Gold Fine Arts and Art Installation Design · 2024
Cascading Canyon Art Installation
by Aditi Anuj
- A' Design Award 2024 Gold Winner in Fine Arts and Art Installation Design
- Awarded April 15, 2024
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 336,632
- Verification code CBE0F58BB1 · Verify this award
About Cascading Canyon Art Installation
Cascading Canyon is an art installation inspired by the Grand Canyon. The work is made of paper and is completely hand folded and hand attached. More than 40,000 modular origami units of the Sonobe type form the surfaces, joined by built-in flaps and pockets. The installation is designed for a space of 8 by 4 by 8 feet and has three parts: a backdrop, a large rock and a smaller rock that can be used as a seat. Visitors walk through the setting and observe form, colour, light and shadow, recreating the feeling of moving through the canyon.
Aditi Anuj's Cascading Canyon Art Installation exemplifies the contemporary convergence of traditional paper folding practices with large-scale environmental installation, positioning itself within a lineage of artists who have elevated craft traditions to monumental architectural presence. The work demonstrates extraordinary technical accomplishment in the systematic fabrication and arrangement of hundreds of individually folded paper modules, each precisely constructed and calibrated to contribute to the overall chromatic and topographical composition. The graduated color transition from deep earth tones through brilliant yellows suggests both the chromatic phenomena observable in geological formations and the ephemeral light effects that transform natural landscapes at dawn and dusk, inviting contemplation of temporal passage and the slow accumulation of natural processes. The undulating relief surface creates an ever-changing interplay of light and shadow that responds to viewing angle and ambient illumination, introducing a kinetic dimension to the static installation that rewards sustained observation and physical movement through the space. This work may reference both the grand tradition of landscape representation and the meditative repetitive practices found across global craft traditions, from origami to textile arts, where systematic iteration produces emergent complexity and beauty. The human presence captured in the documentation emphasizes the participatory and experiential dimension of the installation, suggesting that the work achieves full meaning through bodily engagement and tactile exploration rather than purely visual contemplation. What does it mean to translate the immensity of geological time and natural formation into the intimate scale of hand-folded paper?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Walking through the Grand Canyon unveils a spectacle of textures, expansive vistas, and the mesmerizing dance of light on the Origami Sonobe walls. It's an immersive artistic installation where one can intimately engage with nature's breathtaking wonders, feeling them come alive at their fingertips. The interplay of light within the canyon's layers amplifies the experience, making it even more enriching.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- This installation is designed for an 8ft x 4ft x 8ft space. It has three parts in total. First one being the bakdrop, the second one is a lage rock in the middle and the third one is a smaller rock with the provision of one sitting on and becoming a part of the canyon itself.
- Tags
- origami art, origami installation, origami artwork, grand canyon, paper art, paper art installation, art installation,
- Production Technology
- The artwork is primarily made of paper, completely hand-folded and hand-attached. There are more than 40,000 origami modules which were folded for this installation. These modules are attached to each other because of its inbuildt quality of flaps and pockets which all connect to each other to make it into any form or structure that one desires. This type of origami is called Modular Origami and the name of this module is "Sonobe".
- Design Challenge
- The hardest part of this art installation was to transport it from one place to another. But with a little bit of brainstorming, we were able to figure out the logistics for packing and sending it to Delhi from Jaipur.
- Project Duration
- This Artwork was specially designed for India Design 2024, held in New Delhi, India. The dates for the exhibition were 15th to 18th of Feb. The work on this Installation started in November 2023.
- Operation Flow
- This art installation can be experienced when walking through it physically.
- Research
- For thr research of this installation, I took help from varios picures of the Canyon on the internet to get inspired by the forms, colours and light and shadow. I also read about the Canyon, about its history and how it was created.
- Inspiration
- The Grand Canyon inspires this art installation where in the idea was to recreate the feeling of walking through the canyon by bringing in the elements like the form, the colour as well as the light and shadow.
I've never visited the Grand Canyon myself, but I've always been captivated not only by how stunning it might appear surrounded by those majestic, almost divine rocks, but rather by the potential emotions it could evoke in me. - Patents
- None
Colors of Cascading Canyon Art Installation
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