Does the life jacket under the airplane seat really have a saving function when a plane crashes into the sea from an altitude of 14,000 metres? Or is its purpose here more symbolic, serving to suggest control and safety, although, in reality, one would be relatively helpless in the event of an emergency? Would the subjective feeling of safety be the same without a vest under the seat? The work, The Art of Restless Swimming is an attempt to think further about the life jacket in its symbolic meaning. The practical and lifesaving form is thereby taken apart and translated into a theoretical and poetic equivalent of the vest. Part of the work is the film «Air Crises», in which a vest stolen from an airplane and the accompanying sheet with safety instructions in case of an emergency landing is examined and edited for their possible uses. These materials are disassembled and reassembled, based on the form of Reclam notebooks. A cuboid folded from the safety sheet serves as the hollow core of the object. It is covered with the signal yellow fabric of the vest. The instructions for use and pictograms printed on it serve as material for anagrams, from which the title of the book object is derived. By repeating the actionwith vests from different airlines, a series of further objects was created alongside the film.

Michael Heindl studied painting at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the NCAD in Dublin. Heindl is primarily concerned with the possibilities of art in public space. His works are often based on everyday objects and phenomena, which he transforms into subtle conceptual art.

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