LONDON.- Graphic artist Camille Walala is building a labyrinth of shapes and colours on Greenwich Peninsula. Selected as NOW Gallery’s 2017 Design Collaborator, Camille presents WALALA X PLAY for the gallery’s summer programme – an immersive, interactive installation exploring ideas of art, wellbeing and human scale.

Occupying NOW’s main exhibition area from 14 July to 24 September, the installation invites visitors of all ages to explore the space – and themselves – via a maze of geometric patterns, unpredictable corridors and Walala’s distinctive bold colours.

‘We love having colour in our gallery space, it glows through the glass and resonates on Peninsula Square. Camille Walala is the queen of colour and her patterns will create another world for all in NOW Gallery. We are creating a playful place where – as is in our past exhibitions – we give people time to linger, digest and unpick puzzles, giving space to let the installation resonate.’ – Jemima Burrill, NOW gallery curator

Walala has set out to create a ‘temple to wonder’ in which visitors can unleash their inner child and lose themselves in colour and pattern. With walls of different heights, passageways of different widths, enclosed spaces and curved and zigzag paths, the installation foregrounds the idea of human scale, giving visitors both a lasting visual impression and an extraordinary physical experience as they pass through it. Mirrored panels reflect the space back on itself; suspended shapes introduce a feeling of lightness and playful disorientation –WALALA X PLAY is a journey that will challenge, reward and excite gallery-goers in equal measure.

Shaped by the surroundings
The waterways of the Greenwich Peninsula, the curve of the Thames, and the internal shapes and angles of the buildings themselves are referenced and represented in the internal flow and reflections contained within WALALA X PLAY. The layout of the installation playfully mirrors the shape of the building and its components are positioned in response to the mapping of the building and the peninsula around it. Seen from above, there is a clear, fluid relationship between the walls of the installation and the aerial view of the wider area, making the piece a structural extension of its immediate environment.

What’s wrong with this picture?
At the heart of the installation is a puzzle – a giant three-dimensional game of Spot the Difference. Walala has woven inconsistencies and asymmetries throughout the maze – peppering it with broken geometries and subtly distorted patterns. Stepping into the installation, visitors will be confronted with a challenge: enter the space and explore its colours, patterns, shapes and scales to locate all the differences.

Players will also be invited to share their findings on Instagram, tagged with @nowgalleryse10 and the hashtag #WALALAXPLAY, creating a digital archive that will evolve over the duration of the exhibition.

The anomalies and asymmetries will generally be discreetly positioned, requiring visitors to engage their bodies and investigate the space from all angles to complete the puzzle. Secret spots will be found when looking down from the balcony or looking up at the suspended elements. This element of physicality encourages individuals to become more aware of their bodies, engage their minds and give themselves over to play. The ‘flaws’ will be refreshed each month, ensuring that the installation evolves and that returning visitors will have always have something new to discover.

WALALA X PLAY at NOW Gallery is free to visit, suitable for all ages, and showing from 14 July until 24 September 2017.