That whole notion of being bathed in color took on a wonderfully absurd tenor when we pushed through the slit in an inflated, mammoth balloon-like room and into an otherworldly trip of psychedelic vision and sound, hold the pharmaceuticals.
The Colourspace Music Festival at London's Clapham Common is a wild warren of 100 fiercely colorful bubble-like rooms, each silhouetted as rings of contrasting color as one moves from a red space to a blue to a darker blue to a green. Before entering, visitors choose a loose smock in bight green, red, blue or yellow. The color is incidental in some chambers, disappearing as the eye adjusts to the intense color dominating a particular bubble. Still, the sight of all these adults and children in the same style smock contributes to the greater work here.
Colourspace is art experienced by stepping into the sculpture and stepping out of any inhibitions about contemporary, communal encounters.
On any given afternoon, there are dancers, mimes or musicians scampering about. We arrived so early on our visit last Saturday afternoon that the musicians were just getting started in the grand chamber, which was awash in a light silver allowing our bright tunics to pop out. As more and more visitors ended up there, some relaxing against a latex incline or just sprawled out in front of the musicians with their strange customized instruments, the scene resembled some groovy cult family from the future.
For the creators–festival directors Simon Desorgher and Lawrence Casserley and artists Lynne Dickens and Peter Jones–it was about merging the visual and audible. On the festival's first day (which we missed) an enormous clear sphere floated along the Thames with a musician suspended inside. Think Melvin Sokolosky meets Burning Man. He resembled in ant in that giant ball.
This is the largest Colourscape sculpture ever presented in the world (it has traveled to some other countries, but sadly not the U.S…yet), in part to mark its 20th anniversary. Andy was among those pioneer daytrippers in 1989.
This go-round ends this Monday, September 21. If you're in London, do it.
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