SUSPENDED

Incarnations catalogue
Published by Eastside Arts, Paddington Uniting Church
8-28 November 2001 

Artist statement

Art, in its own way, can be both theatrical and religious, and the church with its complex traditions of religious worship and ancient rituals could be seen as a form of theatre. SUSPENDED is a large scale, theatrical installation that explores the interface between theatre, art and religion within the architectural confines and religious context of a church.

Using sculptural forms as sets and props designed to fit the scale of the church’s architecture, an interactive scene has been created for a drama featuring suggestion and metaphor, inviting the participation of the viewer. The installed art ‘props’ in this stage set are not meant as art pieces as such and are not to be viewed as precious artistic commodities. Created entirely from industrial materials, they are designed rather to establish a gestalt effect where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The whole, in this case, is a theatre in the round and the stage is set for a play whose script may be written by the viewer.

There are six sculptural works suspended in the spaces between the arches of the eight columns that subdivide the internal space within the church. These works could allude to liturgical vestments and garments but may also suggest more arcane religious reliquary or even hung personages. Their red internals, hidden by black exteriors, evoke the notion that light exists on the inside and emanates outwards. On the floor is the representation of a maze, coupled with red felt slippers, provided for walking softly and silently, so that one may experience internal reverie and the music of the heartbeat.

Delicate rays of natural light enhance the classic proportions of traditional churches, with their majestic vaulted ceilings. The space was originally designed to create a sense of stillness where one could commune with heavenly forces. It was a design to encourage self-knowledge in the environment of a quiet mind with time remaining still. Further allusions of the title SUSPENDED suggest timelessness, motion in stillness, suspended animation, still time, absence of time, beyond time. It speaks of the past, present and future merging to become one. This theatre in the round plays with some of these abstractions, all the while revolving around the construct of time.