Ever Wanted to Stuff the Whole World? David Byrne Did with Inflatable Art
If you ask David Byrne what his outdoor inflatable art exhibit represents, you'll get a multi-part answer.
"The piece is maybe about [a distorted] childhood image of our world squished under an overhead train line. The squishing of an oversize childhood thing is sort of fun; it's not overly metaphorical. It's a childhood thing that's grown way out of proportion and has been constrained by train lines, apartment buildings and art galleries."
As interactive inflatable art, the idea is to experience the piece rather than merely to view it. Incorporating both sound and sculpture, those who encounter the globe will most likely be drawn to it by the low, slightly ominous sounds that come from within the piece. The noises are low-frequency pulses, tremors and rumbles that resemble what Byrne envisioned, then recreated, by processing recordings of his own voice.
"It's a wonderful challenge to come up with something that might work in a crazy space like this—that will be temporary, easily installed and removed."
At 19.5 feet by 48 feet by 48 feet, this 500-pound exhibit is one of the most massive undertakings we've created. What a thrill to take such an imaginative work and bring it into reality.