The curators @ RASA are looking at hanging sculptures for Solo Studios based on the lessons from Prouvost’s installations. We will use interactive workshops for making. I would like to add soundscapes to my work during this exhibition.
Prouvost works with installation, sculpture, painting, textiles, sound, and moving images. Our work is based on pictures of a recent work by Prouvost, Above Front Tears Nest in South. The constellations look like colourful trash, halfway between a Calder mobile and a wind chime, floating above you.
Materials to consider
Feathers and Light Fabrics: Create delicate, lightweight hanging sculptures made from feathers, light fabrics, and translucent materials. These elements should move gently with the airflow, mimicking the subtle movement of wings and the caress of a breeze.
Winged Forms: Craft abstract winged forms from wire and paper, combining handcrafted elements with found objects like twigs and leaves.
Lighting: Soft, Diffused Light: Use soft, diffused lighting to create an ethereal atmosphere. Employ coloured gels to cast subtle hues reminiscent of dawn and dusk.
Spatial Arrangement:
Floating Pathways: Design pathways that guide viewers through the installation, with hanging elements at varying heights to create a sense of walking through a forest of wings and whispers.
Intimate Nooks: Create small, intimate nooks within the installation where viewers can sit or lie down, surrounded by the soft sounds and movements, allowing for quiet contemplation.
My NEST – applying her ‘material method’
Shadow Play: Arrange lights to cast intricate shadows of the hanging elements, adding depth and a sense of movement to the installation.
Ambient Sounds: Create an ambient soundscape featuring gentle breezes, wings fluttering, soft whispers, and breathing sounds. Use surround sound to make the environment fully immersive. Interactive Audio: Include areas where viewers’ movements trigger subtle changes in the soundscape, creating a sense of interaction with the installation.
The sound can create intimacy and a slowing down.
I also contemplate working with colours – use different wire or spraypaint the work?
Reflecting on my research into this artist
The nest seems to be a recurring motif in Prouvost’s work, symbolizing home, security, and nurturing. When I looked at her installation, Above Front Tears Nest in South, I saw that the nest could represent a place of emotional refuge or a space where memories and personal histories are woven together.
Her work deals with language, geography, and travel. She experiences what it means to be immersed and actively engaged in an environment where reality and fiction are constantly questioned. Her work seeks to absorb viewers, creating an ‘environment’ where all the senses are heightened.
Kabra, Fawz, 2018. online article https://ocula.com/magazine/conversations/laure-prouvost
Gerda Steiner and Jorg Lenzlinger installations ( The Falling Garden, 2003)
In discussion with a student who will be part of the facilitating team for the Breathe, Breeze, and Winged Things project, I learned about other artists whose work could influence our making and the installation. I think the work is a ‘fantasia’ or imaginative world. The work below shows a multicoloured array of items suspended from the ceiling, dancing wildly in midair.
The ‘viewing area’ is just captivating, and I feel we should use this opportunity to make our own exhibition experience more immersive. Something like: come in, feel the breeze, and make with us, or come lie/sit down and take a deep breath with our work.
I am fascinated by how these works enable us to view our world from microcosmic and macrocosmic perspectives. On a microcosmic level, our imaginations are stimulated, and our creativity is inspired. Is it the impressiveness of items floating, or does it awaken your senses to the world around you? On a macrocosmic level, memories are evoked, and the work transforms them into a contemporary narrative.
I like the idea of playing with time, preparation, persistence to get such a work presented – in a way it reminds me of birds nest, which I find almost impossible to re-create.