Illusion at Big Chill 2011, with a small showing at the Wilderness Festival

Sometimes one gets lucky and creates something with breath; something that lives on its own, separate from its creator.

The aggregate of materials, cold and lonely, find life in their companionship.

Breathing light,

rhythmically pulsating with intensity,

a curiosity, foreign to the land,

conquering gravity, holding the horizon

making life with light with sound with touch

Darren Parnaby & David Lindsay of Leeds, you know how to werk it: Thank you guys, for breathing life into this light, and for introducing this dumb American to pear cider.

Illusion at Big Chill Festival, Eastnor Castle, U.K

Illusion is a light sculpture on a canvas of 32 massive balloons spread over an area the size of half a football pitch.  At night, the balloons come alive with light and music.   “A really fantastic space,” said Jason Eppink of the first production of Illusion. “I felt like I was swimming or flying. Or both. Probably the highlight of the art this year.” Lights are painstakingly programmed to form a choreography set to a wide range of music. The lights evoke a range of moods with soft, fading luminescence interspersed by glimmering, dancing lights.

Festival goers can touch the balloons as the landscape around them rhythmically pulsates. Illusion was inspired by images of the Yipeng Lantern Festival held yearly in Thailand. The festival features a spectacle of over 200,000 floating, candle-lit lanterns that rise up to a mile into the night sky.  Locals believe that as the Sky Lantern rise, it takes away their troubles and brings good luck in the future. Illusion’s early designs specified thousands of small balloons, each containing a small strobe, floating up to 200 feet in the air to capture a modern vision of the festival.  To reduce complexities, the plan was modified, with a network of large balloons tethered to the ground.

“I felt like I was swimming or flying. Or both. Probably the highlight of the art this year.”

“…and ‘Illusion, which had 24 large, lighted helium balloons tethered together and pulsating to music. “The art and music go really good together, like peanut butter and jelly,” said Petra Marar, 22, of New Orleans, as she admired the “Illusion” installation. “So much of art is music. It’s a perfect match.”

-Rick Jervis, USA TODAY

Illusion is a concept by Benson Trent, a US-based designer, with credit to Daniel Holsinger, Jay Christianson, Tom Bowen and Jaise Batty.  “Growing up, I remember putting on light shows with a projector and a sheet,” said Trent, “There’s something entrancing about the light dancing to music.” The project is produced in cooperation The Big Chill Festival, and was an honorarium art installation at the 2008 Burning Man

Big Chill Festival. August 5-8, 2010.

Illusion at Global Gathering UK 2010

Illusion will be at Global Gathering 2010: Friday 30 July 2007 and Saturday 31 July 2010 at Long Marston Airfield, near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom.   Illusion comes to GlobalGathering with joint cooperation from the Big Chill Festival.

Illusion is a light sculpture on a canvas of 25 massive balloons spread over an area the size of half a football pitch.  At night, the balloons come alive with light and music.   “A really fantastic space,” said Jason Eppink of the first production of Illusion. “I felt like I was swimming or flying. Or both. Probably the highlight of the art this year.” Lights are painstakingly programmed to form a choreography set to a wide range of music. The lights evoke a range of moods with soft, fading luminescence interspersed by glimmering, dancing lights.

Festival goers can touch the balloons as the landscape around them rhythmically pulsates. Illusion was inspired by images of the Yipeng Lantern Festival held yearly in Thailand. The festival features a spectacle of over 200,000 floating, candle-lit lanterns that rise up to a mile into the night sky.  Locals believe that as the Sky Lantern rise, it takes away their troubles and brings good luck in the future. Illusion’s early designs specified thousands of small balloons, each containing a small strobe, floating up to 200 feet in the air to capture a modern vision of the festival.  To reduce complexities, the plan was modified, with a network of large balloons tethered to the ground.

“…and ‘Illusion, which had 24 large, lighted helium balloons tethered together and pulsating to music. “The art and music go really good together, like peanut butter and jelly,” said Petra Marar, 22, of New Orleans, as she admired the “Illusion” installation. “So much of art is music. It’s a perfect match.”

-Rick Jervis, USA TODAY
Illusion is a concept by Benson Trent, a US-based designer, with credit to Daniel Holsinger, Jay Christianson, Tom Bowen and Jaise Batty.  “Growing up, I remember putting on light shows with a projector and a sheet,” said Trent, “There’s something entrancing about the light dancing to music.” The project is produced in cooperation The Big Chill Festival, and was an honorarium art installation at the 2008 Burning Man

Update Report

After a week long of intense setup, our balloons were up and working like a dream on Thursday.  We had them up in high winds all day on Friday, and then the doors to the public opened at 5pm.  And they just got attacked.  We had to begin taking down almost immediately.  It was the saddest day I’ve had in quite a long time.  We made a big toy, and well, people break toys, and that’s ok.  We were astounded by the abusive behavior towards our balloons.  But in hindsight, we see that the materials themselves just cry out to people to RUN and launch themselves headfirst into what is essentially a giant pillow.  A pillow with sensitive electronics, light bulbs, and 230 volts of electricity.  We had to shut it down to save the balloons that were developing massive rips.  But my, people were having FUN doing it!

I was absolutely devastated–and it surprises me how months of planning, sleepless nights and aching muscles elicits a core emotional response.  It’s in these times, you see how far your basic psyche prowess will take you, and one decides if they’re going to have a mental breakdown or not.  In the end, I found myself yelling at people, then smiling, dancing and crying; my coping mechanisms set in.

Contrast that day by the light test we did the night before the show’s opening.  We had 24 massive balloons up, singing with light and music.  It was a euphoric reward in seeing people come by and fall in love with the space, and in seeing a landscape transformed by a crazy idea. We’re going to post a video soon, so at least we have some record to share.

And next week, we’ll try this again at the Big Chill festival.  Sadly, we won’t be able to let people interact so intimately with the balloons. By the very nature of the materials, we did a bad job of communicating to festival goers how to interact with the piece. Perhaps a yellow caution tape surrounding each balloon, or a small fence will communicate the message that you can destroy the balloon by launching your entire body weight at what is essentially camping tent material.

Illusion III at the Botannical Gardens in City Park, New Orleans

Illusion III is a light sculpture of nylon Chinese lanterns. Fading and glimmering, they are a floating network of lanterns below a canopy of two impossibly large oak trees.  Originally inspired by images of the Thailand Lantern Festival, it is the third light sculpture interpretation produced by Eyetrap. The light sequences are programmed using off the shelf hardware and software from Light O Rama, typically used in animated Christmas displays.

With the learnings from the experiment of PVC Balloons for the Voodoo Festival learned, Kirsha Kaechele, Art Curator for Life is Art Foundation in New Orleans and I set out to recreate a version of the light sculpture in a format that would be cheap, durable and maintenance free.

I sourced a variety of nylon lanterns that would endure weather and crowds under the gorgeous live oaks of the New Orleans Botanical Gardens.  Kirsha was concerned using common Chinese lanterns would be simply decorative, without an original visual, and it remains a valid concern.  My hope is with the custom built light sequences, we bring something memorable to the visitors of the Botanical Gardens.

The technical challenges of keeping air in delicate PVC or latex balloonsare eliminated to ensure the project durability of at least two months.  With no worry of balloons popping, setup, with the help of Moe, Pierre, Neils and Paul, was a much smoother experience.

Illusion II at Voodoo Festival in New Orleans

These installations were all over the festival ground and everyone one of them very different from each other. There were huge floating balls with lights in them that seem to have no attachment. As if there were hovering over the grounds wanting to float away but not being able to because the music was keeping them there. There were not quite in front of the Voodoo stage, but to the side. I spent a lot of time in that area dancing to Electronic and House music among the lit up balls. Art and music is always a good combination. They go together like rice and beans, rum and cokes. You get the point!
-Carolina Gallup
neworleans.com

“This year’s Voodoo Fest, which began in 1999, also marked the first time the event offered oversized art installations from more than 20 local and international artists. Produced by local curator Kirsha Kaechele, the exhibits included “Bird Cage,” a gigantic bird cage hanging from a live oak with feather-plumed actors inside, and “Illusion,” which had 24 large, lighted helium balloons tethered together and pulsating to music.
“The art and music go really good together, like peanut butter and jelly,” said Petra Marar, 22, of New Orleans, as she admired the “Illusion” installation. “So much of art is music. It’s a perfect match.”

-Rick Jervis, USA TODAY

About Illusion II:

Illusion II was based on a previous project produced as a funded project at Burning Man 2008.  Inspired by visuals of the Thailand Lantern Festival, and a grant from the Life is Art Foundation (Thank you Kirsha Kaechele! You are a goddess!), we set out to recreate an electronic version of the centuries-old tradition.  The materials were completely reinvented to enable a quicker setup and be less maintenance-intensive.  We rented a much larger sound system (shout-out to Invest Pro Sound/Charles Chase).   Due to the rock festival environs, our goal of providing a contemplative meditation area quickly changed to rock’n dance club.  It was amazing!  After Saturday’s night Kiss concert we endeavored to save the balloons from the destruction-thirsty Halloween crowd (our delicate balloons were only two hundred feet from the massive stage).  Sunday night we had well over 200 people rocking out in the balloon array after the Lenny Kravitz performance.  We had serious issues with weather (35mph gusts and torrential thunderstorms) but in the end everything worked out just fine.  I was quite happy with the way the project morphed into what it was.  The lights were beautiful at night, easily one of the tallest features of the festival.  Dancing and glimmering to lights and wind, we hope the balloons brought something special to the event.

Learnings:

With this new iteration of Illusion, we completely re-engineered the balloons to avoid some of the challenges of our first project.  We went with a PVC balloon from a Hong Kong manufacturer to accommodate our budget concerns.  Some of our biggest time challenges for the project—nets and pedestals—were eliminated.  We custom ordered PVC balloons with a large opening, as well as hooks to hold our hardware on the interior of the balloon.   It worked well in light winds up to 15mph.  During our setup and on opening day, we experienced gusts up to 35mph, torrential rains and a destructive Eminem fans.  We found we couldn’t repair the balloon array as fast as it was being destroyed!  But the good weather on Saturday and Sunday enabled us to put on a show that could be seen from around the festival grounds.

Illusion I at Burning Man 2008

Illusion is a light sculpture on a canvas of 63 large weather balloons.  The light array creates a feeling of immense undiscovered space as viewers walk and meditate throughout an area the size of a soccer field.  Light effects are programmed to evoke a range of moods with soft, fading luminescence interspersed by glimmering, dancing lights.

Illusion was inspired by images of the Yipeng Lantern Festival held yearly in Thailand. The festival features a spectacle of over 200,000 floating, candle-lit lanterns that rise up to a mile into the night sky.  Locals believe that as the Sky Lantern rise, it takes away their troubles and brings good luck in the future.

Illusion’s early designs specified thousands of small balloons, each containing a small strobe, floating up to 40 feet in the air to capture a modern vision of the festival.  Due to the realities of the windy nature of the playa, the plan was modified, calling for a network of large weather balloons tethered to the ground.  At night, the balloons come alive with light and music.  Music was chosen by 4 programmers with free range on tastes. Music choices span the gamut from classical film scores to Kanye West, from Enya to Coldplay.

Illusion makes use of 45,000 watts of power. The light and musical sequences are controlled by off-the-shelf software and hardware typically used in synchronized Christmas light displays.  Over 300 lbs of latex weather balloons are used, with 63 balloon pedestals made of over 1000 feet of aluminum, all connected to over 4 miles of cable.

Floor plan

Photo by Brian Figueroa

Photo by Benson Trent

Photo by Benson Trent

Photo by Craig Fisher

Photo by Stacy Braslau-Schneck

Photo by Craig Fisher

Benson’s Afterburn Report

The Team
What an incredible experience! I’m so pleased how the project turned out. It began as a fun idea we thought we could do easily in our spare time and under budget (I’m sure we’ll all laugh about that later). It consumed our time, money, and ultimately our emotions as the project came to fruition. I need to thank our team–20 strong–each of whom brought their A-game devotion. The project was truly a team effort–it looked and performed better because of the individual input that contributed to the whole. When anyone in my team was asked, “Who’s responsible for this,” and pointed in my direction–I really wanted to point back.

Learnings
We had a huge challenge with the delicate latex balloons; they don’t work in the day–UV lights cause them to become brittle. And if there’s any wind, they stretch over the pedestal and burst. And since they are so fun to touch, a few people got a face full of latex when they burst. My attitude–which I explained to many people, is that this art is a toy we made for the burners–they can break it. It was a joy to see people self-policing the balloons, to see vandalism and see the crowd shame the vandals to leave. By Monday were were all asking ourselves–why the HELL did we decide balloons were a good idea.

The project’s scale, while impressive and immersive, could have probably been scaled down by half and still provided the same experience. We would have saved on the surprising amount of extra costs.

At the last moment–we canned the platform idea–I’m all for making things simpler and cheaper. We also never activated the interactive controls. We found people would come and stay for a few minutes and leave–so we played songs constantly, with no interactive break. We wanted people to see the songs.

Joys
We received an incredible response from visitors to our art site. It was fun to watch people walk into the field and get this “wow” look on their face. We had a few invites to other venues–and at this point–I’m just decompressing, but it’s very flattering. To me, seeing it for the first time all come together on the Tuesday–it was special; it was a joy. I was smiling the whole time. We put it together in light winds on Thursday and later on Saturday–And I found myself just wanting to stay at the site and enjoy the atmosphere.

I didn’t get to do any photos or videos of the project–if anyone has videos or photos they can share, I would love to post them here.

Buzz on the Inter Web
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Blog
Wired.com
Luscious Cherry Live Journal

Video: Ellis Island
Video: Put your Hands up For Detroit
Video: One More Time

The Music Playlist

Many people requested information on the songs we were using–here it is:

Massive Attack – Future Proof
Usher – Will Work for Love
Coldplay – Clocks
Enya – Storms in Africa II
Kanye West – Flashing Lights
Fedde le Grand – Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit
The Music of Life Orchestra – The Swan
DeVotchKa & Mychael Danna – The Winner Is
Daft Punk – One More Time
Thomas Newman – Ellis Island
R.E.M. – New Orleans Instrumental No. 1