TATTON PARK BIENNIAL 2012 'Flights of Fancy'
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A seven metre-long balloon draws inspiration from classical images of Hypnos, the god of sleep, and the Surrealists,
Brass Art’s work was made using a mean average of the artists’ faces taken from biomedical facial scans. The process converted living three-dimensional subjects into digital data, then into a two-dimensional pattern and finally into a single, three-dimensional inflatable sculpture. Conjuring journeys of the imagination in conjunction with real spaces is central to the three artists’ collaborative practice. ‘Trine’ means ‘threefold, or one third of 360 degrees’.
http://www.art.mmu.ac.uk/profile/clewis
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Olivier Grossetête’s Pont de Singe reflects the architecture of Tatton’s Japanese Garden as well as the flight of fancy of the Formal Gardens as a whole. With their many follies (like the Choragic Monument, which was erected in 1842 to commemorate The Grand Tour, or the Sheep Stealers’ Tower, which had its own ‘hermit’ employed to frighten dinner guests) the Gardens have always been associated with pleasure.
Grossetête’s structure is a folly of design and engineering: a featherweight bridge designed for contemplation rather than function, emanating from and leading to the water, held aloft by three helium-filled balloons. The work recalls the power of daydreams and their ability to transform reality.