Hackenwerth post #5. Cauldron Veil
Next week I will be installing at The Exploratorium in San Francisco as part of an exciting new exhibit called Inflatable. It is an incredible honor to be included with four of the most talented artists working in inflatable materials. The show is curated by Christopher Jobson, the creator of the extremely popular blog Colossal.
The other artists in the show are Amanda Parer, Jimmy Kuehnle, the design group Pneuhaus, and Shih Chieh Huang. You can see samples of their work here on the Exploratorium’s page with links to their sites.
https://www.exploratorium.edu/inflatable/artists#amanda
Also be sure to check out https://www.thisiscolossal.com/
The sculpture I’ll be making is titled Cauldron Veil. Here is a sketch and a short didactic.
Cauldron Veil
A large inverted vessel like form with a wide and outstretched canapé protruding from above, will hang from a single point harness over the designated area. A precision swivel will allow the sculpture to rotate freely from the subtle air movement in the space. The colors of the piece will be dark and light brown for the exterior and interior of the vessel form, and the structure of the canapé will be a gradient of light blue into lime green. The canapé structure will consist of hundreds of large window like compartments stuffed tightly with large clear balloons like keystones holding each other in place securely. The expansive canapé will be translucent to allow light to pass through and illuminate.
From the structural connections of the canapé will hang dozens of strands of monofilament. From each strand will hang a single amoebic like form made from one clear and one neon green balloon. A light air current should have then all moving like an activated swarm just overhead of visitors. The intention of the piece is to appear as if the organism-like danglers are being dumped or perhaps birthed from the open vessel like a great test tube dumping its living experiment, or maybe a giant strange fish that has released its babies from its gaping mouth.
