At the heart of Joondalup, this year’s festival welcomes its exciting theme entitled Perform, Create, and Imagine. Featuring local and international performances, one of which includes the debut of the CLOUD by Canadian artists Caitlind r.c Brown and Wayne Garrett. Originally from Canada, this international offering has been travelling around the world to land its next stop in Perth.[1] Having the privileged to see it first hand, the Cloud is a colossal interactive installation that is created from a total of 6,000 incandescent light bulbs. Utilised from the donation of 5,000 burnt out light bulbs and 1,000 of functioning, the interactive piece becomes complete as it calls attention from the public’s engagement. Participating viewers are challenged to overcome their hesitance in an unconventional museum space to only realise an active contribution is needed to determine the spectacle’s nature, which involves the pulling of the chords.[2]
The Cloud, photographed by Bel Hiew
The Cloud presents the amalgamation of technology and art which investigates the modes of artificial light to influence visual, dialogue and collaborative experiences in the public domain. The intangible power establishes its ability by perpetuating an environmental imagery to create both intimate and collaborative connections within strangers. This unified experience revolves around the idea that universal meanings such as the cloud are shared and understood by all walks of life may it be culture, race and geographical distance.[3] Playing with the dropping chords, the cloud stimulates playful conversations and behaviours within strangers to achieve an orchestra experience, either harmonious or chaotic. This engagement reflects an individual’s understanding of the switches that later contributes to form a collective spirit under the cloud. Thus, showing viewers the significance of collaboration exists beyond the art itself. [4]
Viewers collaborating, photographed by Bel Hiew
Individual effort, photographed by Bel Hiew
Pulling chords, photographed by Bel Hiew
Beneath the sculpture, the canopy reveals its industrial substructure of structural steel beams, exposed electronics and the wire skeleton frame which shapes the rain cloud. The discovery moment of viewers entering between the public into the canopy space breaks the great illusion of the Cloud’s embodiment of weightless, lightness, delicacy and illumination.
Beneath the canopy, photographed by Bel Hiew
Industrial interior, photographed by Bel Hiew
On that approach, the Cloud introduces itself as a symbol of the transitional technology in understanding the present to envision the changing future. [5]The materiality of the reclaimed light bulbs dives into a broader dialogue in which it re-imagines the recycle potential of the everyday domestic object into a beautiful piece, as it is phased out in various countries around the world, including Australia. [6] Being the most profound invention since the year 1802, incandescent lamps have served a vital use for over 120 years. [7]However, a major implementation over the last decade to stop sales or import restriction of incandescent lamps has been initiated for more efficient lightbulbs such as Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) for lifespan or efficiency. [8]
Mechanism, photographed by Bel Hiew
As the audience plays an important genre in the presence of the Cloud, this immersive participation successfully achieves a degree of forming new relationships beyond entertainment and aesthetic expressions. Working as a shifting strategy to direct object-oriented viewers to process-oriented in experiencing art, the Cloud brings magic to where it lands. Take the opportunity to enjoy its fascination!
Behind the lightness, lies its substructure, photographed by Bel Hiew
[1] “Joondalup Festival 2017 Perform Create Imagine,” City of Joondalup, accessed 27 March, 2017, http://www.joondalup.wa.gov.au/Explore/artsandevents/FestivalsandMarkets/JoondalupFestival.aspx
[2] “Caitlind R.C Brown & Wayne Garrett,” Archello, accessed March 31, 2017, http://www.archello.com/en/company/caitlind-rc-brown-wayne-garrett
[3] Lydia Parafianowicz, “Cloud by Caitlin r.c Brown and Wayne Garrett,” Frame Web, September 25, 2012, accessed March 31, 2017, http://www.frameweb.com/news/cloud-by-caitlind-r-c-brown-and-wayne-garrett
[4] Virginia B. Spivey, “’Getting’ Contemporary Art,” Khan Academy, accessed April 1, 2017, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/beginners-guide-20-21/a/contemporary-art-an-introduction
[5] “CLOUD,” Incandescent Cloud, accessed March 31, 2017, http://incandescentcloud.com/aboutcloud/
[6] Bridgette Meinhold, “Gorgeous CLOUD Made from 6,000 Burnt-Out Incandescent Bulbs Lights Up The Night in Calgary,” Inhabit, September 22, 2012, accessed March 31, 2017, http://inhabitat.com/gorgeous-cloud-made-from-6000-burnt-out-incandescent-bulbs-lights-up-the-night-in-calgary/
[7] M. Whelan, “Incandescent Lamps,” Edison Tech Center, accessed March 31, 2017, http://www.edisontechcenter.org/incandescent.html
[8] “Lighting Phase Out,” Energy Rating, accessed March 31, 2017, http://www.energyrating.gov.au/products/lighting/phaseout