In Visible - Rob Olins: FIRST@108 Public Art Award
Date uploaded: January 14, 2013
As part of FIRST@108 Public Art Award, the Royal British Society of Sculptors (RBS) is set to be transformed. Rob Olins’ large scale work In Visible will be shown on the RBS' Sculpture Forecourt while its Salon gallery will be immersed by his House of Mirrors@RBS. These bright, unnaturally coloured concave acoustic dishes are intended to challenge and investigate our visual and our auditory perceptions. These high visibility installations are completed by a totally invisible soundscape of recordings harvested and composed by Douglas Benford.
The large scale, pure architectural shapes of Olins’ constructions have both a technical and an intuitive function. They send out a distinct and conspicuous visual signal and assert themselves in relation to (in this case) both the eccentric Arts & Crafts façade and the enclosed space of the interior gallery.
Olins’ colours are carefully chosen to be as unnatural as possible. He does not want to arouse any associations with the colours of everyday life so that the viewer can lose him or herself in their livid purity and their vastness.
Once the viewer is drawn into and around the work visually, he or she soon becomes aurally seduced and engaged by the sonic collages drawn from the world outside. The viewer becomes the listener.
A vital part of Olins’ work is collaboration, and for House of Mirrors, Olins worked with composer Douglas Benford who created the soundscape by harvesting both natural and manmade sounds from the surrounding area. Olins is also collaborating with each visitor who is immersed in his work as they too can contribute to the work through their own whispers conveyed from acoustic mirror to acoustic mirror in the gallery. The viewer and listener is now also an active participant in the work.
House of Mirrors opened at the Mission Gallery in Swansea in October 2012 and its creation was supported by Arts Council Wales and Arts Council England.
Sculpture Forecourt: 31 January—end October 2013
Solo Exhibition: 31 January—19 April 2013
Talk: Wednesday 20 February 2013
About Rob Olins
Based in the Forest of Dean, on the Welsh Borders, Rob Olins is a sculptor working cross media, informed by architecture, the urban environment, acoustics and modern engineering techniques, with particular emphasis on achieving a high quality, crafted end result. A collaborative approach has always been a key element of his practice; working with specialists, institutions, individual practitioners, community groups and public bodies
