Giant Cuddly Robots to Transform Undershed Gallery into a ‘Hothouse Laboratory’ this Summer – Are they alive? Where did they come from?
From Thursday 7 August – Monday 1 September, award-winning, Bristol-based creative studio Air Giants will transform Watershed’s new gallery, Undershed, into a magical, interactive garden inhabited by 2-metre-tall, inflatable plant sculptures, brought to life through pioneering soft robotic technology.
Seemingly abandoned in a deserted laboratory, the huge, brightly coloured plants come alive when touched. Come and explore the origins of these otherworldly creations as they flex, wiggle and glow, playfully inviting further investigation. Designed to provoke instinctive reactions and emotions from everyone that meets them, The Hothouse Laboratory takes robots out of the lab to encourage interaction and hands-on exploration, sparking joy and curiosity in audiences of all ages.
Families are invited to create their own story throughout their visit, exploring the behaviour and characteristics of the plants, checking out clues left across the laboratory, and building their own unique storyworlds. You can also contribute to a model hothouse by adding your own miniature creations.
Air Giants is the first studio in the world to make interactive soft robotics at this scale, combining cutting-edge approaches with traditional hand-crafting techniques. Using their signature tools – light, sound, movement and air – they specialise in bringing creatures of the imagination into the everyday, creating playful immersive experiences and inspiring tactile environments.
This new installation will, for the first time, be accompanied by bespoke sound and light art from Chu-Li Shewring, a filmmaker, sound designer and sound artist, and Harriet Wallis, an architectural lighting designer who experiments with natural materials, in this unique presentation co-created by Air Giants and Undershed.
Emma Powell, Air Giants Creative Director, says, “In a world dominated by screens, we’re excited about making work that allows touch and offers real physical interaction. This co-created presentation of The Hothouse Laboratory uses this motivation and adds layers of light and sound to build an intriguing story world for audiences to discover. We’re very excited to share it at Undershed this summer.”
Amy Rose, Undershed curator, says, “We’re so excited to be collaborating with Air Giants on this special presentation of their beautiful piece Hothouse. I’ve seen how audiences have responded to all their work before – the inflatable creatures are beautifully tactile and characterful, always inspiring gentle play and unusual encounters. To have an opportunity to expand on the piece, and create a new and imaginative experience with some other incredible audiovisual artists is really an honour – and we’re looking forward to hearing the stories and creations that come from audiences in response.”
