SMELL OF THE MOON

‘ The Smell of the Moon - v3’

A temporary light and sound installation.

Abbots Hospital,  Guildford High Street.

Commissioned for the switch on of the Xmas lights.

Part of Recycle by Design Show - funded by Arts Council.

2007.

Outline

A sculptural form created using three thousand kiln fired recycled glass jars of varying size, arranged as a large-scale installation approx 8 meters in diameter.

The jars were arranged on the ground, in sets of concentric circles, which were floodlit using ultraviolet projector lamps.

The jars had been slumped during multiple kiln firings to produce an array of unique and individual shapes, collectively giving them an anthromorphological feel. The illuminated circle was arranged in such a way that the jars appeared to ‘lean’ into a central spot.

Within the jars were varying quantities of UV sensitive colored water, which glowed under the light. Three ultraviolet projectors were placed to bathe the viewers and work in a moonlight glow.

As dusk fell, the piece gradually emerged from the mixture of the natural twilight and the projected UV.   

The piece was accompanied by an eight speaker multichannel sound work featuring rising and falling ambient orchestral chords, samples of radio transmission interference, and snippets of dialogue taken from the early Apollo moon missions.

This work was viewed on two levels, from the ground, where the detail of the individual shaped glass was visible, and from above, utilising the roof balconies of the Abbots Hospital for an aerial view.

Concept

The Smell of the Moon was inspired in part by the story of Apollo 16 astronaut Gene Cernan who noticed the smell of ‘burned gunpowder’ coming from the dust on his boots when he removed his helmet inside the capsule after completing his moon walk.

The notion of a space where a sense cannot exist and a smell can only be experienced by a select few, arises the everyday question ‘what would it smell like? To imagine the moon in a multi-sensory way, rather than as light in the sky makes it more real – less distant or scientific, bringing an imaginary environment alive and forming a starting point for this installation.

For this piece I wanted people to view the work from the rooftop of the building – which meant that they had to climb a 14-century spiral staircase in the dark.  This in itself was as exciting addition, taking people to a place that is rarely open to the public.