philip beesley's sentient veil comes alive at the isabella stewart gardner museum

toronto-based visual artist, architect and professor philip beesley stuns visitors with his scuptural sentient veil at the isabella stewart gardener museum in boston. the installation presents itself as a jewel-like canopy, containing multiple miniature sound processors interwoven with hundreds of digitally controlled lights within the historic galleries of the museum.

philip beesley sentient veil, isabella stewart gardner museum, boston, 2017
video © PBAI

philip beesley‘s work pursues intimacy and sensitivity through intricate micro-components and layers of diffusive, hovering material that are close to the human body scale. in fact, the sentient veil is composed of digitally fabricated cellular textile lining that floats over the gallery ceiling of the isabella stuart gardner museum, portraying intricacy and complexity. technically, the canopy is made of finely detailed and interlinking skeletal features with distributed computational controls, soft LED lighting and whispering interactive sound audio. the movement of visitors within the space triggers whispering choruses that emanate from miniature custom acoustic resonators in the fabric of the sculpture. finally, glass vessels containing chemical proto-cells and carrying interactive LED lighting are also integrated in the structure.

in addition, the work contains textile-like details that respond to iconography of a religious painting by 15th-century italian master fra angelico, located in an adjacent gallery. a direct dialogue with nearby paintings — where the hybrid new fabric of the sculpture, carrying ambivalent, alien synthetic qualities — resonates and enriches the subtle meanings of traditional fabrics seen within other artworks. the installation is on display at the gallery museum from march 8, 2017 till september 8, 2017.

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom