Interstellar Cloud #2

Group show: 'Hidden: Rookwood Cemetery Sculpture Walk', Sydney. 
September 18 to October 18, 2015

HIDDEN is an outdoor sculpture exhibition that takes place amongst the gardens and graves in one of the oldest sections of the Cemetery. 

Interstellar Cloud #2 consists of thousands of hand-folded flowers suspended on wire stems. The cloud was first installed in Vaughan Cemetery, a small goldfields township in Victoria; and was the final installation in a series of interactive artworks titled The Distance Between You and Me. The exterior print on the flowers features images of water, stars, and the molecules found in interstellar space: and suspended above the ground they create an effect inspired by interstellar clouds.

Interstellar clouds exist in space as the result of the birth of stars. When stars are born there is a hot explosion and reaction: creating water. The discovery of interstellar clouds provided evidence that water has been prevalent in the universe for nearly its entire existence. Water found on Earth originates from them, and is one of the main reasons our planet supports life. All of life on Earth is made from elements found in interstellar space: so the universe is in all of us, as we are in it. Captured within this installation are stories of the lives of those laid to rest beneath it, from their era (circa 1870).

This artwork was first installed in Vaughan Cemetery (Victoria), and has now migrated to Rookwood; stories from both locations feature. You can view them by laying beneath the cloud to look up through the flowers.

Images

1. INTERSTELLAR CLOUD #2, detail of flowers. 
Print on synthetic paper, wire, dimensions variable.

2. INTERSTELLAR CLOUD #2, in situ at Rookwood Cemetery. 

3. INTERSTELLAR CLOUD #2, filmed in situ at Rookwood Cemetery.

See related project "The Distance Between You and Me".