NO:TIME

MCAC, Portadown, Northern Ireland
14 March - 16th May 2020

Ideas of Euphoric Romanticism advocated our decentralised position in the universe and looked for ways to express a deeper unknowable reality behind what can be perceived. Those of us whose imaginations have been captivated by the immensity of what lies beyond our ability to grasp is captivated by the Romantic impulse. As scientific enquiry fails to fully construct a complete picture of nature, as theories of everything continue to fail, its a reminder that things are hidden from us and we don’t have access to what reality may be really like.

The conceptual work in the exhibition takes something simple and straightforward like our linear human perception of time by peeling back the surface in search of an incomprehensible reality underneath. The works presented use different concepts and speculative theories of time which do not cohere, creating an instability that embraces complexity, gaps, darkness.

In this time, there is a feeling that attitudes are narrowing, turning rigid, inward, hostile. Through wonder, the work questions a delusion of our self-importance by way of the universe and an acknowledgement that we are not the centre, or on top of everything.

This exhibition is part of the ACES Award with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.