'Copoperation' - June 2008

(268 x 380 x 350 cm)
plywood, mixed timber, balloons, green felt,
dart, electric winch mechanism, pressure pads.

Copoperation was my degree show piece at University College Falmouth.

A long 'trough' of balloons sat, like eggs, beneath a tall tower. The top of the tower resembled a bird hutch. From the 'hutch' a dart would lower and potentially pop the balloons below.

On the floor surrounding these structures, lay a wooden walkway consisting of wooden tiles; some of which contained electrical pressure pads.

The concept behind this piece was that two people needed to stand on the correct two pressure pads for the dart mechanism to work. People had to communicate and cooperate (or co-pop-erate!) in order to pop a balloon.

The dart mechanism traveled very slowly so, at times the wait for a balloon to pop became quite intense for the participants. Some times a balloon would not pop due to size and positioning but other times two or more balloons would pop at once.

I created a large diagram that did not show an exact copy of the layout used in the installation but hinted at how the piece was activated; You + Me = Pop hung in the space in a way reminiscent of TV's famous adventure game show 'Crystal Maze.'

I let the burst balloons accumulate on the floor beneath the 'trough' to show the passage of time and to provide an indication of what could happen in the space, to any solitary viewer that came in..

I like the contradiction that although the process was destructive towards the balloons as a material, the whole installation was constructive in terms of temporary relationships formed between people in the space. Total strangers could be found hopping around the space, communicating where they thought the correct pressure switches were and what each other should do to in order to get a 'pop'.