Pocket Cosmos | Curiocity Festival, Brisbane 2021

Pocket Cosmos is a giant vertical kaleidoscope - a mirror prism which transforms the surrounding environment into a firmament of light, colour and movement. Inspired by humanity’s predisposition for pattern recognition, the installation draws on the science of optics and light to explore the phenomenon of symmetry. The physical structure plays upon the geometric patterns found in nature to give audiences a tactile and immersive experience.

From daylight to dusk, the kaleidoscope reshapes the natural world into a shifting orb of beautiful hues and patterns. At different times of the day, the colour of the sky, the movement of the clouds and the angle of the sun create a spectacular array of changing visual effects giving audiences a moment for contemplation and transformation.

The artwork was built and first exhibited horizontally in the foyer of Sydney’s International Towers as Kolossal Kaleidoscope. It was flat packed and transported to the Botanical Gardens in Brisbane for the Curiocity Festival where it was erected vertically and clad in alang alang thatching to create a natural tower in the park that you could walk into.

Exhibited: Curiocity, Brisbane 2021
Dimensions: 8.4m x 2.4m x 2.4m
Artists: Juan Pablo Pinto, Lachlan Brown, Laura Jade, Leslie Marsh
Team: Mercurio Alvarado, Seb Guy, Vera van Maaren, Max Volfneuk, Dan Webber
Engineering: Partridge Engineering
Photography: Markus Ravik, Juan Pablo Pinto and Jed Long

Installation at International Towers Barangaroo

Exhibited: International Tower, Sydney 2021
Dimensions: 8.4m x 2.4m x 2.4m
Artists: Juan Pablo Pinto, Lachlan Brown, Laura Jade, Leslie Marsh
Team: Mercurio Alvarado, Vera Van Marien, Max Volfneuk, Dan Webber
Engineering: Partdridge Engineering
Photography: Markus Ravik