PERCENT FOR ART SCHEME STATE THEATRE CENTRE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Government of Western Australia

PERCENTFOR ARTSCHEME

State Theatre Centre of Western

Australia2011

As soon as you enter the new State Theatre Centre of Western Australia (STCWA) from Roe and William Streets, the drama begins. Light, colour, stars and comets dance across the white glass floor brilliantly announcing audience members as they make their own, individual, flamboyant entry.

Matthew Ngui’s complex, interactive artwork ‘falling from heaven to earth; the shooting star’ uses light on glass to suggest the heat and cold of outer space; hues of fire and ice play momentarily and apparently at random.

Watching shooting stars burn brightly for one moment in the night sky, then fall quickly from heaven is a luminous, ephemeral performance. That this brilliance springs to life from seemingly invisible and prosaic earth-bound debris and space rocks only makes it even more wondrous.

For Matthew Ngui, this heavenly beauty is the perfect playful analogy for fame and ‘stardom’. Shooting stars may shine brightly in a moment that is singular, breathtaking, exquisite, but they don’t last.

From the first prototype through to installation of this sophisticated artwork, Matthew worked closely with electronic and software engineers Ole Hansen and David Veerman from Design Feats, and Hong Xiangrong from Bluerainstudios for the computer generated videos.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Artist: Matthew Ngui Title: “falling from heaven to

earth; the shooting star” Architect: Kerry Hill Architects

Pty. Ltd. Art Coordinator: Maggie Baxter Electronic Design and Engineering: Design Feats Video Design: Bluerainstudios Photography: Matthew Ngui

Ole Hansen Client: Department of Culture

and The Arts Delivery Managers: Jeff Crow

Des Ferris

Department of Treasury & Finance Department of Culture and the Arts

GOVERNMENT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA