Lighter Than Air is a slow moving floating installation animating the airspace of Sydney’s grand heritage reading room at the State’s Mitchell Library. Through the hypnotic draw of slow motion Lighter Than Air invites readers and viewers to share in its corporeal lightness and enter its energetic spirit, free of weight, unrestrained by gravity.

Lighter Than Air examines the relationship of installation to context whilst exploring the kinesthetic effect of the spatial choreography of extremely slow moving airborne objects. It aims to evoke a subconscious state of relaxation, freeing up mental thought processes and conjuring an imaginative realm of endless and joyful possibilities. Can the slow motion slow us, induce meditation and focus or suspend our attention midair? Large light weight ovoid forms, inflated with air and a gas lighter than air (helium) are balanced for neutral buoyancy. They float silently along invisible air currents drifting over readers’ heads like giant thought bubbles. Turbulence keeps them out of reach. In suspended animation, their barely perceptible slow movements create a curiously overwhelming sense of levitation. Translucent and light in colour, 25-30 diaphanous ovoid / ellipsoidal forms, sized larger than human bodies float in a gentle random weightless dance of levitation. Their sizes range from 2- 4 metres in length. The choreography of these ‘heavenly’ bodies is directed by the existing air conditioning currents of the room and possible additional air outlets at the lower level. Their irregular orbits do not respond to earthly gravitational forces, they are in a state of neutral buoyancy. They appear to waft at will in carefree floatation. Lighter Than Air invites the reader/viewer to share its corporeal lightness and enter into the spirit of its energy, free of weight and unrestrained by gravity.

Visitors enter the Library through the arrival library vestibule, a rich dark space surrounded by Corinthian columns. The inlaid floor is an ocean pattern of wavy lines. At its centre is an exquisite mosaic marble inlay representing the famous Tasman Map of Australia. In the tradition of cartography, cherubim blow the winds from the corners –which resonates with the breathy currents that characterise the art installation in the grand reading room beyond.

During the 4 week installation time It is possible that at night or on Sundays when the reading room in normally closed, the floating forms can be internally lit and the house lights dimmed. The forms will glow as they drift, like heavenly bodies in a celestial night sky.