The Human Cannonball Painting

The Human Cannonball Painting Technique is the first-ever painting created with a human cannonball being the paintbrush of the artist.

The Human Cannonball painting consists of five shots performed on the 27th and 28th of August 2021 at HEART – Museum for Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark.

Conceptual artist and director: Søren Dahlgaard.
The Human Cannonball: Svyatoslav Gabuda.
Still photography: Mikkel Tjellesen.
Phantom camera operators: Tobias Horvath & Gustav Melling.
Assistant photographers and assisting with putting paint on the human cannonball: Betty and Ella Tjellesen.
Cleaning the cannon of paint after the show: Thanks to friends and family.
Production supported by HEART – Museum for Contemporary Art and The Danish Arts Council.


The Human Cannonball Painting Technique, HEART – Herning Contemporary Art Museum, Denmark, 2021.
The Sea Sponge Suit.
The Human Cannonball Painting Technique, HEART – Herning Contemporary Art Museum, Denmark, 2021.
The Plucked Chicken Suit.
The Handshake between The Human Cannonball and Søren Dahlgaard prior to the first shot.
The Human Cannonball Paintbrush is off to a good start in the Sponge Back Pad Suit.
The Human Paintbrush after the paintbrush stroke, The Sea Sponge Suit.
Søren Dahlgaard adds paint to the human paintbrush just before take-off while the crowd is getting ready for the spectacular paint stroke.
Søren Dahlgaard applies paint to the human paintbrush Sea Sponge Suit with the assistance of Betty and Ella. By now, the crowd can’t wait any longer for the human cannonball shot, and they shout repeatedly: Fire him off!
Søren and Ella apply paint to the human cannonball Plucked Chicken Suit.
The Human Cannonball Plucked Chicken Suit with gold glitter is ready to go.

The Human Cannonball Sponge Suit in purple colour pigment cloud.