From http://www.designpublic.com/, David Stark Design and Production designed these vast, planetary, organic, sinuous shredded paper shapes for Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s 2007 Awards Dinner which made us collectively go 'ooo'.
Actually, so did this Umbrella Bloom (http://www.swiss-miss.com/2009/01/umbrella-bloom.html)...the kind of art that at first glance induces intense pleasure and then questions about how was it done - with a cherry-picker on a windless day - I assume.
At some point we also went a bit ecological and I tried to show a clip from Japanese master animator Hiyako Miyazaki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki). I wanted to show a clip of a forest scene which was so full of life - but not earthly - and almost underwater-like and got the wrong film!
I actually needed his 1984 classic Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausicaä_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(film) with an excellent Korean trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wSba9hwCaU and this Disney version of the trailer has excellent shots from the forest scenes with the 'ball on stick' shots I meant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ms-ilMug8A.
The balls were an idea we kept coming back to and the idea of suspension. We ambled through planetary, forestry and seascapes adding the desire to activate other senses through light, projections (words, clouds, sea....), soundscapes (words or poetry spoken, under water noises) and smell (burnt paper for instance).
At the moment we seem to be resting upon the idea of jellyfish - shredded paper tentacles - floating in an in door aquarium. Nicole talked about the idea of viewing the aquarium (there's a panel with a slot in it in the studio) and I wondered if we could get people to view it from outside through the windows?
Excited by all this I went immediately to investigate materials - The Reject Shop and The Nearly $2 Shop are excellent places to find both art materials and materials ripe for 're-purposing'. I found pom-poms, ribbons, pipe-cleaners and fake hair that resembled tentacles. I virtually restrained myself as the original point was to reuse the rubbish rather than add extra things.
But I was also considering lighting. For instance, I might be able to source a theatre light and construct a mixed-colour gel for it. And, I was also thinking about what it would be like to stage this in a toilet - there's a particular one on St Albans Campus which wouldn't be too busy and has huge mirrors over two walls. Acoustics and reflections, the ability to have complete darkness - hmm. Meanwhile I found tiny coloured LED lights and glow sticks. The torches allow one to light individual objects and glow sticks would provide a gentle light, perhaps from the floor (scattered, fixed upright in a 'forest).
I also couldn't resist buying some 'glass paint' to test on a trial jellyfish recipe using PET bottles. The point of such paint is that it dries clear like stained glass. On using it I discovered it was nothing more than PVC glue mixed with acrylic paint...ripped off...but can I mix the colours?
finally, there are some good jellyfish shots here (at the start) as well as a shot of neon tube lighting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rx0lAhBpPo&NR=1).
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