An expression of freedom from isolation. The positive clear skies that come after difficult times. A rainbow after a storm.
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That is what Sky Castle represents.
Sky Castle is a dreamy, interactive sound and light installation, featuring a cluster of inflatable arches that span in colourful symphony across public space and is currently located at Heritage Plaza beside the Old Dubbo Gaol.
The Artist and Founder of ENESS, Nimrod Weis designed Sky Castle so that as visitors moved through the arches, their movement powers and progresses the melodic xylophone soundscape stimulating colour changes in each arch.
"Light, colour and music have been orchestrated to evoke the joy and hope that rainbows bring after every storm," ENESS story director and creative strategy, Lyndal Hall said.
"As more people join the journey, the contemporary score crescendos in intensity creating a lush, orchestral piece that is different every night as it responds to crowd flow and fluctuations."
Ms Hall said it was really important to them as a studio to tour their temporary public art to regional areas as well as urban locations.
"We believe in the power of our art to spread joy, delight and happiness and these experiences are equally valid for regional areas as they are in high-density and urban contexts," she said.
"Sky Castle is a dreamy, meditative experience. It is calming and delightful, full of joy and beauty. It's a special moment in time that all ages enjoy."
Dubbo Regional Council's manager of regional events, Kim Hague, first heard of the Sky Castle's when her manager sent her a photo of them in Darling Harbour around 12 months ago.
Everyone can find a little bit of joy from Sky Castle.
- Dubbo Regional Council manager of regional events, Kim Hague
"I ended up talking to the company ENESS, they have a lot of temporary art installations, and then from there set out to try and find funding to see how we can bring sky castles or one of their installations to Dubbo," she said.
"We worked out what the time frame would be and if we could do it for DREAM festival and eventually everything fell into place when we were able to get the funding through the NSW government for the community events program."
Ms Hague said the "great" thing about the 4.9 metre Sky Castle was that it was for everyone.
"That's always our point to say it's not about an event that runs from four to nine o'clock on this specific night, we wanted something that was truly accessible to everyone so it didn't matter if you were a shift worker at the hospital, you could come down at 1am in the morning and have a look or if you have toddlers waking up at 6am in the morning you can come down," she said.
"Everyone can find a little bit of joy from Sky Castle."
The tactile display allows people to walk through and run their hands over the arches and is about more then standing back and watching.
"You see kids, adults, grandparents walking through it and enjoying the experience, the kids are giggling and racing around trying to make the sounds louder, it's great," she said.
Ms Hague said Dubbo Regional Council wanted to bring something to the community they hadn't seen before or wouldn't get the chance to see unless they travel a significant distance.
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"I've had friends that said they've taken their children down and then talking to their parents and the parents have said well we want to go and they take their parents down, and it's this constant connecting of people that might go down today and then four days later they might go back down again with the same people or different people," she said.
"It's just so great to see people enjoying it, that's the bottom line."
The Sky Castle story was developed during lockdown as an expression of freedom from isolation and the positive clear skies that come after difficult times.
Ms Hall said in terms of design, it is an exploration into inflatables as temporary architecture.
"This is the tallest temporary structure that ENESS has created and it is designed to be modular. The total footprint of the full version is 500 square metres," she said.
"At this size, the installation begins to feel like a little city and poses interesting questions about the permanency of public art structures, the potential for our public spaces to change radically in very short periods of time and how post-pandemic, we may wish to construct and experience our cities differently."
Ms Hague said they wanted people to get out after going through a number of turbulent years.
"I love telling them the background to the installation, because I think it connects with people in Dubbo," she said.
The Sky Castle has visited Fed Square in Melbourne, Shenzhen China and Illuminate Adelaide in mid-2021.
Sky Castle can be viewed for free, day and night at the Old Dubbo Gaol Heritage Plaza until Sunday, October 9 and similarly, day and night in Victoria Park from Thursday, October 13 to Sunday, October 23.
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