Latex 100% biodegradable balloons. Arch: H 450 cm. B 800 cm. L 1500 cm. Figures: H 270 cm. 

A monumental arch is rising above the huge mammoth skeleton standing in the centre of the Sala Principal at the Geological Museum in Mexico City. The arch is built of balloons in various nuances of earth tones. The sentence “Please rest in peace for we shall not repeat the error” is shaped in balloons and incorporated along the length of the arch. The sentence is derived from the one written on the monument to the victims of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945.
In front of this central scenario are two additional balloon sculptures. A female and a male figure reminiscent of old ceramic figurines from ancient Mexican cultures.
It seems like the two figures are popping up from the past and resurrect in the shape of oversized grotesques. It is a clash between old and new, between natural objects and artificial materials, between the past and the present.
The figures appear to be addressing our ancestors and reassuring them that we will not repeat the errors of the past. But at the same time, they seem to be conveying a message or a call to the people living on the Earth today: That we have to remember the unfortunate events of history in order to shape a better world of tomorrow.
The choice of material to convey this sinister message is ambiguous. It is not carved in eternal stone, it is written with air captured in volatile balloons. Balloons are happy, festive, even corny, made for celebration and party – but a balloon is also a fragile object, vulnerable and about to burst every moment or slowly deflate.
The work encourages to remembrance and hope for a brighter future. A hope deliberately chosen on the grounds of an indefinable but omnipresent sense of fear. A hope that is even more crucial at this specific moment in history.

Included in the group show Earth-Body, Geological Museum, Mexico City, Mexico.
Curated by Jonatan Habib Engqvist and Gabriel Mestre Arrioja.
Artists: Abraham Gómez, Ane Graff, Anna Rún Tryggvadóttir, Gabriel Mestre Arrioja, Héctor Vargas, Hesselholdt & Mejlvang, Marja Helander, Nikolina Ställborn, Pablo Castillo, Pepe Mogt, Raymundo Barnett.
The project is generously supported by the Danish Arts Foundation.

Photo: Raquel Bañón Sodini + Hesselholdt & Mejlvang.