'faraday cage', 2010 by hiroshi sugimoto
image © designboom


the 17th biennale of sydney opened last week under the theme 'the beauty of distance: songs
of survival in a precarious age'. the show presents more than 440 works by 166 artists
and collaborators from 36 countries, including new works created especially for sydney.

cockatoo island (a former convict prison and dockyard for shipbuilding) located in the middle
of sydney harbour is the main venue.

japanese artist hiroshi sugimoto created 'faraday cage' an installation specially conceived for
the power house on cockatoo island containing light boxes from his recent lightning field series.
the work is based on sugimoto's experiments photographically imaging static electricity on large
format film. part medium part scientist, sugimoto is both recorder and facilitator of the process
which evanescent tendrils of forked 'lightning' manifest a fundamental natural relationship between
light, energy, power and the dawn of life itself.

visitors view the glowing images held aloft on a series of stage like platforms. once they ascend through
the space they are faced with 'rajin' a thirteenth century japanese sculpture - the god of thunder.



image © designboom





adding to the lightning effect is the sound of thunder which plays in the background


image © designboom



image © designboom



image © designboom



image © designboom



image © designboom



image © designboom



image © designboom



image © designboom



image © designboom



image © designboom



lightning field series, 2009
image © designboom




lightning field series, 2009



'raijin' the god of thunder
image © designboom



'raijin' the god of thunder
image © designboom



hiroshi sugimoto
portrait © designboom