Brilliant fantasy glows with light

By REBECCA BARRY

From the outside, it looks like an alien's oversized pool toy. Or the possible outcome had a moa laid eggs in a paint shop. Yet Alan Parkinson's Luminarium is a feat of fantasy and foresight, as though his imagination has spewed on to the concrete in precise pneumatic form.

The allure of his large inflatable sculptures is not confined to their odd asymmetrical shapes but their brilliant, glowing colours. The idea is to lose yourself - literally and figuratively - in the labyrinthian interiors, exploring the twisting arteries and lung-like domes lit purely by sunlight.

The Nottingham and Geneva-based artist is bringing a Luminarium called Levity to Auckland, and from the pictures alone it provides a dazzling lightshow. Airy awnings are almost blindingly green. Colours merge on the floor in otherworldly patterns. Sharp edges occur only in dramatic shifts of hue, while its cylindrical portals give a sense of infinite discovery.

But beware as you enter the rabbit hole. Apparently it's not uncommon to stumble across chillout zealots practising yoga or "oom"-ing to the specially composed new-age music piped through its mazes.

Whatever visitors get out of it, the sculptures are "positively not a fairground attraction", says Parkinson. "They're not altogether about fun, as such. Although people do get a great deal of pleasure out of them."

They might share the simple qualities of the bouncy castle - their ephemeral nature, soft squidginess and gaudy appeal - but the spectacle lies in their mystery.

"They are impossible to pigeonhole," he says. "So it's best not to try."

But there's nothing mysterious about the technology used to build them.

They are made by hand from a special flexible, fireproof PVC material, each design taking about four months to complete. While assembling different portions of the structure for display takes some effort, inflation time is surprisingly short. Because they are delicate creatures, they travel the world chasing summers, constantly emerging on the skyline as ridiculously large plastic jewels and deflating to be transported to yet another mild climate.

Parkinson and his team, the Architects of Air, have been building Luminaria since 1985. Right now there are at least 10 travelling the globe, each one averaging 1000 visitors a day. They have been viewed by more than a million people around the world since 1992.

While you'd be hard pushed to find anything remotely similar on tour, Parkinson won't take all the credit for the idea. They are a throwback to the 1960s when progressive architects became fascinated by the idea buildings could spring up overnight, change their shapes, then disappear again only to pop up somewhere else.

Besides, he adds modestly, he also drew inspiration from traditional architecture. Levity for instance, was inspired by Gothic cathedrals and the bazaars of Iran.

Arcazaar, another cavernous structure rising to 80m, is reminiscent of a kasbah, turning Moorish architecture into something distinctly ambivalent.

An appreciation of such buildings is not necessary, however. Parkinson stresses his Luminaria are accessible to all, even those in wheelchairs. "Babies love them, elderlies - they have very broad appeal."

Whoever they attract, they sound like the perfect place for a midday reverie.

Exhibition

* What: Luminarium

* Where & when: Aotea Square, Sept 20-Oct 5, 10am-4pm; free entry Sept 20 & 21