Mechanical engineer and artist Hariz Redzic recently erected a series of semi-opaque birdhouses along the bank of a lake at Mount Trashmore Park. Each contained likenesses of birds, nearly visible in their homes. They’re part of a much larger work with pieces that change as people walk among them, with moving parts, sounds and even how the light plays with its elements.
“They’re sleeping,” he said. “They’ll be moving soon.”
An Australian team of scientists, engineers and educators recently built and unveiled the art installation, “Where Wonder Grows: Sanctuary.” It’s in the southeast area of Mount Trashmore between the giant hill and a lake and will remain through mid-December.
Skunk Control is the interdisciplinary collective from Melbourne behind the project. Founder and creative director Nick Athanasiou, whose academic background is in chemistry, said the group was born to give university students hands-on learning. It grew to make outreach experiences and public art for people of all ages.
The installation contains towering flowers that open and close, kinetic peacocks and illuminated flowers. There are also more than a thousand butterflies fabricated from materials that interact with light, as do the wings of the real things.
“Butterflies are very colorful, but people don’t know why they’re colorful, and it all comes down to the way light interacts with structure,” Athanasiou said while installing the work earlier this month. “So deep in the crevices of a butterfly wing, there’s fine structures, and those structures only allow certain waves of light to actually enter and escape.”
The color people see is rooted in science.
“There’s a nice symmetry between the engagement of art and science,” he said. “They both pose questions, and that’s the key for us.”
“What I like is just to see the community get together and put smiles on people’s faces,” Redzic said.
The city suggests people see it during the day and return during special evening hours on some weekend nights.
The project resulted from $300,000 set aside for interactive public art experiences and a search that involved nearly 100 submissions, said Emily Labows, the city’s cultural affairs director.
“It’s to bring something extraordinary to Virginia Beach, something that people might not otherwise be able to see here and might have to travel somewhere else to experience,” she said.
Athanasiou said hes is working with students to create butterflies while he is in Virginia Beach as part of the sort of outreach Skunk Control developed in Australia.
“There’ll be a kinetic butterfly, which will use optical filters which demonstrate exactly how in nature color can be created,” he said.
And they’ll be beautiful, too.
Where Wonder Grows: Sanctuary is near Shelter 3 at Mount Trashmore Park during regular park hours through Dec. 16. Evening access is available until 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, except on Halloween. Learn more about the free art installation online.
