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Art

Colossal Curates ‘Inflatable: Expanding Works of Art’ at San Francisco’s Exploratorium Museum

Colossal is thrilled to announce the summer show, Inflatable: Expanding Works of Art at San Francisco’s Exploratorium, a museum dedicated to science, art and human perception. Led by our founder and editor-in-chief Christopher Jobson, Colossal has worked closely with the Exploratorium team to curate the museum’s summer 2018 exhibition. Inflatable brings together artists from around the world who work in the mediums of textiles, technology, and air.

Jason Hackenwerth (previously), renowned for his massive balloon sculptures that often simulate the universal biology of living things, will be building an inflated sculpture comprised of thousands of hand-tied balloons. Cauldron Veil will be built in front of the public at the Exploratorium in the days before the exhibition opening, and hoisted up to the ceiling where it will be suspended over visitors.

Tasmania-based artist Amanda Parer (previously) examines the relationships between humans and our natural surroundings in her large-scale white inflatable sculptures. Parer’s series, Fantastic Planet, includes two enormous humanoid figures that will be hard to miss as they tower over gallery walls.

Jimmy Kuehlne taps into interactivity, wonder, and humor in his diverse range of artworks. For Inflatable, he’ll be building a forest of glowing air-filled columns that invite museum-goers to explore his art from within. The Cleveland-based artist describes the spirit of his creations: “If I can make something that you can’t quite put in a category, then maybe there’s going to be a short circuit and you’ll have a genuine interaction.”

Inflatable visitors will also have the chance to step inside a fly’s eye as built by Rhode Island-based design collective Pneuhaus. Compound Camera  is a uniquely functional geodesic dome that turns the world upside down and inside out using 109 inflated spherical camera obscuras.

Technology, electronics, and everyday materials collide in Taiwanese artist Shih Chieh Huang‘s responsive sculptures. Huang, who is based in New York, will be installing Guardian of the Disphotic, a fleet of interconnected sculptures that move and breathe in response to their environment.

The Exploratorium is a unique public learning laboratory with a mission to create inquiry-based experiences that transform learning worldwide. Centrally located on San Francisco’s waterfront Embarcadero, the Exploratorium is filled with hundreds of explore-for-yourself exhibits. These interactive stations will be on view alongside Inflatable. We’re also developing public programming and family-friendly evening events specifically for the summer show—stay tuned! Inflatable opens on May 26 and is open through September 3, 2018. Find out more and plan your visit on the Exploratorium website.

Art Photography

A Subterranean Camera Obscura Captures the English Countryside

Collaborative duo Anna Heinrich and Leon Palmer were so impressed by the view overlooking the rolling hills of Hadleigh Country Park in Essex, England that they decided to capture it in perpetuity. Instead of simply taking a photograph, Heinrich & Palmer decided to submerge a camera obscura into the ground, imbedding an 11.5-foot Weholite pipe into the side of a hill to be easily accessible by the nearby bike path.

“The Reveal” was created to fit four to five people, and the 260 mm lens of the camera is fixed within the door, which needs to be closed tight in order for the “live” image to appear bright. Once you are securely inside, the bright scenery from outdoors comes in, snapping into focus on the back wall. Because of its location against the vast southern skies, Heinrich & Palmer explain that the landscape seems to fall away in the distance, and the passing ships give the image the quality of a moving oil painting.

The two installation artists met while studying fine art in Cardiff in the late 80s and have now been collaborators for over 20 years. Their work focuses mostly on the large scale, including films, installations, photography, and light boxes. You can see more of the artists’ work on their website.