For a theatre conceptualised by both artists and architects, constructed of Italian marble, white granite and oak paneling, it is not suprising that a red velvet stage curtain would not suffice. In 2010 Californian textile-artist Pae White was commissioned, following an international competition, to design a closing screen for the Oslo Opera House. The result: ‘Metafoil’, a mind-bending tapestry, measuring 23 metres by 11 metres, woven by a digital loom, programmed with scanned images of crumpled aluminum. Utilising the captive gaze of the audience, what appears to be a wall of metal is actually a flat surface of tightly woven cotton, wool and polyester fibres.
Perhaps the three dimensional aluminium effect of White’s installation was inspiration behind Stella McCartney’s mylar prints for her Fall 2011 collection.
