Hope Island is an entirely new project. I was looking at flotsam, beached masses of bull kelp, detritis from Fukushima, and trying to understand why beach combing is so fascinating. Beyond the obvious, why do people collect oddly shaped rocks? Mix that with an interest in visualizing wind as a metephor for currents of information ... I've also collected many of the original 1/2" data tapes from NASA's 1960's ECHO II research into passive communications, which involved giant metal balloons. My metalized balloons more closely mimic meteorological research balloons. With a certain irony I'm tethering them to things I find interesting in order to represent the ideas that form during deep observation of nature. Serious investigations into bio-mimicry and the sublime seem to encounter the silly and a curiously insatiable attraction to shiny new things .... Of course sometimes a balloon is just a balloon. More stills, videos and a truly concise explanation coming soon. First I'm headed back to Pt. Reyes for further 'research.'