Odyssey, 2022
Fredrikson Stallard’s immersive 30 metre permanent installation for one of the foremost cruise liners of our time, Celebrity Beyond.
The original journey, through time and space, through the primeval formation of matter, through to the beginnings of life and humanity. This story is told through a succession of sculptures whose origins lie in the instantaneous creation of thousands of tiny clay objects, created in the most physically instinctive way by the human hand, then digitally enlarged in scale and cast in solid mirror polished bronze, creating sculptures with great tactility and permanence.
The entrances are gated with slowly revolving video, mirrored in a Rorschach manner, highlighting how the mind of the audience can read into all the works and see something unique via their own imagination as they enter. Within, the eternal nature of space is created with a mirrored environment which reflects both the bronze works and the audience to infinity. The installation includes a soundscape, composed in response to the work by sound artist Ebe Oke, reflecting on the digital and analogue synthesis within the sculptures and expressing this with the composition and choice of sounds which are likewise digital and analogue. The lighting is choreographed to respond to the soundscape and the sculptures in an ever changing symphony.
The installation took 2 years to complete and comprises of 30 unique bronze sculptures, video, mirror, LCD screens, audio, LED light.