Iridescent Air Architecture at Venice Biennale

This is my design research in the form of interactive installation designed and fabricated with Mehran Gharleghi and in collaboration with Irina Dashkovsky, Omar Ibraz and Tom Scopes. The installation was exhibited during Biennale Sessions at the Salle d’Armi all’ Arsenale. The opening was accompanied by movement performance The Bridging Lines – Arsenale with choreography by Yong Min Cho and in collaboration with Accademia Teatrale Veneta and Jinwoo Jung (Guest Performer) and music by Leah Wingham.

Iridescence appeared with the evolution of the eye and is closely connected to sexual selection. Because of their gorgeous blue, the Morpho butterfly species have been investigated several times. Their iridescent scales are quite complex and the reason why we can see multiple colours on their wings is due to structural color and not pigment. The structure of Morpho butterfly wing is due to the white light interacting with the air-filled geometry of its nanoscale environment, in which its composite wavelengths scatter, diffract, and interfere with each other to produce iridescence.

The veins in the wings of a butterfly are also inflatable structure. Architectural in nature the structure is very light and colourful. The installation explored the consequences of such structures on a macro scale using parachute material and LED lighting (which operates similarly to compound eye of the butterfly) powered by simple fans while operated digitally through arduino board system. These images show how the body of dance performer Jinwoo Jung interacted with slow motion inflation of installation elements activating unpredictable occupational zones within architecturally delineated space.

More information about the symposium Fundamentals of Space: Colour and Line for which this installation was made could be found on: http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/exhibition/biennale-sessions/abstracts.html and http://www.aaschool.ac.uk//VIDEO/lecture.php?ID=2682