Herald, 2023
3D printed biopolymer, jesmonite, paper, resin, and site-specific augmented reality experience
25 x 8 x 60 cm, infinite duration
Two Temple Place was built in the 1890s as William Waldorf Astor’s office and residential flat - a highly custom space filled with his eclectic and eccentric personal tastes. Friezes of scenes from his favourite novels adorn the ceiling of the atrium, and highly fantastical creatures reside throughout the woodwork of the building.
Herald is a chimera that combines creatures significant to the history of the building: the Astorga falcon, serpent, lion, and bulldog found in the visual identities of later owners. Chimerism is prevalent throughout the building, increasing as one ascends; having undergone bombing damage, renovations, and repairs throughout its life, the building is a chimera itself of different times, decorative and architectural styles.
Animated in augmented reality and imagined with the help of artificial intelligence image generator DALL-E, Herald embodies the spirit of the building - both as an advocate of the latest technologies of the day, and as a psychic imprint of Astor’s desires to escape people and places he felt did not understand him, to retreat into the romanticised worlds of bygone eras and popular literature - ones filled with adventure, fantasy, and courtly love.
When Herald is activated, it escapes its bodily vessel like a genie, issuing forth from its own phallic trumpet-like horn. It spirals up the grand staircase, spilling rose petals from this horn onto viewers below, and circles infinitely under the stained glass ceiling, surrounded by friezes of other worlds and other lives - like Astor, it seeks to transcend its base reality and float among legends of myth and history.
