Droog Design / Splendor in the Grass
Droog Design presents their experiential sensorium Splendor in the Grass, produced under commission for the New York Museum of Sex’s Kinesthesia award. The 'erotic camping ground' consists of 5 interactive tents where visitors' visual, auditory and kinesthetic senses are stimulated. These five tents celebrate adult pleasure in a surreal manner, and individual human sexuality is intensified by feelings, emotions and fantasies triggered by interaction with tactile sensations such as wet grass.
1. Grass Girl Arouses Tent
The colours of the grass tent, for instance, are very relaxing, mirroring the laid down figure inviting people to lay down beside her.
2. Autoerotic Kinesthesial Tent a.k.a. Mirror Tent
The mirror tent makes you face reality by physically putting you in the picture.
3. Pneumatic Kinesthesia Tent
The Kinesthesia tent engages various body positions as the individual moves through it, again engaging tactile responses.
4. Ice Oven Challenge Tent
The Ice oven challenge tent is a thermal exploration of sex, as colours change in response to body temperature, so it makes you think of interactions with real people in your life, not just interacting with the piece itself.
5. Wetten Your Appetite Tent
The Wetten the Appetite tent allows the individual to be enticed by smell and touch, resulting in a whole body experience.
Troika / Borrowed Light
Troika Borrowed Light is attractive to me because it changes reality through the alteration of colour fields and light. It makes me think of a sunset and so evokes my real experiences.
Kin Design / Fyodor Golan Interactive Skirt – Nokia
This interactive skirt, made of mobile phones, is obviously used to promote a company (Nokia) but I like the fact that this creation made from phones is itself being constantly photographed by other mobile devices, and so people themselves become part of the piece too.
Source: http://kin-design.com/commissioned-work/arts_culture/fyodor-golan-ss14-nokia/
Universal Everything / Living Mural
I really like the illustrative style of these designs, especially the use of differing patterns. I also like the interactive nature of this, as many different artists' work can be featured in the projections, as they are obviously not permanent. The fact that they are projected onto a very recognisable landmark makes them even more stunning, and the shapes of Sydney Opera House add to the positive aspects of interaction with architecture, embracing the curvature and the geometry of the 'sails'.
Source: https://universaleverything.com/projects/sydney-opera-house-living-mural
Snarkitectire / Fun House
Funhouse is a large interactive architectural installation and I like that the Funhouse makes individuals remember their own interactions with home. The whiteness of the architecture is almost like a blank canvas, and it is the individuals themselves who make the ‘colour’ and help it become art. The ballpit swimming pool is my favourite as it is a new experience in something which is familiar in some ways, and is shared by many others in a communal fashion.
Snarkitecture / Playhouse
Playhouse makes one thing of a small ‘wendyhouse’ and I like how the structure, in a playful manner, makes one consider issues of scale and proportion and compare how a child and an adult may see them differently. The plain white colouring, in stark contrast to the surrounding buildings, means that an individual not only notices it and is drawn to it, but can actually ‘colour’ it with their own experiences.
Snarkitecture / Sway
Sway is a participatory installation which responds to human touch and tactile interaction. I like that, because of the mirrors, it can become almost infinite and the rippling light which changes in hue and intensity adds an extra element of connection to the physical surroundings, reminding one of our own experiences of wading through water or tall grass.
Jeremy Scott Exhibition at Galeria Melissa / Inflatable Dreams
Olafur Eliasson / In Real Life
Olafur Eliasson's 'In Real Life' exhibition is unlike any other exhibition I have been to before - it really makes you consider space, your senses and even the people around you, making it a fully immersive experience.
Beauty, 1993
This piece was breath-taking - the rainbows created amongst the water droplets made for a stunning visual, not truly reflected in my photo of it. The sound of water was also quite relaxing, even though you had to focus quite hard to hear it due to the large number of people that had crowded into the room. I found it particularly interesting to see how others interacted the piece; there was a thin piece of elastic cordoning off the installation so many people were appreciating the beauty of the piece from afar, while little children seemed to largely ignore the barrier - they wanted to get stuck in and play in the water.
Window Projection, 1990
I really enjoy the striking simplicity of this piece - it is just a projection of a window, something we all see every day. However, it is how we interact with it that makes it so interesting. I was lucky enough to capture this moment where a mother was creating a shadow puppet to entertain her child within the window frame - the childlike innocence reflecting the simplicity of the piece.
Din Blinde Passager, 2010
In my opinion, this was the most impressive installation in the whole exhibition - a 39 metre long passage filled with artificial fog and changing lighting. This was a completely immersive experience - once inside, you could only see 1.5 metres in front of you. I felt like I was in a never-ending void and it was incredibly disorientating; I even ended up walking into a wall at one point! However, it created very atmospheric, moody silhouetted visuals and became more of a multi-sensory experience - I was very aware of the sweet, smell and even then taste of the artificial fog.
Your Uncertain Shadow (Colour), 2010
This was the installation than attracted me to the exhibition in the first place - I had seen lots of vibrant images across many people's social media that had made me want to experience the piece firsthand. Eliasson's installation makes use of different coloured projectors placed at one end of the room, casting multi-coloured shadows of the viewers against the opposite wall. The bright, colourful visuals are ever-changing - every person that enters the room affects the outcome. It was fascinating again to see how people reacted; many would, as I did, stand in one place, making lots of different shapes with their arms and hands, while others passed through quickly, not really focusing on their impact on the wall. The distance from the projector also made a huge difference to how the shadows looked - the closer to the projector, the darker and denser the shadow would become. The best photos I took were when the room wasn't as busy, standing closer to the wall than the projector; here I found the different coloured shadows were more distinguishable.
Jeremy Scott Exhibition at Galeria Melissa / Inflatable Dreams
Photos from gallery visit: 29th June 2016
The Jeremy Scott exhibition evokes childlike experiences and wonder and joy of physical play in parks and ball pools. The blues and greens and clear ‘balls’ are redolent of water, and I enjoyed throwing them at my friends! We documented the experiences on our phones so the experience exists beyond the gallery, with people sharing it on social media etc.
Source: https://www.coventgarden.london/whats-on/jeremy-scott-exhibition-galeria-melissa