“100 Days of Balloons” is a durational performance (100 days in a row) and deep study on affordances, having fun, transformation, and beating a dead horse until it is reborn as an inflatable one. In this work, I challenged myself to create 100 days of consecutive performances examining the action possibilities of a balloon.
I established a rigorous and tight set of constraints that were largely followed and broken only when necessary:
1 balloon thing every day for 100 days.
The balloons must be blown up with the power of my breath only (no helium, no pumps)
Most everything (other than the balloons) should be “found” within my life, make purchases on very few occasions.
All should be able to be captured in one continuous shot, the only editing allowed is zooming in and speed changes.
Prioritize “simple,” meaning there should be no extensive building of any props or objects to support. The balloon remains the focus.
Avoid any extensive research. Ideas should come from the gut and be completed in a matter of hours from inception to completion.
Have fun!
The full series is only viewable in entirety through Instagram and Tik Tok (the piece occurred between 09/15/2023 and 10/24/2023 and was posted exclusively on Instagram stories…in order to be fleeing like a balloon… but was later re-posted for a more permanent record.)
Above are excerpts from days:
Top row (L to R): 27, 31, 59, 28, 68, 54,
Bottom row (L to R): 37, 73, 21, 98, 15, 89
Each day has a video and associated stills, here are some select images.
Everything is shot on an Iphone, straight out of the
camera & entirely by Ari.
