Cadet is a project that stems from a cluster of artistic research involving an object: a Vanilla Pudding dessert from Slovenia. Last year I buried it, this year I am sending it to Near Space. This simple dessert I ate as a five-year-old, in my late father’s apartment, is a vessel to articulate the concept of a trivial artifact. Is this memory, which is still so present, really without value?

The project is about control — not only physical but also intellectual. The act of sending the pudding 32 km into the stratosphere creates the ultimate distance. It traveled to a place I will never be able to go; the furthest I can distance myself (physically) from the trivial memory which has become an obsession. This experience becomes a personal memory of the object; suddenly I am out of the picture. Has this memory really been archived, or has this symbol of my past been put on an even bigger pedestal?

The performative action of launching the Pudding cup into the stratosphere is presented in the form of a multidisciplinary installation.

Cadet was supported by KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute), who assisted with knowledge and facilities to launch the Pudding cup with their weather balloon in June 2023.

Special thanks to Institute 404 (Zavod 404, Ljubljana, Slovenia) — Maja Tušar (design and production of the Pudding holder).

Sound design by Uroš Kostić.  

Cadet is dedicated to Teja Samsa (1994–2023).