The Dowsers (A Long Story VIII)

This artwork by Lauren Pirie is currently being exhibited at Mississauga Celebration Square, as part of Winter Magic.

A sculptural light installation suspended from an overhead beam, featuring clustered, translucent shapes that glow in hues of blue, green, and pink, set against a night sky with the silhouette of high-rise apartment buildings in the background.

Lauren Pirie,
with thanks to Rodrigo Marti, Phil A. Pax, and Sebastian Bevelander
Nylon fabric, repurposed polyester stuffing, LED lighting system, sculpture wire
2023

About the artwork

“The Dowsers (A Long Story VIII)” is a site responsive installation and a new evolution of Lauren A. Pirie’s “A Long Story” series. Long, soft arm forms wrap around and embrace each other and the environments they inhabit. Woven on-site, this rendition imagines the soft sculpture and lighting-based work intertwining with the existing market trellis structure at Celebration Square. Building off a recent interest in the practice of divination, the title draws reference to the ancient process of locating groundwater using a divining or dowsing rod and connotes natural or supernatural intuition.

This piece is located in proximity to the skating rink in Celebration Square: a human-made design that brings water and natural elements into an otherwise built environment. “The Dowsers (A Long Story VIII),” along with recent installations in the series, considers our inherent interconnection and thirst for communion with the natural world, and specifically, how we do and may seek these connections from within urban environments. Illuminated by a blend of warm and watery hues in the evening, it metaphorically captures the energy exchanged with visitors, the community, and the beyond-human realm.

Gallery

A dynamic light installation hangs from a metal structure, glowing in vibrant shades of blue, green, and pink against a nighttime urban setting. In the background, a clock tower building is lit with alternating colours, complementing the surrounding darkened cityscape and high-rise buildings. — The Dowsers (A Long Story VIII) by Lauren Pirie (with thanks to Rodrigo Marti, Phil A. Pax, and Sebastian Bevelander), Nylon fabric, repurposed polyester stuffing, LED lighting system, sculpture wire, 2023. Temporarily exhibited as part of the 2023 Winter Magic celebrations at Mississauga Celebration Square. Photo credit: Tori Lambermont

An urban plaza at night, with a light installation of glowing, flowing forms in turquoise and purple suspended from a structure. Distinctive, twisted high-rise buildings loom in the background, their windows speckled with lights. Foreground elements include park benches with a few individuals seated and a person walking by, contributing to the scene's metropolitan atmosphere. — The Dowsers (A Long Story VIII) by Lauren Pirie (with thanks to Rodrigo Marti, Phil A. Pax, and Sebastian Bevelander), Nylon fabric, repurposed polyester stuffing, LED lighting system, sculpture wire, 2023. Temporarily exhibited as part of the 2023 Winter Magic celebrations at Mississauga Celebration Square. Photo credit: Tori Lambermont

About the artist

Lauren Pirie is a Toronto-based artist working in a range of media and scale and often in collaboration. Her practice is spawned from ideas of intimacy in relation to ecology and regeneration. Her site-responsive installations have been exhibited in Nuit Blanche, DesignTO, and Lumière and received grant funding as part of ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art. Pirie has exhibited and created public artworks in Canada, the U.S., Central and South America, and Europe. Recent gallery exhibitions include: Like A Devouring Fire, at Blah Blah Gallery, (Philadelphia); a Soft Landing at Gladstone House as part of Nuit Blanche (Toronto); and Vibrant Matter at PADA (Portugal), where she was in residence in 2021. Upcoming exhibitions include at NARS foundation in Brooklyn, New York, where she is in residence for the remainder of 2023.

For more, follow @lapirie on Instagram, or visit Lauren’s website.

More information

This artwork is being exhibited as part of Winter Magic on Celebration Square from November 25, 2023 until January 4, 2024.

Photography by Tori Lambermont.