Artists in a bubble – keeping social distance in corona times

Keeping your social distance in a bubble: that is what several dancers of the Stuttgart Ballet group did, all dressed up in their classical costumes, when they jumped inside a PVC bubble on Friday (February 26) to perform for German artist Florian Mehnert.

The artist’s last photography project is called ‘Social Distance Stacks’, and to make it happen, he set up dancers, musicians and actors in air-filled bubbles, hoping to show the impact of social distancing during the pandemic.

“We are all in a certain isolation, in an isolated own bubble, which we are not allowed to get out of,” he said.

“I show people who are allowed to be in their bubbles and can not get close,” Mehnert explained.

A large team is needed to set up the social distancing photo shoots. But that is not the only challenge.

“There is also the problem that a person in the bubble, if the bubble is as hermetic as this one, has a certain amount of body heat. So we only have a window of 10 to 15 minutes, not to mention the air, which is also getting less and less (inside the bubble). After all, no air gets into the bubble,” he said.

Especially challenging was the photo shoot with the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra as they all had to get into their bubble at the same time, the bubbles then had to be filled up with air at the same time, but it was worth the effort according to Mehnert: “Very, very complicated logistics, but a wonderful picture. What is a musician who can’t audition, who can’t play with the orchestra?”

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