Vibrant Matter pays homage to Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River) and the energy that emanates from it, through pattern, light and space. Spanning the auditorium’s exterior shell, this artwork invites the viewer to move around it and explore the space, revealing overlapping patterns that shift with the viewers’ interaction. The work is materially and visually complex in its parts, yet viewed as a whole, these components blur and become a gentle undulating pulse, speaking to the vibrant nature of Derbarl Yerrigan and its perpetual flow through the landscape. Vibrant Matter creates a space where past and future reverberate in the present.
Vibrant Matter’s lighting at night is inspired by the research of Dr Nicole Jones, Dr Matt Rayson and Dr Will Edge at the University of Western Australia that uses acoustic signals to detect features that are otherwise invisible or intangible, such as plumes of sediment rising from the Derbarl Yerrigan riverbed. Data from this research has been reimagined as light and movement to illuminate the artwork, visualising the unseen energy of the river.
Client: Chevron Australia
Project Management and Fabrication: UAP
Location: 1 The Esplanade, Perth.