Giant bubbles light up The Weidner for immersive outdoor ‘art-chitecture’ display

GREEN BAY (WLUK) — A large outdoor bubble exhibit is floating its way into Green Bay.

The installation, titled “Evanescent”, will be on display outside The Weidner from Aug. 28 through Sept. 15. It is free and open to guests day and night, thanks to support from the city of Green Bay and the 1923 Fund.

Evanescent was designed by Australian-based studioAtelier Susi, which works at the intersection of art and architecture to craft “art-chitecture” in public spaces. The pop-up display has traveled all around the world.

Lindsay Glatz, an installation representative for Evanescent, said the exhibit encourages fun and community interaction.

“There are three giant bubbles that are interactive. You can play and enjoy and run through them,” Glatz explained.

The bubbles, which stand at more than 20 feet tall, are made from a color-reflecting dichroic film that reacts to the changing light of the sun as it moves across the sky. This creates a rainbow of reflection across the ground and offers unique photos from every angle.

Lights illuminating the sculpture make it just as beautiful even after the sun has set.

“The magic of the bubbles is that during the day, they’re iridescent and catch the light from the sun, but at night, they also glow. So this is an installation that you really want to see during the day and at night to get the full effect while it’s in town,” Glatz added.

“By emulating the ethereal quality and magic of bubbles, Atelier Sisu’s Evanescent appeals to our universal playfulness and childlike wonder. The work encourages the audience to consider the world around them as a space of transience and fragility, like that of a bubble.”

Evanescent’s opening day at UW-Green Bay coincides with the start of a free, three-week concert serieson The Weidner’s Patio Stage, featuring local musicians.

It will also be on displayat the second annual Estamos Aqui Festival Hispano — a free outdoor Hispanic Arts & Culture festival on the UWGB campus — to be held Sept. 14 from 3 to 10 p.m. Last year’s inaugural event attracted over 8,000 people.

Here’s how Atelier Susi describes Evanescent:

“Evanescent is an adjective, meaning the quality of being fleeting or vanishing quickly, impermanence.

The artwork was inspired during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the world stopped and everything we took for granted started to disappear. Atelier Sisu endeavoured to communicate this feeling of transient beauty, and the need to live in the moment through the idea of the bubble.

This art-chitecture connects audiences with their environment and is designed to be truly inclusive. By emulating the ethereal quality and magic of bubbles, Atelier Sisu’s Evanescent appeals to our universal playfulness and childlike wonder, the work encourages the audience to consider the world around them as a space of transience and fragility, like that of a bubble.”

Source: Giant bubbles light up The Weidner for immersive outdoor ‘art-chitecture’ display