Cabinet of Wonder / Curiosity Box?

Hi light makers,

Thanks so much for your patience yesterday, I think we've got our engineering specs sorted now.

I was thinking in my waking/dreaming state that what we are making reminded me of a Wunderkammer, that cabinet of curiosities people used to collect before taxonomies and museums tried to make everything appear orderly. I had a look at some pics from Water for Elephants (will definitely see it Wanda!) and circuses and sideshows are also that collection of "wonders", whether they be bearded ladies, dwarves, strong men, exotic animals, elaborate carousels, maze of mirrors, all things designed to inspire wonder. (Maybe the glass cabinets in the room have triggered this train of thought . .)

Have a look at images in Google for Wunderkammer, and also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_curiosities

Wheels are turning . .

Hi Fiona, Magdy and Wanda,

Good to see the wheels are turning in our collective minds! Wanda and I had a chat about it in the car on the way to Eungella yesterday too.

I think the plan was to have the piece (in its carousel formation) stationery, with the light inside rotating on the rotisserie. This way it will be much less complicated to make and to assemble.

If it’s going to work best in the windows of the MECC, that’s fine with me. If we are going for the six sided carousel, we could then either install it as six vertical panels, or 18 small panels (which might be a bit small given the size of the windows?) or perhaps 2 or 3 to a window but not necessarily aligned vertically – all sorts of options. What would you think about blacking out the remaining space on the windows outside the panels?

Regarding materials, we were thinking that maybe each panel could be backed with white Perspex (as in a light box), and maybe a sheet of clear Perspex on the front, to make a little box (only as deep as the width of the timber frame – maybe 3 or 4 cm), this would give the panels structural stability and durability, if they were being transported and installed by other people at other locations for example, plus it would give some scope for a little bit of 3-dimensionality, what do you think? It should be easy enough to install buttons, sensors etc into the clear Perspex front.

If we had six sides, Magdy, Wanda and I would then start out with our two panels each for our initial concepts. We would then pass these on (maybe one to each person, eg I would give one of mine to Magdy and one to Wanda) for their response on the next panel (and possibly addition to the first panel? or perhaps give the next person a motif from the first panel to include in their panel?) As we were driving and chatting we discussed the possibility of the panels being arranged quite randomly, and when lending the work to other people they could arrange them how they wish – having their own input into how the pieces work together for them, what do you think about that?

Carousel Maquette

Six sided

Six sided

Five sided

Five sided

Hi Wanda, Magdy and Fiona,

great to see y'all yesterday!

Here are some pics, this is a scale model at 1:10 (Wanda I must have have been inspired by your maquetting - although this is much dodgier than your gorgeous smicko maquettes!)

The height here is 2m, about the height of a doorway, and the small panels work out at approx. 800mm wide x 660mm high. For a five sided piece the diameter is about 1.4m, for a 6 sided piece the diameter is 1.8m. We can make it a bit smaller, but I think you want it tall enough so that tall people can't see inside, what do you think? and it there is a roof over it at some stage you don't want people bumping their heads on it . . .

I have photographed them from viewing height to give a sense of the piece from that angle.

Trace

themes . . .

oops forgot to add the themes that we discussed . . revolution, transformation, metamorphosis, change . . and Fiona added Water, which is the other theme of the Festival (Light and Water), with some very cool sound ideas of revolving sprinklers (plus working with the rotisserie motor sound - love it!)

Just thinking about all that, water and transformation could be interesting, water being a necessary ingredient to life; it brings about transformation in a landscape, both in terms of bringing life and in shaping landforms; it is itself transformed into different states (liquid, ice, steam) . . etc etc. . .

look what I found on the web!

http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4967952

Trumpet call

Hey fellow light makers, we are on!! Was so good to meet with Fiona today and share our thoughts from the previous week. Such an intense time with everyone with their own personal universes in such turmoil, with both wonderful and sad news all at once, Wanda we love you, Magdy we love you, Fiona we love you, and hope all your own cyclones pass soon - Dave too with the literal cyclone! (but such is the richness and depth and sadness and extremity of life.)

Just to summarize preliminary thoughts, with a very limited budget we can make a five or six sided free standing piece that is a little bit higher than human height, with three panels per side of about 60cm width, that bolt together. We each make the first one of the side and pass it on to the next person for their response, and then to the next, till the panels are completed. In my thinking six sides would work better here between three of us, starting with 2 panels each: also in terms of the total size, five sides at 60cm wide makes about a metre diameter, which might be a bit small to house the rotating rotisserie light - what do you think?

I asked Fiona about whether she wanted to make a visual panel, but she was happy to focus on the sound and maybe make suggestions as to the content of the panel as reflecting the sound concept (also given time and budget constraints this could be a good idea). Fiona was quite enamored with the idea of working with the rotisserie motor sound - you might want to elaborate on that Fiona????

In terms of interactivity, Fiona and I discussed having a button or sensor maybe on every second panel, as one on every panel might make the sound too congested, and possibly soundtracks that work with the rotisserie motor sound, that could overlay it and work with it. These could be small sensor activated speakers such as in the Light Boxes, and we would need to incorporate them into the visual design somehow, as they would give out a localised sound. They are about 10 x 10cm, is that right Fiona? there is also the possibility of larger speakers located in and around the space operated by the TDU. . . .

Anyway just kick-starting the conversation, meanwhile I'll apply for some more funding, although there are not many options . . would be so much better if we could come up with something for the August/September deadlines for Arts QLD and the Australia Council; Fiona suggested thinking of this as pilot project that we could use to develop further with better funding .. my biggest apologies for not getting more $, the way the deadlines are, Aug/Sept our our best chance, and at that time last year I was still digesting what we had done and wasn't really able to think about a possible future project.

xxxTrace

These are pics of a very cute carousel at Manly in Sydney:

I love this!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2011/02/28/3150468.htm

Art by Night - images and soundscapes

Art by Night-Concept

The Art by night concept motivated and mastered several aspects of expression, through unifying and melting individual artistic experience into a collaborative and evocative whole, with many other sources of inspiration and different human culture resources. The light collective artists group comes from diverse backgrounds. They have developed innovative strategies, sensitive to their individuality but successfully communicating to a broader audience. Although the works are very personal, each informed by a site- specific experience and influence, they also encourage a second level of interpretation that is larger, more universal and evocative. Their art concept becomes the vehicle through which to explore and learn about one another. In striking a balance between the personal and the transcendental, each artist forges a unique means of communication. This has to be celebrated as a positive forum of exchange. It is the relation between worlds, artists and audience, content and form, in which the artists in one night shaped, and innovatively explored their unlimited strategies of expression, which they chose to communicate.

Magdy Shiha

reconnecting!

hello friends at artlightsound

I've been looking for an opportunity to visit you but maybe that won't happen now until next year. In the new year I'm hoping to set up a space in Townsville for people (multicultural backgrounds, refugees, people with disability, no barriers to whomever) to do things together using some of the techniques I've learned about, from you wonderful artists. So first up, Wanda! Can you email me a quick how to do it step by step approach to making lanterns using merino wool? Would you mind? Also I need to find out suppliers of materials.

As well as this the university wants a letter of support for my project so that can approve it ethically for research. First up though what I'll do is send you a letter that outlines what the project is and what its aims are. Basically it takes its inspiration form what you achieved in Mackay, bringing people from diverse backgrounds together with a range of skills, and then producing a work that the wider community can interact with. It doesn't have to be labelled 'art' but surely it will be that!

Please contact me if you want to talk further.

Cheers

Dave