Hot Banana

Some see a huge airborne banana and say, why?

Artist's reason for loosing 300-meter balloon to fly over Texas: 'Why not?'

TORONTO - Why not release a giant banana in Mexico so it can fly over Texas?

That's a Montreal artist's reason for releasing a 300-meter (985-foot) banana-shaped airship into the sky late next year.

The helium-filled balloon, made of bamboo and synthetic paper, is expected to float from Mexico into Texas airspace, where it will circle for up to a month, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported.

It will drift in a low orbit some 20 to 30 kilometers (12 to 18 miles) above the Earth until it disintegrates.

The project will cost about Canadian $1 million, roughly one-eighth of which has been raised so far. Federal and Quebec governments have both contributed small amounts.

Artist Cesar Saez - who was born in Argentina, but now lives in Montreal - said it is up to individual viewers to interpret his art, according to the report.

"We address advertisement, we address entertainment, we address political issues," Saez was quoted as saying.

"The issue of migration in the States is another. The banana is built in Mexico and released in Mexico and enters in a furtive way."