highlike

Sean Follmer, Mac Schwager & Allison Okamura

An untethered isoperimetric soft robot
The simplest version of this squishy robot is an inflated tube that runs through three small machines that pinch it into a triangle shape. One machine holds the two ends of the tube together; the other two drive along the tube, changing the overall shape of the robot by moving its corners. The researchers call it an “isoperimetric robot” because, although the shape changes dramatically, the total length of the edges – and  the amount of air inside – remains the same.

Lundén Architecture Company

Another Generosity
Another Generosity explores a new structure that consists of a membrane holding two basic elements: air and water. The simple structures are combined to create a visible and dynamic cellular structure. The inflated elements mediate between the natural and built environment. They respond to external and sometimes unseen stimuli, creating a new kind of experience, a momentary hesitation that heightens our awareness of our surroundings.

Harrison Pearce

Defence Cascade
In the installation inflated silicone forms are suspended amidst an austere metal structure, and are prodded by automated rods. Set to contrastingly beautiful music by composer Alex Mills, which is punctuated by the industrial sounds of the mechanised device, the art work looks like a science experiment, or some kind of torture device, and you may find yourself anthropomorphising the poor, inflated bags which are at the mercy of their mechanical environment.

NILS VÖLKER

Two Hundred and Seventy
Through the combination of an everyday material with precise technology the mixed media installation fills the whole columned hall from the 19th century with its fluid movement and peculiar sound. Concavely arranged and floating above the spectators heads the form of the artwork seems to pass the skylight like the sun’s rays. Subdivided into nine columns, the nearly 70 square metres large piece of art follows a site-specific choreography determined by a program. Its moving surface is made from 270 white garbage bags, being inflated and deflated. In this way shapes and the boundaries of the installation itself start to dissolve. “Two Hundred and Seventy“ is the first installation with an undisguised view behind the scenes and onto the origin of the wavelike and organic movement: 1080 fans, lots of cables and 45 circuit boards

Ana Rewakowicz

Conversation Bubble
At any given moment of time five people are needed to inflate the structure. While the bodies of participants are squeezed and immobilized between two layers of clear vinyl, their heads can move and talk inside the inflated bubble. The duration of the piece depends on the five people’s agreement to end it, as no one can leave on his/her own accord.

Anna Hepler

The Great Haul
Artist Anna Hepler breaks it all down into the perfect representation of form and leaves the viewer to ponderwhich is exactly what every artist should do. Her 2D work evolves from her 3D sculpture that she constructs using various cast off pieces of plastic that are assembled and inflated. She then uses those structures as the spring board for her drawings, paintings and prints.

G.Mazars

Deflating pavilion
The light, unbound structure of the deflating pavilion, revolving around the theme “dream” was proposed as a temporary pavilion that subtlety drapes over and encompass the Museum Garden in London. The design creates an inflated, altered reality within the existing landscape.

GERALDO ZAMPRONI

GIANT INFLATED PILLOWS
The monolithic red cushions have been shown as part of various events throughout brazil, peru, argentina and spain – peppering landscapes with the massive artworks as if squeezed within the crevices of each city. The interventions interrogate architecture and landscape – providing a new perspective on a space that depicts tension and uneasiness.