A public site-specific performance produced during New Era, Tina b Festival in Prague, Czech Republic. The name “Bubbles” is a repository of many meanings indebted to futurism and the utopian moments of popular culture since “ ballooning” has become a very popular tourist attraction in the city of Prague and is connected with the global economies of leisure and entertainment.

 

The artist first created a set of 14-meter banners with her original graphic composition using the word FRAGILE .The banners were used as envelope and covered the 9 meter diameter popular “hot air balloon” which has been used from Balloon Centrum in Prague for air tourist rides and attractions above the river Vltava and Charles bridge. The company sponsored “Bubbles” and donated the balloon for her project.

 

The artist invited the public to experience the work by offering thirty minutes free balloon rides from where they were able to observe with birds eye views the city of Prague and at the same time to allow their material body to escape the limitations of terrestrial space. At the end of each ride Marketou conducted video interviews with each participant to find out how hot air balloon ride affected the way the see the city and how they sense their material body in relation to the terrestrial cityscape. The rides challenged the participants who felt fear of being ungrounded.

 

The project employed video, text, performance, aerial observation, geography, field research and popular culture of the spectacle and leisure to address complex cultural and artistic issues in an attempt to transform our understanding of what is conceived as public art, performance, visual culture and being with special emphasis on the use of immaterial means and utopian vessels such as hot air balloons.