“ Flying Spy Potatoes” series : performing surveillance

Marketou’s aim is with her installation to use the architecture of the gallery in order to reveal her process and to create forms of conviviality, social networks and collective production. Through the common nature of singing with the audience the 80’s pop song 99LUFT Balloons by Nena during the opening of the exhibition is a deliberate decision of the artist to involve viewers in her work.

<Flying Spy Potatoes : Acting On the City> it is to be understood as statement on the events of the loss of our privacy and control in the public realm which followed the 9/11. The installation consists of two sections An installation of Mixer ( 2003) and Orbiter ( 2003 ) hybridized sculptures on the ground floor of the gallery and “system space”.

MIXER is a display, modeled after surveillance satellites of the 70”s is built out of domestic cheap materials such as wood and plastic which is connected to a variety of audio-visual inputs such as surveillance cameras, DVD players and 3 TV screens. The TV screens feature < Flying Spy Potatoes> series digital recordings with a custom made by wireless cam and radio receiver mounted on a helium balloon which Marketou was holding at the end of a 30feet tether while she was walking in high security public spaces in NYC which were declared as hard targets against terrorism.

ORBITER is a hybrid sculptural structure also inspired by the reconnaissance military technology of 18th century and consists of a silver 17 feet ( 210 cm ) diameter helium balloon which floats in the middle of the gallery. The balloon is attached to a TV monitor on the floor of the gallery which displays the artists pre-recorded public interventions, holding the spy balloon, in three major portals of high security in NYC , such as Grand Central Station, and W.F.C.

“The System Space", as the artist named the basement area, which she transformed as an open study environment – a free matrix of information- where the viewer can find information and materials about the process and the research the artist has made. “ system space” will also host screenings and discussions with the public throughout the duration of the show.

One of these events will be a session during the opening night when Jenny Marketou with a vocal instructor /singer will coach the audience to sing a long the eighties pop hit “ 99 red balloons” by German singer Nena.

During the exhibition a TV monitor features series of video documentations which chronicle the artist’s singing lessons with a vocal instructor in Athens as well as her singing performance with the audience during the opening night.

< Flying Spy Potatoes > 2003 video still