Proposal to suspend the helicopter in the café space of the AGNSW

The helicopter in question exists and has been exhibited at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery in 2010-11. During the 2 month period it continued to function but the need for various modifications became apparent

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The sculpture itself is motorized, programmed to provide a limited number of actions (several speeds & either on or off) and to be interactive via passive infra-red sensors which detect the presence of viewers in the vicinity.
The proposal is to suspend the helicopter from the ceiling in the space outside the café using heavy load bearing cords through the main rotor shaft and secondly from the tail rotor. If necessary, stabilizing cables would be attached outside the space occupied by the rotating main rotors.
Its occupant/pilot would be one of my humanoids previously constructed from casts from my body. This system has basically been constructed, exhibited and tested at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery exhibition.
This work will be included in a large-scale exhibition of my motorized & programmed pieces at the Maitland Art Gallery mid 2014. The next 18 months are dedicated to ensuring that the helicopter is totally robust and a suspension system tested to ensure its stability and durability for an extended period.
The helicopter has previously been associated with the generation of global images – “Notes from the Solstice Voyeur” – large scale images being 3m x 3m square. It would conceptually be appropriate to lay one of these large-scale images on the floor of the café entrance space beneath the machine.

The dimensions of the helicopter are 325 cm length, 120 cm width and 230 cm height while the main rotors prescribe a circle roughly 400 cm diameter. Its weight is estimated to be roughly 40 - 50kg (easily carried by 2 persons). The proposed timing would coincide roughly with the Maitland timetable of 2014 to minimize freight costs.
The suggested site would provide the ideal space where the motorized sculpture could be viewed and experienced at several levels. It would be partly visible at eye level from the upper level, the scale and viewer’s perception of it would vary as the person descended via the escalator and at the lower café level it would be viewed from below; and vice versa as one returned from the café to the upper level.
The electronics would be contained in a small box hidden in the ceiling and powered by 240v supply.
The facial characteristics of the final humanoid pilot would resemble the armoured car humanoid, viz:

 

 

Arthur Wicks
September 2012