sbrobert
By Robert Bernstein
In 2012 and 2013 we were privileged to experience the memorable Luminarium inflatable creations of Architects of Air. Thanks to Associated Students Program Board at UCSB, who paid the full cost so that the community could have free access.
Thanks to Larry Huynh at AS Program Board, we had the privilege again May 5-7! The event did not show up in any local event calendars. I found out purely thanks to my artist friend Pali, famous for his own inflatable art in the Grand Finale of the Solstice Parade, created anew each year for decades. Here are my photos!
This particular Luminarium piece is called Daedalum. As explained on the Architects of Air site:
“Daedalum takes its name from Daedalus. In Greek mythology he was the father of Icarus and the architect of the labyrinth of King Minos of Crete. Daedalum’s core element is a maze of 19 egg-shaped domes whose spatial arrangement creates mysterious sight-lines.
Daedalum’s Tree is an adventurous assembly of intersecting volumes rising above the visitor with inspiring complexity. The Main Dome features an innovative indirect illumination that varies the colour inside according to the dome’s position and the sun’s direction. The 600-piece pattern of the Main Dome ceiling was inspired by Rome’s Pantheon and the Gustave Doré drawing of angels circling heavenward in Dante’s paradise.”
I showed up 30 minutes before it opened on the final day. Larry Huynh kindly posed for a photo.
As others lined up eagerly awaiting entry.
We had to wait for the cleaning crew to get everything clean for us. For Architects of Air to instruct the local crew on the logistics. And to get the music going and other preparations.
Mike Fleming was the only American on site with Architects of Air, an English company. He arrived days in advance of the installation to take care of many final details. He welcomed me in and posed for a photo at the airlock entrance.
Inside the airlock we were given very simple instructions. No shoes. Nothing pointy. Don’t run. Otherwise, we were invited to take our time and immerse ourselves in the experience. It is tempting to take lots of photos and forget to have the experience. The music by David Bickley is part of the experience.
As soon as I entered, I made this video, wandering aimlessly through the Luminarium. You can hear the music.
I was told it is OK to use flash photography, but warned that it diminishes the lighting effect. Instead of the light diffusing in, the flash reveals the gray material of the Luminarium. Here you can see the difference as I posed for two different photos, with and without flash.
The latter photo is in The Tree. There are many different Luminarium designs. But each has a number of key features. The Tree is a feature of many of them.
Another key feature is the Main Dome. Here my friend Karena posed with her partner Brett in the Main Dome. It is hard to capture the cathedral feel of this room in a photo.
The Luminarium is designed to be as inclusive as possible. Many people brought small children, who were delighted to explore. As you can see in this photo. It is quite a labyrinth! I found myself quite disoriented! A fun feeling if you go with it and stay calm. So many branching passages, as you see here. Also, notice the zipper that encircles the passage opening. There are dozens of these zippers to assemble the structure at each location!
Posing for photos in the ethereal lighting was definitely a thing and I am grateful that people happily posed for me and were OK with being photographed, too.
The Luminarium is also a bit of a solar oven! The air temperature outside was in the 60s, but I estimate it was close to 90 degrees inside. There are several powerful fans that bring in cool, fresh air from outside and also keep the structure inflated! Here UCSB Chemistry student Lucy kindly shared space at one of the cool air ports and posed for a photo in this relaxation niche.
Although we were invited to stay as long as we wanted, I felt it was time to let others enter. The vast structure can hold 80 people at a time. But there was a very long line outside of people waiting to get in! After exiting, it was fun to explore the outside of the Luminarium from a variety of perspectives to see how the unique lighting effects were produced. It is all due to natural lighting diffusing through colored panels of different shapes.
Here Mike Fleming of Architects of Air kindly posed with the Main Dome and Storke Tower behind him.
Here is an aerial view I got from the UCSB Art building, including a sense of the long line to get in! One friend at the back of the line at this point told me she got in after two hours in line. And felt it was worth it!
Here is a closer shot that shows the colored panels more clearly, showing how the delightful lighting effects are created.
This map helps to orient where things are, but I did not get this until I was outside!
Here you can see one of the cooling fans from outside.
The setup was on the Commencement Green lawn, where graduations are held. Next to the Lagoon, just out of the frame to the right in this photo. Unfortunately, storm flooding from the Lagoon onto the lawn made the staging area quite messy according to Mike Fleming. Making for extra setup and cleanup/take down time.
Here is more information from Architects of Air about their many Luminarium designs, going back to 1985. All have been designed by artist Alan Parkinson.
From their site:
“Since 1992 more than 3 million visitors in over 40 countries across 5 continents have been welcomed into Architects of Air’s monumental luminaria, immersed in radiant colour that comes simply from daylight shining through the luminarium’s fabric.”
“All luminaria are of a similar large scale (1000 square meters/10,000 square feet)”. This would fill 1/4 of an American football field.
Here are my photos of Mirazozo Luminarium in April 2012. Here are my photos of Exxopolis Luminarium in April 2013.
Would have loved to have experienced this in person.
TY for allowing us to vicariously enjoy it, Robert!
Who came up with this garbage? Lol.
8:53 – You did, unless you meant to say “that garbage”.
I had the same thought – that looks like a sh-t ton of plastic that’s going to wind up in a landfill very soon. I hope I’m wrong.
Did Tucker mention plastic sometime?
8:00@
Your hopes are fulfilled. You’re wrong, as usual.
Didn’t you read the comment at 11:38?
Beautiful day in Santa Barbara with the mountains, trails, beaches, ocean, full lakes, etc. and people are setting up weird ballon structures (and calling it art?) for people to sit inside and take selfies? Hilarious and sad at the same time. Raise your hand if you think this is cool.
Really got nothing better to do tonight than belittle and ridicule someone’s art and use swear words?
Raise your hands if you are tired of his constant rude and degrading comments.
A little disappointed that no discussion is had about the environmental costs of this sort of thing. Is this plastic recyclable? Has the builder recycled previous efforts? Are we just to ignore the huge and ugly presence of this cheap and temporary stuff just because it reminds us of our childhood jump room birthday parties?
CHIP – what “liberal?” Very possible the 10:15 comment is just another con attempt to rile things up and start an argument. Sounds pretty sarcastic and reminds me of when you guys become “environmentalists” when it comes to wind power!
Knee jerk, always gotta comment about everything any lib anywhere says snowflake conservatives are such downers to be around these days. Ask any question at all and all they want to talk about is liberals.
ALEX – they’re obsessed. Tucker told them we are trying to steal their freedoms and they can’t wake up without fearing their kids will have to see a photo of David or hear a drag queen read a story or find out that the country was built on racism or any of those terrible things. They’re afraid…. of everything.
Liberals are such downers to be around these days. Put on an art exhibition, and all they want to talk about is the end of the world…
way to stay on-topic. Oh, right, it’s okay when you do it…
Right? The topic was the art piece, why’d Chip have to bring political obsession into it like he always does? Stay on topic, CHIP!
VOICE – read the comments for once.
What a sad world we live in when someone just can’t enjoy the art for what it is ART. Looks amazing and fantastic to me. I would have loved to see it.
From the artist’s website:
“The luminaria are made in AoA’s Nottingham workshop using a PVC custom-made uniquely for AoA. A luminarium will last for about 300 days of exhibition spread over about 4 years before it is cut into pieces to be recycled.”
Thank you Robert for taking us inside this interesting art piece. Looked to me like watching the gastroenterologist do a colonoscopy, with the camera traveling around inside your guts.
“She waited two hours, but said it was worth it” What else was she going to say; I wasted 2 hours that I could have spent at the beach…100 yards away!
We came in the middle of the afternoon but the line was two hours long and it was the last day. The effort to set this up should have predisposed the leaving of it for a period of time so that the demand to experience it could have been achieved. Disappointing.
Wide ranging discussion! LOVEMYSB, HELENA, BRITINSB, LUCKY 777, HUMANITARIAN2003, SACJON and others, thank you for the supportive, amusing and kind words.
Yes, the colonoscopy thing is apt! I enjoyed that, myself! (The prep, not so much.)
Good that people are starting to think of environmental impacts of their behavior. As BRITINSB noted, the materials have a life cycle and end with recycling. Everything has an environmental impact. One way to look at this is in terms of the impact per person. A lot of people are able to have the experience over the life of the materials. Compare that to burning materials as fuel, where the impact is lasting and the benefit is fleeting.
HUMANITARIAN2003 makes another key point: That impact is reduced a bit and the benefit is increased a lot if the project stays in one place a longer time. Thank you again to those who made helpful, thoughtful comments.