A factory’s main purpose is mass production, and to achieve that goal, it must subjugate the workers. With her invention of the bubble factory Karine Giboulo has divested the factory of its original purpose in order to have it serve the individual. The artists’ bubble factory creates thousands upon thousands of soap bubbles that float through the air, delivering visions and opinions, large and small. These bubbles are embodied in a series of Plexiglas globes, each containing its own tiny universe. Suspended in midair and freed from gravity’s command they are invested with the weightlessness they need to float about the world. Their fragility–they may burst at any moment–reveals the ephemeral and precious qualities of the message. At once humourous and poignant, the situations playing out in the bubbles vary enormously, but all have a playful, surrealist bent. Giboulo’s bubble microcosms comment on consumerism, the exploitation of workers, the environment, war and politics but also on personal issues such as solitude and relationships.
