Artist creates stunning, immersive 360-degree art installation of Great Barrier Reef
By Michael d’Estries (Mother Nature Network)
Artist Yadegar Asisi, famous for his use of panoramic video and art, has brought the beauty of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to the Panometer in Leipzig, Germany. The gallery, a former gasometer that once held natural gas, has been transformed to hold the world’s largest 360-degree panorama.
For his latest exhibition, Asisi combined some 50,000 photos and video from three trips to a coral reef off the coast of Port Douglas, Australia. The end result is a head-twisting 1:1 scale panorama the height of a 10-story building and and covering more than 37,000 square feet within the facility.
“The most incredible part is that you can look very deep,” Asisi said in a translated interview with German newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung. “You will experience a huge space, as big as a football field. In reality, the most that can be seen when diving is only the size of a living room. Here, huge coral reefs will climb. We see thousands of fish, swarms, turtles, sharks and divers. I think to experience the color and variety of the sea in such a massiveness all at once is fascinating.”
In addition to the arresting visuals, Asisi has also incorporated dynamic lighting that changes depending on the time of day. A soundscape of ambient music and ocean effects completes the surreal experience.
The Great Barrier Reef exhibition comes on the heels of other panoramic scenes of nature by Asisi, including Mount Everest and the Amazon.
“For me, themes of nature inspire me to reflect on our role in this world,” he told Urdesignmag. “The panorama is a very special artistic medium for creating pictures. This inspires me to such an extent as to give me the courage to tackle such complex themes as the Great Barrier Reef.”
As for Asisi’s next project, he plans to create what’s sure to be a haunting 360-degree presentation of what remains of the RMS Titanic.
“Asisi intends this panorama to awaken a fascination for the grandiose engineering achievement while posing the question of the mastering of nature,” his website states. “At the same time, with his presentation of the broken wreck, Asisi draws attention to the finite nature of human existence and actions.”
The Great Barrier Reef exhibition at the Panometer will be on view until September 2016.
This post originally appeared in Mother Nature Network.
Photos by: Yadegar Asisi
