"ENESS' Iwagumi Air Scape unfolds across Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, marking one of the few contemporary artworks to occupy the 13th-century square in its long history. The large-scale installation transforms the civic heart of the city into a field of luminous, air-filled 'boulders' that appear geological in mass. More than 10,000 people gathered around the work, yet, despite the crowds, the atmosphere reportedly settled into an unexpected calm, as visitors moved quietly among the forms."
"The team draws from the Japanese concept of iwagumi, a tradition of composed rock arrangements that emphasize balance, stillness, and reverence toward nature. Here, that sensibility is translated into inflatable volumes that evoke immense stone formations. By day, the matte surfaces read as oversized fragments of landscape displaced into the urban grid. By night, they emit shifting color and a responsive soundscape inspired by frogs, birds, and bats, introducing subtle acoustic life into the square."
"In Iwagumi Air Scape, the Melbourne-based art and technology studio operates through contrast. Its soft, air-supported structures suggest thousands of tons of rock, yet they are lightweight and fully dismantled at the end of each presentation, with materials sustainably broken down. In Bologna, the lilac glow of the inflatables interacts with the surrounding architectural lighting, creating a layered dialogue between the historic fabric and the temporary intervention."
ENESS' Iwagumi Air Scape occupies Piazza Maggiore in Bologna with large, air-filled forms that read as luminous 'boulders' and evoke geological mass. More than 10,000 people gathered around the installation, yet visitors moved quietly among the shapes and the atmosphere settled into an unexpected calm. The project adapts iwagumi rock-arrangement principles into inflatable volumes, presented previously at Marina Bay in Singapore and Prahran Square in Melbourne. By day the matte surfaces resemble displaced landscape fragments; by night they emit shifting color and a responsive soundscape inspired by frogs, birds, and bats. The lightweight structures are dismantled after presentations and materials are sustainably broken down.
Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine
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