Introduction

Babylon is a site-specific original artwork commission for the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The installation is an inhabitable artwork, the stacked assembly of blocks creates a cathedral-like interior void, projection mapped to create a kaleidoscopic cinematic environment. Babylon is a 60’ x 60’ x 60’ structure constructed from 64 steel-framed components, clad in plywood and sprayed with a plant-based cellulose insulation forming a tower made of carefully stacked monoliths. The visual storytelling of the film has been specifically curated to utilise the unique 360, multi faceted projection surface.

The installation is an exploration of monumentality and exuberance. Its form builds upon Nebbia’s interest in contradictory structures, which appear to be concurrently primitive and otherworldly; solid and fragile. The installation explores how architecture in its most ancient forms has been universally used to understand and transcend the natural world to attempt to reach the skies both physically and metaphysically. The installation is intended to be both observed and experienced with wildly contrasting interior and exterior. The imposing exterior provides a stepped gateway towards the stars, whilst the interior is a moment of immersive escapism.