Cave Urban work at an ambitious scale, bringing together the combined knowledge and experience of artists, architects and designers with a focus on sustainable materials and communal production. Flow is a new commission for rivus created in response to the Cutaway site and, at 600 square metres, is one of the largest bamboo structures ever produced in Australia. With undulating forms inspired by the energy and movement of water, the course of Flow is altered by its contact with the architecture and with other artworks. So too, its twists and turns have an effect on our bodies and perception of space – at some points we are standing on the riverbed, submerged beneath the water; and at others looking down at its textured surface. Half of the 1000 bamboo poles used in the installation were harvested from a renewable forest in New South Wales and the rest repurposed from previous projects. Flow will, in turn, be put to reuse in future endeavours. Fast growing and adaptable, Bamboo is utilised worldwide as an ideal natural building material, offering, as Cave Urban write ‘strength, versatility, renewability and aesthetic beauty’. Central to their collaborative practice is the desire to create environments that bring us back into alignment with the natural world. Enveloping and tactile, Flow embodies a river while also holding the memory of the forest.

Talia Linz - Artspace, Curtaor and 23rd Biennale of Sydney Curatorium Member