Red Rooftop Provides Calm Space for Reflection
This art installation by Urgent.Agency in Linz, Austria, called 'Common Clearings' aims at creating a friendly, yet unknown world, and the exploration of the rooftop as a collective reflective space in the city.
The project creates a mesmerizing realm of colour, texture, and space, using the red fabric, the wind and the sun as the definition of shared clearing. Textile layers compose labyrinth paths along contemplative sanctuaries, perception of which depends on the point of view. The aim is to create an experience that is physical and meditative at the same time. The creators want the visitors to find a clearing in the middle of a “disturbing world” by pointing to the amazing aspects of it. It’s supposed to remind people to take better care of both the world and themselves.
The installation is also an example of interdisciplinarity as Martin Sturm, artistic director at OK Center of Contemporary Art, underlines. “It is a bit like an urban space up here, and cities and urban spaces are created in collaborations,” he says. ‘Common Clearings’ is formed with the hanging fabrics hanging to create various spatial experiences, exploring light and shadow, thickness and openness.
Created as a part of the Sinnesrausch exhibition in Linz, the project consists of both a physical installation and a book. The design is a response falling into an idea of using the rooftops as a place for artistic exploration of both the senses and the city. It is a place, where visitors are invited to playfully explore themselves and their relation with space.
