Babekuhl: Black ink white paper

Kate McCurdy

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Held in a former glass factory in Sydney, Cloud Formation: a forecast of dream shapes featured multimedia work by artists Morgan Veness (Japan), Haruka Kokubu (Japan) and Malou Dunkley (Australia), architects German Perez Tavio (Spain) and Didier Ryan (UK) and designers Patrick Santamaria, Sam Painter and Billy Ryan (Australia).

Over two days in the informal, underground setting for the unofficial Biennale event, contributors and guests were invited to participate in lively group discussions, making the exhibition not only a showcase of multimedia work, but also a productive and provocative cross-media forum.

The Cloud formations theme was not only reflected in the work of the artists, but also the presentation of the exhibition itself. This was shown in the way the works were overlaid into a ‘diffuse, cloudy form, allowing site specific relationships to evolve and engage viewers’.

Cloud formation: a forecast of dream shapes

The artistic backgrounds of the artists ranged from textile design to photography, architecture, graphic design, product design and visual arts.

The work of artists Morgan Veness & Haruka Kokubu was characterised by mythical and imaginary figures in floating, dreamlike states. Veness used bold, energetic forms to reveal a myriad of pulsating elements in the details. His technique combined fine pen drafting with soft brush painting to build deep visual fields. Kokubu used textiles and painted fabric to construct ‘Dream cap’ a mythical device for carrying children into the dream world. The space was shrouded in painted quilts with scenes from the journey.

Morgan veness: 'boom, Boom treasure hunter's 7'

Babekuhl Productions designed a meditation space using a psychedelic cloud pattern from their recent Black Ink and White Paper publication, presenting their book and forthcoming vinyl toy Babucloud. Featured designs from the book showed subliminal emblems such as Smile and Wolf in dog’s clothing in which friendly silhouettes revealed more sinister compositions.

Undercurrent architects presented a recent project; a design influenced by Sydney’s outdoor lifestyle and the desire to integrate with the environment. The building responds to the landscape using an architectural language of cloud, rain, tree, leaf, branch and fire and defines an ethereal and heavenly space used as a garden studio.

Undercurrent architects: Sydney Studio Roof

Malou Dunkley produced a photographic series on the relationship of the building and garden, focusing on shadows, reflections, superpositioning and its atmospheric qualities.

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