‘Darkness Retreat’ 2021
A digital exhibition commissioned by Legion Projects, you can view the environment HERE.
Please view on a desk top computer.
The retreat took place in a nondescript hostel room in a German ashram found on the internet. Inside the otherwise ordinary room every crevice and opening was gaffer-taped and the only door led to a blackened hallway, all of this to keep out the light.
Darkness Retreat is a response to the physical and tactile nature of the room the retreat took place in; where surfaces and shapes extruded and morphed once the lights were out. It is also a response to the interior space of the mind, which - when somewhere between sleep and wakefulness - spilled into the exterior during this period of self-imposed sensory deprivation.
Darkness Retreat presents itself as a series of spoken letters to Aoife, a close friend of the artist who she met at art school twenty years ago. Aoife was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer during the development of the project. She died in a room at St. Joseph’s Hospice in 2019. Aoife worked with film sets and props, and as the pieces for Darkness Retreat developed it became clear that her aesthetic had made its way into the work. How much space does grief occupy? Does it have a lumen? And where does the memory of someone go when they are gone?
3D models by George Eksts
Web design by Matt Woodham
Score and sound design by Mark Dicker
Produced by Una Hamilton Helle, Legion Projects
Supported by Arts Council England and The Henry Moore Foundation