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.
]]>
This is the Starburst Sculpture part of FriendsWithYou, which is an art collaborative based in Los Angeles, California. It is made from lightweight breathable nylon, measuring 300 inches in diameter. It has a colorful palette and a dorky face that makes me smile. The sculpture was first shown in the Luminato Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity in 2010 and later in other exhibitions as well. According to the article, Starburst has the message that “Through our emotions and ideas we are constantly changing, exploding and being reborn as each day dies. This is a figurative expression of all the daily emotions and the constant movement and flow of our feelings.” I think it suits the inflatable really well and you can truly see the “burst” of emotions, especially with the colors because people often associate colors with emotions (e.g. red with anger). In addition, the spheres and cylinders in the inflatable stand out a lot, taking away a lot of the rigidness of the inflatable.
Link to learn more: https://friendswithyou.com/project/starburst-unique-inflatable-sculpture-2010/
]]>
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.
]]>Link to works: https://www.wikiart.org/en/claes-oldenburg
‘The oppressed’ was created in response to black lives matter: the ongoing struggle of the international civil rights movement.
Below are a few more pieces in the same series of works.
]]>
For this assignment, I choose Florentijn Hofman’s giant inflatable duck sculpture series Rubber Duck. These ducks have the classic “bathtub rubber ducky” look, down to the bubbly shape and bright yellow body. These ducks have floated in various bodies of water around the world. His first display of the rubber duck was in France, but one aspect that I thought was particularly interesting was that the first appearance in the United States was actually in Pittsburgh in 2013! I had previously read in the news about this duck being installed in cities around the world so I thought it was especially fitting for this assignment because of how global this sculpture series is. Hofman said that this series is supposed to represent togetherness in global waters. I find these rubber ducks really amusing because they’re such a universal icon. To many, the rubber duck is a symbolism of playfulness and youth which I think draws in a big crowd.
I was really interested in learning more about the construction of the ducks. They are made of PVC that are sewn together with sewing machines. The duck is kept inflated with a fan inside of its body. It seems to be fairly in line with how you construct a normal inflatable except that it is of course, extremely large scale, robust, and very waterproof, including the electric wiring that has to power the fan. I think it is super fascinating that the rubber duck series is kind of a simple idea, but it remarkably brings a lot of entertainment to people everywhere and is remembered over time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_Duck_(sculpture)#Design
]]>Interestingly enough, this exhibit was displayed here in Pittsburgh for the previous week in the cultural district. The message explored is how the “elephant in the room” can be so easily disregarded. These are bunnies – cute fairytale creatures and despite the sheer magnitude (some being around 50ft tall) the audience still passes by without a sense of threat. This can represent the greatest challenges we face such as our environmental impact, similar to how in Australia, rabbits are a non-native species that has severely damaged the ecological landscape.
Work can be explored here and here.
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.
He creates these dresses out of latex that first start off fully blown up, which encapsulates the model’s body. Then, the model is able to deflate the dress from inside of it, and as it lets out air, it then transforms into a dress that the model continues to wear.
What I found most interesting about this was the use of both the inflated and deflated shape of the dress. When I was making my improvisational inflatables, I was only thinking about the look of the inflatable in its inflated state and didn’t think of anything else. In this case, it is clear that Tjaerandsen thinks about the design of both the inflated and the deflated state of the dress.
Additionally, these designs also highlight the deflation of the inflatable – you can see the dress appear to grow taller as it deflates and changes shape, eventually falling downwards into a dress-like form.
Here is a video of a fashion show in which Tjaerandsen showcased many of his inflatable dresses. He also experiments with different inflated parts of a look, such as sleeves.
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.
]]>