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//new media/art/cool/ BALLOONS OF BHUTAN of JONATHAN HARRIS
Balloons of Bhutan
In Bhutan, happiness is no laughing matter — academics study it, spreadsheets track it, billboards tout it, conferences debate it, and every year, flocks of foreign intellectuals travel to Thimphu to share their ideas about what exactly makes a person happy. In this way the digital artist Jonathan Harris - California, U.S.A. - speaks about his latest work: Balloons of Bhutan.
Balloons of Bhutan explores the tiny Himalayan country's philosophy of Gross National Happiness. Instead of Gross National Product, Bhutan uses this concept, based on the tenets of Buddhism, to measure its socio-economic prosperity. Bhutan's king invented the idea in 1972.
In 2007, Jonathan traveled to Bhutan for two weeks, and He asked people to rate their level of happiness between 1 and 10, and then inflated that number of balloons, so very happy people would be given 10 balloons, and very sad people would be given only one. I also asked each person to make a wish, and then wrote that wish on a balloon of their favorite color.
On the final night, all 117 wish balloons were re-inflated and strung up at Dochula, a sacred mountain pass at 10,000 feet, and left to bob up and down in the wind, mingling with thousands of strands of prayer flags.
Balloons of Bhutan
web site
Jonathan Harris
Number 27
California | U.S.A.
web site | e-mail
In Bhutan, happiness is no laughing matter — academics study it, spreadsheets track it, billboards tout it, conferences debate it, and every year, flocks of foreign intellectuals travel to Thimphu to share their ideas about what exactly makes a person happy. In this way the digital artist Jonathan Harris - California, U.S.A. - speaks about his latest work: Balloons of Bhutan.
Balloons of Bhutan explores the tiny Himalayan country's philosophy of Gross National Happiness. Instead of Gross National Product, Bhutan uses this concept, based on the tenets of Buddhism, to measure its socio-economic prosperity. Bhutan's king invented the idea in 1972.
In 2007, Jonathan traveled to Bhutan for two weeks, and He asked people to rate their level of happiness between 1 and 10, and then inflated that number of balloons, so very happy people would be given 10 balloons, and very sad people would be given only one. I also asked each person to make a wish, and then wrote that wish on a balloon of their favorite color.
On the final night, all 117 wish balloons were re-inflated and strung up at Dochula, a sacred mountain pass at 10,000 feet, and left to bob up and down in the wind, mingling with thousands of strands of prayer flags.
Balloons of Bhutan
web site
Jonathan Harris
Number 27
California | U.S.A.
web site | e-mail
