a collaborative installation
richard skinner, matthew perkins, vicki sauvage, matt warren
It was a warm sunny day in Hobart. The birds sang and happy people wore shorts and revelled in the sunshine. It was a normal Saturday afternoon in the Southern-most city of Australia. I nodded at the gallery attendant and ambled up the stairs to the cool tempting air of the gallery. Perusing the CV's of Richard Skinner, Matthew Perkins, Vicki Sauvage and Matt Warren, the collaborative force of designer-makers and video/sound artists behind L'Ambiente, I noticed that the gallery door was shut. A sign at the entrance mysteriously proclaimed , 'Please come in, close the door behind you'. I stood for a while staring at the door, my intrigue sparked as to what unknown treasures might lie beyond the elusive portal. I felt like Alice pausing in front of a giant rabbit hole: if I went in, would I ever come back? Holding my breath I turned the handle and stepped inside.
At first I was a little dubious as to what I could expect from an installation which claimed to 'explore the emotional potential of light, sound and form' .1 How could a space make me feel emotion; was I going to cry, laugh or get angry? I walked up the stairs doubtful, only to emerge an hour later a devoted believer.
L'Ambiente was not of this world. Without overhead lighting the gallery was subdued and dim. Strange 'pinging' sounds reverberated around the room and created the effect of being underwater or cocooned inside the retro lounge room of a space station. Foamy white screens of woven polyethylene strips guided me along into the centre of the space like fleshy, !issued curves flexing and rolling, leading me back