Beta Space

Design Vertigo
by Design Miami and Fendi

Milan, 2010

For the exhibition Design Vertigo in Milan (April 2010), organised by Design Miami at Fendi Spazio, we are inviting guests to join the ultimate element of our long-developed project surrounding sensory substitution, a field of neuroscience that addresses the brain’s ability to cross-process sensory information.

The initial starting point of this series of works was scientific and technological, but the Beta Space experienced in Milan takes the playful elements of the science-based project, creating an experience in motion. The installation allows visitors to enter the world of Beta Tank, revealing our multilayered process and approaches.

Beta Space is a wondrous environment that invites interaction and engagement on the part of the visitor, happily celebrating how the mind plays tricks on us.

Two giant balloons are suspended in the space, while a third bounces around as visitors emerge into the room via a staircase. Upon entering the stairway, Spazio guests are greeted by docents who are handing out Fendi yellow, circular Eye Candy Can masks, in 'meditate’ flavour.

Masked, visitors access an environment whose walls are adorned with bemusing, large-scale black-and-white illusion banners that envelop the space. Now meandering around the nearly psychedelic, surreal Beta Space, guests can sit on illusion-covered benches that jut out of the walls. As the giant balloon floats around, large Eye Candy Can USB lollipop-flowers wave in the ‘wind’, bouncing on springs. All the while, one host, wearing the Eye Candy illusion suit, hands out yellow Eye Candy circular lollipops, mimicking the masks and engaging yet another sense.

The lively, almost dizzying Beta Space is one of interaction and socialising. As candy-themed music fills the airwaves, visitors lick their lollipops, sip their drinks, and embrace life in the illusion.