Conductive Light Garden: A Circuit of the Senses

‍What does it mean to experience “reality” when the boundaries between the physical and digital begin to dissolve? How has technology reshaped your connection to the natural world and in turn, your sense of self and place?

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Conductive Light Garden transforms our historic ex-police station into a living, multi-sensory circuit where light, sound, scent and touch converge inviting you to move through, activate and reconsider the space between what is felt, seen and imagined.

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At its core, Jessica Ticchio's Endless Reality activates the vertical atrium as both axis and threshold, projecting portals that visually bind the ground floor to the rooftop. Drawing on a convergence of cultural and architectural references, Ticchio constructs spatial fictions that oscillate between the surreal and the material. Through shifts in scale and form, the work destabilises fixed notions of place, inviting reflection on states of belonging, dislocation and imagination. In doing so, it proposes a suspended, utopian dimension - outside of time and geography - echoing the transformation of 281 Clarence itself, a site that has pivoted from civic infrastructure into a contemporary cultural field..

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Endless Unreality explores the tension between stillness and motion through a gradient wave representing both the passage and suspension of time. Evoking an infinite flow of new worlds, the artwork invites viewers to dwell within a space where reality bends – where energy is sourced from within and time unfolds at a personal pace.

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In contrast, Waiting for Summer operates as a sculptural meditation on pause and becoming. Drawing from organic forms, the work captures a transitional state where growth is imminent but not yet realised. Suspended between seasons, it reflects on cycles of renewal, fragility and quiet transformation, inviting audiences to consider the subtle tensions between dormancy and emergence. Highlighting cutting-edge methods of creation, sculptures that begin as virtual forms sculpted in VR, translated into 3D-printed objects and reanimated as digital sequences demonstrates the innovative potential of emerging technologies when combined with artistic vision. The exhibition is not only a showcase of aesthetic boldness but also a pioneering example of how immersive design can be used to expand our understanding of what constitutes an art experience today.

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A convergence of art, design, and technology, dissolving the boundary between digital and physical space. At its core is a recursive dialogue: virtual forms sculpted in VR become 3D-printed objects, then reanimated as digital animation sequences. Each translation alters the work, carrying traces of the past while evolving into something new; this cyclical process embodying tradition and innovation as part of a living spiral.

The works lives in the intersection of nature and technology, reality and dream state; asking how digital tools can reshape our connection to the natural world and our sense of space and self.  Drawing on organic rhythms, the VR sculptures blur the line between surreal and tangible, inviting reflection on belonging, dislocation, and imagination in a world where digital and physical boundaries continue to increasingly converge.

Sound design by Marli @marli.dj

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Adjacent Ticchio’s sculptural cell features the building's resident florist, Miyavi Floristry's Hana Denki 花電気 translating to Electric Flower: a living installation where botanical matter becomes a conductive medium for sound, touch and spatial perception. Arranged within transparent vessels and elevated on plinths, floral compositions extend beyond traditional ikebana into an expanded field of sensory activation. Through embedded electronic interfaces, organic materials respond to human contact, generating evolving sonic environments composed by Michael Dable.

Conceptually informed by the Japanese Gutai movement’s emphasis on the direct encounter between body and material, the work dissolves distinctions between the natural and technological, the composed and the emergent. Visitors are invited to engage physically with the installation, activating sound through gesture and proximity, transforming passive viewing into embodied participation.

By positioning flora as both instrument and ecosystem, Hana Denki proposes a contemporary reimagining of Japanese spatial practice - one that situates botanical composition within circuits of energy, frequency and collective experience. In this environment, nature does not merely symbolise life; it becomes electrically present, responsive and co-creative.

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Artist Biographies

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Jessica Ticchio

Artist, Designer, Creative Director of Studio Messa

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Jessica Ticchio is reimagining the world through a contemporary art lens. Through Digital Art and Experiential Design, her creativity exists in the space between digital and physical, exploring how the two realms can exist in harmony. Playing with the line between real and surreal, she is inspired by the dreamstate, distortions of reality, grandious European architecture and sculptural forms seen in nature and everyday life. Her creative explorations transcend a variety of mediums, coming to life through 3D, AI, VR and 3D printed sculptures in her personal art practice, and the design of real-world immersive, experiential spaces as the Creative Director of Studio Messa.

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With visions of boundless dreamscapes and gravity-defying sculpture, Jessica’s creative practice aims to evoke intrigue and reflection, whilst bending the concept of reality as we know it. She draws on the personal experience of her Australian-Italian heritage to create compositions that blend & fuse a myriad of cultural influence; utopian spaces that feel non-specific to a single place in our recognisable world.

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Jessica’s artworks have been featured across the globe; from the pages of Vogue Magazine to the gallery walls of Shanghai’s Modern Art Museum, Art Angels Gallery LA, Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum, the Westbund Art Fair (Shanghai) and Prague’s first NFT art gallery ‘Cryptoportal’. In 2023, the artwork “Future Of The Past” appeared on two large-scale digital billboards: the Vérone Building Façade in Paris and in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, on a screen spanning 72 metres wide (one of the largest digital billboards in the world). In 2024, Jessica was nominated for the Créateurs Design Award for ‘Excellence in Digital Art’ in Paris, and has collaborated with brands such as Mecca, Logitech, Microsoft, Samsung and OPI.

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Jessica has been in the creative industry since 2010, working globally closely with the world’s leading luxury and lifestyle brands. Since 2017, Jessica has been with Studio Messa – clients including Nike (Jess leading creative on 30+ projects), Dior, Bulgari, Bottega Veneta, Cartier, Chanel, Coach, Louis Vuitton, Issey Miyake, Vogue, Tiffany & Co., Barbie/Mattel, the NBA, Kia, Moët & Chandon, Hennessy, American Express and many more.

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Art lets me expand perception, reframe the familiar, and create spaces where people can dream beyond what they see.

Jesscia Ticchio

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Yuka Konno

Senior Florist - Miyavi Floristry

Yuka Konno is a pioneering figure in contemporary Japanese floriculture practice in Australia. Her Sydney studio @hananingen_sydney was the first authorised Hananingen studio in the country - a concept translating to flower (hana) and human (ningen), merging botanical design with portraiture.

As co-founder of Miyavi Floristry, Yuka continues to expand the expressive potential of floristry, integrating traditional Japanese principles with contemporary spatial and material exploration. With nearly a decade of experience, her work repositions everyday individuals as protagonists through floriculture design, photography and kimono portraiture.

Yuka was awarded the Studio Florist Award at the Sydney Markets Fresh Awards (2022). She holds both Certificate III and IV in Floristry from TAFE NSW Padstow and received the TAFE NSW Bernie Gold Award for Design Excellence, the highest design honour awarded to Western Sydney students.

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