Odyssey

Date
2022

Material
Bronze, Soundscape, Lightscape and Video

Dimensions
L26 x W3.2 x H2.4m (L85.3 x W10.5 x 7.9ft)

Sound
Soundscape composed by Ebe Oke

“Odyssey” is so named because it is a journey, 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 succession of sculptures whose origins lie in the instantaneous instinctive creation of thousands of tiny clay objects by Patrik Fredrikson and Ian Stallard. From these beginnings several pieces were selected for their gestural sculptural qualities, and also their ambiguity. These objects, created in the most physically instinctive way by the human hand, are then enlarged in scale using some of the most cutting edge technology, completely changing the way we perceive and interact with them. They are then transformed into bronze using the historical lost wax bronze casting technique, creating sculptures with great tactility and permanence.

As you enter the immersive experience you pass through two pairs of screens. Here we have created an animation using our sculptures which are mirrored like a Rorschach ink blot, highlighting how the mind of the audience can read into all the works and see something unique via their own imagination as they pass through. Within the immersive experience, the eternal nature of space is created with a mirrored environment which reflects both the bronze works and the audience within the space to infinity. The atmosphere has been heightened by a soundscape composed in response to the installation by composer and 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 also choreographed to respond to the soundscape and the sculptures in an ever changing symphony.