Brain & Cloud Inflatable References
Something phantasmagoric may feel or appear to be the product of a crazy dream. Our ideation leads us to a peculiarly literal fit within this theme, attempting to create a larger than life consuming, interactive, nightmarish experience. Our inflatable would span from the floor to the ceiling, with a large brainlike inflatable reaching about eye level while a large dream cloud hangs ominously and massively above, suspended from the ceiling. We wish to illuminate the brain with LED light sources, giving the impression of engaged neurons or simply an artistic representation of the brain. The cloud(s) (there may be multiple) would be white or black depending on future discussions on effective creepiness, with the largest having a large flat section on which the animators can project their phantasmagoric animations.
Early ideation of the brain-cloud idea
A few challenges we see are the multiple inflatables that are being created and thus the need for multiple fan sources This will make installation very difficult, with the ceiling cloud a particular challenge since it is not safe for us to install this piece ourselves. We will have to work with the staff at WQED in designing this inflatable to make sure it will not only work as intended but also be safe to install. Also, we would like to make this an interactive experience, embedding a chair into the brain, or roughly achieve some seated arrangement such that it appears to be the individual’s dreams/nightmares being projected above while the viewers watch in awe. Ideally, we would like the inflatable to envelop the chair, with the structure inside the inflatable. However, more realistically, we may just place a chair or stool in front of the inflated brain to achieve a similar effect.
Our proposed layout/construction of the brain-cloud structure
Bird’s eye view of our proposed installation
To construct our project, we will need white and black nylon fabric, LED light sources (could be programmable) [1 or 2], fans [2], and a chair/stool [1].