Ephemeral Aura is an inhabitable installation part of Nicole's body of works dealing with new and classical ways we view, interpret and inhabit artworks.
German cultural critic Walter Benjamin argued that experience of the reproduction was almost as fulfilling as the experience of the original; diminishing the aura of the original. Contemporary art faces another layer of reproduction; the export and sharing of images and movies through digital social mediums. Ephemeral Aura deals directly with this new paradigm of reproduction by creating separate experiences for the authentic and the reproduction. The authentic experience is that of the movement through the structure, as well as the shifting audio and physical textures created by the sculpture. The centre of the sculpture silhouettes the light outside the structure. This high contrast stage affords digital capture and export, while retaining the authentic spatial and textural experience.
This piece was a collaboration with Thomas Murray and was exhibited on Tamara beach in 2013 as part of Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi.