Steam Balloon
Harvard Arts First Festival
April 2022
Ian Erickson:
"Rarely sensed but often underfoot, the over four miles of steam tunnels beneath Harvard have historically performed both infrastructural and social functions—heating buildings and housing equipment while providing a clandestine meeting spot for lovers, a dramatic setting for secret society rituals, and numerous cross-campus shortcuts for time-crunched undergrads. Yet, over the past few decades, they have been sealed off from students. This installation temporarily revives the social space of the tunnels, bringing what is below ground above it. A segment of the subterranean network is elevated into Harvard Yard as a reflective inflatable cylinder supported by a frame of PVC pipes misting atmospheric vapor. The campus once again provides a gathering space constructed through the management of air.”
