Balena Project

Claudia Lori//Ikon Gallery

Italian artist Claudia Losi returned to work with Ikon following the presentation in 2007 of her Aria Mobile, a small globe embroidered with threads flowing in the direction of high altitude winds. While this delicate work could be held by a human hand, this project centred around a life-size whale, a dramatic shift in scale that relates not only to the physical object, but also to the epic concept of time evoked by a species that has survived for some 50 million years. Made in Italy in 2002, the whale has since travelled the world, becoming the catalyst for an extended collaborative process engaging thousands of people.