This past New Year’s Eve Luca Antonucci chose NY as the latest location for his original art project a series entitled of his “Ballon Projects”. [4]

With the help of his team he sent a bunch of Balloons equipped with a disposable camera flying high over Times Square, getting an areal view of one of the greatest Cities in the world.

How was your passion for art born? Specifically for video art?

I’ve always loved film. I used to sneak away when I was a kid and go to movies alone. I would see anything I could. I didn’t care who was in it or if it was a romantic comedy or a horror film. So it just made sense to go to school for it. Of course, my interest began to extend to all forms of media and thus decided to broaden my scope. Anyways, I got turned on, almost immediately, by experimental film as a departure from the narrative structure of conventional cinema and well video art, was the kind of the last step in all that. I liked the immediacy of it. It offered something completely uninhibited. At the same time, it’s really all the same to me. If there comes a time when I have an idea for a narrative film I’ll try and pursue that, If I get an idea for a song I try to play it, but for now my ideas have been closer to the realms of video art and public art so I’m trying that out.

How did you come up with your very original ‘Balloon Project’?

Well, there was just an innate desire to fly, that I think we all have. Sitting at the top of a hill in San Francisco you get this strange feeling that you want to jump off and just go. The Balloon Project has that kind of freedom. I think that is what is exciting about it. Since it costs a bunch of money to rent a helicopter and get an aerial shot of the city, we decided to attach a camera to balloons and chase it on bikes until it lands. So it kind of became about not being constricted by budget. That we could do something as cool as some Hollywood fat cat without the cranes and helicopters and all that. That for just over 50 bucks, we could fly like the rest of them.

You picked several locations for this project: San Francisco first , then Berlin and why have you chosen New York City on  New Year’s Eve as your third location?

The Balloon Project takes on something different everywhere we do it. The community adds a certain element that we can never really predict. Ira Mowen, the co-creator of the project and my dear friend, had moved to Berlin and we thought it would be a great place to do a follow up to our last one in San Francisco. Berlin was really in to it. Ira got a rather large community of people to help out and kind of built a virtual community to back it, through You Tube.  

New York was something I have wanted to do since Ira and I first had the idea of the balloon project.  When New Years was coming around, I thought what better time to do it then on the stroke of midnight. It is kind of the holy grail of balloon projects. Almost impossible and well it almost was. It felt like urban warfare. We had helium tanks on our back and got a small crew together and just ran as fast as we could through the crowd. It was definitely a special one. So tune in for it and expect the unexpected.

Some of your projects involve a team of young people. When you work on a video, do you prefer to work with a team or alone?

I play well with others. I love how you can have an original idea and by the time it filters through three people or even one other person it can be completely different. I think that is almost always for the better. I like people who call me on my crap. Both Ira and Anthony, who I have been working with for a long time are really good at that.
Overall, I really love people who are excited by art. I hate cynicism because it makes the work really dull.  
At the same time, there are projects that I like doing on my own.  I almost immediately know what ideas are for sharing and which ones are not.

What is a typical day in the life of Luca Antonucci?

I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that, but I’ll give it a try.
I always wake up and work on stuff. I work best in the late morning and late night. I try to elaborate on ideas that I scribbled in my notebook the day before. Then I make myself breakfast and watch cartoons with my niece. She is 11 months old and the cutest thing in the world. I know everyone says that. But this time it is actually true. I want to put her on a wall with tons of other cute stuff and watch her destroy everything with her amazingness. That would make for a good video. In the afternoon, I walk around the city. My love for SF started with that. I have a real connection with the neighborhoods… the way they smell. Then I see my sister after she get off work. We live together. We hang out with the kid and my brother in law and make dinner.

Do you think there is a relationship between your body of work and your Italian roots?

I don’t try and make videos about being Italian. I actually feel like it is kind of a cop out. I think there are more interesting things to say about the universe than talk about nationality and I usually try to do that. At the same time, I think Italian culture has an impact on my style as am sure it does on everyone. I was lucky enough to grow up watching Fellini and Antonioni films and I love to think that they influenced the way I think about visual communication. They are masters in aesthetics.

Did your family support you on your choice of being an artist?

My sister Barbara is amazing. She has helped me to see art as a life choice. The thing is, I have always done projects like these, but I never took myself seriously. She really put in to perspective for me. She would say “If this is what you want to do with your life then do it, Don’t romanticize it”. I like that. Nic, her husband also helps me a lot with thinking about it  in a practical way. He is an engineer and more so just a really practical dude.
Like I said before, my mother and father exposed me to a lot of films and art early on. So it was to no surprise to them that this what I wanted to do. They both believe that if you are not doing something you absolutely love then you are wasting your time.

How do you see your future panning out? Would you ever move back to live in Italy?

San Francisco is my home. I really love it there That said, there is a special place in my heart for Italy. I like coming back to Salerno and seeing my family and imagining what my life would have been like there. I’m happy to have it as that. It’s kind of a secret escape plan for me, just in case. Live on the beach with a dog and an ape. But don’t tell anyone.

Are you working on any new projects?

Well, we just finished the BALLOON PROJECT NYC so that will be online soon, after I finish editing it. I recently participated in a show at the Space Gallery in San Francisco, but right now I’m getting some new work done and will be showing that soon. I have some interactive furniture I’m working on and we are planning for our Balloon Project tour this summer.

(Edited by Giulia Giannaccini)