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Illusionist and extreme endurance performer, dare we say performance artist, David Blaine has just done another one of his stunt-spectacles this week. On Wednesday he floated into the sky strapped to dozens of helium balloons like the character Carl Fredrickson and his house in the 2007 Pixar animated film “Up!” Blaine’s project is called “Ascension.”
Blaine rose to an altitude of 25,000 feet yesterday before detaching himself from the balloons and free-falling, eventually opening a parachute and gliding back down to Earth. The event was livestreamed and can be viewed on Blaine’s website and on YouTube. Cameras and microphones attached to Blaine and sticking out from the balloons captured the full audio-visual experience.
Who hasn’t after encountering helium balloons for the first time as a kid for a moment thought “If I had enough of these balloons, I could float in the air.” The idea that using such a simple thing as a bunch of helium balloons to transport oneself is an intoxicating notion. Blaine has made real the stuff of a childhood imagination.
If you watch the video of the livestream, note that the action starts just past the two-hour mark.
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GLOBAL GRAPHICA 