Reed (phragmites australis), white birch, hemp rope
Romania
The medium I was given was Phragmites australis, or the common reed. You may have seen this growing on the banks of some lakes or being used for thatching on the roofs of some vintage historical homes.
While brainstorming what to do with this medium, after a bunch of looking around the internet, I finally found some vernacular architecture from Iraq and Peru — both of which used this kind of reed to create structures like columns for meeting halls, or boats. It was quite difficult to find anything more than a few photos/a youtube interview or two, with someone working in the background, but I did gather a few ideas for things that I wanted to try when i got on site.
In combination with my previous experience working with bamboo, I was able to successfully create some pretty nice elements (about 20 cm diameter) which were both rigid enough to hold their structure but had enough tensile strength to create organic curves which worked really well both as a running motif for almost all the beautiful stage structures at Waha festival, as well as my own art installation.
More details about the art installation: an ethereal, alien-like cocoon, set in a field with internal lighting so it glowed at night and you could stumble across it. it had a secret entrance in the back and could fit about 10 people. I made it with the reed beams and bent birch trees (learned a cool technique for this from a norwegian friend on site). the fabric was a cotton poly blend, which I stitched onto the rope spiralling around the reed beams so that the end effect was almost marine animal-like.
Selected Installations 