Islanded in a Sea of Stars
Solo Exhibition of new work by Ruth E Lyons at The Lab, Foley Street, Dublin 1.
Preview 6-8pm Thursday 1st September runs until 8th October 2011
Islanded in a Sea of Stars is inspired by the experience of the bogland, walking on the deep black earth while being aware of the depth of time held within it. I like to think of the work as an exploration of some tension or gulf between tangible experience of the world and intangible experience in the form of knowledge and information; the abyss between that which we can know but cannot touch; time captured in the bog or the distance to the stars, and the experience of the stars lighting up the night sky or the heavy moist feeling of holding a sod of turf.
I have used trampoline mats for the qualities of the material. I see the tension of the mat as a skin, a thin meniscus separating possible realities. Outdoor trampolines are commonplace throughout the midlands of Ireland, black holes in back gardens. In contrast to the blue pools that jewel the landscape of the Mediterranean as seen from an aerial view, the landscape of Ireland must appear peppered with these black vortex. Islanded in a Sea of Stars gives another life to this material, an opportunity for this commonplace object to rupture reality by transforming into something other.
In proximity to each other the structures seem to be engaged in communication however embedded in their material is a failure to communicate or a disregard for sound. The matt finish of the bitumen painted timber and the porous tensioned matt are absorbent surfaces into which sound vanishes and is not echoed back or returned to its counterpart. The transmission is empty, full of loss. The experience of the world as information.
Islanded in a Sea of Stars, 6 min 45 looped. A stationary shot of the earliest standing stone in Ireland, the stone stands on the shore of what once was a large lake in the centre of Ireland and is today the Bog of Allen. Accompanying the visuals is a an audio meditation, a deep voice invites the listener to visualise the cosmic realm of the Internet and to encounter one’s virtual self.
Documentary photography by Davey Moore