Atmospheric Structure: Video Piece

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: As a video piece this work reflects a rich history of artists / designers using film and video to capture time based work and experiments. The work connects to an important trajectory in contemporary practice investigating the aesthetics of perception as a critical aspect of experiencing the 'lived' space; linking to the work of James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson, Philippe Rahm, Fujiko Nakaya and Juhani Pallasmaa. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: This is part of an in-depth project-based investigation of atmospheric phenomena exploring air as a design medium. For this I devised numerous devices with which to observe and manipulate air. These experiments have generated their own momentum and become discreet works in themselves. This project explored firstly: how vortex rings could be utilised as a design strategy to carry targeted breezes and phenomena, and secondly, how susceptible vortices are to other atmospheric phenomena. A sophisticated automated device delivering identical vortices every minute was built and installed in a carefully controlled gallery environment. Nevertheless each ring would take on a different trajectory and evolve into a different form - some compact rings moving quickly followed by larger rings proceeding lethargically. This revealed a remarkable observation linking external weather patterns to those inside the conditioned space, highlighting the complexity of interior weather systems. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: Over 4 hours of video were strategically edited to produce this 5:11 minuets video capturing key insights from this research, and as a video of a complex installation, could then be widely disseminated. This work was selected by the American-based Chinese / Australian curator for this exhibition featuring USA and Australian artists. JAUS ART is a significant Artist run gallery with a strict curatorial brief and is, according to the highly awarded LA Weekly, 'the best secret gallery' in the Westside of Los Angeles.