This years Biennale promised to focus on ‘interactive works’ - kinetic sculptures that buzz, spin and whir. With this in mind, my latest trip through the Art Gallery of NSW felt like an episode of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. With buttons and switches leading off many works, the temptation and anticipation was strong… The internal dialogue began… ‘What will happen if I press it?’ Am I ‘allowed to touch’ in a venue such as the esteemed Art Gallery? Will I be promptly escorted out after setting off the sprinkler system or fire alarm by Security? Do I dare give into temptation and reach out my arm? Are you a wo(man) or a mouse?

This giddy feeling could not have prepared me better for the works I was about to see. There are so many jaw-dropping artworks at the gallery, I’m sure I will have to return almost each day to ingest them all.

However, the two works that made an immediate and visceral impact (think: mesmerised rabbit in the headlights) were the works by Gianni Colombo and Len Lye.

Lye’s kinetic sculpture was a beauty to behold, shimmering and rattling while carving out delicate forms in space. At points menacing, others calming, I know it is one work that I will continually return to and am now mentally planning my trip to New Zealand to view the Len Lye collection.

Spazio Elastico (Elastic Space) by Colombo consists of a darkened room, within it is a grid system marked out by elastic, the room is neon lit. Once you enter the room you are immediately INSIDE the artwork. I suddenly felt I had been swallowed up, surrounded by something wonderful, the response was immediate and quite surprising but I was willing to go with it. The nearest thing to describe it to would be the feeling of being on the down-slope of a roller-coaster. I felt like I had suddenly been shrunk and was inside some kind electrical current - the neon-lighting makes the elastic lines glow - laser-like. Matrix fans out there, THIS is your 2008 ARTWORK! If that wasn’t enough, the elastic grid begins to move as you yourself move through it, warping and creating new shapes, spaces and visual tricks.

You may laugh and think I’m one shade from crazy, but I challenge you to go and experience it and not be amazed, excited and moved!

Go on reach out that arm or step inside! You know you want to!

Gianni Colombo, Spazio Elastico (Elastic Space), 1967 (installation view at Galleria L’Attico, Rome 1968) elastic cords, electric motors, wooden lamp, dimensions variable. Courtesy Archivio Gianni Colombo, Milan.

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Robyn Buchanan is the Website Coordinator at the Biennale of Sydney.