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SHOW TITLE: Sixteen Birds and Inflatable Architectural Body
ARTISTS: Chico MacMurtrie/AmorphicRobotWorks
CURATOR: Murray Horne

Inflatable Architectural Body uses new technologies to continue a long line of work exploring the forms, movements, and interactions that underlie our experience. As a magnification of the cellular world, Inflatable Architectural Body gives us a direct, visceral experience of the kinds of minute geometric constructions that underlie all of life. Because the audience brings the sculpture to life, the piece literalizes the notion that the audience affects the work, and recalls the notion that none of us are bystanders in the natural world. By separating elements such as these from our normal modes of experience, and reimagining them in new bodies and interactions, we hope to gain a new perspective on ourselves and the effects we have on the world around us.

Sixteen Birds consists of 16 large, white fabric shapes that recall the simplest line drawing of a bird, hanging limp and lifeless from the ceiling at eye level. As viewers enter the room, the tapered, joined cone-shapes gradually inflate with air, lengthen and take form, eventually reaching out with a graceful wingspan, robust with life. The Birds then begin their stationary journey with a slow, elegant flapping motion, all 16 in a randomly generated sequence. The pneumatic mechanism that animates the work creates a constant, rhythmic breathing sound.

Moving through the installation allows you to find various compositions reminiscent of natural formations: compositions that change over the life cycle of the work. As in other natural organizations, however, the viewers’ presence affects the work’s life cycle, putting pressure on the system that may prematurely end the lives of the creatures on exhibition.

Photo by Joey Kennedy