Aitken narrates his project, “New Horizon.”
Culture
Doug Aitken’s New Horizon
This was not the first time that Aitken worked with a mirrored surface.
Image courtesy of: Design Boom
July seemed like the perfect time to reflect upon an interesting project that Doug Aiken produced with the help of NASA. During the summer of 2019, the American artist created a mirrored hot air balloon to travel across Massachusetts’ rural landscapes. With this project, Aiken hoped to challenge the notion of art in today’s age.
“New Horizon” was made up of a 100-foot-tall balloon constructed from a semi-mirrored material and a gondola. In order to ensure that this project actually “worked,” in addition to consulting with NASA, Aitken sought the insight of a community of hot air ballooners in New Mexico.
The artist and his balloon.
Image courtesy of: RDN Arts
The project was commissioned by the Trustees, a local conservation and non-profit preservation organization that is tasked with protecting 118 natural, cultural, and historical sites across the state. As such, the balloon flew over sites managed by the Trustees.
When the curator, Pedro Alonzo, first reached out to the California artist to create this project for The Trustees’ Art and the Landscape Programme, there was no plan or idea already in the works. However soon enough, Aitken imagined the idea of developing an unpredictable flying sculpture. This was perhaps one of the most interesting projects the non-profit organization had organized; the consortium (courtesy of Dezeen), ” invites artists to create a work in response to the natural surrounds.”
The sites the balloon flys over are all managed by The Trustees.
Image courtesy of: Dezeen
To date, “New Horizon” is the most ambitious of the Aikens’ previous three projects. Aitken told Dezeen, “I thought that I don’t really want to make a piece of public art that sits in a field. I’d love to find something that’s, you know, more alive and more challenging and more kind of time-based. I started thinking about the idea of making an artwork that could travel and be nomadic and could change continuously.”
Aitken is no stranger to responding to the effects of information, media, and imagery on humans. This multi-faceted project included a series of live events that center around the balloon’s lift-off locations. Bringing people together via highly curated events was one of the best byproducts.
The kinetic light sculpture at night.
Image courtesy of: The Trustees
The biggest challenge was the weather… an uncontrollable problem. The weather must be perfect… too hot or the balloon won’t float, too windy or the balloon will fail to stay inflated, and too rainy will impact the balloon’s ability to fly seamlessly.
Courtesy of WBUR, Aitken said, “I love that idea that, you know, someone can just see it out of the corner of their eye. That someone can look at that object [and say], ‘What the hell is that thing? I’m going to follow it and see where it goes.’ That idea where there’s this kind of, these moments of beautiful disruption across the landscape.”
Aitken hopes to change the perception that art is passive; he executed this project that is not, in any way or form, pre-meditated. In such, Aitken presents “a sense of discovery.” With “New Horizon,” the spectator finds his or her own reality and confronts their own experiences. Truly fabulous… here’s to hoping that “New Horizon” or some variation or iteration of it flies again!
