Installation art Archives

Architecture

12000 Traffic Cones Turn Building Into Dramatic Art

February 19, 2024 Architecture

Echoing some of Christo’s most visually impactful art installations, SpY has transformed Ghent University’s Aula Academia into an illuminated spiky creation.

Using an impressive 11,984 illuminated traffic cones, the main neoclassical columns have been festooned to transform them into something dramatic, eye catching, and wild.

It’s a fascinating juxtaposition, pairing classic architecture and smooth stone with something bright, plastic, and more symbolic of caution, or construction.

Via UrDesign:

The cones are cleverly positioned like puzzle pieces to completely cover the columns. The addition of lighting really transform the entire installation into a marvel to behold.

Simply named CONES, the installation is part of a larger light festival that includes Charles Pétillon, Benedikt Tolar, Atelier Sisu, and more.

““Cones” is a site-specific installation of hundreds of traffic cones wrapped around the front columns of the Aula Academica at Ghent University. The intervention alters the building’s assumed solemnity through an unconventional and thornily subversive aesthetic re-envisioning of its front.

Working from the appropriation of an everyday urban element, the piece takes over the building to create unexpected and intrusive, yet playful encounters for viewers. During the night the cones glow, adding a layer of transformation to the experience of the street space.”

Architecture

Elegant Sculpture for the 2020 Taiwan Lantern Festival

August 25, 2020 Architecture

This elegant, arching and swooping light sculpture was part of the 2020 Taiwan Lantern Festival. Entitled ‘The Search of the Glow’, the sculpture is made of bent wood and LEDs, creating a cocoon-like feeling that is much more than a sum of its parts.

Created by Ling-Li Tseng in collaboration with Serendipity Studio, we appreciate the minimalism in form, making a single orb from a distance. But walking up to and into the structure presents a much more nuanced, complex experience. Placed within a wooded setting, the orb comes alive in wondrous ways.

See more on Colossal:

Colors

Telluride’s Ski Slopes Turned Into a Neon Message of Hope

May 6, 2020 Colors

Though this project was proposed before the onset of the global pandemic, it’s even more fitting and impactful today. A series of neon signs on the way up the slope spells out the phrase ‘We are in this together’. Created by Tavares Strachan, the project is simple yet impactful, visible from a gondola and the air.

Architecture

Austrian Football Stadium Filled With Trees

September 12, 2019 Architecture

This art installation by Klaus Littman is a dramatic, stadium-filling piece, filling a full-size football stadium with over 300 large trees. Entitled “FOR FOREST – The Unending Attraction of Nature”, the work reflects on the the way nature is so subjugated these days that it’s almost an arena spectacle, something for our attraction, versus a part of ourselves. It’s both sobering and inspiring, we’re sure it’d be impressive to view the strangeness of a forest within a stadium in person. On display now until October 27, 2019. Via Colossal:

Littman’s work is inspired by the work of Max Peintner, specifically “The Unending Attraction of Nature” (1970/1971) which had a very similar tone.

Design

Surrealist Object Installations by Rune Guneriussen

September 22, 2017 Design

Like a bizarro-twist on Andy Goldsworthy, Rune Guneriussen takes manmade lamps and other objects, and creates surreal and elaborate installations with them, in the forests and landscapes of his home of Norway. The seemingly random and strange installations belie the effort and patience of assembling these art pieces. Imagine walking in the forest and coming upon a flock of lit desk lamps – it’d be a magical and surreal experience. We love the way the light plays with the scene, creating warm, inviting spaces in what otherwise are cold and empty places. Really fascinating work, via Colossal:

We’d love to know the process of his work, and the laborious task of setting up and lighting these far-flung installations.

In some of his installations, the objects appear to be squaring-off, with personalities all their own.

A very festive installation in the snow with ornate lamps climbing the tree.

Art

Kyle Bean’s Artisan Brunch

June 1, 2017 Art

Ever wonder what a famous artist has for brunch? Kyle Bean has a series of strange and funny pieces, referencing famous artists and artisans, and their style of work. Bean has collaborated with photographer Aaron Tilley and food stylist Lucy-Ruth Hathaway to create this inventive and creative series of brunch photos. See below for their references. Via DesignBoom:

kyle bean moss and fog 1 — Alexander Calder’s mobiles, in brunch form

kyle bean moss and fog 3 — Cornelia Parker inspired hanging items

kyle bean moss and fog 4 — Damien Hirst’s famous formaldehyde boxes

Architecture

Psychedelic Installation Art

December 27, 2013 Architecture

FastCo Design has a look at some of Katharina Grosse’s installation art. It’s fair to call it hideous, fair to call it bizarre, but it sure ain’t boring. The installations are huge and bright and intense, and I’m pretty sure they are much more impressive in person than in photos.

Art

Color Me, a Fun Interactive Gallery Experience

February 13, 2013 Art

Artists Andrew Neyer and Andy J. Miller have a cute and fun art installation at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art.

The giant markers are a fantastic touch, and lend a playful awkwardness to the interactivity.

Art

The USA up in Flames

February 11, 2013 Art

United States Map Made from Thousands of Wood Matches by Claire Fontaine United States multiples matches maps installation fire

Via Colossal:

United States Map Made from Thousands of Wood Matches by Claire Fontaine United States multiples matches maps installation fire

U.S.A. (burnt/unburnt) is a 2011 installation by Paris-based artist Claire Fontaine constructed from thousands of green matches that were inserted into a wall at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art as part art of “Evidence of Bricks” at the 2011 Time-Based Art Festival. Fontaine has made somewhat of a name for herself with her match installations and flaming geography, most recently completing a similar U.S.A. map at Queens Nails Gallery in San Francisco. Unlike the installation in Portland above, the Queens Nails artwork was actually set on fire, and while it may not have gone exactly as intended, the final post-flame artwork is impressive nonetheless. Photographs above for PICA by Dan Kvitka.

Architecture

Gabriel Dawe’s Thread Art

September 3, 2012 Architecture

Via Colossal, some excellent colored thread installations from Texas artist Gabriel Dawe.
Colored Thread Installations by Gabriel Dawe thread installation color

Colored Thread Installations by Gabriel Dawe thread installation color

Dallas-based artist Gabriel Dawe (previously here and here) creates colorful site-specific installations using bright gradients of suspended thread. Above is a small selection of his work over the past year as part of his Plexus series. Despite the geometric precision in each installation, it’s fascinating to see how some works become sort of amorphous clouds of floating color, and I’m sure seeing these on a computer screen hardly compares to seeing them up close. See much more on his website.