Spanning several disciplines including sculpture, installation, design and neurology, ‘Dormitorium’ is an experimental project lead by Matthew Bird, an architect and artist based in Melbourne. He invites the public to interact with and recline in his work, which considers the affectivity of a communal bedchamber. Made in collaboration with ‘Respiratory & Sleep Disorders’ physician Dr Marcus McMahon, Professors Shantha Wilson Rajaratnam and Sean Drummond from Monash University’s ‘Sleep Program’, as well as architect and designer Caitlyn Parry, ‘Dormitorium’ explores how aesthetics may affect the regenerative potential of our sleep cycles.
Matthew Bird, Dormitorium, 2017, timber, steel, fixings, paint, electroplated zinc coated trampoline, motorised turntable, sheep skin toppers, caster wheels, projectors, animated digital projections, LED strip lighting, quilted and memory foam pillows, gutter bristles, electrical clamps. Featuring choreographer and dance artist Shelley Lasica . Photograph: Peter Bennetts. Courtesy the artist and McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, Melbourne
Symbolism is rich in Bird’s practice and this installation is layered with references to childhood and the family home. A trampoline acts as a hood for a self-contained carousel and timber decking creates the platform on which four cots are staged; a nod to the suburban backyard some may dream of. Its steel frames are lined with sheepskin and pillows are assembled in unison atop the pagoda. This cloud formation is galvanised by floating lights to reflect Bird’s sleep patterns, transposed and abstracted from raw ECG data. As the cots turn we witness Bird’s rhythms. Soft pink lights flicker, the most successful colour to assist hypnagogia, encouraging us to drift.
Matthew Bird, Dormitorium, 2017, timber, steel, fixings, paint, electroplated zinc coated trampoline, motorised turntable, sheep skin toppers, caster wheels, projectors, animated digital projections, LED strip lighting, quilted and memory foam pillows, gutter bristles, electrical clamps. Featuring choreographer and dance artist Shelley Lasica . Photograph: Peter Bennetts. Courtesy the artist and McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, Melbourne
To activate the site, choreographer and performance artist Phillip Adams and choreographer and dance artist Shelley Lasica were invited to explore the space for a one-off performance captured by cinematographer James Wright. The film now features in the space across two screens, positioned intimately on the gallery floor. “I’m interested in the shared experience of how we can manipulate the body,” Bird says. “In this performance, you could really see a serene, gentle kind of outcome in the way that this space and their movement manipulated them into a slower state.”
Matthew Bird, Dormitorium, 2017, timber, steel, fixings, paint, electroplated zinc coated trampoline, motorised turntable, sheep skin toppers, caster wheels, projectors, animated digital projections, LED strip lighting, quilted and memory foam pillows, gutter bristles, electrical clamps. Featuring choreographer and dance artist Shelley Lasica . Photograph: Peter Bennetts. Courtesy the artist and McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, Melbourne
The idea of the sleep chamber stems from the work Sarcophagus, produced by Bird for the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, also on display in the gallery. Inspired by immersive sleep spaces – including iron lungs from the 1950s — Sarcophagus is a metal vessel or ‘tomb for the afterlife’. A film lines the lid of the piece, inviting the viewer to lie down inside; to surrender into it. And people do. When the piece was in Venice 30,000 visitors had the experience of entering the work.
Bird reflects, “With these two works, it’s that initial step into them that’s important – there are so many conditions of a white gallery space that we think of – ‘Don’t touch’ ‘No photography’, or ‘Stay behind the line’. So, there is some inhibition that most people experience… I always think of those moments when people lean onto you when they’ve fallen asleep on a plane. Something about that feels really humane, when you are sleeping with strangers – it’s primal.”
Jennifer Choat is a writer and editor based in Melbourne.
McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery
Until 9 July, 2017
Melbourne
