Interval is part of a series that celebrates the transformations of the self and of the everyday that occur through the alchemy of light, space and the body on stage.
The focus here is on the slit in the curtain. It hints at the on-stage world behind. There is a sense of being in a liminal space, on the threshold between reality and artifice. It invites reflection on the relationship between the seen and the unseen, and the immanence of allegory or revelation in the mundane and material, the ordinary and extraordinary.
The curtain as a signifier of the communal experience of theatre at once evokes a sense of home and shared experience and a sense of estrangement and confrontation depending on perspective and perception.
Like the shuttered carousel or the circus tent the worlds implied or symbolized are both actual and potential, characterised by a capacity to juxtapose several spaces and instances of time and experience within one tangible space.
Fabric is the ultimate material for this process of transformation. It acts to create an imaginary everywhere or anywhere, a shelter of sorts, a primary means to create separate architecture for dwelling.
Words and Images – Sharon Murphy
Interval is on display as part of a group show called Shelter which is on in the National Gallery until November 12. Sharon is exhibiting along with her fellow members of the Shell/Ter Artist Collective (S/TAC) – Diana Copperwhite, Allyson Keehan, Niamh McGuinne and Geraldine O’Neill.
