“Salzburg is the city of Mozart, and I wanted to place the piece in front of the city’s sculpture of Mozart. As a joke, I said it was like me being a cat, and bringing a dead bird to its master. A marvelous present,” said Pivi. (source: “Paola Pivi’s Wild Ride” by Aimee Walleston in Art in America, June 27, 2012).

Kontracom 06 was an art festival in Salzburg (Austria) that took place in May – July 2006. Curated by Max Hollein and Tomas Zierhofer-Kin, the festival consisted of art installations, performances and music in Salzburg’s public space. Participating artists were Knut Asdam, Christoph Büchel, Anna Ceeh, Ingar Dragset, Michael Elmgreen, Elmgreen & Dragset, Ayse Erkmen, Oliver Hangl, Felix Kubin, Jonathan Meese, Olaf Nicolai, Paola Pivi, Franz Pomassl, Michael Sailstorfer, Hans Schabus, and Markus Schinwald.

In this video we have a look at Paola Pivi’s contribution to the show, a Wessex 558 helicopter, placed upside down on Salzburg’s Residenzplatz, the popular square in the historic center of Salzburg.

Official description: “Usually, Paola Pivi does the impossible, combines the incompatible, and confronts us with the unexpected. The helicopter Wessex 558 – placed upside down – challenges the audience ´s imagination: All of a sudden it appears impossible that this tinny jumbo could ever fly: an allegory to the fast-rising careerist looking for a solution to the hectic daily routine. Paola Pivi´s concern is the miracle of flight, the force, appeal, and fascination of flying objects, but also how helpless and devastated they appear when they fail to serve their obvious purpose.” Paola Pivi: A Helicopter Upside Down in a Public Place. Kontracom 06 Salzburg (Austria), July 7, 2006.

> Right-click (Mac: ctrl-click) this link to download Quicktime video file.