A Day Out at ThinAir Light Exhibition

Dann and I have been to quite a few different art galleries and pop up exhibitions, but ThinAir was something else completely. This exhibition is made of light and sound, creating shapes and feelings and emotions, from a number of different artists. It’s unlike anything either of us have ever experienced – the first few features themselves are well worth the ticket price, and it was just fantastic to get to walk around them all at our own pace!

At first, getting to ThinAir, felt a bit dodgy! We went through an alley, around a bunch of barriers, and ended up at the back of a building. This was very strange, but once we got into the exhibitions, it did make a lot of sense. This installation is spread around a bunch of rooms, some massive and some small. Our first introduction into the first room showed that the air, was in fact, not thin. It was thick, full of smoke, and the back wall flashed with the words ThinAir. The route through these buildings is a bit confusing, but we finally made our way to the next area.

Again, it was dark! A hallway, full of light. At the start of each different installation, there was a QR code to learn about the artist, the name of the exhibition, and a short bit of information on it. Then, you can go right into the room and experience the works of art. The next area we went too was a hallway, dark and full of fog, where the lights danced on either side of the wall. They scanned us, making different patterns and changing color, which was really fun to see on other people. The hall – like many of the full room light exhibitions – was interesting as well because there weren’t many people and you couldn’t see far in front of you. Sometimes, seeing the outline of people felt like some strange discovery and often it felt like we were the only ones experiencing these rooms.

The next room was probably the best in the entire show. It was a massive room with various pillars, all with lights up the pillars and across the roof. Sound was echoing everywhere, and the lights and fog felt like dense rain. Everything felt like dense rain. It was like being inside a tornado, I would guess. My hearing and sight was overwhelmed, I could barely make out other figures, and it just felt so overwhelming that it felt calm, if that makes sense. These lights were quick to light up and then darken, showcasing just specific areas, turning between red and off-white, and blending in with the fog. Dann said he felt like he was in a sci-fi movie – and it did feel like something off of a movie set!

The next room was quite similar, but instead of having really bright lights around just the pillars, there were strings and strings of lights all across the roof, which dazzled and brightened themselves based on sound effects that were more precise. This room had beanbag chairs, so you could sit down and watch the lights in the fog, seeing them appear, fade and sparkles as you relaxed for a bit. It’s a really captivating room!

From there, the roomes became a bit less encompassing; one contained two large structures covered in mirrors. Light reflected off of the mirrors creating shapes in between them, along with an audio narration, which told the story of the artist’s life. It was a bit hard to see the actual shapes being created between the two mirrors – but they came out much better in the pictures. This was an interesting concept, but we ended up coming about halfway through the audio, and it was a bit confusing to understand where they had left off.

The room after was interactive – a place with a microphone and a camera. Everyone was standing around awkwardly, not wanting to interact after such intense exhibitions. The camera linked to a screen that took whoever was standing in front of them and changed the picture around, using code. Sometimes the person was multicolored, other times glitching out to show lots of versions of them. The microphone was near a panel that showed a blob in the middle, which would stretch, move and manipulate when someone spoke into the microphone. These did change as time went on, showing different versions of each of them!

We then entered a room with a large, map-looking thing on the floor, where lights were mapping out new lines and details, creating more of the map as it also faded away. This was quite mesmerising to watch – the lights seemed to dance their way around the screen, creating more and more as they went. The final room was more of the captivating, entire room experience at the start – showing a bunch of red lines that seemed to create a sort of structure, but you could walk through it. It was a cool ending, something that really made a huge impact! The end of the exhibition spit out at a coffee shop where some merch was set up.

We really enjoyed ThinAir – especially Dann who was pumped to see something new with lights in this way! The first few rooms really blew us away and were our favourites – it’s really worth going just to experience them. There is flashing lights and loud sounds (though there are soundproof headphones and earplugs provided at the start if you need them) – which really enhanced the show.

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!