Constructing the Airship Orchestra

Overview

The Airship Orchestra is a unique open-air, immersive art experience. Art lovers can walk through 16 giant, otherworldly characters each with their own vocal adding to the progressive score created by our ENESS composer. These sweet creatures respond to hugs, pats and people walking by with cheeky blinks and long gazes from their 8-bit LED eyes.

Company

Eness

Design tools

Electronics, woodwork, metalwork, sewing, lighting, general assembly.

What I did

I worked with Eness from start to finish on their latest iteration of the Airship Orchestra. I am their in-house seamstress, so my main role was to sew structures with the 2-8 metre tall characters to thread the lights through. After that, I also worked on assembling and testing the LED eyes, and installing the controllers and lights within each character. This particular piece sat on the Art Ship at Brisbane Festival and sailed down the Brisbane river for two weeks.

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The Airship Orchestra is a mystical tribe of otherworldly characters beamed from the night stars, skin streaked with galaxy and voices like stardust. Visitors are beckoned inside the formation to bathe in volumetric sound and rhythmic light pulsation.

In full, our custom light installation showcases 16 inflatables (some up to six metres) extending over a 500 square metre area. The sound experience is its own spatial environment, immersing visitors in an arresting score written character-by-character for a full choir. The generative soundscape synced with light, creates an adventure that is aesthetically dynamic both day and night.

The resulting music is minimal and reflective, enabling visitors to conjure their own interpretation about from where the orchestra materialised.

As with all our work, there are intriguing details to discover such as friendly LED eyes that blink and follow visitors from creature to creature. These artful moments are underscored by rousing, rising rhythm that transports participants to another world.

-Nimrod Weis, Creative Director, Eness

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