Spice Winds was created for VIVID 2016 as a cross‑cultural collaboration between Australian artists McDermott Baxter and Dutch design studio Toer. The installation explored the long‑standing relationship between the Netherlands and Australia, a connection stretching back more than 400 years to the early Dutch navigators who charted the Australian coastline en route to the Spice Islands (present‑day Indonesia).
The work used wind‑activated wayfinding lights mounted on slender structures, responding to shifting air currents and illuminating the surrounding environment. As the wind changed direction, the lights pivoted and swept across the space, creating a dynamic field of movement that enveloped viewers and echoed the maritime journeys that first linked the two nations.
Artist: Mcdermott Baxter Ruth McDermott and Ben Baxter Toer – Castor Bours and Wouter Widdershoven
Title: Spice Winds
Date: 2016
Medium: Sailing Burgess, metal tubing, Philips LED bike lights.
Dimensions: 25m diameter
Art Commission: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Dirk Hartog Foundation, and Phillips lighting
IMAGE: view from Museum of contemporary art terrace
IMAGE: Museum of contemporary art
Sponsors: Dirk Hartog Foundation, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Phillips lighting & Event Engineering.
