Swiss artist Zimoun has put thousands of packing peanuts (or, "chips," as he refers to them) to work in a mesmerizing installation that's sure to put you in a trance. His newest installation, "36 Ventilators, 4.7m3 Packing Chips," lives inside of the Museo d'Arte di Lugano in Switzerland and depends on 36 fans (which are, of course, continuously blowing) to keep the cycle going.
Even though you may not have the time (or funds) to make it over to Switzerland to see this one for yourself, an excerpt from the exhibition's catalog does a pretty good job of putting you in the moment:
Even though the swirling of the polystyrene in the depth of each of the windows is actually limited to that space, we have the impression that the movement is propagating to the whole length of the Limonaia. To the visual effect adds the ticking of chips on the window panes, which could remind a thin but insistent rain. If, instead, we cross the threshold and get inside the space, the perception produced by the ebb and flow of the chips changes radically becoming more abstract; the movement appears mechanical rather than natural, the buzzing of the ventilators covers up the ticking of the polystyrene on the windows and thus reveals the artificial origin of the motion.
Check out this video of the installation at work:
Standing outside and looking in would be a treat in itself—even just watching the video footage is a nice break from the day—but I can't help but want to stand in the middle of the swirling mess.
Zimoun is known for his affinity for sound architecture and ridiculously straight-forward work titles. (We previously covered his "138 prepared dc-motors, cotton balls, cardboard boxes 40x40x40cm" and "80 prepared dc-motors, cotton balls, cardboard boxes.") If you're looking to check this out in person, you can visit "36 Ventilators, 4.7m3 Packing Chips" until July 12, 2014.
Read (er, listen?) up on Zimoun's other work on his website.
Via Colossal and Creative Applications
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