Banana Over Texas

Look there, in the Texas sky!

It's a bird! It's a plane!

It's ... a banana?

In an art installation sure to launch a thousand UFO conspiracies, Montreal artist César Saez plans to send a 1,000-foot helium blimp in the shape of a banana into low Earth orbit over the Lone Star State.

If everything goes right, the fruity dirigible, known as the Geostationary Banana Over Texas, should launch in August 2008.

The astrofruit is an artistic commentary on the absurdity of American politics -- especially Texan-style kookiness, says Saez.

"I see Texas like a crossroads of important social and cultural happenings in the states and in the world," he says.

He estimates the project will cost $1 million, and so far he's raised one-eighth of that, including a $15,000 grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.

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That's Right,

HMK