BEA.ST

Client
Royal Caribbean

Collaborators
Hypersonic

Sky Wave is a collaboration with Hypersonic for Royal Caribbean’s gigantic ship, Ovation of the Seas, which sails off the coast of China and Australia. It is the signature artwork, placed above the Royal Esplanade in the ship's main public gallery.

Sky Wave is the first ever kinetic moving sculpture at sea.

- Royal Caribbean

The 99 gleaming red petals of Sky Wave sway rhythmically with a choreography of evolving generative motions.  We were inspired by the movement of bird feathers and flocks, schools of fish, and sea anemones. Sky Wave reminds passengers of the interactions between the forces of nature and beauty of movement, while giving people a moment of wonder and awe.

The sculpture is driven by eleven motors directly from a Processing sketch.  Each motor drives a 100:1 planetary gearbox, which is connected to a series of link arms, with nine "petals" connected to each gearbox.  The petals were created out of foam and fiberglass, then painted with a custom designed effect to show the gleam of bright red paint, with the subtle organic texture of gold cracks exposed from beneath.

See below for the making of video for Sky Wave:

Special thanks to:
Heather Blind, Andrea Lauer, Jeanette Subero, Jamie Zigelbaum, Nickolas Chelyapov, Marcelo Coelho, Matt Carson @ Minarik, Corey Flanigan @ Animatics, the Processing team, Carl Albrect, Chris Wood, N-E-R-V-O-U-S System, Chris Danemeyer, Small Design Firm, Bluebird Graphics Solutions, Boston Lasers, Katya Popova, David Ellis, Stu Heys, Ally Millard, Peter Millard, Neale Parry, and Ximena Vengoechea.

Beijing, China and Australia