Axel Ewald - recent projects, discoveries & reflections

Floating Sails

-  A Social Sculpture Exploration at Brookes University - December 2013

So, here I am back, finally updating my blog with reports about events from the (not quite so) distant past.

For my final presentation concluding the semester I attended at the Master's Course in Social Sculpture at Brookes University I chose to work with the theme of 'connected-ness'. I wanted to create an installation which would convey an experience of how we - in spite of our distinctive and often conflicting egos - are connected by (invisible) threads; connected to each other and to a larger context which is beyond our finite, temporal existence - and yet dependent on us . Sometimes we can get a hint of this mutual inter-relatedness.

Shortly after I decided on this theme I had a dream, in which I saw (and heard) something like a beating, radiating heart in the centre of a dark space. People, all of whom were connected by some means to this beating centre, were moving around this heart. Some time after this dream I tried to capture this image in a drawing:

This initial image had to go through a number of metamorphoses until its materialization in the final installation. For the participatory installation I decided to involve the group of students and tutors I was studying with. As I wanted people to pick up their own 'threads of inter-connected-ness', I had to make these recognizable and specific to the individuals. Over a period of three weeks I drew 25 portraits of all the people whom I thought might come to the event. These drawings were to be placed on the floor for people to find and pick them up. Each drawing would be connected by means of a thread / string to some kind of kinetic sculptural configuration in the centre of the space. This sculpture would  be very 'responsive' to any manipulation of the threads.

The final sculptural installation was constructed of triangular frames made of willow branches which were holding thin, semi-transparent paper sheets. These 'sails' were suspended from longer willow branches in the fashion of a kinetic mobile. 25 threads were connected to strategic points of the mobile allowing participants to manipulate the movement. With so many 'strings attached' the coordination of the individual movements would be very critical in order to avoid complete chaos and I was very anxious about how people would be dealing with this.

When the group entered the dimly lit installation space on the morning of December, 10th the only instruction they found was the following note:

In the beginning people were somewhat confused and hesitant but soon began picking up their drawings. Then followed a long pause of intense silence with participants standing in a circle around the motionless central installation.

At last some of them plucked their courage, tentatively pulled their strings - and the dance of the sails began. I cannot say for how long it lasted - it was an experience of utter timelessness and magic. People operated their strings with skill and restraint, creating moments of silent communion.
The following video clip was recorded before the actual event (that means without the people). It gives an impression of the effect of the symphony of floating 'sails'. As background music I added a piece from the "Eight Japanese Folk Songs, composed by Vic Nees and performed by the choir I am part of (Kolot HaSadeh Choir, conducted by Anat Aharoni).