The inflatable whale

Original non-fiction-style practice text.

The gallery commissioned an inflatable whale large enough for visitors to walk beside its flank. The design looked convincing as a small model. Installing the full-sized work required the artists to think about air, fabric and the building in ways the model had not revealed.

The folded fabric passed through the entrance, but there was not enough clear floor space to spread it flat for inspection. Once partly inflated, the tail reached a beam lower than the main ceiling. The drawn plan had shown the ceiling height without marking that beam. The artists could not simply shrink the whale without also changing the relationship between its body sections. A seam which was unobtrusive on the small model became a visible ridge at full scale. A printed eye distorted as the fabric stretched, and the team had to adjust its position while allowing for the final inflated shape.

Airflow introduced other problems. The whale lost its form if the fan stopped, but the fan’s noise competed with a nearby sound artwork. Moving the fan away reduced the noise yet left a long air duct across a route used by staff. A hidden fastening allowed air to escape slowly, making the head sag after an hour. Finding that leak took time because the fastening was inside a folded section. Patches made from a slightly different fabric expanded differently from the surrounding material.

The gallery’s daily routine also mattered. Cleaners needed access behind the whale, and the space left in the first plan was too narrow for their equipment. An emergency route had to remain clear even when visitors stopped to take photographs. Dust collected along a low seam which was difficult to reach without pressing against the artwork. The artists needed an agreed arrangement for overnight deflation and morning checks. The final installation preserved the whale’s scale, but several elegant lines on the plan had become practical negotiations with the room.

According to the text, summarise the challenges the artists faced when installing the inflatable whale in the gallery.

Use continuous writing, not note form, and use your own words as far as possible. Your summary should not be more than 120 words. Up to 10 marks are available for reading and up to 5 marks for writing.