Playground Setup Day 2
One of the great things about working with other artists is watching other people’s visions come to life. Working with Kevin Flynn and Ryan Longo afforded a wonderful direction for this type of collaborative vision.
Kevin was interested in what would happen if we made the dome into an alien-esque jungle landscape to house Ryan’s Intergalactic Garden Supply sculptures. He wanted to use anti-radar material, vines, and hanging lighting to create the effect of a jungle-like, other-worldly enclosure.
I loved his vision, but I was slightly concerned about how we would pull it off. The fabric he had was extremely heavy and these domes are evenly weighted so that they have structural integrity. The structure can’t support a lot of weight and I was a little worried about the stress this fabric would put on the dome, but I was fairly certain that if we displaced the weight evenly on the surface we could keep the tensile integrity of the structure. My hunch proved correct, and although I could see the dome taking some stress, the evenness of the weight felt stable.
On the inside of the dome we hung more fabric and intwined it with vines. Alien-like pod lighting was hung at various parts of the dome and white flowers were installed. The whole effect definitely felt natural and yet from some other world, exactly the effect we were going for.
Added to that were Ryan’s Desert Flower sculptures which completed the entire feeling of being in another terrene. Shifting led light and unnatural yet naturist shapes made the whole space feel familiar yet estranged.
We did lighting tests and staged the area, just in time for the dome to get used for a wedding that was happening at the festival. It’s not the first time one of these domes has been used for a wedding, they’re ideal and beautiful spaces for intimate commitment ceremonies. But it was exciting to see an impromptu use of the dome in this way.
Finally setup and ready for the evening, the dome was prepared to house participants and create connected space.
