Where: Sziget Festival, Budapest, Hungary

When: August 8, 2004, around 6:30 p.m.

What: Ixilum, by Alan Parkinson’s Architects of Air

click here to view fullscreen

Architects of Air build and exhibit the luminaria designed by Nottingham and Geneva based artist Alan Parkinson. Ixilum, inspired by Christian and Islamic ecclesiastical mosque architecture, is constructed of PVC vinyl cut and assembled by hand in a former lace factory. The visitor enters the structure to discover a landscape of columns, passages, and soaring spaces, all awash in glorious color.

“Some look at it as sculpture you can walk through, others as a big funky tent, but I tell you, you really have to be inside it to grasp the idea, or at least one of the many that bombard your senses as you enter,” explains Frenyo. “Inspired by Middle-Eastern bazaars, they are living, breathing and will take you far into a surreal world while sustaining this experience by reinterpreting their immediate surroundings. The membrane-like thin plastic walls tremble in vivid colors they filter the sun light into as the barefooted people are passing by them. At Sziget Festival, it's been set up near the World Music Stage, whose eclectic rhythms provide the alien muffled heartbeat.”

Why: Parkinson treats each luminarium (large inflatable structure) as an immersive art experience combining light, sound and architectural form.

Frenyo: “The Sziget Festival has exhibited two of AoA’s other works in past years, Arcazaar and Levity, which I have been inside in previous years, but couldn’t do justice to the space with my Coolpix 990. This is an installation I have looked forward to visiting each year after my initiation in 2001. Sadly, it seems AoA will not be present at Sziget 2005, however I have full intent and am filled with eager anticipation to see and more extensively photograph their work in PA come July.”

Parkinson started experimenting with these inflatable forms in the 1980s and took them on the road a decade ago. Over five million people have now experienced a luminarium, thanks to Architects of Air, who tour their structures all over the world. To find out where the exhibitions are taking place in 2005, visit their website, Architects of Air.

How: Frenyo used his Fuji S2 and Nikkor 8mm, taking four shots around and one each up and down with the aid of a monopod. “I got there pretty late and the sun began to slowly wane, requiring a long exposure with a high ISO setting - as evident from the people blurring as they move through and the grain in the image,” he says. “The true achievement here is not to have stepped on anyone while rotating the rig. I can only imagine what a huge Nikkor 8mm staring down at them from a couple of feet may have added to their already other-worldly Luminarium experience!”

Sziget Festival
Frenyo is compiling years of panos from all the Sziget festivals he has attended, you can view them here:
http://www.sziget360.com

This year’s Sziget pop music festival runs from August 10 to 17 and will feature a line-up of international artists such as Franz Ferdinand, Underworld, The Hives, Morcheeba (one of my faves!), Nick Cave and many others.
http://www.sziget.hu/festival_english

Email: afrenyo[at]sphericalphoto[dot]com