Empyrean - light and sound installation
I was given the opportunity to react to the pulpit in All Hallows’ Church, a beautiful and historic structure, as part of the Lady Bay Arts Festival 2018.
I was struck by the potential to create something immersive, engaging and beguiling. I was keen to realise an installation which respected the space; while creating the potential to connect, surprise and create reactions, spiritual or otherwise, with visitors. Key to the experience was the chance to work with Holly Early, a sound artist who understood the aims of the installation and bought her experience, enthusiasm, keen sense of space and the potential of sound.
The resulting piece, ‘Empyrean’, combines vibrant petri-dishes with three channels of ever-changing soundscapes in an environment designed to transport visitors from the everyday to a place of wonder and serenity. It subtly reacts to each persons unique personality, history and sense of self. The space is such that it can be simply observed or fully engaged with depending on one’s viewpoint.
“Every once in a while you come across art that makes you stop! Paul and Holly’s installation at the Lady Bay Arts Festival is one such piece. It is both a soundscape and a visual delight rolled into one and it does what all great art does; it takes you away from the everyday and invites you to a world of its own. The seamless blend of visual and aural is possibly one of the best ways to enjoy a “mindful” moment, or indeed a mind freeing moment or two.”
— Mike Finn, Festival Visitor
Empyrean Information Pack
You will find all the relevant information about Empyrean in the information pack.
Testimonial
Mark Rodel, Vicar at All Hallows Church
"One of the most stunning works in this year’s church exhibition was the site-specific installation created by Paul and Holly. This collaborative work brings together a specially created ‘nook’ that incorporates the church’s pulpit , stunning circular coloured dishes and haunting selections from meditative music around the world.
The shifting soundscape alters visual perception. At one moment, I saw echoes of birds in flight, as if caught in one’s peripheral vision. At another accompanied by sounds of chanting from Asia, the forms in the ishes became human figures in exuberant dance. There was a lively energy to the experience and yet simultaneously, it was a calming space.
Paradoxically in such a small enclosure, the experience was transcendent; the subtly breaking symmetry of the arrangement of the circular glasses reminding me of the notion of spontaneous symmetry breaking so fundamental to some scientific explanations as to how there is something rather than nothing in this Universe.
I was so taken with this work that it felt like a wasted opportunity to allow it to be taken down after just two days. I invited Paul and Holly to leave it in situ for a month so that our congregation and others can continue to experience its contemplative potential."
- Mark Rodel, Vicar at All Hallows’ Church
A selection of the dishes from the installation
