The larger-than-life bubbles of Shimmering Summer are casting colorful reflections on the Garden now through September 20; artists Renzo Larriviere and Zara Pasfield took a pause during set-up to chat about how their artwork encourages us to find small moments of joy in our ever-changing lives.

Pasfield and Larriviere, who collaborate as Australia-based design studio Atelier Sisu, create what they call “art-chitecture”—a confluence between Pasfield’s background in architecture and Larriviere’s in fine art. It’s a concept that can create big, bold moments, and in 2020, when thinking about what they might create that would speak to audiences worldwide at that anxious moment in time, they landed on the image of a bubble.

“In Australia, like everywhere around the world, we realized that all the everyday things we were used to and everything we took for granted, how fragile all of that was,” Pasfield said. “It was reminiscent to us of a bubble, something beautiful and transient that you have to appreciate in the moment. Finding joy in those moments was imperative.”

The thing that gets you out of bed

Sisu is a Finnish word that roughly translates to “success in the face of adversity”—or colloquially, as Pasfield put it, “the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning.” When Atelier Sisu first exhibited Evanescent in Australia in 2021, the concept of locating joy in the present, finding those things that get you out of bed in the morning, was at its center—a message that’s just as salient five years later in a world that’s changing no less rapidly.

Shimmering Summer takes the idea of Evanescent and places it in the summer Garden, where the color, greenery, and sunshine of the season elevate joy even further.

“We wanted to create something universal; anyone can relate to a bubble, this feeling of nostalgia for when you were a kid,” Larriviere said. “It transcends culture, language, age barriers. We love seeing kids experience it, but older people too; we see them lighting up.”

Why in a garden?

Pasfield and Larriviere estimate the work has been shown in more than 65 cities all over the world, but in all of its travels, this is the first time Evanescent has been shown at a botanic garden in the U.S. For them, the location is not only beautiful but perfectly aligned with their message.

“Right now everything’s in bloom over the summer, and that’s part of the work itself, the ephemerality,” Pasfield said. “The constant changing of the seasons, and being able to see that in real time here in the Garden, is in perfect conversation with this piece that’s about change and transience, temporary joy, and appreciating things while they’re here.”

Pasfield and Larriviere hope visitors will touch the bubbles, interact with them, explore them; take photos with their friends and family; bring a good book and enjoy this beautiful space; or even just pause to observe how the angle of the sun and the colors of the Garden reflect back differently as the day progresses. They hope you’ll find your own moment of joy, whatever that means to you, and take that rejuvenation with you when you go.

Here's what visitors are saying about Shimmering Summer:

“It’s been so exciting to be out and see all the families that are out here too. It kind of makes you step back and just enjoy being here.” 
– Sarah Veselack

“Any kid or adult with a heart like a kid would have a really good time. It’s okay to be playful and childlike no matter how old you are; I was hula-hooping with a five-year-old [at the opening weekend event] and she reminded me of myself. I would hope that she would look at me and think, ‘I can still do that even when I’m a grown-up.’ ”
– Nicole Cohen

“As a parent, you never know when you’re going to have a lifetime moment; this has the potential to be a lifetime moment for me. You see everybody from all walks of life, all areas of the city, having fun as a community.”
– Martin Reyes