Cosmic Reflectors

On display until March, 2021 at the Gardiner, Maine location of Maine Craft Association, Cosmic Reflectors…

Urban Confluence Public Art Proposal

I recently entered a competiton for a large public art installation in San Jose, CA, called Urban Confluence.
I partnered with Gregory Lombardi’s landscape architecture studio, in Cambridge, MA, as we had worked well together on previous projects.

There were 900 entries from all over the world, so we were not surprised when we did not win! You can see the other entries here. (link)

The act of looking up at the night sky can be overwhelming. It is unsettling to observe the vastness of our solar system and our tiny place in it. Simultaneously, it can be grounding to acknowledge (or accept, your pick) that we are all just one people living on this small planet. San Jose’s Guadalupe River Park also embodies a dichotomous nature; a natural river system in the heart of a major urban center housing the epicenter of modern technological advancements. But increased isolation, environmental warnings, and divisive sociological foundations seem to grow in our advanced technological reality; people need to engage with nature, and one another, more than ever. The park is a perfect site for the installation of “Human Cosmic Generators” – a family of tension fabric and steel sculptures between 25’ and 100’ tall that will serve as a communication portal between we humans, nature, and the cosmos.

             Interconnected both visually and technically, the pieces will be canvases upon which the accumulated energy of human interaction, both physical and virtual, are gathered by receptors within the pieces and projected with light and patterns onto the structures, as well as to the ground below. The more people are gathered, the more they activate the sculptures. Appearing white in the day (being composed of Teflon fabric which is both long lasting and self cleaning), the pieces will provide shade, meeting points, and inspiration for those seeking to interact with them. The energy put forth by individuals and data from environmental and seasonal shifts will produce a visual conversation on the pieces:  by night through projected images, and by day through the activity of water features fed by the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos Creek branch. Environmental data, and images of natural phenomena such as the migrations of birds, the activity of phosphorescent plankton, and other seasonal events will be shown on the pieces, uniting the observing individuals with other life forms, and with each other.    

             We are all one people on this small planet and these structures will reflect that reality by their presence and receptivity. This public art installation will engage not only the people that are in the park but the surrounding community, and the complex world beyond. Every living thing has a chance to be seen and heard in this environment of “Human Cosmic Generators”.

Cosmic Helpers at Maine Craft Portland

The Coming of The Helpers in their Cosmic Comets
2019
Art installation by Cynthia Thompson, MFA

The Earth needs our help!
Using the natural order of the Cosmos,
We call on the individual Helpers.
They have arrived in their fabric translucent comets.
Now is the time to ask for their help.