Atelier I-N-D-J designed "NEBULA" for MZLY in Wuhan, an art installation that connects the nostalgic past against a glistening shock of the new.
As a venue with a long history of theatrical performances, MZLY in Wuhan has attracted many renowned actors from both China and abroad since its establishment. It has always been a cultural and commercial hub where people gather.
Recently, the British design team Atelier I-N-D-J participated in the renovation and revitalization of MZLY, undoubtedly breathing new life into this historic building. A hundred years ago, MZLY was influenced by Haipai culture. Today, Atelier I-N-D-J has once again infused it with an international perspective, design concepts, and technology, reflecting another instance of cultural exchange between the East and the West. This enables MZLY to continue its unique cultural influence in the context of globalization.
Echoes of the past cast long shadows into the future whereupon light reverberates light back in on itself.
A building whose memory is engrained in the very walls, a deep patina of stories of which we know not. A narrative that leaves us wondering. An unanswered melancholy whose glimpse of the future is presented as a continuum of the new and as yet untold stories, this is a work about potential. About preservation of the past yet celebration of the future.
The 3-story rotunda in which the artwork is sited, allows us to create a portal from the past connecting to the future. Ecclesiastical in character the 13m high cylindrical space has moments of magic as afternoon sun filters through arched windows, crepuscular rays of sunlight that remind us of a greater power. It is a space that elicits awe and opens an aperture to allow the sublime through.
NEBULA is a work that reaches out to connect to that greater power - connecting the nostalgic patina of the past, a compelling beauty of decay that's cast against a glistening shock of the new. It is in this dichotomy of old and new we seek to exploit.
In essence, NEBULA is a celebration of rebirth, it forms a cyclical continuum, an infinitum. It is in this form and representation that NEBULA celebrates the future narrative yet to play out.
Our atomised compartmentalised modernity; multitasked lives dominated by efficacy and fractured like 5-second video clips, all staccato, all noise, and no signal. Digital lives envelope dominate and dictate, it is in this fragmentation that our soul yearns for a clear path through.
NEBULA is an antithesis to the noise - 6 minutes of focus, an intense yet intimate immensity in which we find ourselves and the sublime is revealed.
Nebula is carefully structured, a call to action commences the show, glitches, and sounds of opening pervade - dimensional white noise enhances the spatial orientation whilst low bass drives highlight the spatial immensity. Punctuated by structured bass and droning sounds, and low tones that ground the soul - primal beats at 120 beats per minute resonate at the natural frequency of the human movement. Light reaches out in searching, from outside searching inward. Sirens pierce as light scans past from outside to inside, searching out of ourselves, before transforming into a search within. From positive to negative space. Chronology is destroyed, as the past merges with the present and future concurrently.
Our inspiration is elicited through the science fiction genre, of an oxymoronic futuristic nostalgia. The Sound and light experience commences at sunset each day according to the precise coordinates and sunset definitions.
MZLY has not only witnessed the prosperity of Wuhan's commerce but also carried the memories and emotions of generations. It will continue to be a spiritual home and entertainment venue for Wuhan's citizens after the renovation.
