Art details

A new experience in-between

I was fortunate to be chosen as one of the 134 finalists in the Love Lace exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney (Australia). What I learned from my exhibition "[Third Space]" at the Takamoa Mission House on Rarotonga, formed the base of my new creation. Installing the work's components in such a very different space was a wonderful and at times challenging exercise.

"Third Space II", 35 panels composed of Paper Mulberry tapa (bark cloth), cotton gauze, interfacing and free-form machine-sewn lace; 6 m x 6 m x 3.30 m; © A. Eimke 2011.

As intended, on Rarotonga, viewers had enjoyed stepping into the installation's magical space, observing and even dancing along with the gentle movement of the light-weight lace. In Sydney that was not possible. At the Powerhouse Museum, a fence constrains the lace panels leaving the viewer with the longing to enter.

On Rarotonga, sounds of the nearby Theological college's hymns and the songs of birds and wind came in through the room's open doors. The exhibition space in Sydney is contained in a large building. I felt that there the installation needed to have its own acoustic component: Kopeka (Atiu Swiftlets) are tiny black birds unique to my residential island of Atiu. They nest deep inside the total darkness of a lime-stone cave. In order to echo-locate the way to their nests, they emit clicking sounds. These sounds now echo the impression of a magical inner space. Listen here to an interview conducted at the museum shortly after the opening.