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Gunpowder Park, 30 June - 1 July 2007
Three years after the first Artists Airshow, a day of art and flying in and around Europe's largest wind tunnel at Farnborough, the 2nd International Artists Airshow took place at the former Royal Ordnance munitions testing ground now transformed into Gunpowder Park, on 30 June – 1 July 2007. The event was co-produced by Haring Woods Studio and The Arts Catalyst, organiser of the first Artists Airshow, in a new partnership.
Projects selected for 2nd International Artists Airshow reflected both the explosive and ephemeral nature of Gunpowder Park and investigate further the artists' almost impossible dream of flight. Is it possible for the artist to go practically beyond the fantasies of Panamarenko, using engineering and technical expertise to realise dreams of flight while retaining the risk and the fascination of impossibility?
Due to heavy rain, a new commission by Tomas Saraceno, Poetic Cosmos of the Breathwas postponed until 22 September 2007, when it was successfully launched at dawn at Gunpowder Park with an audience of over 40 people.
These projects inspired a symposium entitled the 'Aesthetics of Impossibility' and as well as Tomas Saraceno and Ben Blakeborough, UK artists Simon Faithfull, Janette Parris, Usman Haque and Indian artist Sonia Khurana discussed the question of the fulfilment of the artists’ dream of flight and whether it undermines the impulse of art. This was followed by a round table of all the artists chaired by Artists Airshow curator, Rob La Frenais. Gavin Pretor-Pinney, the founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society, a global organisation set up to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ and co-founder of The Idler magazine, also shared his passion for clouds through a presentation based on his book The Cloudspotter’s Guide.
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