Unsui

Artists:
JHA Consulting Engineers: Susanne Thomassen (Norway) / Aaditya Kasliwal (India) / 
Jan-Michael Catarroja (Philippines) / Kishan Chand (Fiji) / Tara-lee Brennan (New Zealand) / 
Roy Aston (New Zealand)

The practices of Zen Buddhism give us the name of the installation, a term which literally translates as “cloud water”, but as used in ancient Zen poetry, it represents a meditative state : ‘to drift like clouds and flow like water’.Unsui invites participants to suspend, for a moment, their habitual state of being and allow themselves to be transported by a cloud-like mist to a place of tranquillity and stillness.

Visitors begin a compelling sensory journey after entering a contained and curated atmosphere. This initially presents as a simple domed structure: within its walls video projection, sound effects and a host of theatrical effects and luminaires take them through a cloudscape of light and sound.

The atmosphere can initially appear dense and opaque; sometimes it is transparent and wispy; at other times it captures that sense of brilliance that occurs when sunlight is filtered through a cloud.

Unsui was created by JHA Consulting Engineers: in using cutting-edge technology to explore the elusive themes of cloud and water, they have achieved a work that is truly ethereal.

Country represented by installation: Australia