Melek Zeynep Bulut designs suspended "portal" in historic building for London Design Festival
Promotion: Turkish designer Melek Zeynep Bulut has designed a suspended installation named Duo, which will be presented at this year's London Design Festival.
On display from 14 to 22 September at the 18th-century Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, Duo will comprise hanging elements that combine into a rectangular form with an archway through it.
"Essentially, Duo is a portal, and all my works are portals, offering spaces for dimensional transition and equilibrium," said Bulut.
Bulut aimed to create an interactive installation for visitors to engage with.
Microphones and reflectors will feature on the installation to create the effect of amplifying the presence of people passing through it.
"Imagine it like our body—fundamentally not a solid mass, but a sensor," said Bulut.
"It perceives and responds to stimuli by producing sounds and has sensory receptors that allow us to feel textures, heat, and cold," she continued. "Similarly, Duo conceptually treats space as a mechanical body.”
The installation will be set within the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College, which has a richly painted interior designed by English artist James Thornhill.
Informed by the Baroque paintings adorning the room, Bulut hoped to respond to the setting's history and create an abstract interpretation of its impact.
"Energetically, I believe it serves as a space for dimensional transition, with a very high aura," she said.
Similar to her previous works, Bulut drew upon her experience with having synesthesia – a perceptual phenomenon in which one sense is experienced through another, such as hearing colours – when designing Duo.
She described this phenomenon as an important factor and touchstone when creating multi-sensory design experiences.
Born in Beyoğlu, Turkey, Bulut is a London-based multidisciplinary artist and designer working across mediums, including sculpture, installation, photography, performance, painting, and video art.
The London Design Festival takes place from 14 to 22 September 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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