C108 Review

Belfast: Claire Morgan at Lagan Lookout

Claire Morgan: Emotional Response, view of room 2 (living tulip bulbs, nylon threads, iron oxide, water, floodlight) and room 3 (raw sheep's wool, iron oxide, water, floodlight); courtesy the artist

 

Claire Morgan: Emotional Response, view of room 2 from above (living tulip bulbs, nylon threads, iron oxide, water, floodlight); courtesy the artist

Belfast is situated at the mouth of the River Lagan on Belfast Lough, and it is here that the Lagan Weir - a series of steel barriers that move with the tide, ensuring that the upper surfaces of the river remains constant - and Claire Morgan's first solo exhibition can be found. On the river bed in large concrete caverns, three site-specific installation works of large suspended or placed organic forms can be seen in low-level lighting, with sound, borders of scientific equations and accompanied drawings. Emerging from a flutter of bulbs from a height of over twenty feet, Bulb consists of thousands of suspended and propagating tulip bulbs, most of which almost touch the concrete floor. The work concerns itself with the impact on organic material, both physically and allegorically, of the incessant cycle of life, death and life and the scientific assertions of the natural order. Although the systematically placed drawings along the tunnel and in one of the caverns are unsuccessful, the installations themselves are impressive.

Chérie Driver is a researcher and artist living in Belfast.

Claire Morgan: Emotional Response, Lagan Lookout tunnel, Belfast, February 2004