When a drop of blood, for example, falls, many think it is shaped as a teardrop, but it is round. That is why I think there is a nice symbolism in the use of round red balloons to display what the Danish blood donors give: Life.

This action, giving life, was during the entire 75-year anniversary, symbolized by a heart beat, a pulse, hanging and moving in the winds from the Great Belt.

Giving something of yourself, the way blood donors do, is a quiet deed. But blood is one of the greatest gifts one can give. To create an artwork that is similarly large, yet light, quiet and fragile as life itself, will, combined with the fact that the installation can only be performed with the help of volunteers, be a telling symbol of the very essence of the cause of the blood donors.

 

The video was shoot with a cellular phone by Urban DK.

 

The artwork, Pulse, was made in connection with the 75^th anniversary of the Danish Blood Donor Cause, hence the 75^th national congress, this time at Hotel Nyborg Strand 27^th - 28^th October 2007.

Urban DK and several volunteers put up 14 balloons in front of Hotel Nyborg Strand. Each balloon had a diameter of nearly two meters and all 14 balloons were attached with poles and wires forming a pulse. They were filled with helium gas and fastened in a way so they would keep their positions relative to each other.

The upper balloon was estimated to be approximately 20 meters above the ground. Thus the artwork could be seen from the Great Belt Bridge.

The artwork attracted the desired attention among bypasses and was featured at the wrap of danish national TV-2 evening news on the 27^th October 2007, where they had made some really nice shots of the artwork.

It looked beautiful at night as there were red lamps inside the balloons shining along with the full moon and a completely calm Great Belt as a backdrop.

 

A model was built to find out the best way of fastening the balloons addressing different conditions of wind to see if and how much the lines of the balloons would tangle together. The model was adjusted several times to find the best suspension possible with the lowest weight possible.

As seen on the model, it was originally intended that there would be 16 balloons in the installation, but for various reasons, ended up with 14, and on day two, 13, when a balloon burst during the night.