C106
review
Derry: Ciarán O'Doherty*
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Ciarán
O'Doherty: Mercury Contact, installation
shot; courtesy Context
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The great coach-house entrance to
the Playhouse/Context overrun by the piece Mercury rising.
A thumping flow of tumbling, strangely familiar objects -
home-made industrial white goods, bass bins, speakers, spinning
cylinders, 'Leslie' amps, spinning the chaotic orchestrations
of the artist 360¼, sculpting sound, the whole shrouded in
a white mist of dry ice as it makes visible the thudding tempo
of the drum of kangaroo skin, beaten mechanically by compressed-air-operated
pistons. The internally lit apparatus glow like home-made
attempts at a future technology. A futurism joined by a chaotic
tribal orchestration. The artist and assistants with their
catatonic cacophony are reminiscent of the followers of the
renegade Kurtz in Apocalypse now. White mists, glowing lights,
the tangle of wires and compressor cables strewn throughout,
create an unnerving barrage of sounds and truculent objects.
The location now a gauntlet to be run before one can enter
the building, a mercurial tribal invitation of sorts, fearsome
in its angry attempts to twist and sculpt sound itself. From
the outside the whole scene resembles a demonic nativity,
a piece of pure theatre. This was a raw and impressive performance/installation.
Definitely one to watch.
Damien Duffy is an artist.
Ciarán O'Doherty: Mercury
Contact, Context Gallery, Derry, 17 October 2003.
