Celestial Brainstorm, Lumiere Durham, 2019
Celestial Brainstorm is a large-scale interactive illuminated sculptural object.
A rotating lantern, it mimics the lanterns found in children’s bedrooms at night. Just as these are intended to keep darkness at bay and create a sense of safety, so this project banishes darkness, and flickering lights fill the darkest moments of the night.
The term ‘brainstorm’, used to describe a seizure, has also historically been used to mean a period of intense thought or creativity.
In Celestial Brainstorm these meanings are combined to explore attitudes to disability, highlighting the positive creative expression that can emerge from a disruptive experience. Particularly the disruptive brain patterns that cause epileptic seizures as electrical impulses surge unpredictably through the brain.
Celestial Brainstorm premiered at the tenth anniversary festival of Lumiere Durham in 2019.
