Category: In the World

Michael Rees: Synthetic Cells is an inflatable installation artwork intended to question the boundaries of object, perception, and reality. Michael Rees is an American artist who is recognized as one of the pioneers of digital media art. Rees constantly pushes the traditional methods of creating sculptural art by questioning the interaction between art and the audience. 

‘Synthetic Cells’ was an exploration of the semiotic relationality of various materials and technology. The artist created seven 10-foot cube sculptures made out of vinyl plastic which was inflated into plumpy shapes. Then, on certain parts of the vinyl, projections were installed to depict augmented reality. 

This project was eye-catching both visually and conceptually. The colorful hues and interesting shapes were visually captivating. At the same time, the augmented reality projections were a thoughtful push for the audience to reflect on the multilayer complexities of our cognitive understanding. 

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I really enjoyed learning about this inflatable. This is called Pointed by Steve Messam. As can be seen in the picture, the inflatable is attached to the roof of the house and glows at night. I find this combination of the inflatable and the rooftop really interesting. When I think of an inflatable, I often think of something soft or “weak” (can easily break). I also think of something huggable. However, this inflatable looks like spikes. It is sharp and definitely not something I would hug or squish. Also, when I think of a rooftop, I would always think of something flat and not that noticeable.

I think this is great to look at when thinking about the projects we will work on for class. This project is simple (mainly one shape and one color) but yet it is so interesting and eye-catching. It also has a different effect during the day and at night.

https://www.stevemessam.co.uk/pointed

When looking around for soft sculptures in the world, I came across Claes Oldenburg’s works. He takes objects we see in our everyday lives such as food and appliances and creates enlarged soft sculpture representations of them.  What I found most interesting about Oldenburg’s works is how he takes simple objects that we all recognize but lets gravity and size portray them in a new, unique perspective.  I also liked how versatile these objects were, such as the floor cone that can be placed in multiple orientations to show different aspects of the work. This pertains to the work we are doing in class because our next assignment Push/Pull-Part 1: Objects works more with the techniques Oldenburg used because we are stuffing rather than inflating our objects, so without a constant flow of air holding certain parts up, the size, weight, and orientation will become important factors we must consider with our own objects.

Link to works: https://www.wikiart.org/en/claes-oldenburg

When my friends and family ask “What kind of a class is inflatables? What does that have to do with Entertainment Technology (my major)?“, the first subject I bring up is bouncy houses. Bouncy houses combine the world of inflatable sculpture with physical intractability, enticing active kids and kids-at-heart with their colorful, elastic forms.

For my In the World inflatable, I have selected the largest bouncy house in the world, officially named “The World’s Biggest Bounce House”. The house is an enormous one-of-a-kind structure produced by Big Bounce America, boasting a footprint of over 13,000 square feet. Along with its posse of showrunners, the House moves across the country, setting up in a new location nearly every weekend (although it has somewhat longer residency in Florida and California).

Bouncy houses are perhaps the prototypic complex inflatable structure, but certainly are the chief example of inflatable location-based entertainment. Learning to design environments that are so adaptable, portable, and whimsical is one of the primary reasons why I chose this class, and seeing our course material reflected in the design is very fulfilling. Although massive, the House is still composed of our fundamental 3D forms – cylinders, spheres, prisms, and cones. Vibrant colors even call attention to these fundamental structures, highlighting how the forms are connected.

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These inflatables are made of a material called “Smash,” which consists of specialized long fibers of non-woven polyester that can be manipulated into different forms using hot press forming technology. The Japanese design studio nendo created lighting fixtures resembling Japanese chochin paper lanterns using this fabric. nendo intended to demonstrate the possibilities of what new materials developed by Japanese synthetic fiber technology could bring, so at the Tokyo Fibre ‘09 Senseware exhibition nendo treated the “Smash” fabric like blown glass by blowing and shaping it into a seamless one-piece lantern. Due to the lack of precise control in this process, no one lighting fixture is identical to another one. 

These blown-fabric lights fascinate me because of how innovatively they were created; it is not very common or intuitive to apply the processing methods of a particular material to one that is wildly different. Because of materials’ inherent differences in molecular structure and mechanical properties, it is hard to treat certain materials in similar ways to others. However, nendo, in their playful approach to design, created lighting fixtures with an unlikely material and an unlikely building process. 

In this class, I would like to approach the work we will do in a similarly playful and thoughtful manner. I’d like to explore ways to use materials in unexpected ways to create unexpected structures that pique people’s curiosities and that are inviting to people for them to interact with the structures.

resource: https://www.nendo.jp/en/works/blown-fabric-2/?