építésziroda. As it is located in 1 Komor Marcell street (District IX, Budapest), it is part of the Milleniumi Városközpont and was chosen as being worthy of inclusion amongst UNESCO’s World Heritages.

Müpa is a new cultural centre for Europe, which can be seen by the fact that it is capable of hosting all kinds of art forms in one place. The genres that can be found there are as follows: classical, contemporary, pop, jazz and world music; opera; contemporary circus; dance; literature; film and theatre.

However, this one big and gorgeous place has three main sections: the Ludwig Museum (facing the Danube and considered independent), the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall (positioned in the middle of the building), and the Festival Theatre (located in the east wing). Besides the main sections, it includes the rehearsal rooms of the National Philharmonics, the Glass Hall, the Blue Hall, and the Auditorium.

One of the two primary and live entertainment sections is the Festival Theatre, which has a capacity of 459 seats, a stage of 750 square metres, a lamp pool of approximately 500 units, and is the home of pop and world music concerts, opera and jazz shows, ballet and contemporary circus performances. Its distinctive acoustic covers, enabling the place to host such events, were created by Sándor Ambrus.

The other isthe Bela Bartok National Concert hall, which gladly accepts an audience sitting on the 1600 seats, watching the magical performances coming to life at the stage of approximately 470 square metres (maximum). The Hall also has unique acoustic features, designed by the Artec Agency with Russell Johnson in charge. This gothic cathedral-ish venue hosts the second largest organ in Europe and “almost from the moment of its inauguration, the concert hall was ranked among the top five in the world”. Fanni

Source: https://www.mupa.hu/en

Medardo Rosso, (Turin 1858 – Milan 1928)

Aetas Aurea - L'età dell'oro - Madre e figlio - Il bacio

(Aetas Aurea - The Golden Age - Mother and Son - The Kiss), c. 1886

Wax with plaster support, 43.5 x 40.5 x 32 cm

Contemporary Art Department of the Vatican Museum

The Italian sculptor Medardo Rosso was born in 1858, in Turin. His talent in stone carving started to manifest itself when his family moved to Milan. After leaving the army at 23, he enrolled at the Brera Academy of Art. However, Rosso disagreed with the teaching methods of the Academy: instead of classical statues, he demanded live models for the drawing lessons. He was expelled in 1884 as a consequence of his rebellious nature; after that he moved to Rome, where he lived in poverty. He died in Milan in 1928.

Rosso developed his own, characteristic style, and is often mentioned alongside Rodin. Both are significant artists who introduced impressionism into sculpture. Rosso wanted to capture the way light transforms and adds new dimensions to the world around us, and he saw wax as a material adequate for this purpose. Compared to marble or stone, wax creates softer surfaces which are more capable of reflecting transitions created by light. Surprisingly, his work was much more appreciated in France than in Italy – during the time that Rosso spent in Paris, Émile Zola himself acquired one of his sculptures.

The Aetas Aurea exhibited in the Vatican Museum is one of several copies of the same sculpture. It portrays an intimate moment between mother and child – Rosso’s wife and their child. This version dates back to around 1886, and was modelled on a previous, similar sculpture of his, called Motherly Love, from 1883. H Flora

 Sources: vatican-patrons.org/two-sculptures-by-medardo-rosso-2122

britannica.com/biography/Medardo-Rosso

museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/collezione-d_arte-contemporanea/sala-2--van-gogh--gauguin--medardo-rosso/medardo-rosso--aetas-aurea.html

Nicola Salvi (1697-1751)

Trevi Fountain, 1762

Piazza di Trevi, Rome

The Trevi Fountain was designed by an Italian architect, Nicola Salvi, and completed by Pietro Bracci and Giuseppe Pannini in 1762. It’s 26.3 metres high and 49.15 metres wide; with these parameters, it’s the largest Baroque fountain in the city. The works began in 1732, two years after Pope Clement XII organized a contest for architects, a contest that was originally won by Alessandro Galilei, but since he was Florentine, not Roman, Salvi was awarded the commission anyway. The fountain depicts a mythological theme called Taming of the Waters, in which Oceanus on his shell chariot (central niche) is guided by two tritons taming hippocamps. In the giant order, Abundance and Salubrity stand in the two niches next to Oceanus. Above them, Pannini’s two planned sculptures represent Agrippa and Trivia, a Roman virgin. The backdrop of the fountain is the Palazzo Poli, which was given a new façade with the triumphal arch and the Corinthian pilasters. On top of the Palazzo, the papal coat of arms can be seen. Nikolett

Tomás Saraceno

The Poetic Cosmos of Breath, 2007

Gunpowder Park, Essex

The Poetic Cosmos of Breath was an installation made by the Argentinian architect and artist called Tomás Saraceno in 2007—reappearing in Hong Kong in 2013 as a part of the event called Mobile M+: Inflation!—at Gunpowder Park, Essex, England, brought into life by the early morning rays of the sun as it illuminated the simple but vibrant material—a paper-thin foil. Saraceno’s group entered the park before sunrise, and witnessed the balloon take up its form in the dew of the cold morning.

The piece of art was inspired by the work of an English architect and inventor, Dominic Michaelis, whose hot air balloon was lifted off the ground and up in the air because of the extra transparent layer around the balloon, in which the air got heated up because of the greenhouse effect—lifting the balloon up in the air in the process. Saraceno’s original idea was to raise awareness to climate change, and to show in a simple but artistic way that the greenhouse effect exists. The artwork was funded by Arts Catalyst, an organization that supports experimental artists in their work that is related to science.

People who were present at the installation reflected on the event as something that only happens once in a lifetime, and that it leaves such a powerful memory in the experiencer that it is something anyone could hardly forget.  https://vimeo.com/67240857  Viki