EMER O’BRIEN – RETURN TO NORMAL
2012-06-25The exhibition consists of Barbara, an interactive sculptural piece, which visualises the relationship between sound waves and sound pressure, a series of live performance events and the accompanying documentation: film and sound recordings.
Based on the construction of a votive table, Barbara sends the vital spark, as flame and message into the ether; transmitting the ritual of votive offerings as sound. As a concept, Barbara offers a contemplative spectacle of fire and sound by enabling direct expression through simultaneous messaging between musician, instrument and audience. Like Hermes who was the mediator between the gods, and in whom hermeneutics’ etymological roots lay, Barbara is also a mediator; she is a listener and a messenger; she receives and she projects, otherwise put, she translates.
Where past work detailed the recent passing of time through documentation, the primary work in this case is the performance and the projection of time through the form of an event. By asking people to gather in the form of a ritual for the performance, the work questions the role of the audience in the production of meaning. By entering into the spirit of the piece, viewers contribute to the harmony and order of the piece, and through this semblance, make contact with the ultimate source of life: energy.
Opposite – Barbara, 2011
Exhibition runs through to August 18th, 2012
Christian Ferreira at the Wapping Project
Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
Wapping Wall
London
E1W 3SG
