Balloonascope
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The Balloonascope is a 3D graphing device. It can be used to create 3D constellations of ideas, emotions and memories in real space, using balloons. The Balloonascope is really useful to help people get to grips with the idea that our ideas, emotions are all around us, in a simple and tangible way.
Balloonascope in Burnley Library
Here is an example of a balloonascope being used in Burnley library.
This particular balloonascope was used to explore peoples relationships with digital media as part of the original Balloonascope project comissioned by Folly.
In this case each balloon represented an aspect of new media, e.g. Twitter, or smartphones.
• The nearer the balloon was placed the the centre of the circle the more important the aspect of new media it represented was to the person placing it.
• The lower the balloon was the more accesible it was deemed to be by the person placing it.
How to create a balloonascope
Tie 3m of string to the balloon and attach a weight to the other end.
If you want to add toggles to the weights so that the height at which the balloon floats is easy to adjust see the video below.
Stick one half of the the velcro tabs onto the balloons.
Stick the other half of the velcro tabs on the paper shapes.
Place the Balloons to one side.
Defining the Flunstellas
Set the Scene
Use some form of drama or roleplay to set a scene.
You can invent any characters you like, and set the drama wherever you like.
It is up to you how you develop this scene, it can be as long or or short as you like, you may want to act it out, or just talk about who the characters are and what is happening.
You will need to use something to mark where the characters are.
Adding content to the Balloons
Pick one of the characters from your drama.
Think of an idea, memory or emotion that they might be feeling.
Make a drawing of it on one of the paper shapes.
Attach the drawing to the a balloon, make sure it is the right colour.
Write their name one a piece of paper and attach it to the balloon you have chosen, using a velcro tab.
To keep things simple try to just place one thought per balloon, (unless you want to describe how sometimes thoughts can get jumbled up together).
Defining the axes
Next we need to decide what the position of the balloons in space means.
There are many ways we could do this, but one simple way is to use axes.
Axes are a way of describing where the balloons are in space in relation to the actors.
Horizontal axes
Imagine someone has created a balloon representing a characters memory of their friend telling them a good joke.
What might it mean if the memory (balloon) is further away from the character?
What might it mean if the memory (balloon) is very close to the character?
Write a sentence like this on a piece of board so that everyone can see it.
"The nearer the balloon is, the stronger the character feels it, the further away it is the less they feel it."
Vertical Axes
What might it mean if the memory (balloon) is higher up in space?
What might it mean if the memory (balloon) is lower in space?
Write a sentence like this on a piece of board so that everyone can see it.
This is just an example, you might decide it means something else.
"The higher the balloon is, the more positive it is, the lower it is the more negative it is."
It is up to you how you go about placing the balloons, but we have found that it is better to go step by step, adding a few at a time, discussing what each balloon means as it is placed, rather than placing 10 at a time.
It is useful to use the positioning of the balloons in relation to both the characters, and to each other at each step to stimulate discussion.
- e.g. Is that memory felt more powerfully than that one?
- e.g. Does everyone else think that this should go here?
Other ways to develop this activity would be to...
- Act out or write another scene.
- Find interesting ways to video and photograph the Balloonascope
- Explore how the position of the thought balloons might change as we find out new things about the characters.
